Groff Maintains Lead in Points Standings

Mike Groff’s 12th-place finish, highest of the six drivers using Infiniti Indy engines, enabled him to remain atop the Indy Racing League standings after five races.

Groff has 148 points to 143 for Davey Hamilton, who finished sixth in one of A.J. Foyt’s cars.

The next IRL race is Saturday, June 7, under the lights at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.

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Six accidents Tuesday, and one Monday, contributed to 11 caution periods for a total of 58 laps.

Only one driver, Paul Durant, was hospitalized. Durant and Billy Roe sideswiped on Lap 114, sending both cars into the outside wall. Roe climbed out uninjured, but Durant was taken to Methodist Hospital with a broken pelvis and a concussion. Dr. Henry Bock, Speedway medical director, said he was in good condition.

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When Jack Miller, the Indianapolis dentist, lost control and hit the wall in the short chute, Mike Groff spun into the warmup lane to avoid him.

After both were out of their cars, Groff threw his gloves at Miller in disgust.

“I don’t know why he’s so upset with me,” Miller said. “He was very unprofessional. I can’t help it if something broke.’

Groff’s comment: “He just lost it. He just spun in front of me. I had to go low and I’m glad I did. Luckily, I missed him. If I wouldn’t have spun, I would have hit him for sure.”

After a lengthy pit stop, Groff returned to the race.

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Rookie Robbie Groff, Mike’s younger brother, got family bragging rights with a ninth-place finish.

“We might have finished higher, but we had some problems with the Scandia drivers, primarily [Fermin] Velez and [Marco] Greco. Some of the drivers were a little defensive, but those guys were ridiculous.”

Asked if he passed his brother, Robbie grinned and said, “Oh, two or three times.”

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The Aurora engine in Arie Luyendyk’s car was the first naturally aspirated engine to power the Indy 500 winner since Foyt in 1967. Of the 13 cars still running at the finish, 11 were Auroras and two were Infinitis.

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Third-place finisher Jeff Ward, who was chosen as rookie of the year and gets $10,000 because of that, said he narrowly escaped a truly embarrassing moment.

“I almost hit the pace car,” he said. “He was on the warmup lane [inside the main track] and I was on the track. I thought he was going to stay there and then he came across. The next thing I know, I see the fender of an Aurora. I thought, ‘Here I am, leading the race and I’m going to hit the pace car.’ ”

Close call or not, Ward impressed his boss, driver-car owner Eddie Cheever.

“I’ve never seen a rookie perform like he has,” Cheever said. “I said, ‘This guy doesn’t want to mess around with rookie of the year, he wants to win this race.’ ”

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Runner-up Scott Goodyear minced no words when asked about the controversial last lap, when drivers had to decide whether to believe starter Bryan Howard’s green flag or the yellow caution lights that still were showing around the track.

“USAC [which supplies race-day officials for the Indy Racing League] has to shake some webs on that one because it was bloody stupid,” he said.

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Steve Kinser, the veteran sprint car driver competing in his first 500, will have mixed memories of his rookie appearance here.

“Other than hitting a car on a restart [Eliseo Salazar’s] and then hitting another car with 15 laps to go [Buzz Calkins’], it wasn’t too bad,” he said.

“The first time, we were just doing brake checks and I just got on [the throttle] a little too hard. . . . The second time, I just misjudged the distance between us.”

Kinser brought impressive sprint-car driver aggression to the race, though, and said he would like more chances to prove himself in Indy cars.

“I’d hate to quit now,” he said. “To run as good as we did on the spur of the moment, I’m very proud of everyone [on the team]. I’m just disappointed in myself.”