500 MILES TO RETIREMENT

Arie Luyendyk is the only driver to win the Indianapolis 500 with long, flowing hair, and win it again with short-cropped hair.

He is the only driver to win the 500 with a turbocharged and a normally aspirated engine.

He holds, or shares, every speed record at Indianapolis Motor Speedway--237.498 mph in a turbocharged car in 1996 and 225.643 in a non-turbocharged car this year.

He will start on the pole in Sunday’s 83rd Indianapolis 500 for the third time. Only Rick Mears and A.J. Foyt had started up front more often.

And Sunday is his retirement day.

Arie Luyendyk came to the United States from Sommelsdyk, the Netherlands, in 1981 as a road-racing specialist who turned into one of the greatest oval-track racers in open-wheel racing history. His seven Indy car wins all came on ovals, the most memorable ones the 1990 Indy 500 when his hair was so long it hung out beneath his helmet, and the 1997 Indy 500 when he was a short-haired winner.

The Flying Dutchman, 45, announced after winning the final Indy Racing League event of 1998 at Las Vegas that he would retire this year, racing only in the Indianapolis 500.

“Indianapolis has had a special place in my heart, and I wanted to come here one more time to give me a chance to thank all the fans and friends who have been with me for the last 15 years,” he said Friday. “I think the first time I came to Indy, something just clicked. I always had a good feel for this place.

“I’ve shook so many hands that I started using my left hand, and now it’s sore too. I’ve made appearances every day and signed more autographs than I can remember, and I’ve loved every minute of it.”

After a pause, he added, “I’ve even signed some underwear and bras. . . . I just signed, though, I never held.”

Luyendyk hopes to go out a winner in his No. 5 G Force-Aurora owned by Fred Treadway, an Indianapolis businessman. He will start on the pole after qualifying at 225.179 mph, an Indy record for today’s brand of IRL cars.

He knows how to win from the pole. He did it that way in 1997, beating Treadway teammate Scott Goodyear to the finish line by a car length.

“I think we can do it again,” he said when asked about winning. “I think we have a very strong team, and that’s what can make a difference in 500 miles--if you have excellent pit stops and things like that, and I know my guys are great in the pits and they usually don’t let me down.

“But you know, so many things can happen on race day, you can’t really predict what’s going to happen.”

Luyendyk, who lives in Scottsdale, Ariz., with his wife, Mieke, and four children, says he is retiring to spend more time helping with his oldest son’s racing career, but those close to him say the death of his close friend, Scott Brayton, has worn heavily on him.

“The darkest day I’ve ever had at a racetrack was the day Scott was killed,” he said. “I think about it all the time when I’m here.”

Brayton was killed when he hit the Turn 2 wall while practicing in 1996, two days after winning the pole for the second consecutive year.

Luyendyk’s 17-year-old son, Arie Jr., is driving in the Dutch Formula Ford series this year.

“He’s in good hands over there, he’s driving for a guy I ran for 25 years ago,” Luyendyk said. “I try to stay out of the picture, I don’t want to be the overbearing dad. Right now, my role is sort of a sponsor, to raise money for him to race.

“My family has made a lot of sacrifices for me to be a race driver. When you are committed to a team for an entire season, you are committed every day of the year. The work doesn’t start with practice on Friday and end with the race on Sunday. There is the travel, the testing and the appearances.

“Even when I’m at home, I’m working out, busy on the phone, and thinking about the business of racing.”

Even though his family still lives in Holland, and his son is racing there, Luyendyk said he planned to remain in Scottsdale.

“I’m not going to be like [Alex] Zanardi and head for Europe after my last race. I’m not moving anywhere. And just because I’m retiring from Indy and open-cockpit racing, it doesn’t mean I won’t keep on racing. I plan on doing some long-distance races, maybe another Daytona or Sebring, maybe even LeMans.”

Luyendyk drove seven hours in a Ferrari 333SP to help Gianpiero Moretti’s team win the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1998, and also won the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1989.

“The lure’s always there to drive a race car,” he said. “I think that will stay for quite a while, just the sheer enjoyment of driving a fast car, and that’s why I kind of want to keep that option open for myself if I just want to go out and have a ball and a good time.”

Thinking back to Brayton and the risks of hitting a wall at 220 mph are enough to keep Luyendyk from returning to Indianapolis, however.

“If I had control of what was going to happen,” he said, “I might stick around, but there’s a lot of stuff that can happen in front of you that you get tangled up in, and that’s exactly what happened to me last year a couple of times, and the year before in Fontana when I drove Chip [Ganassi’s] car [in a CART race].

“You know, somebody loses it and you get caught up in it and the next thing you know you wake up a half-hour later. I know what the risks are, and I try to avoid them as best as I can, but sometimes it’s out of your control.”

Five hundred miles more on Sunday, and it will be all over for the Flying Dutchman.

****

INDIANAPOLIS 500: Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

TV: 8 a.m., Channel 7

Defending champion: Eddie Cheever

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Luyendyk at Indy 500

How two-time champion Arie Luyendyk has fared at the Indianapolis 500. Including this year, he has won the pole three times, finishing second in 1993 and winning in 1997:

* 1985: 7th in first outing.

* 1986: 15th, accident on Lap 188.

* 1987: 18th, suspension problem on Lap 125.

* 1988: 10th after starting in sixth position.

* 1989: 21st, engine problem on Lap 123.

* 1990: 1st in track-record 185.981 mph.

* 1991: 3rd after starting in 14th position.

* 1992: 15th, accident on Lap 135.

* 1993: 2nd to Emerson Fittipaldi.

* 1994: 18th, engine problem on Lap 179.

* 1995: 7th after starting in 2nd position.

* 1996: 16th, accident on Lap 149.

* 1997: 1st by 0.57 seconds over Scott Goodyear.

* 1998: 20th, gearbox problem on Lap 151.