Ray Brings Momentum Into Race for Indy Pole

If performances during seven days of practice for Indianapolis 500 time trials mean anything, today’s run for the pole in the 84th annual Indianapolis 500 may be closer than ever.

Each day, there has been another driver at the top of the speed chart, but what they did from last Saturday to Friday won’t mean a thing when qualifying begins today.

It’s a one-shot deal--four laps, 10 miles--racing alone around the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s 2.5-mile rectangular oval, the same oval where Ray Harroun took nearly seven hours to finish 500 miles in 1911.

Forty seconds is a long time to hold your breath, but that’s what most of the drivers will be doing today if they want to win the $100,000 PPG pole award and the No. 1 starting position in the May 28 race.

Greg Ray, defending Indy Racing League champion, found a quick lap in Team Menard’s Dallara toward the end of a cold day of practice Friday and it was the fastest of the week at 223.858 mph. That barely squeezed past the 223.936 by Scott Sharp on Tuesday, when weather conditions were better.

“All week long, we were out of sync with the track,” Ray said. “The key to fast laps here is rhythm and we didn’t have any. Before that last quick lap, I was really discouraged. But now that I’ve done 223, I feel our car is capable of 225, if all the right pieces come together.

“Tomorrow is going to be tight, tight, tight. When you go out, how you’ve trimmed your car, how you set your rhythm on your first lap and how you keep your momentum, that’s what it’s going to take. And there are a dozen drivers and cars capable of being the pole winner.”

Other daily leaders were Al Unser Jr., 217.223 on opening day a week ago, Eddie Cheever Jr.’s 220.881 on Sunday, Robby Gordon’s 223.120 on Monday, Juan Montoya’s 222.102 on rainy Wednesday and Jimmy Vasser’s 221.681 on windy Thursday.

And these speeds are for only one lap. It takes three more to get in the 33-car starting field. If a driver doesn’t make it today, he has another chance Sunday. Before 1999, drivers had four chances to qualify, but last year the IRL sliced a week off pre-500 practice and that eliminated the final two days.

“It’s a lot more nerve-racking, but as a car owner, it makes a lot more sense financially,” said Cheever, the 1998 winner. “It just means we have to be ready when the bell rings.”

The bell rings today at 9 a.m. PDT.

Gordon, Ray’s Team Menard teammate, was fastest most of the day and wound up fifth at 222.901.

“I’m pretty happy,” said Gordon, who is taking time off from his NASCAR Winston Cup season to try again for a 500 victory. “We made changes throughout the day and we have a decent balance on the car. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with the weather. That could make the difference.”

Gordon, who plans to run under the lights in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte, N.C., after the Indy race, missed winning last year by less than two laps when he had to pit for fuel and Kenny Brack went on to win.

After not showing much speed until Friday, A.J. Foyt’s pair of Jeff Ward and Eliseo Salazar jumped into the top five. Ward, a former motocross champion from San Juan Capistrano, ran 222.949 and Salazar 222.921 in G Forces.

Speedway historians could find no other year when a different driver was fastest each day.

Speeds are down slightly from last year, when Arie Luyendyk was quickest at 225.179, mainly because of a reduction in engine size. Indy Racing League engine regulations for 2000 called for a reduction from four liters to 3.5, which amounts to roughly 50 horsepower.

With the new engine has come a return to the sounds of old-time Indy cars, a pitch and tone that has been missed since the IRL broke away from turbocharged engines used by CART and mandated normally aspirated production-car V-8s. The complaint about the earlier IRL power plants was that they sounded too much like stock cars, lacking the high pitch of vintage Indy cars.

Two crashes late in the day damaged the cars of Hideshi Matsuda and Mark Dismore, but neither driver was injured.

“That’s what happens when you get a little too anxious here,” said Dismore, who was eighth fastest before the wreck. “We went out on cold tires, in a hurry, and I made a little mistake. The other car is just as good, so we’ll work with it in morning practice and run it in the race.”

A surprise late entry was Roberto Guerrero, who got the seat in the Foyt-Brack Motorsports G Force. He made a brief appearance late in the day and ran a respectable 218.5.

“I was very twitchy because the last time I was in an Indy car was May of last year,” said Guerrero, who sat on the pole in 1992 and finished second in 1984 as a rookie, then again in 1987.