INDY 500 - A COLUMN BY TIM KENNEDY

Source: Tim Kennedy
Date: 05/25/2007

LOS ANGELES, California -- The 91st Indianapolis 500 four days of time trials under the new Indy qualifying procedure finally was able to demonstrate how it works this year. Track management and the Indy Racing League installed the current system three years ago. Cars could make three qualifying runs per day for all four days of qualifying, instead of three total qualification attempts for the month. Rain-outs on qualifying days in 2005-06 prevented the four days of qualifying from working as intended. Qualifying 11 cars per day on the first three days with bumping of the slowest cars on day four produced more excitement than usual on pole day. Sam Hornish and Helio Castroneves withdrew solid qualifying speeds to try for pole position and Helio got it. Hornish had pole runs go south on both televised qualifying runs. He got high on his second lap in turn two on his first attempt and then got loose on lap four in the third turn on his second run. Tony Kanaan, with the 6:00 gun about to fire, made his exciting run for the pole and almost bumped his buddy Helio from the pole. Kanaan's first three laps were good enough for the pole and his fourth lap problem in turn three kept his qualifying run just 0.060 mph short of the pole speed. The top five pole day qualifiers (from three different teams) all averaged 225 mph and the difference from P1 to P5 was only 0.708 mph. That is parity at the front of the field.

Qualifying day four was for bumping the slowest qualifiers in the 33-car field. Weather did not interfere. Only Jimmy Kite's 214+ mph speed got bumped. With his 215+ run on the bubble, Roberto Moreno, 48, and his one-car team withdrew his speed and re-qualified at a solid 220.299 mph. Richie Hearn and rookie Phil Giebler, an Indy Pro Series graduate, were the other final day qualifiers. The drama of P. J. Jones and Kite trying to bump 33rd fastest qualifier Marty Roth's 218.922-mph speed failed to materialize in the final hour on bump day. Their cars were only at 214+ mph and both cars did not complete an 11th hour run to bump Roth. The new qualifying system worked well all four days and drew praise in the print media. Current Indy qualifying is not as impressive as the good old days of Indy 500 qualifying when many teams fielded cars and bump day was a real nail-biter.

It was too bad the colorful No. 40 "Whoosh" car, a throw-back tribute to Parnelli Jones' STP turbine car that almost won the 1967 Indy 500, did not make the race. Parnelli took a slow ride in his son's No. 40 at Indy during week two. Also, it was too bad the No. 18 Paul Diatlovich "home mortgaged car" driven by Kite did not make it back into the field. I was hoping 2006 Indy 500 rookie P. J. Chesson, a US open-wheel veteran would get a chance to qualify, but he did not. The pre-inspected Beck 43 and Foyt 41 cars did not come to pit row for attempts. The full-33 car field is assured but the race definitely could use more US born drivers and more race teams competing for starting positions.

TV COVERAGE OF INDY TT: The telecast crew of Marty Reid, Scott Goodyear, pit reporters Jack Arute, Vince Welch and Brianne Pedigo were solid, enthusiastic and informative. Analyst Rusty Wallace was present on opening weekend and absent on the second weekend. I didn't miss him and his references to his NASCAR roots and ex-boss Roger Penske. The second weekend telecast was better because of Rusty's absence. NASCAR gets enough air-time all year and the best open-wheel race of the year should stand alone. NASCAR telecasts don't mention Indy Car racing. The problem with the Sunday, May 13 ESPN2 telecast of the Indy TT from 2:00-3:30 p.m (PDT) was the fact the LPGA ladies golf tournament went to a two-player overtime. It went not one, not two but three extra holes to determine a winner. Almost an hour of precious Indy qualifying coverage was lost for an increasingly angry racing audience. Too bad the network did not go to a split screen or to ESPN or ABC with either the golf or Indy TT full coverage.

Qualifying day 1 had 26 completed qualifying attempts for the first 11 starting positions. Day 2 had 16 completed runs for the second 11 available starting spots. Opening weekend produced 44 qualifying attempts and 11 bumps. A. J. Foyt IV became the first driver at Indy to be bumped on pole day. Buddy Rice, the first driver to qualify, had the pole briefly and was bumped from the field within an hour. Jon Herb was bumped twice Sunday, May 13. There were 67 cars, including backups and cars with engine leases from Honda for the second week, with drawn numbers for pole day qualifying. Sixteen of the 67 cars actually went out in the order the team drew. It took only one hour and 16 minutes to work through all the day one qualifiers on the qualifying order list. Then practice commenced. In order the 2007 Indy pole drivers were Buddy Rice, Scott Dixon, Ryan Briscoe, Tony Kanaan, Dario Franchitti and Helio Castroneves. The difference between the first and second fastest qualifiers in the run for the pole was only 0.060 mph, reported as the third closest in Indy history. It tied the 1955 margin of 0.060 mph between Jerry Hoyt and Tony Bettenhausen.

SUCCESS STORIES - 2007 INDY 500: # 1 - Davey Hamilton qualified at 222.327 mph for P.20 in his comeback to racing following his June, 2001 disastrous crash at Texas Motor Speedway in his No. 99 IRL car. That crash, triggered by oil from Jeret Schroeder's car, almost caused nice guy Davey to have his feet amputated. Skilled surgeons saved his feet during 23 surgeries over the years, allowing him to resume his life and function again without a wheelchair or crutches. Davey had unfinished business in racing and this year will resume his quest to win the Indy 500. Whether he continues to race will be determined by how he feels after the 2007 race. If he leaves racing after this 500 Davey will not have that 2001 IRL crash that caused him so much pain and suffering as his last racing memory. He fought back and qualified for his seventh Indy 500 and the smile on his face afterwards said it all. Davey wasn't able to race for three years and then he drove the IRL two-seater race-car on race weekends. He estimates he gave rides in the two-seater to about 4,000 passengers (celebrities, sponsors and media members). In fact, that is how he knew he was ready to comeback to racing because he was able to get off pit-road and handle the clutch, brake and accelerator without pain. His fused feet, heel and ankle performed satisfactorily. Actually, that chauffeur role provided the sponsorship dollars required to get him back in the Indy 500. One of his 4,000 passengers in the two-seater was Todd Bradley, Executive V-P, Personal Systems Group, for computer giant Hewlett-Packard of California. They became friends and Bradley's Hewlett-Packard employer provided sponsorship funds for Davey's return to the Indy 500. His ride is the third Vision Racing entry of IMS/IRL boss Tony George and his partner, actor Patrick Dempsey of the hit ABC-TV show "Grey's Anatomy".

# 2 - John Andretti was absent from the Indy 500 driver ranks for 13 years while he pursued a NASCAR Cup and Busch stock car career. His last drive in the Indy 500 was the 1994 edition. John picked up the third Panther racing ride and qualified for P.24 at 221.756mph. Appropriately, John's No. 33 car is Panther Racing yellow. He joins his cousins Michael and Marco Andretti to give the field three Andrettis in the Indy 500.

# 3 - Ryan Briscoe, a 2005 Indy 500 rookie in the third Ganassi Target car, made his return to the Indy 500 for a new team (# 12 Luczo Dragon Racing) with a solid 224.410 run than gave him P 7 for the start. Pals and co-owners Steve Luczo and Jay Penske (Roger's 28-year old youngest son) have stated in a full page ad at the back page of the May 23 LA Times that they are donating $250,000 and more than half their profits at the Indy 500 to the charities/foundations of NFL stars John Elway, Marcus Allen, Ronnie Lott and coach Tony Dungy, NBA stars Baron Davis and Jerry Mullin, NHL legend Wayne Gretzky, female sports stars Brandi Chastain, Kerri Walsh and Kristi Yamaguchi, plus skier Jonny Moseley and musician Jackson Browne. That generosity may well be a first for the 500.

# 4 - Another Indy 500 first is three female drivers in the 33-car starting field. Danica Patrick's 224 qualified for eighth position. Sarah Fisher's 221 is 21st and 35-year old rookie Venezuelan Milka Duno's 219 is 29th on the grid. Sarah will be marrying her Dreyer-Reinbold Racing crew chief Andy O'Gara on September 15 (Sarah O'Gara rhymes). Sarah came back from a two-year absence at Indy during which she made a foray into NASCAR Grand National West stock car racing. Andy's dad John O'Gara is a long-time Indy 500 mechanic who is now the Dreyer-Reinbold team manager. That's keeping it in the family. Duno came back from spinning into the wall earlier to qualify on day three with the eventual 32nd fastest speed.

# 5 - Other noteworthy qualifying runs: Richie Hearn, in a backup Marty Roth car fielded by Ron Hemelgarn, and Roger Yasukawa, from the Los Angeles suburb Diamond Bar, in a third Dreyer-Reinbold car were impressive. Roger's 222.654 mph qualifying run was 222.6, 222.7, 222.6 and 222.6 for the second most consistent qualifying run of 2007. The difference between his fastest and slowest of four laps was only 0.101 mph. He could be a top-ten finisher in what probably will be his only IRL race of the year. Ed Carpenter's qualifying run (three 223.4 and one 223.5) was the most consistent qualifying run, only 0.080 mph from the fastest to slowest laps.

The 2007 Indy 500 race has only two rookies-Phil Giebler (the probable rookie of the year) and Milka Duno in her second IRL race. In 1979 Howdy Holmes was the only rookie in the 500. There are six past Indy 500 winners with eight victories in the 2007 race. Al Unser, Jr and Castroneves are two-time winners. Hornish, Wheldon, Rice, and Buddy Lazier are solo winners. So who will win the 5/27/07 Indy 500? You can start by breaking down the field into thirds-11Potential Winners, 11 Mid-Packers, and 11 Back-markers. Handicappers ranked all horses in the Kentucky Derby and Las Vegas odds-makers post winning odds for auto racing. So here goes my fearless forecast for the 2007 Indy 500 finish as if all 33 drivers will finish (they won't). Predicted finishing order: Potential Winners: Wheldon, Castroneves, Hornish, Kanaan, Dixon, Franchitti, Ma. Andretti, Mi. Andretti, Patrick, Scheckter and Briscoe. Mid-Packers: Sharp, Meira, Yasukawa, Carpenter, Simmons, Manning, Matsuura, Unser, Rice, B. Lazier and J. Andretti. Back-markers: Foyt IV, Fisher, Hearn, Giebler, Hamilton, Barron, Moreno, J. Lazier, Herb, Duno and Roth.

PRESS COVERAGE: The Monday, May 21 Los Angeles Times on sports page 2 ran a 6" X 7" color photo of the 33 Indy 500 drivers standing at Times Square in New York. The publicity photo had all 33 drivers three abreast, 11 rows deep wearing their colorful racing uniforms and holding their helmets. The Thursday, May 24 LA Times sports page one ran a 33 paragraph, 20-inch story by Ed Hinton about Danica Patrick. It had two color photos of Danica without her helmet and in her car at speed. The story continued on page 4 and had a third photo of Danica walking on pit row next to her AGR No. 7. The Thursday, May 24 USA TODAY page A1 also had a color photo of Danica standing in her uniform at Indy. The front-page news story by USA TODAY writer Nate Ryan continued on page A2 with another photo of Danica and her car. The 38 paragraph, 32-inch story was major national coverage for Danica, her Motorola sponsor and the Indy 500 race itself. USA TODAY sports page one had a major story about Chad Knaus, Jimmie Johnson's NASCAR Nextel Cup crew chief. The inside race page carried a story about Formula One and the phenomenal F1 rookie Lewis Hamilton. If I could watch only one race a year it would be the Indianapolis 500. The exciting finish of the 2006 Indy 500 had to make it the best 500 yet. Three leaders in the final few laps, numerous lead lap cars on the same straight at the finish, and a first time in history winning pass at the finish line (by Hornish) all made the 2006 race the best yet. Hopefully, the 2007 Indy 500 will equal the 2006 race. The Memorial Day weekend is clearly the number one racing weekend of the year in the United States.

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