Youth Served on Pole Sunday

Tony Stewart, who turned 25 on Monday, will be the youngest driver to start on the Indy 500 pole since Rex Mays in 1936, when he was 23. Mays also was on the pole in 1935.

Stewart is also the first rookie on the pole since Teo Fabi in 1983.

When the bell sounded the close of the first day of qualifying, Stewart was third, on the outside of the front row. He moved up one spot when Arie Luyendyk’s car was found to be too light and then slid over to the pole after the death Friday of his Menard teammate, Scott Brayton, who had been on the pole.

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Most of the Indy car racing fraternity will drive to Coldwater, Mich., 180 miles north, for Brayton’s services. Visitation will be tonight, with funeral services Wednesday at the United Methodist Church in Coldwater.

Bridgestone-Firestone officials, after calling in tire engineer specialists from Akron, declared that the deflated tire that caused Brayton’s fatal accident was punctured and that there was no indication of internal structural damage.

Motorsports manager Al Speyer also said that it may never be known what caused the puncture. All of the Firestone tires being used at Indy were made in Tokyo.