Agajanian’s Son Revives Family Tradition

The ghosts of the late J.C. Agajanian and ol’ 98 hang over Indianapolis Motor Speedway this week.

Aggie had No. 98 cars in the Indianapolis 500 for more than three decades, dating to Johnny Mantz and Walt Faulkner in the 1950s. Two of them, driven in 1952 by Troy Ruttman and 1963 by Parnelli Jones, won the 500.

Now his son, Cary Agajanian, is carrying on the family tradition as part owner, with Mike Curb, former California lieutenant governor, and Greg Beck, long involved in racing, of the No. 98 Dallara-Oldsmobile driven by Billy Boat of Phoenix.

“It makes me real emotional, seeing No. 98 out there,” Agajanian said. “There are strong family ties between the Agajanian family and both Billy Boat and Greg Beck.

“Billy first showed up at Ascot when he was around 15 or 16 and because he was so young, we sent him home. But he came back later and set the all-time track record.”

Ascot was the legendary half-mile dirt oval in Gardena, operated for many years by the Agajanian family before it was closed in 1990.

“Greg Beck’s father, Rodger Beck, actually did the fabrication on Troy Ruttman’s 1952 winning car,” Agajanian said.

The car has a new paint scheme for the May 27 race--white, with red and blue striping, and the No. 98 in black, in accordance with Indy Racing League rules.

“The team changed colors to surprise me,” Agajanian said. “It ran as an all-blue car [this year] at Phoenix. It’s special, it looks like Parnelli Jones’ ‘Ol’ Calhoun’ [1963 winner]. I sure wish the IRL would let us replace that black number with gold leaf [as it was on Ol’ Calhoun].”

No. 98 is still not in the race, however. Boat was unable to get it up to a qualifying speed last weekend, so he will be shooting for the 33rd and final spot--or looking to bump somebody--when time trials resume Sunday.

“We can get one good lap but we can’t seem to put them together and that won’t do in qualifying here,” Boat said. “The car washes out going into the turns the second time around and you’ve got to lift [off the throttle] to keep from tagging the wall. And you can’t put together a good time if you lift. This track is all about momentum.”

A car’s qualifying speed is the average speed from four laps, or 10 miles.

“We’ve been in positions like this before, though, so we’ll keep working through Saturday looking for a couple more miles [per hour],” Boat said.

He made one of the most dramatic runs in recent history to qualify last year.

Having crashed his Team Pelfrey car during a qualification run, Boat seemed to be out of the show. Then A.J. Foyt, for whom Boat had driven from 1997-99, offered the former midget driving champion a ride in one of his spare cars.

Boat qualified at 192.105 at 5:18 p.m., then was bumped from the field only 16 minutes later by Lyn St. James.

Then Foyt wheeled out another backup car, one that had been sitting in the back of the garage.

“That car had never turned a wheel,” Boat said. “Not a single lap. It was actually like a shakedown run. A.J. just said, ‘Go out and stand on it.’ ”

Boat left the pits at 5:59 p.m. and the gun went off, signaling the end of trials, while he was in the short chute between Turns 3 and 4 on his second and final warmup lap. When he completed his run with an average of 218.072, he was in the last row.

After starting 31st, Boat finished 15th and won the MCI WorldCom Long Distance Award for gaining the most positions during the race.

Boat and Foyt had a big day together in 1998 when Boat qualified on the pole in an A.J. Foyt Enterprises car at 223.503 mph.

Which is just about the speed Boat will need Sunday to get into his fifth 500. He was offered a ride early this year in the Dallara-Oldsmobile that Robby Gordon put on the front row, but turned it down because it was for Indy only.

“I made a commitment to this team for the full Indy Racing League season and I didn’t want to let them down for one race, even if it was for a good car like I knew A.J. would have,” he said.

Gordon was Foyt’s next choice and being without a ride of any kind, he jumped at it.

Although the crowd for pole day Saturday was less than 25,000--one of the smallest turnouts ever--interest was apparently high elsewhere.

“The combination of our crowd on hand, viewers on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway radio network and Indy Racing Online, reached more people worldwide than ever before,” said Fred Nation, vice president of public relations for IMS.

The largest increase was from Indy Racing Online (https://www.indyracing.com) and https://www.indy500.com, where live timing and scoring can be viewed.

“On Saturday, we had 19.1 million hits, which is nearly four times what we had on race day last year.”

Race drivers sometimes do things other than racing. Here are some sidelights of drivers in this year’s race, or attempting to get into it:

Rookie Jon Herb is a former Connecticut state wrestling champion in the 167-pound class and also played football at Southern Methodist. . . . Robbie Buhl, whose wife Becky is the widow of former Indy 500 pole-sitter Scott Brayton, was an All-American in lacrosse at New England College. . . . Buzz Calkins runs marathons and has a best time of 3 hours 41 minutes 11 seconds for the 26.2 miles. . . . Airton Dare was the South American jet-ski champion before turning to car racing.

Jaques Lazier will have a rooting section from the National Hot Rod Assn. The father of his wife, Angelique, is Stan Adams, superintendent of the Pomona Raceway. Lazier is a graduate of Chapman College with degrees in business and communications. . . . When Robby McGehee was 16, he and his mother, Janet, attended Skip Barber Racing School together. In high school, he played baseball, football, hockey and golf.

Jeff Ward won 54 national motocross events and rode on the winning U.S. team in the Motocross des Nations seven times. . . . Stan Wattles holds a black belt in taekwondo. . . . Roberto Guerrero, a native of Colombia who became a naturalized American citizen in 1990, is part owner of a gym in Dana Point called the Sweat Shop.

Winston West

Winston West teams will complete a difficult three-week stretch this week with a 154-mile race Sunday on Mazda Raceway’s 2.238-mile hillside road circuit on the Monterey peninsula.

This follows a race on California’s two-mile superspeedway, then another on Irwindale Speedway’s half-mile short track.

Brendan Gaughan of Las Vegas won both the oval races and figures his chances on the road circuit are good because of his years of experience in off-road racing. The recent victories moved Gaughan within 48 points of series leader Mark Reed of Bakersfield, 945-897. Austin Cameron of El Cajon is second with 906.

Drag Racing

The racing surface of Pomona Raceway, site of the season-opening Winternationals and season-ending NHRA finals, has been repaved, with the concrete launching pad extended down track to the 660-foot mark. New asphalt was laid from there to 350 feet past the finish line of the quarter-mile strip.

Newest members of the NHRA’s top 50 drivers are pioneer Art Chrisman, No. 29, winner of the 1959 Bakersfield U.S. Fuel and Gas championship; Chris Karamesines, No. 30, a legendary top-fuel match racer; and Dick LaHaie, No. 31, NHRA top-fuel champion in 1987 and a two-time champion crew chief for Scott Kalitta in 1993 and ’94. LaHaie is now tuning the Don Prudhomme-backed top fueler driven by Larry Dixon, currently second in standings.

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This Week’s Races

WINSTON CUP

The Winston

When: Today, qualifying (FX, 4 p.m.); Saturday, race (FX, 4:30 p.m.)

Where: Lowe’s Motor Speedway (oval, 1.5 miles, 24-degree banking in turns), Concord, N.C.

Race distance: 105 miles, 70 laps.

2000 winner: Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Next race: Coca-Cola 600, May 27, Concord, N.C.

On the net: https://www.nascar.com.

BUSCH

Nazareth 200

When: Saturday, qualifying, noon; Sunday, race (FX, 10 a.m.)

Where: Nazareth Speedway (oval, .946 miles, 1-degree banking in Turn 1, 4 degrees in Turn 2, 6 degrees in Turns 3-4), Nazareth, Pa.

Race distance: 189.2 miles, 200 laps.

2000 winner: Ron Hornaday.

Next race: Carquest Auto Parts 300, May 26, Concord, N.C.

On the net: https://www.nascar.com.

CRAFTSMAN TRUCKS

Jelly Belly 200

When: Saturday, qualifying, 2:15 p.m; Sunday, race (ESPN, 1 p.m.)

Where: Pikes Peak International Raceway (oval, 1 mile, 10-degree banking in turns), Fountain, Colo.

Race distance: 200 miles, 200 laps.

2000 winner: Greg Biffle.

Next race: MBNA e-commerce 200, June 1, Dover, Del.

On the net: https://www.nascar.com.

CART

Firestone Firehawk 500

When: Today, race, 7:30 p.m. (ABC, Saturday, 10 a.m., tape).

Where: Twin Ring Motegi (oval, 1.549 miles), Motegi, Japan.

Race distance: 311.349 miles (501 kilometers), 201 laps.

2000 winner: Michael Andretti.

Next race: Miller Lite 225, June 3, Milwaukee.

On the net: https://www.cart.com.

INDY RACING LEAGUE

Indianapolis 500 Qualifying

When: Sunday 9 a.m. (ESPN 9 a.m., ESPN2 11 a.m., ABC 1 p.m., ESPN2 3 p.m.).

Where: Indianapolis Motor Speedway (oval, 2.5 miles, 9-degree banking in turns), Indianapolis.

Next race: Indianapolis 500, May 27, Indianapolis.

On the net: https://www.indyracingleague.com.

NATIONAL HOT ROD ASSN.

Matco Tools Supernationals

When: Today, qualifying, 2 p.m.; Saturday, qualifying, 3 p.m. (ESPN2, 4 p.m, tape); Sunday, eliminations, 8 a.m. (ESPN2, 5 p.m., tape).

Where: Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, Englishtown, N.J.

2000 winners: Cruz Pedregon won in the funny car division, Doug Kalitta in top fuel and Jeg Coughlin in pro stocks.

Next event: Advance Auto Parts Nationals, May 27, Topeka, Kan.

On the net: https://www.nhra.com.