The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 36

-r i r' If ir C4 THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR SUNDAY, MAY 24, 1998 00 'v v' yr V1 1 TED Tl 0 jl jiH HRP Mow 1 drivers distocMy dliMereiit Car-hopping was Chicago racer's claim to fame I Men have contrasting experiences, styles but share desire to win at the Speedway. i By Mark Ambrogi STAFF WRITER Chicago's Cliff Woodbury had quite an eventful day driving in the 1929 Indianapolis 500. Starting on the pole with an average speed of 120.599 mph. he briefly lost the lead to Leon paper, the front row of I today's Indianapolis 500 appears to be one "have- 10 not sandwiched be Donald Davidson's Indy 500 one main difference between his drivers on the track. "Kenny likes his car's front end to be looser than Billy," he said.

"He wants to run right close to the wall. Billy nicknamed him 'White-wall' because here in testing he kept rubbing his tires against the wall." Neither driver backs off against the other. At Phoenix, both drivers went into a two-car dogleg with two other cars. Boat survived to finish third while Brack crashed. "We're both racers," said Brack, who qualified for the 500 at 220.982 mph in his Power Team DallaraAuroraGoodyear.

"I think he hates losing as much as I do. We've raced hard with each other in the past and we'll probably race hard here. However, I don't see where we are going to take each other out in the first lap." Brack was knocked out of last year's 500 along with the other fifth-row starters on the pace lap. "If you look at the history of the race, you don't have to be a professor to understand you don't win this race in the first few laps," he said. "It's 500 miles and you have to be there In the end." keeping them hush and hush.

They don't want to give me any more nerve-wracking experiences than I've already had." Boat had his nerve-wracking moments the day before pole day, when he crashed. "1 knew that week was running too smooth," Foyt said. "All of a sudden, Billy got into the wall; I thought, 'Oh no, this (stuff) is going to start Boat shook it off and placed his Conseco DallaraAuroraGoodyear on the pole with a 223.503 mph qualifying run. It was a spot the Phoenix native wasn't sure he would ever be in. "Three years ago, I would have said there was no way I would have ever been able to get to Indianapolis," Boat said.

"With the IRL, (Speedway president) Tony George brought the sprint and midget car driver back to Indianapolis." Teammate Brack's background, however, is rooted in European road racing. The Swede ran In Formula Fords and Formula 3000 before running on the IRL circuit with Rick Galles Racing last season. Foyt liked what he saw from the fierce competitor. Foyt sees not just some out-of-the-blue, from-nowhere story. I've had many, many years of hard work and drove other cars, won other championships." All his recent hard work almost was for naught when APTEX, a robotics company, failed to deliver on its financial commitments after Ray arrived at the Speedway.

Ray still was going quick, but was upside down financially. Soon sponsors, beginning with Gloves stepped forward. "Without the media, nobody knows this hard-luck story," said Ray, who qualified with a 221.125 mph run in his DallaraAurora--Firestone. On Thursday, major sponsors The Nashville Network. True Value and the Texas Motor Speedway stepped up to support Ray's Knapp Motorsports team's effort in the 500 and in the Indy Racing League's True Value 500 at the Texas Motor Speedway on June 6.

"It's been a roller coaster," the Piano, Texas, driver said. "I'm Just so proud of my team. Even though we've had a lot of adversity, they've been real calm. There have been probably a few more problems behind the scenes and my team has been good about make the race In 1995 after Penske driver Al Unser Jr. won the 500 the previous year.

"I would have went to Vegas betting everything I got that there was no way Roger Penske would ever not qualify for this race," Foyt said. In 1997, Foyt said he felt his team was poised to have a great May at the Speedway, only to be derailed by a series of crashes. Boat had to sub for then-regular Foyt driver Scott Sharp, who was sidelined by a concussion. "I guess that Is what always brings me back to this ornery place," said Foyt, who drove in 35 consecutive 500s (1958-92). "By the time you think you're the master of it, it shows you you're nothing.

The other thing I love about It is 99 times out of 100, it's the fastest 33 cars. There's no gimmes here. You work for everything you get." Ray worked hard Just to make it to the Speedway. "I didn't just pop up here accidentally," said Ray, who began his career In Formula Fords. "I'm tween two "haves." 1 Ray, who almost had to It quits before qualifying when his primary sponsor fell through, will start In the middle of the front row between two A.J.

Foyt Racing drivers. Billy Boat is on the pole while Kenny Brack starts on the 'outside of row one. There are some similarities. All 'three drivers were 500 rookies last year. Boat and Brack turned 32 earlier this year.

Ray will be 32 in August. 1 But Boat and Brack have advantages Ray doesn't. They can lean on four-time 500 winner 1 Foyt's vast experience and the support of powerful sponsors, Conseco and Power Team. Yet Foyt pointed out the Indianapolis Motor Speedway can be a great equalizer. He still is amazed at how Roger Penske's team didn't Duray but grabbed it back on lap four, only to spin through the fourfh turn and hit the outside wall.

While the damaged car was b-lng removed from the track the hard way, by sliding It up" planks and pushing It over the wall the uninjured Wood- bury walked back to the pits. A short time later, teammate and fellow Chlcagoan Billy Arnold came in with a pair of broken goggles and a couple of cuts around his eyes. He'd been hit by a rock. Woodbury hopped in as a relief driver but returned to the pits after only six laps to hand the driving duties over to Fred Roberts of Danville, 111. 'j Bob McDonough eventually needed a break from 58 laps of pounding over the brick surface, and It was Woodbury who took over for him.

Seventeen laps later, Woodbury was out; with a broken oil tank. Still later, pit stop-plagued Phil Shafer came in for relief, and Woodbury drove another handful of laps. While driver changes during pit stops were very much a part of the scene up until the mid-1950s, this was an extreme example. Woodbury had completed a total of 40 laps, but had done so as the only person to have driven four different race cars in the same 500. SpeedNet has more azier would love stress of being defending champ 13 96 winner says his appetite is whetted to join the select fraternity of two-time winners.

By Terry Hutchens STAFF WRITER e's been there, done that, but would like nothing better than to do it again. Two years after winning the We will have live, running coverage of today's Indianapolis' 500. Tune in to http: 80th Indianapolis 500, Buddy Lazier be-i; iieves there's no reason why today he can't the short list of drivers who have won two times or more. Fifteen drivers have won the race at least twice. The most recent addition to the elite club came last year when Arie Luyen- dylt won for the second time.

won this race only whets your 1 appetite," Lazier said. "Our goal is to be in the" top three at the end of the day, and if I you're there you've got a shot to win it. "It's all about having a healthy car. If you 'I have that, you've got a shot," he said. "If ouf car Is running good, I think we'll go to he.front and then our chance is as good as anybody." Lazier has had some front-running expe- rlence this season.

In the first Indy Racing ill I iuf ill speednet.stamews.com for our live online updates, which will -come about every 15 minutes. We will be checking up on cars that have dropped out and reporting conditions of injured drivers. After the race, you can voice your opinions in our forums. StarNews com. SpeedNet, Indiana Game and CircleCity com are on StarNews Online at www starnews com Rain halts IRP's Budweiser Night Special Report Inclement weather forced officials at Indianapolis Raceway Park to postpone the 53rd annual Budweiser Night Before the 500.

Despite several attempts to dry the paved oval, persistent rain made it impossible to present the event Saturday night as scheduled. The schedule for today calls for spectator gates to open at 4 p.m., and the Star Mazda practice to begin at 4:30 p.m. Star Mazda qualifying will be at 5:15 p.m., USAC Midget practice at 6 p.m. and USAC Midget qualifying at 7 p.m. The first of two USAC Midget qualifying races will take the green flag at 8 p.m.

The Star Mazda feature, a 50-lap race, will begin at 8:45 p.m.. and the USAC Midget feature, also 50 laps, will start at 9:20 p.m. League event in Orlando, he led the face for 34 laps and was ahead with 30 to go before a crash ended his day. Me admits now he may have been too pggYessive, but he insists he has no regrets, "You always want to take things back as driver, but going for it is what got us there, and going for it probably cost us a Jittre bit. too." driver will tell you there's a fine line between success and failure at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

But confidence can go a long way on the t'rnile oval. And If nothing else, finishing prst in 1996 and fourth last year have given Lazier a boost of confidence. i is my sixth start, so I've been here before, and I'm sure that can only be a benefit for you," he said. "When you're on a track and you know you've won there, it definitely is a plus." i Car owner Ron Hemelgarn says there are rryjor differences In his Hemelgarn Racing tearri in the last three or four years. "-And the biggest key was Lazier's victory fn 'The hardest thing to do is to win, but Once you do, you learn how to win," Hemelgarn said.

"We know how to win, we know what it takes, and we know the strategies hat have to be used." Early in practice, Lazier's confidence lev- Photo Kristin Enjor LOOKING FOR MORE SPEED: Teammates Johnny Unser (left) and Buddy Lazier have an animated conversation in the pits. When they chatted two weeks ago, Lazier was not pleased with his car's speed but he qualified 11th. el in this particular car wasn't high. Through the Wednesday before qualifying, his fastest speed was 215.858 mph. But the next day the Hemelgarn team got it together.

Lazier went 219.587 in his backup car and 219.127 in his primary car. On the first day of qualifying, he put his car in the middle of the fourth row with a speed of 218.288 mph. "We really, really struggled all week long, but we seemed to get a handle on it just as qualifying arrived," Lazier said. "We were never a candidate for the pole because of those struggles, but we did some race setups during the week. "That maybe set us back, but it will probably pay dividends on race day." Last year, being the defending champion.

Lazier admitted he had a great deal of pressure on his shoulders. He said that pressure is good and bad. "There's a little less pressure this year, but that's part of what being a race driver is," Lazier said. "It was neat coming back as a previous champion. I'd take that pressure back any minute." 1 MILLER Continued from Page 1 TEAM FOYT (6-1) Stewart says that race in, race out, Billy Boat Is his toughest competition.

And road racer Brack took to highspeed ovals like Foyt does to a plate of fried chicken. They've had the answers all month, but Good-vear tires remain a question mark. TEAM KELLEY (7-1) Scott Sharp Is always smiling, but there's a real good reason this month: He's got a good car, good engineer (Dave Crlpps), good pit stops and good karma. Ditto for got a Force, but he's also got some great history here and one of the best race-day crews. EDDIE CHEEVER (15 to 1) Worth a hard look because he's got Owen Snyder calling the shots, a new sponsor (Rachel's Potato Chips) to impress and Is looking for a girlfriend.

DAVEY HAMILTON (15 to 1) Steady, heady driver with good pit crew, but Force might negate those pluses. BUDDY LAZIER (20 to 1) Mark Dismore. Another Goodyear team. TEAM MENARD (8-1) lf Stewart's Aurora stays together, he should be tough to beat. And Robbie Buhl Is the sleeper.

But all those pit stops SCOTT GOODYEAR (10-1) A Force chassis and new team don't sound like the hot ticket, but Goodyear has plenty of savvy at Indianapolis. ARIE LUYENDYK (12 to 1) Sure, he's starting 28th, and he's The '96 winner has been off pace but knows how to pick it up. TEAM ISM (25 to 1) Jeff Ward way back (27th) but finally got a handle last Sunday and is a bulldog on race day. Teammate Jim Guthrie? Not this year. ROBERTO GUERRERO (25 to 1) It would be the people's choice, just like the Pacers beating the Bulls.

TEAM CINDERELLA (30 to 1) Greg Ray and Sam Schmidt have been great stories all month. but second-year drivers with low-budget teams always seem to get worn down In 500 miles. FIELD (30 to 1) Buzz Calkins, J.J. Yeley, Stephan Gregolre and John Paul Jr. come with this bet.

but so do Marco Greco. Stan Wattles and Jack Miller. UNSER FAMILY (50 to 1) Robby and Johnny are smarter than Al and Bobby, but also more conservative. JIMMY KITE (100 to 1) But even money to crash. Goodyear-shod.

But should Stewart be the favorite after all of Team Menard's engine problems? And team manager Larry Curry's questionable Itrategy In the pits? I think not. So, in the spirit of Kenny Brack, here are my annual odds. Natural-lyTJor entertainment purposes ony; f) IYI J) IT If) Jffft L- kAL.