Everyone in Front Had Back to the Wall

Some races, the very best place to be is out front.

Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 wasn’t one of those.

The way things developed, in fact, first place was the last place anybody who wanted to win should have run. Because the problems that usually occur back in the pack--the things the front-runners often avoid--were happening among the leaders. And not just among them, to them. You would have thought that everybody who led this race was named Andretti. For years, fans here, knowing it was coming as surely as tomorrow, grimly awaited the announcement that “Andretti is slowing in the backstretch.”

But no. There wasn’t a Mario or a Michael in sight. Just guys named Luyendyk, Ray, Gordon. . . . All of them, though, can appreciate the Andretti 500 syndrome, having experienced it.

Robby Gordon’s misfortune, because it happened so late in the race, may seem the greatest. He had to stop for fuel on the second-to-last lap, which is why Kenny Brack won, as one of only two of the seven leaders who finished.

“We needed one more lap of yellow [caution conditions],” Gordon said. “My fuel meter told me we were getting two miles a gallon and it indicated 2.3 gallons [left] coming out of Turn 4 on the next-to-last lap [necessitating the stop]. I thought this was our year . . . I could cry.”

Greg Ray? Gordon’s teammate on John Menard’s team could have cried too. And very nearly did.

The blade-thin Texan, a superstar in the making, according to conventional wisdom, was the fastest driver in practice for the 500 and, with Arie Luyendyk, furnished most of the early race speed. He was pushing Luyendyk, in fact, when the Dutchman came to grief shortly after the midpoint, and inherited the lead.

Taking advantage of the yellow flag for Luyendyk’s accident, Ray ducked into his pit for fuel and fresh rubber. And a good stop it was, too, right up until the moment it was over.

Given the all-clear by his crew, Ray swung out onto the two-lane pit road, and swung a little too far, crossing the dotted line from Lane 1, the exit lane, into Lane 2, the entry lane. It just so happened that Mark Dismore, en route to his pit, was already there.

The inevitable collision ruined the suspension on Ray’s car and Ray’s day was done.

“I have no idea what happened,” he said. “I was told to go. I was focusing on all the things I’m supposed to be focusing on before heading out again. . . . The next thing I knew, I went sideways into the pit wall.

“All month we had a great team effort and it hurts to go this way. I’d rather I crashed on my own than have something like that happen.”

The saddest of these sad cases, though, really was Luyendyk. For this was the last ride here for the two-time winner, who was hoping to go out with his third victory, and was running strong enough to make it happen.

Leading on Lap 117 of the 200-lap race, Luyendyk was about to lap Tyce Carlson and chose to do it on the inside through Turn 3. Just as he was making his move, however, Carlson’s car drifted down, pinching Luyendyk’s car.

Luyendyk hit the brakes, then hit the wall. “Arie’s final 500” ended with a bang, just not the kind he had in mind. At least it wasn’t a whimper.

“It was my responsibility as the leader to make a pass cleanly,” he said. “I had the room on the left and I went for the opening. And then the yellow car came down, but when he came down, he got out of the throttle so much that I . . . had to hit the brakes.

“When you hit the brakes at that speed [about 220 mph], the car gets thoroughly upset and that’s what made me spin out.”

Sometimes, a driver can catch a spin, or somehow manage to keep the car out of harm’s way. Danny Sullivan, for instance, spun while leading the 1985 500, then went on to win.

No such luck for Luyendyk. His car did a half-spin, hit the outside wall on the left side and slid along the wall.

When the smoke--and traffic--had cleared, Luyendyk threw his detachable steering wheel from the car in disgust and climbed out.

Said car owner Fred Treadway: “His first words to me were, ‘It hurts to be so old [45] and still so stupid.’ He was kind of mad at himself.”

Luyendyk was of two minds.

“I was so confident in my car,” he said. “I was having such an unbelievable day that maybe that confidence caught up with me a little bit. I should just have waited and taken my time. But on the other hand, the pace of the race was so high. Greg Ray and Kenny Brack were really pushing me and you can’t afford to just kind of cruise around. I was aggressive. I was on it hard. I wanted to put as many cars as I could between myself and Greg.”

And so he elected to pass Carlson in the corner, instead of waiting for the straightaway.

“When you make a commitment to the turn, you can’t backtrack,” he said.

“It was probably the most fun race I ever had here. I was driving around with a smile on my face. . . . It’s a shame to go out this way, but at least I didn’t go out driving around the back.”