They Took Racing 101

This year’s Indianapolis 500 field might not be the best, but is probably the most educated to run the race.

Six drivers are college graduates, a rarity among race drivers of any type. Paul Durant got his degree from Fresno State, Johnny Unser from Cal State Sacramento, Buzz Calkins from Colorado, Johnny O’Connell from Denison, Robbie Buhl from New England College and Scott Sharp from Babson.

Three others--Buddy Lazier, Joe Gosek and Scott Harrington--also attended college.

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Mitch Davis, crew chief for Davy Jones, says that winning the Coors Pit Stop Challenge on Thursday is an omen for race day.

“So far, we’ve sat on the front row and won the pit stop contest,” he said. “We did the same thing in ’92 when [Al Unser] Junior won the race, and we’re hoping to duplicate that this year. Sometimes you just get on a roll and can’t stop.”

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The front row is the fastest starting row in history with a three-car average of 232.888 mph. The previous record was 231.131 mph by the 1995 front row.

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There are 10 drivers who were in the 1995 Indy 500 in Sunday’s starting field, including four among the top 12 finishers: Eliseo Salazar, fourth; Arie Luyendyk, seventh; Alessandro Zampedri, 11th; and Roberto Guerrero, 12th.

Others are Hideshi Matsuda, 15th; Jones, 23rd; Sharp, 26th; Lazier, 27th; Eddie Cheever, 31st; and Lyn St. James, 32nd.

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How inexperienced are the rookies? Listen to Gosek, a supermodified driver from Oswego, N.Y.:

“All the years I’ve raced on ovals I’ve never used mirrors. That’s something I’ll have to rehearse every lap.”

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Johnny Unser’s start will be the 60th at Indy for the Unser family. The other Unsers are Jerry, Johnny’s father, one; Bobby, 19; Al, 27; and Al Jr., 12.