Indy Victory Proves Timely for Luyendyk

Arie Luyendyk’s victory in the Indianapolis 500 may have done more than earn his team a $1 million payoff and a big measure of respect.

It may have turned around his team’s slipping sponsorship situation.

The Flying Dutchman’s first Indy-car triumph couldn’t have come at a better time -- or place -- for Shierson Racing, which is in imminent danger of losing both of it’s major sponsors -- Domino’s Pizza and Provimi Veal.

Domino’s, which has had a longterm relationship with Doug Shierson, recently took a poll of its franchises and found the majority did not want to continue in racing.

Aat Groenvelt, owner of Provimi and Luyendyk’s personal mentor, was reportedly fighting a losing battle with others in his company about continuing the sponsorship beyond this year.

The team had not won a race since the end of the 1986 season and was not very competitive from 1987 through 1989, lacking first-class equipment.

Now, with a new driver and the addition of the dominating Chevrolet Indy V8 engine, the on-track turnaround has come.

Off the track, winning the biggest race of them all may have also turned around Domino’s and Provimi. There already are indications that both companies are rethinking their year-end departure in order to take advantage of the marketing possibilities available through next May’s race, when Luyendyk will be the defending champion.

The traditional week-after-Indy race in Milwaukee, Wis., may put a bit of extra pressure on Indianapolis 500 winner Arie Luyendyk.

Luyendyk and the rest of the Shierson Racing team have been invited to take part in a public celebration in Doug Shierson’s hometown of Adrian, Mich., next week.

“You go and win Indy and then anything but winning (at Milwaukee Sunday) would be a letdown when you go home and they have a parade,” Shierson said. “We’d better keep our form.”

Shierson said it didn’t take very long for the Indy win -- his first -- to sink in for him.

“I think I really realized the magnitude (of the win) on the ride around the track in the pace car,” he said of the post-race tradition. “The reaction of the people was great. They stayed and cheered. I think it was a very popular victory.”

Next year will be the 75th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500 and it is likely that A.J. Foyt will be celebrating it on the 2 1/2-mile oval.

The 55-year-old Foyt became the oldest man known to have raced at Indy last Sunday, finishing sixth in his record 33rd consecutive Indianapolis start.

“Super Tex” isn’t talking about retirement. He plans to run the rest of the Indy-car season for sure, then decide on his racing future.

Foyt said, “We still might come back and look for (Indy victory) number five. We haven’t given up yet.”

Competition has never been better on NASCAR’s Winston Cup circuit.

Heading into this weekend’s Budweiser 500 at Dover, Del., seven of the 10 races this season have been decided by less than one second between first and second place.

Of the 547 races in the modern era of NASCAR, the eventual winner has taken the lead on the final lap 32 times. A total of 118 races have seen the eventual winner take the lead with 10 or fewer laps remaining.

“I guess that’s one of the reasons you never see NASCAR Winston Cup fans leaving the track early,” says seven-time champion and 200-time winner Richard Petty.

Dale Earnhardt, a three-time Winston Cup champion and the current season points leader, may soon begin to resent Charlotte Motor Speedway.

His series lead over Morgan Shepherd has been cut to just 11 points heading into Sunday’s race at Dover Downs International Speedway.

Things tightened up considerably last week when Earnhardt crashed after shredding a tire early in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte. He wound up coming back after extensive repairs to finish 30th.

That was just the latest bout of bad luck for Earnhardt at his home track.

Earnhardt won both Winston Cup races on the 1 1/2-mile oval in 1986 and NASCAR’s all-star race, The Winston, there in 1987.

Since then, however, he has finished no higher than 12th. In 1989, he blew an engine and finished 38th in the May race and was last in the October race because of a broken camshaft.