Checkered Memory

By SHAV GLICK

May 28, 1999 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

INDIANAPOLIS —

Scott Goodyear’s bust isn’t on the Borg-Warner Trophy with the winners of the 82 Indianapolis 500s, but as far as the Canadian driver is concerned, he is already a winner.

“I absolutely won in 1995, the year I had problems with the pace car,” he said Thursday during final shakedowns for Sunday’s 83rd 500. “Look at the tapes and you’ll see the real problem. The pace car driver was going far too slow.”

In 1992, Goodyear lost by the narrowest margin in Indy history, 0.043 of a second to Al Unser Jr., and in 1997 he lost by the third-closest finish, 0.57 of a second to Arie Luyendyk.

“Disappointed, sure, but I don’t think this place owes me one,” the 39-year-old Panther Racing team driver said. “I look at it that I’ve already won, but more than that, I feel fortunate to have been here and done as well as I have.

“I feel pretty privileged to have been here eight times and to have been running at the end of 500 miles five times. A lot of people don’t get through rookie orientation, and even more don’t qualify. This is such a funny place. You just never know what can happen. The longer you’re here, the more you realize it’s a privilege just to be in the race.”

With a win at Phoenix and a second-place finish at Disney World this year, Goodyear is the Indy Racing League points leader and the popular favorite to win Sunday’s race. He is starting on the outside of the third row.

The Pennzoil Panther team includes NFL quarterback Jim Harbaugh, TV producer Terry Ligner, automobile executive Gary Pedigo and team manager John Barnes.

“People are always asking if Jim is an active owner,” Goodyear said. “He’s not only one of the owners, he’s one of our pit guys. On Sunday, he’ll be the one holding the signboard.”

Phoenix was his first IRL win, but Goodyear twice won the Michigan 500 with CART, before he switched to the IRL in 1997.

“Like Eddie [Cheever] and Arie, I wanted to be where Indy was part of the series,” Goodyear said. “Like I said, in my mind I’m already a winner, but it would be better if my name was in the record books that way.”

In the 1995 race, Goodyear led the final 20 laps and was first across the finish line, but he was penalized for passing the pace car on a restart after a caution period, and for not responding to a black flag. When he refused to come in for the stop-and-go penalty, U.S. Auto Club officials stopped scoring him with five laps remaining. He was credited with a 14th-place finish and Jacques Villeneuve was awarded the victory.

“Two wrongs don’t make a right, but I didn’t come in because I was sure the officials would realize their mistake when the race was over,” Goodyear said. “We were told that the pace car speed would be 80 mph and when they were ready to turn us loose, the pace car driver would accelerate to 100.

“Tapes show that he was going only 77 when I went by him. The truth is that I thought something was wrong with the car, he was going so slow. I felt like I couldn’t take my foot off the gas because there were four guys chasing me who might crash if I slowed.”

He had reason to be concerned. Villeneuve, who decided not to follow Goodyear past the pace car, slowed abruptly and did cause some confusion behind him.

“When the race was over, I told my story, but I was told that the chief steward’s decision was final and could not be protested,” Goodyear said. “That ruling came about after the debacle in 1981 when it took five months to decide that Bobby Unser won, not Mario Andretti.”

In 1997, he barely lost to Luyendyk, his teammate, after USAC officials became confused on the last lap and waved a green flag while yellow lights were on around the track.

When Goodyear hesitated, remembering his ill-advised charge two years earlier, Luyendyk bolted to the front and won.

“We were leading, but Arie got a draft off us after a restart and got us in Turn 3,” Goodyear said. “I thought I had a chance to get him back, but when the starter showed a green flag and the lights around the track were yellow, I wondered what was going on.

“It was the last lap, and I hesitated and Arie didn’t. We had no real chance to draft off him.

“Arie is like a Hollywood celebrity around here. It was a pleasure for me to be his teammate as a rookie in 1990 and again in 1997. I think he’s one of the reasons I understand the speedway. I’m going to miss him.”

Luyendyk, the pole-sitter, is retiring after Sunday’s race.

In 1992, Goodyear’s third Indy 500, he nearly missed the race. After being bumped by Ted Prappas, Goodyear took over teammate Mike Groff’s car and started at the rear of the field.

“I was still fresh on the scene then and no one thought much about us,” he said. “Even when I came on from last place, the best anyone expected was maybe a top-10 finish. When we kept coming, it was maybe a top five.

“But we kept coming and coming and were in the hunt those last five laps. It was exciting and it made me more focused than ever on winning the 500.

“I wouldn’t say it was disappointing, though. Disappointing is when you don’t finish, the way it ended for us in 1991, 1994 and 1998. Last year we had a good car, but our clutch gave out about halfway through.”

Goodyear missed the 1996 race because of a broken back, suffered during practice at Rio de Janeiro.

Andy Brown, chief engineer for Goodyear’s G Force car, was Unser’s chief engineer for the 1992 race.

“I owe Scott a victory from ’92 and we’re going to do our best to put matters right this week,” Brown said. “Seeing a car that I had been involved with win the Indianapolis 500 was the highlight of my career. Now I would like to help Scott pick up that win that has eluded him.”

When Brown joined Panther Racing, he had been carrying a poster from the 1992 race that he had been waiting to frame. The poster showed Al Jr. edging Goodyear at the finish line. Unser had signed the poster, but Brown was reluctant to ask Goodyear.

“I finally decided one day that I was going to bring it to work, and when Scott came in I was just going to ask him to sign it,” Brown said. “When I asked him, he looked at me a bit bewildered and said he would sign it only if I agreed to two conditions.

“First, I had to promise him we would do everything we can to win Indy this year. Second, he said that if I ever put it up on the wall I had to hang it upside down so it looked as if Scott was crossing the finish line first.”

Brown and Goodyear already have one win this year. At Phoenix, Goodyear qualified third and led 134 of 200 laps, including the last 52. He was running third behind Cheever and Buddy Lazier when they crashed. Goodyear missed the debris and took over the lead for good.

That gave Goodyear a 93-75 lead over former motocross champion Jeff Ward in the Pep Boys IRL standings.

“We’re not thinking about points right now, we’re thinking about winning,” Goodyear said.

”. . . Winning only made us realize how much we should have won before we got our first one. There were two races last year, New Hampshire and Atlanta, where we should have won but something happened. At New Hampshire, we had gear box problems and finished second behind Tony Stewart. At Atlanta, we led more than half the race until we had a problem in the pits with a right rear tire and fell so far back we never caught up again.”

Goodyear grew up in Toronto, but lives in Carmel, Ind., a few miles north of the speedway, with his wife, Leslie, and three children, Christopher 7; Michael, 3, and Haley, 2.

“I’m Canadian, but this is home and I want to win on my home track,” he said, then added with a grin, “Again.”

INDIANAPOLIS 500

Sunday, 8 a.m.

TV: Channel 7, At Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Defending champion: Eddie Cheever

Race length: 200 laps, 500 miles

Track: 2.5 miles

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Goodyear at Indy

How Scott Goodyear has fared in the Indianapolis 500:

* 1990: 10th as rookie, flagged on his 191st lap.

* 1991: 27th, out on Lap 38 because of engine trouble.