There’ll Be A Race To Be Won Without Penskes, Indy Anyone’s

The absence of defending champion Al Unser Jr. and Emerson Fittipaldi makes Sunday’s 79th Indianapolis 500 one of the most unusual in history.

The Penske pair, winners of the last three 500s and the last two IndyCar races this season, failed to qualify. It is the first time since 1962 an Unser has not been on the starting grid, the first time since 1969 Penske has not had a favorite in the field.

“We’ll all be looking in our mirrors for the red and white cars; it’s just second nature,” Michael Andretti said. “It’s going to be strange out there without them.”

Without them, it’s wide open.

Scott Brayton, the elder statesman of the field making his 14th appearance, will start from the pole. The speed differential between his Menard-powered Lola to the LolaFord of Eliseo Salazar, the slowest qualifier, is 4.5 seconds for 10 miles.

Bobby Rahal, one of only three former winners in the race, says as many as 15 cars, nearly half the field of 33, have a solid chance at victory.

If there is a favorite, it should be Andretti. Michael, hoping to erase the jinx that haunted father Mario and seems to be haunting him, will benefit most from Unser’s absence.

“Little Al has won two 500s, but one of them was mine,” Andretti said, referring to the 1992 race when he led 160 laps before losing his fuel pressure and watching Unser sweep past to victory. It was the ninth win for the Unser family. The Andrettis have only one, Mario’s in 1969.

Andretti is the only driver who has led all five of this season’s IndyCar races, but he has not yet won. He will start on the inside of the second row, behind what former 500 winner Arie Luyendyk calls the “Unemployment Line.”

The three front-row starters, polesitter Brayton, Luyendyk and Scott Goodyear, are not full-time IndyCar drivers this year, and all were hired to drive only the Indianapolis 500. All are in cars powered by unconventional engines - Brayton and Luyendyk by Menards, a Buick derivative built in Indianapolis, and Goodyear by a Honda, the first time a Japanese engine will start in the Indy 500.

Although Brayton qualified at 231.604 mph and Luyendyk a tick slower at 231.031, most experts discount their chances at winning because the engine has never gone 500 miles, even in testing.

“It wouldn’t last 200 miles at our qualifying speeds, but I expect the race pace to be closer to 212 to 218, with maybe a fast lap around 224,” Brayton said. “I don’t think Arie or I will be the rabbit, but we’ll be in the chase.”

Goodyear, who started 33rd and finished second to Unser Jr. in 1992 in the closest finish in 500 history, was hired only a month ago by Steve Horne’s Tasman team to drive the Honda-powered Reynard with Firestone tires.

“The cars (Goodyear’s and rookie Andre Ribeiro’s) have run flawlessly, which is the product of preparation,” said Horne, who masterminded Rahal’s 500 victory in 1986. “I think we have answered a lot of questions about the motor and the tires. We’re confident.”

Ribeiro is the fastest of six rookies in the race.

Firestone is returning to IndyCar racing after an absence of 21 years, and the Japanese-owned Bridgestone firm has nine cars in the field.

“This has been a wonderful month for us,” said Al Speyer, Bridgestone/ Firestone motor sports manager. “We never could have imagined we would come back after so long and have Firestone tires on the front row.”