Indy League Off to a Poor Start

When Tony George decided to reserve 25 starting berths in the Indianapolis 500 for drivers competing in his embryonic Indy Racing League, he might have overestimated the drawing power of the 500.

On qualifying day Friday for today’s Indy 200 at Walt Disney World, in what George called “the first day of qualifying for the Indianapolis 500,” only 20 cars showed up.

The IRL did get, temporarily at least, what it wanted at the front of the field for today’s series opener, two young American drivers. George has been vocal in his displeasure over the growing number of foreign drivers getting Indy car rides at the expense of home-grown talent.

Buddy Lazier, 28, a second-generation driver from Vail, Colo., won the pole on the mile tri-oval with a lap of 181.388 mph in Ron Hemelgarn’s 1995 Ford Cosworth-powered Reynard. Starting alongside Lazier in the front row was to have been Richie Hearn, 25, of Canyon Country, who did 180.905 mph, also in a ’95 Reynard-Cosworth.

Then Hearn disrupted that scenario. In practice after qualifying, he and Eddie Cheever collided and both cars suffered serious damage. Neither driver was injured but there was no guarantee that Hearn’s car could be repaired by race time. If it isn’t, he will start in another car but at the back of the field.

Lazier will still be on the pole, though, and thought that was first rate.

“I’ve been on all the rides at Disneyland, but the one today was the most fun of all,” he joked, alluding to the tricky new track on the Walt Disney World grounds. “The only other thing in my career that might equal it is the day I qualified for the Indy 500 the first time.”

That was in 1990 and he passed up his graduation ceremonies at Curry College in Boston for the opportunity. His enjoyment was short-lived, however, as he was bumped from the race a day later by John Paul Jr.

Since then, Lazier has driven in three Indy 500s, his best finish a 14th in 1992. He has also driven in 54 Indy car races, seven last year.

Lazier’s father, Bob, drove in the 1981 Indy 500, where he finished 19th and was named rookie of the year.

“It feels great to be in the lead,” Lazier said. “For the first time in my career, I’ve done preseason testing and I’ve got a lot of miles in the car as a result. I’m looking forward to running 200 laps tomorrow.”

Hemelgarn, who has taken cars to the Indy 500 every year since 1984, issued a challenge to the CART teams that refused to take part in the IRL, the same ones that are planning to run May 26 at Brooklyn, Mich., opposite the Indy 500.

“I don’t like to be called a second-rate owner with second-rate drivers in second-rate cars, the way they’ve been talking about us,” Hemelgarn said. “I’d like to challenge them to come to Phoenix and match our times. Buddy ran 195 mph [actually 194.80] last month and that was faster than any of their cars ran [last season], faster than any car has ever run there.

“I don’t consider myself a second-rate owner, and these young men here are not second-rate drivers. Some of them might not have familiar names, but they are all race drivers.”

Eliseo Salazar, fourth-place finisher in last year’s Indy 500 and one of the favorites here, suffered a severe leg injury in a spectacular crash during morning practice. Salazar’s Lola-Cosworth looked like a pinball as it rapped the outside retaining wall, spun across the track and bounced off the inside rail before careening back across the track again, where it hit the third turn wall nearly head-on.

A stabilizing rod went through the right thigh of the Chilean veteran, who won seven races in a Ferrari during the 1994 world sports car championships. Medical workers had to cut the metal rod before they could get Salazar out of his car, a procedure that took 30 minutes.

Salazar, 40, was airlifted to Orlando Regional Medical Center where surgeons removed the rod. Dr. Kevin Cox listed his condition as serious but stable, but said more surgery would be needed. Salazar had no other injuries.

Today’s race has been called a sellout by Michael Waggoner, manager of motorsports for Walt Disney World, but the Orlando Sentinel had a full-page advertisement on the back page of its sports section Thursday saying tickets were available.

The track, whose elevation changes make it more like a road course, according to drivers, even though all the turns are left, has 50,000 temporary seats that will be removed after today’s race, although the running surface will remain.