EAGER EDDIE

Eddie Cheever raced for 20 years and 229 races--132 in Formula One and 97 in Indy cars--before he won the Indianapolis 500 last year, but he doesn’t regret a minute of it.

“Maybe it’s because I’m 40 now and can appreciate more what it took to reach this point,” he said as he prepared to defend his championship Sunday in the 83rd running of the world’s most prestigious race. “The Indianapolis 500 has consumed my life the last 10 years, at least that’s what I thought before I won it.

“Since winning, both as a driver and a car owner, my life has changed dramatically. I’m a totally different person than I was a year ago. I have a lot less free time than I had a year ago. In fact, I have none at all.”

Cheever will start 16th Sunday, inside in the sixth row, after a confusing qualifying session during which he rejected a 221.5-mph speed early in the day, then later had to accept 221.3.

“I guess the best way to characterize the way I handled qualifying was that I should win the ‘village idiot’ award,” he said. “The most important thing about the 500 is to be in it. Running a 500-mile race is a cakewalk compared to last Saturday.”

Cheever waved off his early attempt because he was at least two miles short of expectations in speed. However, as other drivers continued to come up short, it was apparent that track and weather conditions were responsible for the slower times.

“I’m not concerned about starting in the middle of the pack,” he said. “We won from 17th last year. It was a very difficult day. We were like a dog chasing its tail, but we have a much better team than last year.

“If I have any concern, it’s that I have not done enough running on the engine. I have not run 500 miles with it.”

Cheever stunned Indy Racing League observers in April when he switched from the Olds Aurora engine that he won with here last year to the less successful Nissan Infiniti. In three seasons, Infiniti has yet to win a race.

“We entered into the agreement with Infiniti late in the game,” he said. “We’ve been working very hard with the engine, but we’ve pretty much compacted five months’ worth of work into a month and a half. At Team Cheever, we believe that sometimes you have to take risks to grow as a company.”

Only two other cars, driven by veteran Roberto Guererro and rookie Jeret Schroeder, will use Infiniti power plants in Sunday’s race.

Curiously, Cheever’s teammate-protege, Belgian rookie Wim Eyckmans, will be using Aurora power in the team’s second car.

Cheever has used an Infiniti engine only once under racing conditions. He had it in the Visionaire 500 on May 1 at Lowe’s Speedway in Charlotte, N.C., and had been running third behind Buddy Lazier and Greg Ray for nearly 30 laps before spectator fatalities caused the race to be stopped and declared “no race.” Cheever had gained 10 places in eight laps to reach third place.

“I don’t want to sound arrogant, or overconfident, but I sincerely feel our chances for victory are vastly superior to what they were this time last year,” Cheever said. “Our strategy is simple. For the [No.] 51 car, I want to be in the leading pack by the last pit stop. Then it is down to whom is the best.”

Cheever, who drove in his first race in a go-kart at 13 on Rome’s Pista d’Ora track in 1971, has been an articulate backer of Tony George’s decision to form the IRL. When most of CART’s teams decided not to follow along, Cheever, along with A.J. Foyt, Scott Goodyear, Arie Luyendyk and a few others, stayed with George.

“Not driving in the Indianapolis 500 I found very hard to stomach,” Cheever said. “I think what Tony has done is right, but I will say this, if the Indy 500 was on CART’s schedule and not the IRL’s, I would be a CART driver. My year would not be complete without having a crack at the Indianapolis 500.”

For years, Cheever was known as one of the few American drivers in Formula One. Although he was born in Phoenix, he grew up in South Africa and Italy, so it was logical for him to graduate from a youthful career in karting to Formula Three, Formula Two and finally Formula One.

After making his F1 debut March 1, 1978, for the Hesketh team at Kyalami, South Africa, he drove in more Grand Prix races than any other American, including world champions Mario Andretti and Phil Hill, or Dan Gurney.

Although he drove one CART race with Frank Arciero’s team in 1986 at Miami, Cheever did not switch from F1 to Indy cars until 1990, when he drove for Chip Ganassi. He finished eighth in the Indy 500 and was named rookie of the year. He also was named the CART series rookie of the year after finishing ninth in points.

In 1992, Cheever sat in the front row at Indianapolis with a speed of 229.639 mph in a turbocharged Lola.

He finished fourth, and the next year was even more eventful, in a different way. With only 16 minutes of qualifying time left, and after failing five times, Cheever bumped former winner Bobby Rahal out of the field to get the 33rd position in a Team Menard entry.

In 1996, the first 500 under IRL auspices, Cheever ran the fastest race lap in Indy history, 236.103, and had 22 of the fastest 50 laps in the race only to finish 11th, 11 laps behind winner Buddy Lazier.

When the IRL switched engines in 1997, going from turbocharged racing engines to normally aspirated four-liter production-based power plants, Cheever decided to form his own team and become a driver-owner.

Cheever won the season-opening Indy 200 at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., although he did not lead a lap under racing conditions. When the leaders pitted during a yellow caution flag, Cheever stayed out and when it began to rain, he was declared the winner.

It was the first major victory of his long career.

Last year, despite starting 17th, Cheever led 76 laps, the most of any Indy winner since Emerson Fittipaldi in 1989, and beat Lazier by 3.191 seconds. It was the first victory for an owner-driver since Foyt in 1977.

“Winning the 500 in the manner we did was very fulfilling, but even more fulfilling for me as a car owner than it has been as a driver,” he said.

“After the race was over, though, it made me kind of sad, because it would be a whole year before we could come back here. That’s probably the way I’ll feel again Sunday night, but it’ll be lot sweeter if I’m in Victory Circle again.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGIzNDIANAPOLIS 500 (AUTOMOBILE RACE)RAPHIC)

Indy 500 Facts

* When: 8 a.m. Sunday.

* Where: Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

* TV: Channel 7.

* Defending champion: Eddie Cheever.