No-Names, Start Your Engines
Some call it Tony George’s folly, but it still is the Indianapolis 500.
There will be 33 starters today in the 80th version of the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing,” just as there are supposed to be.
The winner will get a swig of milk, more than a million bucks and his mug on the Borg Warner trophy, just like Rick Mears, A.J. Foyt, Parnelli Jones, the Unser family and Ralph Harroun.
There will be no asterisk beside the winner’s name in the record books, even though Al Unser Jr., Michael Andretti, Jimmy Vasser and others will be in Michigan for the inaugural U.S. 500 instead of here.
But this race will be different.
It is the first of the Indy Racing League era, the first in which George guaranteed drivers in his IRL a position in the field if they could run 220 mph. Twenty-one of them did.
That, say critics, is George’s folly. If such a rule had not been made, the missing name drivers would probably be here. But they are not.
And hanging over the race, like a dark shadow, is the tragic death of Scott Brayton, the popular veteran driver from Coldwater, Mich., who won the pole in dramatic fashion on May 12 before losing his life in an accident six days later. Memories of the funeral, only last Wednesday, are constant reminders of the dangers on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s 2-mile rectangular oval.
“Everyone, obviously, will miss Scott, but as far as the race is concerned, (today) I won’t think anything at all about him,” said Arie Luyendyk, the 1990 winner and Brayton’s teammate last year. Instead of Brayton, a 14-year Indy 500 veteran, on the pole, the start will be led into the first turn by the fastest rookie in history, Tony Stewart. The 25-year-old is there with a qualifying speed of 233.100 mph.
The front row of Stewart, Davy Jones and Eliseo Salazar is the first without any front-row experience since 1985 (Pancho Carter, Brayton and Bobby Rahal).
Luyendyk, the only former winner in the race, will start 20th in the fastest car on the track. The Flying Dutchman ran 236.986.
It may be a record that stands for years as next year’s IRL rules call for normally aspirated engines with speeds perhaps 20 mph slower than this year’s.
It also is a performance that placed Luyendyk, the winner in Phoenix, solidly in the favorite’s role despite starting from the middle of the seventh row.
“Winning this year would mean as much to me as my first win,” Luyendyk said. “One reason I decided to join the Indy Racing League instead of going with CART was that I wanted to win the Indy 500 again. Not having those other guys (Unser, Andretti & Co.) here doesn’t bother me.”
xxxx INDY 500 AT A GLANCE INDIANAPOLIS Facts and figures of the 80th Indianapolis 500-mile race today at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway: Distance - 500 miles; 200 laps around the 2-1/2-mile, asphalt-on-brick Indianapolis Motor Speedway track. Sanctioning body - Indy Racing League and the U.S. Auto Club; also open to CART, NASCAR, SCCA, Formula One and other drivers through international FIA listing. Race cars - Open-cockpit, open-wheel and single-seat, with engine specs set by the U.S. Auto Club. Minimum wheelbase of 96 inches; maximum length of 195 inches; maximum width of 80 inches; minimum weight of 1,550 pounds. Start - 8 a.m. PST from a flying start, following warmup, parade and pace laps. The pace car, a 1996 Dodge Viper GTS, powered by a 450-horsepower, 8-liter V10 engine, will be driven by Bob Lutz, president of Chrysler Corp. Finish - Standings are unofficial until posted by USAC, expected 6 hours after the end of the race. Television - Televised live by ABC (8 a.m.) with Paul Page as anchor; Danny Sullivan and Bobby Unser as analysts; and Jack Arute, Gary Gerould and Jerry Punch as pit reporters. Pole position - Tony Stewart, 25, Rushville, Ind., who qualified a Lola-Menard second at a four-lap average of 233.100 mph and assumed the pole after teammate Scott Brayton was killed in practice. Field average in qualifications - 227.807 mph (Record; former record 226.912, 1995). 1995 champion - Jacques Villeneuve of Canada, who averaged 153.616 mph for his first victory, a year after he was runner-up and rookie of the year. Villeneuve left Indy racing for the Formula One series this year. Former winners in race (1) - Arie Luyendyk, 1990. Purse - Depends on attendance and accessory awards; 1995 payoff was a record $8,063,555, of which Jacques Villeneuve and Team Green received a winner’s share of $1,312,019. Crowd - Estimated at about 400,000.