Car Racing News Travels Faster Than Indy Times
Drivers and owners in the inaugural U.S. 500 say they aren’t concerned with the rival Indy 500. Yet they can’t seem to ignore it.
Twenty-seven drivers were scheduled to qualify today for the May 26 race at Michigan International Speedway. They will return in two weeks to run the race.
In the meantime, however, it seems clear their thoughts will be at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where practice and qualifying traditionally go on the entire month of May.
“I think that’s one thing we’re relieved of,” Michael Andretti said. “We don’t have to go there the whole month of May. From a safety factor, when you have to go out there day after day after day, you’re opening yourself up to risk.”
The matter of risk seemed to be on everyone’s mind as Friday’s practice was repeatedly interrupted by rain. Word spread to Michigan that speeds were pushing 240 mph in practice at Indy. Yet nobody has cracked 234 around the faster two-mile oval at MIS.
The vast difference only refueled the already bitter rift that led to the rival races.
“I’m scared for their safety,” Andretti said. “It’s all artificial. They’re just giving them more boost. That track wasn’t built for those speeds. And with that old equipment … it’s just totally ridiculous what they’re doing. It’s unconscionable to me. I hope they got through it, but if they get through it, it will just be because they are lucky.”
Arie Luyendyk, driving a year-old ReynardFord, prompted the debate when he turned a lap of 239.260 around the flat-ended Indy oval. That is the fastest unofficial lap ever at Indy. Official records can be set only in qualifying or the race.
The track record at MIS is 234.275 by Mario Andretti in 1993. Mexican-born Adrian Fernandez, who now lives in the Detroit suburb of West Bloomfield, had the fastest lap Friday. He drove a Lola-Honda around MIS in 30.848 seconds, a speed of 233.402.
“Indy speeds are artificial,” said Fernandez, who finished third in the Marlboro 500 at MIS last year. “Nobody wants to be there.”
Adam Saal, spokesman for IndyCar, which oversees the PPG Cup series, said boost for the turbocharged engines are limited to 40 inches at MIS for safety reasons. Saal said some cars at Indy had as much as 65 inches of boost.
“We’ll run 45 (inches) when we go to Belle Isle for the Detroit Grand Prix,” Saal said. “We took some measures here at Michigan, to make sure that the speeds were not excessive. We put safety as our first concern.”
The split among Indy-car drivers and teams came about after Tony George, owner of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, created a new circuit called the Indy Racing League.
George said he wanted to cut rising racing costs, especially engines. IRL rules dictate that engines cost no more than $75,000 each; leasing a new Indy-car engine for a season now costs about $2 million. The IRL is racing mostly 1995 models this year. New modified cars are being built for 1997.