The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 32

D4 THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR THURSDAY, MAY 18, 1995 For insurance, racers take chassis to Chassey Track trivia Consider yourself an Indianapolis 500 expert? Then The Indianapolis Star has an opportunity for you to win the 1995 edition of the "500" Record Book. Call the Track Trivia Info-Line at 6244636 and enter category 1527. Answer three race-related questions correctly become eligible to win. Not long after Bryan Herta stuffed his 1995 Lola Into the Turn 2 wall Tuesday, car owner Chip Ganassl realized he had stuffed his insurance policy in the proverbial trash can. So much for coverage.

Pit Pass Curt Cavin MILLER Continued from Page 1 ing insurance guarantees that they can replace a car and go to the next race for $25,000. For that they can replace the whole car." The other beauty of the program is that it not only covers the primary car, it also covers any car the team chooses to use. One car is covered at a time, regardless of number or chassis. Chassey and the Evansville Mo-torsports Group co-owned by Wells Co. of Indianapolis and the Black Beauty Coal Company in Evansville have nine drivers signed for the season: Paul Tracy, Michael Andretti, Hiro Matsushita, Scott Pruett, Andre Ribeiro, Stefan Johansson, Robby Gordon, Jacques Villeneuve and Teo Fabi.

Two of those (Ribeiro and Johansson) have had accidents this month. The other two mishaps (Davey Hamilton and Herta) were uninsured. Ganassi had insurance last year but opted not to carry it this year. Cost is roughly $160,000, about one-fourth of replacement. "Some teams are Just willing to roll the dice," said Chassey, who started three Indys in the 1980s.

"Racing has always been a form of gambling and everyone always thinks they're not going to have bad luck. "But some do." Chassey's program also includes a handful of Indy-only teams and 17 drivers on the Indy Lights circuit. The underwriters are London-based. Ron Hemelgarn. who runs Indy only, insures the '95 Lola of driver Stan Fox.

Fox's car is worthy of its fourth-row starting spot. "(The insurance) is expensive," he saidi "but If you bounce off the wall, it's worth it. It paid off last year (when Fox crashed in Turn 1)." Notes Mike Graff has been retained as a driver by Ganassi in the event Herta, who was released from Methodist Hospital Wednesday morning, is unable to drive the ReynardFord The sun broke through at 5 p.m., a few minutes after the track was officially closed. Behind the scenes, Roger Penske received assistance from Bobby Rahal, acquiring a '95 Lola for use this week. Rahal and his second driver, Raul Boesel, are safely in the field and Penske helped Rahal make the field last Former Indy-car driver Steve Chassey, who lives in Carmel, operates a program through local insurance agencies that allows teams coverage for their cars.

There is a $500,000 limit per accident, but there is no limit to the number of times a claim can be filed on a car in a season. The deductible is $25,000 per accident and it covers basically everything but the engine. "It solidifies your budget," Chassey said. "You can set aside $25,000 for each accident and never have to touch the budget again. "For teams that are less funded and struggling (financially), hav Star Photo Beckie Kern YOU'RE IN GOOD HANDS: Insurance agent and former driver Steve Chassey (far right) watches Jacques Villeneuve's crew.

year, but apparently Penske needed a Lola because there were not enough spare parts to run the two '94 Reynards that he acquired Davey Hamilton was cleared to drive Davy Jones, who will try to run both the "500" and the NASCAR race at Charlotte May 28, must try to qualify on both circuits this weekend. Winston Cup has a non-points race Satur- SATURDAY MAY 20 day night and Jones Is planning to be at two tracks this weekend. "It will be a practice (for next weekend)," Jones said Kenny Irwin Jr. will drive an ASA car in Saturday night's Speedway 200 at Indianapolis Raceway Park. He will be driving a car of the team which fields Dave Sensiba, last year's rookie of the year.

It will be Irwin's first ASA race. Sports teams doubled as car sponsors HIP 200 Gates Open 12:00 noon Practice 12:00 noon Qualifying 4:00 p.m. Sunoco Race Fuels Qualifier 5:15 p.m. Speedway ASA 200 8:00 p.m. AC-Delcfo CHALLENGE HIIIESUklQ PHOTOS ARTWORK TEXT Door-to-door, fender rabbin' stock car excitement on IRP's lightning-fast oval track.

INFORMATION CALL 317293-RACE COLOR COPIED ONTO: GLOSSY HEAVY STOCKS COVER STOCKS COATED STOCKS 24 THRU 65 STOCKS 8 pt. 12 pt. COVER Seven Miles northwest of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on U.S. 136 at Clermont seven of its 13 drivers are strongly In the show. "We tried to cover the conditions to have two tire options here, one for very hot conditions and another for cooler temperatures," said Speyer.

"We have a standard set all the way around and alternates for the left front, right front and right rear. "Scott Goodyear ran the alternates on the front, but Scott Pruett Is the only driver using all our options. But let me repeat, we don't have a soft gumball." The downside of a four-lap gumball would be the race because teams must start May 28 on the tires they qualified on. USAC technical director Mike Devin said nobody had officially protested Firestone's tires because "their tires are not four-lappers. If we suspected their alternative tire was a gumball, or four-lapper, we could require them to run a full fuel load at what we feel is a competitive speed." "We did that today with Pryett.

He ran a full-tank run and reached 226 mph," added Speyer. Firestone's Impressive returji to Indy after a 21-year absence shouldn't be too surprising considering Pruett leads the PPGIn-' dyCar standings after five racjss. had a shot at winning Phoenix and was quick time at Nazareth before an accident. Although when Matsuda and Matsushita breeze into the field while Al Unser Jr. and Emerson Fittlpaldi can't get a sniff of speed, it does amplify a tire's.

contribution. "We didn't design our tires for ultimate speed. We wanted to have a consistent tire that gave a real stable, comfortable feeling, and I think our superspeedway tire has hit the sweet spot," said Speyer. "Look at our qualifiers. Other than Andre Ribeiro's third lap, everyone else's speed Increased the longer they ran.

I think our average speed was a little bit quicker than Goodyear's." As the second weekend of time trials looms, Speyer was asked If he expected any teams to switch? "A lot of people are on the fence, and I think If it's the difference of making the race, people will do whatever they have to," he replied. "All It's going to take is one team and there's going to be a stampede. "We may not have enough tires, even though we brought enough tires for half the field." Roger Penske's armada now Includes a '95 Lola, '94 Reynard. '94 Penske and '95 Penske but don't look for The Captain to abandon Goodyears. At least not until Sunday afternoon about 5 o'clock.

There have been several examples of major sports franchises sponsoring a car in the 500, most notably when Mel Kenyon placed fourth driving the Atlanta Falcons Special in 1973 and when Lloyd Ruby led the race with the Utah wwsnrwiDKKB ma Mmm Donald Davidson's Indy 500 Stars Special In 1971. There Is one other very strong NBA franchise today, and while it has never sponsored a car directly, its bloodlines can be traced back to a sponsorship which took place more than half a century ago. In the 1941 500, Frank Brisko lasted for 70 laps until the valve spring broke in his Zollner Piston Special. Fred Zollner, whose company was located in Fort Wayne, Indiana, also liked basketball and baseball, and so he decided to start up a couple of teams, which he called the Zollner Pistons. The teams comprised Zollner factory employees, and they played in leagues against representatives from other factories.

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