Brack’s Victory a Real Gas

One of the most tantalizing races in modern Indianapolis 500 history turned on a splash of fuel Sunday. Robby Gordon needed it. Kenny Brack didn’t.

With one lap remaining and Gordon apparently headed for the checkered flag at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the off-road racing veteran from Orange, Calif., abruptly turned down pit row for enough methanol to go the final 2 1/2 miles.

Brack, a soft-spoken Swedish driver recruited by A.J. Foyt last year, shot to the front and a lap later gave Foyt his fifth Indy 500 triumph--four as a driver and now his first as a car owner.

“We didn’t have any options,” said Gordon, who appeared almost as upbeat as if he had won. “One more lap of yellow and we could have squeezed it out. I thought this was our year. The stars all seemed to be line. There was a full moon last night in Indianapolis.

“What can I say? I could cry. I could kick the car, but John [car owner Menard] would get mad at me. I had a great time today. Just one lap of yellow, a lap we couldn’t catch, would have made the difference. That’s how close we were.”

Gordon finished fourth. Both he and Brack were driving Aurora-powered Dallaras, as were the first 11 finishers.

It was a banner day for Foyt, whose drivers finished first, third (Billy Boat) and sixth (Robbie Buhl).

“I knew, unless those guys [Gordon’s team] had a 45-gallon fuel tank, they couldn’t go all the way without stopping,” Foyt said. Indy Racing League fuel cells carry 35 gallons. “I felt Robby should have run out before he did.

“I can’t say enough for my guys. You qualify one car in the front row [Boat] and one in the back row [Buhl] and all finish in the top six and the third guy wins. What else can you ask for?”

Gordon had made what he and Menard hoped would be their last stop on lap 164. Brack stopped six laps later.

“It seemed like a good risk,” Menard said. “We didn’t expect the race to go green [without a caution flag] for the last 30 laps.”

Jeff Ward, the former motocross champion from San Juan Capistrano, finished second, 6.562 seconds behind Brack, the defending IRL champion.

“I thought I could win the Indy 500,” Brack said, matter-of-factly. “I am happy for both A.J. and myself, I think more for me. He has won it four times already. So I am happier for myself.”

Brack (pronounced Breck) was greeted in Victory Circle with a big kiss by his Swedish fiancee, Anita Gabrielsson.

The dramatic and unexpected conclusion to the 3-hour 15-minute 51-second race overshadowed a series of puzzling incidents that knocked out early leaders Arie Luyendyk and Greg Ray.

Luyendyk, the pole-sitter and two-time winner who was making the final race of his 15-year Indy car career, dashed to the front and led the first 32 laps, and then 31 more before a moment of overconfidence did him in.

In an attempt to put Tyce Carlson another lap down, Luyendyk went low in Turn 3 for the pass, only to have Carlson move down toward the apron. This forced Luyendyk to brake abruptly, sending his car into a spin and into the wall.

“I had been running so easy, so effortlessly, that maybe I got too confident,” Luyendyk said. “It was my responsibility as the leader to make a pass cleanly. I had to hit the brakes because he pinned me down. When you hit the brakes at 220 [mph], you’ve got to go somewhere.

“Nevertheless, I probably had more fun today than any other day. In a field this competitive, I have to say to myself, ‘Why did I make a move like that?’ But then, you can’t let up when the field is this competitive.”

Carlson, who finished 14th, 10 laps behind Brack, sought out Luyendyk after the race and explained to him that he had no radio communication with his spotter, so he did not realize Luyendyk was coming on the inside.

“I really don’t know what happened,” he said. “I even went off the throttle. There was no contact. Arie’s a great guy, and I never would have gotten in his way.”

Luyendyk’s consolation prize was $20,000 from Firestone for leading the 99th lap, celebrating Firestone’s 99th year of operation.

Up to that point, Luyendyk, Brack and Ray had been waging a torrid battle at faster than 217 mph, passing and repassing 11 times before Luyendyk spun out.

This brought out a yellow flag and indirectly sidelined Ray, who inherited the lead after Luyendyk’s mishap.

All the leaders pitted on lap 120. When Ray pulled out with new tires and a full tank, he slammed into the side of Mark Dismore’s car in pit lane. It knocked the front wings off the car and damaged the suspension enough that Ray’s race was over.

“I was told to go, I was focusing on all the things I’m supposed to be focusing on before heading back out again,” the front-row qualifier said. “I was motioned to go, and the next think I knew, I went sideways into the pit wall.

“It was truly an honor to race with Arie. He was messing with me. He was ready to go. I have this belief that days like this make you better. I’m not sure what plans the man upstairs has for me, but he’s certainly made me very introspective.

“In this business, as with anything in life, you have to earn what you get. But you also have to have luck. It wasn’t our day today.”

There were 17 lead changes among seven drivers. Brack led the most laps, 66, but Luyendyk had 63, Ray 32 and Gordon 28, all coming after lap 171--one fewer than he needed to drink milk in Victory Circle.

Eight caution flags for 42 laps slowed the winning speed to 153.176 mph. Luyendyk had the fastest leading lap of 218.224 on lap 108. Ray had the fastest overall lap of 218.882 on lap 101.

In a cleanly run race, only one accident involved more than one car, and that was the pit collision between Ray and Dismore.

Defending champion Eddie Cheever moved easily from 16th to first and was running third when his Infiniti engine gave out on lap 139.

“The engine was incredibly strong, but we need to work on its reliability,” Cheever said. “I’m glad that we made the switch to Infiniti, but I do wish we had done it earlier. We tried to cram six months of work into two months, and we came up short.”

Tony Stewart’s hopes of scoring an Indy car-Winston Cup double on the same day were partially dashed when he finished ninth here.

“I stuck to my game plan, but we struggled out there,” said Stewart, who drives for former NFL coach Joe Gibbs. “The car was tight during the first part of the race, then it got loose during the second half, so it was a struggle. I only lost 2 1/2 pounds today, so that’s good.”

After being checked for dehydration at the track medical center, Stewart was flown to Indianapolis Airport by helicopter for a late afternoon flight to Charlotte, N.C., for the Coca-Cola 600.

Finishing fifth was rookie Robby McGehee, a computer company president who drove in Formula 2000 before giving Indy a try.

“If I could be rookie of the year, that would be the best thing in the world and the pinnacle of my career,” said the 25-year-old University of Mississippi graduate. “The only thing that could be better would be if I had won the race.”

The rookie-of-the-year winner will be announced tonight and McGehee is the only serious candidate.

500 AT A GLANCE

THE FINISH

1. Kenny Brack

2. Jeff Ward

3. Billy Boat

4. Robby Gordon

5. Robby McGehee

* Race time: 3:15:51.182.

* Average speed of winner: 153.176 mph.

* Margin of victory: 6.562 seconds.

****

ALSO

DROPOUTS: Being first was no advantage as only two of seven leaders finished the race.

PITFALL: A crew chief for Robby McGehee was in critical condition after being hit by a car.

RESULTS: PAGE 12