Indianapolis 500 Qualifying : Boesel, Paul Fastest as 7 Added to Field

Rookies Raul Boesel of Brazil and John Paul Jr. led seven qualifiers Saturday as the tentative 33-car field--the fastest in history--was filled for the May 26 Indianapolis 500.

Indy veterans Chip Ganassi, Johnny Parsons, George Snider and Tony Bettenhausen and rookie Jim Crawford of Scotland also qualified, leaving only the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s “bumping” procedure as a way for non-qualifiers to make the lineup in time trials concluding today.

Anyone turning in a faster qualifying run in today’s fourth and final day of time trials would bump the slowest qualified entries out of the lineup, just as Paul did to Derek Daly of Ireland, Bettenhausen to Chet Fillip and Crawford to Kevin Cogan Saturday.

Boesel, 27, averaged 206.498 m.p.h. in a March-Cosworth to earn $17,500 as the fastest qualifier of the day.

Paul put his March into the lineup at 206.340, bumping Daly, the slowest of the first-weekend qualifiers at 203.082.

Bettenhausen put a Lola into the tentative lineup at 204.824, bumping Fillip’s March, which had qualified last weekend at 203.661, and Crawford bumped Cogan’s 203.793 in a March that also was qualified a week earlier.

The average for the 33 qualified cars is 207.830 m.p.h., breaking the Indianapolis record of 203.686, set last May.

Daly and Cogan, who have been working with backup cars all week in case they were bumped, are expected to try to get back into the lineup today. Fillip, however, crashed his backup car during practice Saturday. He was not injured, but the car was badly damaged.