The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 69

THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR WWW.INDYSTAR.COM Sports th MONDAY, MAY 31, 2004 R3 RACE REPORT Rookies not alone in taking chances NORTH ALLISONVILLE RD. NOBLESVILLE se uqbW us at- All By Phillip B. Wilson phillip.wilsonindystar.com From Indianapolis 500 inexperience to drivers trying to handle tricky race cars in traffic, Sunday's 88th race had its share of issues. Here are explanations to some questions that arose from a rain-shortened but adventurous afternoon and early evening at the Speedway. Were many drivers outclassed in this field? It would appear so, with six of eight rookie drivers eliminated by accidents and others, such as A.J.

Foyt IV and Greg Ray, showing again that they can't avoid crash trouble. "There was a lot of stuff going on out there," said Alex Barron, who finished 12th and on the lead lap for Cheever Racing. "It wasn't just the rookies. Some people are making sudden moves on high-' speed ovals, and it's not good." Foyt was the first crash casualty, brushing the outside wall in the fourth turn then spinning out in the first turn on lap 11. His car returned to race after a rain delay, but he went out finally on lap 27.

"It was very stupid on my part," said the four-time 500 winner's 20-year-old grandson, who has crashed three times in 500 practice since making his debut last year. "It was all my fault." Ray got caught up on the main straight with 500 rookie Darren Manning, and the accident at the end of lap 105 took out their cars as well as the one driven by Sam Hornish Jr. Manning and Hornish were still running with the leaders while Ray was six laps down from early mechanical problems. "Maybe he didn't know I was there," Manning said of Ray. "Maybe he should have lifted, being in the center of the track." Then Manning thought about the situation more and rationalized he shouldn't have been so aggressive on the outside.

"I guess it's my fault really, being in that position to begin with," the former CART driver said. Ray has crashed five times in eight 500 starts. "I gave him room at the wall," Ray said. "But he got into my left rear." When the rains came, who could do what to the cars? At first, race chief steward Brian Barnhart advised drivers to form a line behind the pace car on pit road. The idea was to see if the rain delay would be abbreviated.

Teams were radioed that they could only plug in battery chargers, and that no other work could be done on the cars. When the delay which lasted about two hours proved to be lengthy, the cars were moved to pit road and allowed to make repairs. "They did the right thing," said Ganassi Racing managing director Mike Hull. Was handling an issue? Several teams complained that the cars had tremendous under-steer (a tendency to push) when in traffic. "We didn't really have a good car," said Newman-Haas director Jim McGee of Bruno Junqueira's fifth-place finish.

"The minute we got into traffic, we were dead dogs. Adrian Fernandez, who finished seventh, was consistently among the top drivers in practice. But on race day, he got stuck behind others. "I could fight with some of the guys," he said, "but I couldn't make the passes. "There was just too much push.

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