So Far, Villeneuve’s Record Is Perfect : Indy 500: Three wrecks in three races this year have marked the rookie as a driver to watch out for--and to watch.

The abiding memory of Jacques Villeneuve is of him ramming his car into Hiro Matsushita’s--T-boning, they call it--apparently at top speed, as Matsushita and Paul Tracy sat in their disabled vehicles along the wall at Phoenix International Raceway.

It was a frightening crash, ripping Matsushita’s car in two while onlookers gasped, mentally counting the Japanese driver as a goner, hoping against hope that Tracy and Villeneuve might somehow survive.

Remarkably, in one of racing’s inexplicable turns, all three survived. Not only survived but walked away from that horrifying scene early last month.

A lot of people, though, were shaking their heads and muttering about that crazy Canadian, Villeneuve, wondering how anyone driving an Indy car could not understand the meaning of a yellow light.

That accident made Villeneuve two for two--two Indy car races and two crashes. He and Stefan Johansson had tangled in the season opener in Australia. And he was soon to be three for three, because he crashed again in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach a week later, although not so badly that he was unable to post his first finish.

And this is the man his boss, Barry Green, is touting as the best young driver he has seen in a long, long time? One he doesn’t hesitate to compare to Al Unser Jr. and Michael Andretti in their formative years?

Yes, this is Green’s choice as the next major star in Indy car racing.

Said Green, team manager of Forsythe-Green Racing: “I’ve been with some great drivers--I’ve been in the right place at the right time--been with Al Jr., Mike Andretti and now Jacques. And I would say that Jacques is as good as anyone that I’ve worked with, and once we figure out how to win, I think you will see a heck of a lot of him at the front and up on the podium. I would say he’s as close a thing to a natural that I’ve worked with.”

Green is not one of those terribly exuberant guys who sees the bright side of everything. So what is it he sees in Villeneuve?

For one thing, he sees him as the fastest rookie qualifier in Indianapolis 500 history. Villeneuve qualified his Reynard-Ford at 226.259 m.p.h., which makes him the fourth-fastest driver in the field for Sunday’s race.

Villeneuve qualified faster than such established stars as Michael and Mario Andretti, former winner Arie Luyendyk and defending Indy car series champion Nigel Mansell.

And for another, Green sees Villeneuve as a quick study who won five races, seven poles and rookie-of-the-year honors last year in the Formula Atlantic series during a season undertaken specifically to prepare him and Forsythe-Green for Indy car racing.

Finally, for what it’s worth, there is a genetic connection. Villeneuve is the son of the late Formula One driver Gilles Villeneuve.

And if Jacques Villeneuve--it’s pronounced Jack Vill-nuv --has a reputation for wildness, which he does, it is undeserved, according to Green.

“I used to talk to him about not being aggressive enough,” Green said.

Well, yes, but what about Phoenix?

“He ran superbly (after qualifying second) up until that unfortunate accident,” Green said.

“The problem with Phoenix is the difference between the faster cars and the slower cars--the closing speed. That amazed him, how quick he would approach the ‘back markers.’

“Down the back straightaway, we had just told him the lap before that he was approaching a bunch of slower cars. He came upon three cars as they’re going into Turn 3. They must have seen the yellow. They lifted off (the gas). He’s going in at 190, still. All he was doing was trying to avoid the three cars in front of him.

“He had to go outside them and . . . was fighting for control himself. He did put on the brakes a long time before television said he did. He actually struck (Matsushita’s car) at something under 100 m.p.h. The brakes locked up at 105 m.p.h. That’s when our on-board data system stopped taking data because it relies on the rotation of the wheels.

“At the same point that he was going around these three cars, I yelled, ‘Yellow!’ (on the two-way radio). I was late yelling yellow. We always yell yellow and unfortunately we were late, and he didn’t see the yellow till it was too late.”

Still, that accident stamped Villeneuve as a wild young driver.

He smiles at that description.

“You know, when you race, you’re not there just to sit around and wait,” Villeneuve, 23, said. “You take chances, and when you lack experience, often you take chances when you shouldn’t and you make mistakes. I think what’s important is to learn from them and try not to make the same mistakes over and over.”

Green says that Villeneuve has learned plenty already.

“He takes direction very well,” Green said. “Obviously, we’ve got to learn how to finish and how to win in Indy cars. I’ve seen him do it extremely well in the formulas. And he’s better suited to Indy car racing than the shorter sprint races.

“His ability to read the car is uncanny. We get here and we have not got a good car. It doesn’t take long (with Villeneuve telling the team what the car needs) before we have a good car. It has to be in the seat of his pants. If you look at the experience that he’s had, it’s not enough for him to have figured it all out.

“I told him at the start of the season that his biggest problem was going to be finishing the first three races.

“In Australia, he was a little over-aggressive. I think not knowing who he could pass safely hurt him. I was disappointed that Stefan turned right into him--he was still going to beat him through the corner.

“Phoenix--very unfortunate.

“Long Beach, the (cars with Reynard chassis) were all in trouble. We have yet to figure out why, but we didn’t give him a good race car. And yet he decided he was going to have a go.”

And for a few laps, Villeneuve drove as though he had the strongest car on the course, passing cars, working his way up the field. He eventually spun and backed into a tire wall, damaging the car’s rear wing, but still managed to finish, in 15th place.

Even so, Green figured that he had to rein Villeneuve in a bit.

“If it was not for the other two incidents, I would have gone up and said, ‘I love you,’ ” he said. “I cannot stand a driver that, when the car’s not right, just drops to the rear.

“But because it was the third incident, we had to talk about it. It’s not that he was driving recklessly, but he’s a rookie driver and he’s under observation (by racing officials) because he’s had two incidents.”

No less a critic than Mansell agrees that Villeneuve is a talent to be reckoned with--in time.

“He is a little too brave at the moment,” Mansell said. “He needs to temper his enthusiasm and give himself time to learn. If he does that, he can be better than even he thinks he can be. He just needs to be sensible.”

So, Green has a fast, aggressive young driver in his car, which is starting on the inside of the second row. Can that combination translate to a major upset Sunday?

“We all know that the person who does win is a very, very lucky person because you need a lot of luck in this race,” Green said.

“I feel we could win this race. The race car has performed well in every type of condition. What we’re trying to focus on is being there for the last 100 miles of the race. What we need to do for the first 400 is stay in touch with the lead. Fourth, where we’re starting, I think is the perfect spot.”

And Villeneuve may turn out to be the perfect driver, too. Provided he doesn’t have another incident.