Ongais Back --He’ll Drive Brayton’s Car

Danny Ongais, who has not raced seriously since 1987 when he crashed hard and missed the Indianapolis 500, will be in Scott Brayton’s car in next Sunday’s Indy 500.

It’s the the same car Scott Brayton qualified on the pole at 233.718 mph--six days before losing his life in a 230-mph crash while practicing in a backup car.

“We looked long and hard for someone who would be appropriate to do this,” car owner John Menard said. “We’re wishing it was under other circumstances. We wanted to do what Scott wanted, and that’s to race the car at the greatest race track in the world.”

Ongais, a Hawaiian who lives in Long Beach, turns 54 Tuesday. Being a replacement driver, he will start 33rd and last.

In 1987, after Ongais crashed one of Roger Penske’s cars and was not cleared medically to drive, Penske put Al Unser in the car and he won his fourth 500.

Menard said it was Unser who recommended that he use Ongais.

Ongais tested a Menard backup car for 25 laps Sunday and reached 221.904 mph. His only other opportunity to familiarize himself with the ’95 Lola-Menard will be on Thursday.

Before being named to drive the second fastest car in the race, Ongais had been trying to get a ’93 Lola-Menard up to qualifying speed. His best lap was 220.194 on Saturday.

“The track seems the same as the last time I was here,” Ongais said. “The speeds don’t seem that much different to me. They [the cars] did not seem to change at all.”

Ongais’ fastest speed in the 11 years he was at Indy was 209.158 mph in 1986. He suffered near-fatal injuries during the 1981 race that kept him out of action for nearly a year.

Ongais’ last outing was last November in a Porsche 935 in the Palm Springs Grand Prix vintage race.

“These are rather large shoes to fill and I’ll do my best for Team Menard,” Ongais said. “I knew Scott for a few years. We knew each other well enough to say hello.”

As for the rest of the Indy field, the disparity in speed from Arie Luyendyk’s track record 236.986 mph to Scott Harrington’s 222.185 is not unusual. The 14.801-mph differential is much less than the 22.549 between Jimmy Vasser and Juan Manuel Fangio II at the U. S. 500.

But the difference in experience is vast. Frighteningly so.

After rookies Joe Gosek and Harrington filled the field in Sunday’s final time trials, it upped the number of drivers in their first Indianapolis 500 to 17, two short of the 1919 record.

Most of the rookies have never driven 500 miles. Never made a pit stop under pressure. Never raced in traffic at 220 mph. Never used mirrors.

They will get their first taste of traffic Thursday when teams make their final checks during Carburetion Day.

As Indy Racing League founder Tony George promised when he outlined his controversial qualifying plans that reserved as many as 25 places for IRL drivers--there was bumping on the final day.

Billy Boat, the U.S. Auto Club’s western regional midget champion, was sidelined when Gosek and Harrington qualified in the final 25 minutes with faster speeds than Boat’s 221.824. Boat’s hopes of coming back in another car were dashed when he crashed in one of A.J. Foyt’s extra cars about the time Gosek was preparing to qualify.

Boat, who is first alternate, was taken to Methodist Hospital, where he complained of back and leg pain. He was held overnight for observation.

The final day’s only other qualifier was Hideshi Matsuda of Japan, who made his third 500 after only 35 laps of practice, all on Sunday.

The 33-car field qualified at a record 227.807 mph, up 0.895 from last year.

All of the cars carried decals that read: In Memory of No. 2 SCOTT BRAYTON.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Indianapolis 500 Lineup

The lineup for Sunday’s Indianapolis 500, listing the driver, hometown or country, car number, chassis-engine, and four-lap qualification average speed in mph. All cars 1995 models unless noted otherwise.

ROW 1

1. r-Tony Stewart, Rushville, Ind., No. 20, Lola-Menard, 233.100.

2. Davy Jones, Lake Tahoe, Nev., No. 70, Lola-Mercedes, 232.882.

3. Eliseo Salazar, Chile, No. 7, Lola-Ford, 232.684.

ROW 2

4. Eddie Cheever, Aspen, Colo., No. 3, Lola-Menard, 231.781.

5. Buddy Lazier, Vail, Colo., No. 91, Reynard-Ford, 231.468.

6. Roberto Guerrero, San Juan Capistrano, No. 21, Reynard-Ford, 231.373.

ROW 3

7. Alessandro Zampedri, Italy, No. 8, Lola-Ford, 229.595.

8. r-Michel Jourdain Jr., Mexico, No. 22, Lola-Ford, 229.380.

9. r-Buzz Calkins, Denver, No. 12, Reynard-Ford, 229.013.

ROW 4

10. r-Davey Hamilton, Boise, Idaho, No. 14, Lola-Ford, 228.887.

11. Mike Groff, Palm Desert, No. 60, Reynard-Ford, 228.704.

12. r-Michele Alboreto, Italy, No. 33, Reynard-Ford, 228.229.

ROW 5

13. Stephan Gregoire, France, No. 9, Reynard-Ford, 227.556.

14. r-Mark Dismore, Greenfield, Ind., No. 30, Lola-Menard, 227.260.

15. r-Richie Hearn, Canyon Country, No. 4, Reynard-Ford, 226.521.

ROW 6

16. r-Johnny Unser, Sun Valley, Idaho, No. 64, Reynard-Ford, 226.115.

17. John Paul Jr., West Palm Beach, Fla., No. 18, 1993 Lola-Menard, 224.757.

18. Lyn St. James, Daytona Beach, Fla., No. 45, 1994 Lola-Ford, 224.594.

ROW 7

19. r-Jim Guthrie, Albuquerque, No. 27, 1993 Lola-Menard, 222.394.

20. Arie Luyendyk, Netherlands, No. 5, Reynard-Ford, 236.986.

21. Scott Sharp, Danville, Calif., No. 11, Lola-Ford, 231.201.

ROW 8

22. Marco Greco, Brazil, No. 41, 1994 Lola-Ford, 228.840.

23. r-Robbie Buhl, Grosse Pointe, Mich., No. 54, 1994 Lola-Ford, 226.217.

24. r-Paul Durant, Manteca, Calif., No. 96, 1992 Lola-Buick, 225.404.

ROW 9

25. r-Racin Gardner, Buellton, Calif., No. 90, 1994 Lola-Ford, 224.453.

26. r-Brad Murphey, Tucson, No. 10, 1994 Reynard-Ford, 226.053.

27. Johnny Parsons, Indianapolis, No. 16, 1993 Lola-Menard, 223.843.

ROW 10

28. r-Fermin Velez, Spain, No. 34, Lola-Ford, 222.487.

29. r-Johnny O’Connell, Chandler, Ariz., No. 75, Reynard-Ford, 222.361.

30. Hideshi Matsuda, Japan, No. 52, 1994 Lola-Ford, 226.856.

ROW 11

31. r-Joe Gosek, Oswego, N.Y., No. 43, 1994 Lola-Ford, 222.793.

32. r-Scott Harrington, Indianapolis, No. 44, Reynard-Ford, 222.185.

33. x-Danny Ongais, Long Beach, No. 2, Lola-Menard.

Field average--227.807 mph (record). Former record--226.912 mph, 1995.

r-rookie

x-Car qualified on pole by Scott Brayton at 233.718 mph and moved to rear of lineup after Brayton was killed in practice and Ongais substituted as driver.