Unser, Andretti earn spots in Indy field
An Unser and another Andretti are in the field for the 91st Indianapolis 500 – naturally.
Except this isn’t the heyday of open-wheel racing, when those two families were the biggest names in the sport and their inclusion in the big race was all but a foregone conclusion.
This time, Al Unser Jr. and John Andretti had to drive other people’s backup cars and put them into the lineup on the second weekend of qualifying.
Unser, 45, climbed into A.J. Foyt’s second car last week and had one qualifying run bumped out of the tentative lineup last Sunday. He came back Saturday, the third of four days of time trials for the May 27 race, to post a four-lap, 10-mile run of 220.876 mph that assured him of starting his 19th 500.
“The run was pretty good,” Unser said, smiling. “I’m a tenth (of a second) slower than I was last Sunday, but the conditions were a little bit worse today, with lots of wind in turn one and real loose (conditions) in turn two.”
His first three laps were very consistent, between 220.2 and 220.8. But the two-time Indy winner’s final lap jumped to 221.6.
“The last lap, I let it loose, opened it up and ran a good lap,” Unser said. “I was happy because we were getting faster every lap and I’m just glad it’s in. I was a little careful with it because I could go out there and run a 225 and start 24th. We’re in back, so I was a little careful with it in the wind.”
Andretti, who has spent the past 13 years racing in NASCAR, didn’t get his ride in the third Panther Racing car until earlier this week. With some help in setting up the car from teammate Vitor Meira – who is already in the field with Kosuke Matsuura, the third Panther driver – Andretti was even stronger. He turned an average of 221.756 to qualify for his eighth Indy start and first since 1994.
The two veteran racers were among 10 drivers who qualified Saturday, leaving one more position to fill in the 33-car Indy lineup today, the final day of time trials. Once the field is full, any non-qualified cars will still have a chance to bump out the slowest qualifiers until the end of today’s session.