Now It’s Newcomers Start Your Engines

The front row for Sunday’s 82nd 500 is the least experienced, in terms of Indianapolis background, since 1935.

Billy Boat, Greg Ray and Kenny Brack have only one year each, a total of three 500s. In 1935, pole-sitter Rex Mays was in his second race. Al Gordon, in the middle of the front row, had two previous starts. Floyd Roberts, on the outside, was a rookie.

It will be the first time since qualifications began in 1915 that no one on the front row had more than one year’s experience. In 1911-12, starting positions were determined by the date of entry. In 1913-14, drivers drew for position.

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Boat, who has a degree in finance from Arizona State, is the first college graduate to sit on the pole for an Indianapolis 500 since 1984, when former schoolteacher Tom Sneva had the honors.

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Having his own car on the 500 pole isn’t new for A.J. Foyt. He was the owner in 1975 when he took the No. 1 position with a lap of 193.976 mph. It was the last of Foyt’s four Indy poles, after having been fastest in 1965, 1969 and 1974.

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John Paul Jr. was the last driver to get a ride for this year’s race, but he was the first to qualify. Paul replaced Danny Ongais as driver of the Team Pelfrey car on Thursday. Ongais crashed Sunday and was not cleared to race.

After not running better than 213 while familiarizing himself with the car, Paul put a solid 217.351 on the board Saturday.

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How stressful is it to drive in the Indy 500? Scott Sharp wore a heart monitor in 1994, the first year he qualified.

“For three-plus hours, I was above 150, 160 beats a minute. You need to be in great shape just to keep all the mental stuff in check, to keep all of the focus and knowledge of what’s going on around you. It’s hard to do that when you’re panting away and tired.”

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Buzz Calkins, on four laps of qualifying for the 500: “It’s always the longest 2 minutes and 45 seconds of your life.”

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The oldest driver in the 500 will be a rookie, Jack Hewitt. He is 46, much younger than the oldest driver in 500 history. That would be Foyt, who was still racing in 1992 at 57.

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Baltimore Raven quarterback Jim Harbaugh is here as co-owner of the Pennzoil Panther Racing team that has Scott Goodyear as its driver. It’s a far cry from the first time he saw the 500 in 1994 when he was quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts.

“I was in town on race day and decided I wanted to see the race,” Harbaugh said. “Scalped a ticket out front, paid $20. The race was already on. It wasn’t a great seat, just one of those ticket-to-get-you-in-the-game things.

“What a difference. Now I’m down in the pits. You watch these guys come around the first lap at Indy, and I think it’s the most exciting thing I’ve ever seen in sports.”

Indy 500 Facts

* Thursday: Carburetion day, final practice 8-10 a.m. PDT (ESPN, noon)

* Sunday: 82nd Indianapolis 500, 8 a.m. PDT (Channel 7)