Double Dutch Treat Luyendyk Triumphs, Joins List Of 15 Indianapolis 500 Multiple Winners

All’s well that finally ends - whether under green, yellow, purple, whatever. And the ending of the 81st Indianapolis 500 seemed almost secondary to the fact that it actually ended this month.

After a complete washout Sunday and only 15 laps run Monday before more rain arrived, perhaps 100,000 people, countless tons of strewn garbage and soaked grounds were left Tuesday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

That left room for about 350,000 more people - and for Arie Luyendyk to slip into a coveted spot in Brickyard history. Luyendyk, 43, won his second Indy 500 and is the 15th multiple winner. He won in 1990 with team owner Doug Shierson of Adrian.

Tuesday’s victory wasn’t without a dash of last-lap drama and confusion. Tony Stewart’s car brushed the turn 4 wall on lap 198, bringing out a yellow flag with Luyendyk leading Treadway Racing teammate Scott Goodyear.

As the field slowly rounded Turn 4 of lap 199, the yellow and white flags were visible, indicating the race would end under caution. But when the leaders arrived at the start-finish line, the flagman’s yellow had been replaced by green.

Despite the flag fiasco, or perhaps because of it, pole-sitter Luyendyk’s G Force-Olds held off that of Goodyear by .57 second.

“That was really confusing,” Luyendyk said. “I think I was just lucky to go back to the right gear.

“I just kept going. I said, ‘The hell with it - they better know what they’re doing, and I’ll just keep doing what I’ve been doing.’ I just kept going flat out and never lifted.”

Chief steward Keith Ward later conceded a mistake had been made.

“In the hustle and bustle” of getting safety equipment off the track, Ward said, “we got the flagman to put the green flag out, and the gentleman operating the buttons on the lights simply didn’t hear me and was late putting the lights on.”

The reference was to chief observer Claude Fisher and the series of lights at various points around the track, which remained yellow.

“The flags at the stand are the governing factor,” Ward said. “I believe in admitting when we make a little mistake like that… .

“And there really was nobody affected position-wise by that last lap. Scott Goodyear, I don’t believe, would have passed Arie under any circumstances.”

Goodyear - also second at Indy in 1992 - didn’t exactly concur.

“We didn’t have any indication at all, no indication on the radio,” Goodyear said of the green-flag finish. “Unfortunately, we came down and my guy yelled to me, ‘Green! Green! Green!’

“And we were still in a yellow fuel (setting),: didn’t have the acceleration. And that is the key lap of the whole race, obviously, ‘cause you want to get a draft, want to get the guy going into the next turn and lead coming down the straight.”

Had a green-light finish been expected, Goodyear said, “I probably would have been on the gas a lot sooner. And I don’t think Arie even expected it. The end result is that I’m not sure if we would have (won) or not.

Whatever nervous energy Robby Gordon brought into Tuesday was vented early. After two single-file laps under caution, as planned, the green dropped on the 18th lap with Gordon fourth behind Robbie Buhl of Grosse Pointe Shores, Luyendyk and leader Stewart.

As the lap ended, Gordon’s car ducked onto pit road before coming to a skidding stop well before the pits. Gordon emerged quickly, then rolled on the infield grass for about 30 seconds, extinguishing an invisible, methanol-fuel fire.

He recovered quickly enough to direct fire safety workers, then be back in the car as it was towed to the Sabco Racing pit.

“I just had fire all over me,” said Gordon, a NASCAR regular.

Gordon was treated briefly at the track for first- and second-degree burns to both wrists, his right hand and right thigh. Though Gordon changed into a fresh uniform while awaiting repairs to his G Force-Olds, the car was unable to continue.

But the twice-delayed big day belonged to Luyendyk, the Netherlands-born marketer’s dream whose inability to land a big-time Championship Auto Racing Teams ride turned him into a somewhat hesitant Indy Racing League pioneer. He is the first to win his second Indy 500 since Al Unser Jr. in 1994.

“I’ll tell you, I had to work a lot harder today than in ‘90,” Luyendyk said. “I drove hard all day and had to make some moves on some back markers thinking, ‘God, I hope this guy doesn’t turn into me.’

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: INDY’S TOP FINISHERS Top five finishers, their home and prize money. 1. Arie Luyendyk, Netherlands, $1,553,650 2. Scott Goodyear, Canada, $547,150. 3. Jeff Ward, San Juan Capistrano, Calif., $368,300. 4. Buddy Lazier, Vail, Colo., $266,150. 5.Tony Stewart, Indianapolis, $314,900.