Now It’s the Wheel Deal

Rookies are the life blood of the Indianapolis 500.

Without them, there would be no future. At Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a rookie is anyone who has not driven in the 500, be he a world Formula One champion like Nigel Mansell or Graham Hill or a teenager from Mexico like Josele Garza, the 1981 rookie of the year at 19.

This year there are eight, not an unusual number among the 33 starters. Last year there were 13, including this year’s pole-sitter, Billy Boat. The year before there were 17. The record is 19, in 1919 and again in 1930, except of course, the inaugural 500 in 1911 when all 40 starters were rookies.

Five rookies of the year will be in Sunday’s 82nd 500--Roberto Guerrero, 1984; defending champion Arie Luyendyk, 1985; Eddie Cheever, 1990; Tony Stewart, 1996; and Jeff Ward, 1997.

The eight of ’98 pretty much represent what Indy Racing League founder Tony George had in mind when he organized his oval racing circuit three years ago. He said he wanted to give young American drivers, particularly those from short tracks with midget, sprint car and Silver Crown experience, an opportunity to run in the Indianapolis 500, an opportunity they seemed to have lost to the foreign, i.e. road racing, element favored by CART.

For the first time since 1980, all of the rookies are Americans. Six of the eight came from U.S. Auto Club open-wheel competition, just the way old-timers such as Parnelli Jones, A.J. Foyt, Johnny Rutherford and Bobby Unser did.

The eight, in order of starting position, with age and hometown:

* J.J. YELEY: (13th spot, age 21, Phoenix) He is the youngest driver in the race, the son of seven-time Arizona midget champion Cactus Jack Yeley. Yeley has been racing since he was 10, driving quarter-midgets and go-karts. The USAC sprint car rookie of the year in 1997, he won three consecutive races early this season in the Southern California-based Sprint Car Racing Assn.

He is expected to replace Stewart as Team Menard driver when Stewart leaves the IRL to drive Winston Cup races for Joe Gibbs. “I’ve been tremendously impressed with what he’s done so far,” said John Menard. “It’s not cast in stone that J.J. will be our driver next year. But we’re moving in that direction.”

* ANDY MICHNER: (19th, age 29, Ann Arbor, Mich.) One of USAC’s most promising open-wheel drivers, he finished second in midget standings to Tony Stewart in 1994 and ’95. He won the Rich Vogler Classic sprint car race at Winchester, Ind., and also has driven in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck series.

* ROBBY UNSER: (21st, age 30, Santa Fe, N.M.) The youngest son of three-time winner Bobby Unser, a nephew of four-time winner Al Unser and cousin of two-time winner Al Unser Jr., he won the American IndyCar Series title in 1989 and five Pikes Peak hill climb championships between 1989 and 1996.

“The respect I have for this place is immense,” Unser said. “There’s a lot of heartfelt energy in it for me. Etiquette and how you do things here is so critical, and that’s one thing that I’ve been able to learn as a kid growing up watching.”

Another cousin, Johnny Unser, is also in Sunday’s field.

* JACK HEWITT: (22nd, age 46, Troy, Ohio) The oldest rookie qualifier in Indy 500 history, he has been racing 25 years with ambition to get in an Indy 500. He is the winningest USAC Silver Crown driver with 20 victories and has won two championships. He also has 42 USAC sprint car wins.

“My dream has taken me 25 years,” Hewitt said after qualifying on Saturday, then sweating out being bumped on Sunday. “I’m too old to do a lot of things. Thankfully, racing Indy cars isn’t one of them.”

* STEVE KNAPP: (23rd, age 34, Salem, Wis.) One of two rookies with a road-racing background, he began driving sports cars in 1985 and won SCCA Pro Sports 2000 championships in 1986 and 1987. He won the U.S. Formula 2000 series in 1996 and also drives in the Toyota Atlantic series. He is part of the three-car ISM Racing team in the 500 with Jeff Ward and Jim Guthrie.

“I started racing back in 1985 and stopped in 1988 because it got too expensive,” Knapp said. “My wife and I sat down and set goals in order to get here. We put our own business in order to free up my time. Now we’ve accomplished what we set out to do.”

* DONNIE BEECHLER: (24th, age 36, Springfield, Ill.) Beechler is a veteran USAC Silver Crown driver, won the Cal Expo 100 at Sacramento in 1995 and 1996, the Pacific Open midget crown at Hanford in 1994 and finished second to Dave Darland in Silver Crown standings last year.

“To be honest, for years I wanted to go stock car racing,” Beechler said. “I always liked Indy cars, but with the previous organization they were out of reach. I raced with [Winston Cup driver] Ken Schrader and saw him getting stock car rides, so I thought that was the only way for me to go. But when [IRL car owner] Larry Cahill gave me the opportunity, I jumped at it.”

* JIMMY KITE: (26th, age 22, Stockbridge, Ga.) The fastest rookie in the race, with one lap of 219.635 mph and four laps at 219.290, he wrecked three cars when he hit the wall three times in four days, and on the final qualifying lap he came within a foot or two of crashing again. He comes to Indy cars from midgets and Silver Crown racing and won the USAC Silver Crown race at Phoenix after starting 26th.

“You can’t go out and be cautious and make the field,” said the brash youngster. “These guys are too fast. [Team owner] Andy Evans hired me because I step on the gas. I’ve never had a boring life. It’s the Indy 500, and the way we did it is the way my life has been. Just when it seems nothing goes right, everything goes right.”

* STAN WATTLES: (29th, age 36, Sewall’s Point, Fla.) He is the only driver using a Riley & Scott chassis, the only one in the race made in the United States. The Riley & Scott shop is about half a mile south of the Speedway. He has a road-racing background, having come to Indy from SCCA regional racing and the Toyota Atlantic series.

He overcame dyslexia to become a competitive skier, cross-country runner and rock climber and is one test away from a black belt in Tang Soo Do.

“I think the [Riley & Scott] car is going to be a front-runner. I think with a little more development it is going to be just as good as the G Force and Dallara.”

Three-time Indy 500 winner Johnny Rutherford, who oversees rookie orientation for the IRL, says the short-track drivers seemed to find it easy to adapt to the rear-engine Indy cars.

“It’s really almost scary because they take to it like ducks to water,” he said. “Driving a sprint car, midget or Silver Crown car is like slapping a mountain lion in the hind end with a handful of cockleburs--you better be ready. That tends to lend itself to making a guy ready for just about anything.

“To step up into in one of these cars is probably like getting into a Cadillac out of a Volkswagen. I think that it’s exciting to see these young guys getting a chance.”

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Indy 500

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

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

* On the pole: Billy Boat