Things Definitely Speeding Up

There was a time when pole day qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 was the second-biggest day in motor racing. That was before the NASCAR popularity boom, the IRL-CART open-wheel racing split and an overkill of televised racing reduced attendance from around 200,000 to a fraction of that figure.

There also was a time when an exciting--and expected--part of qualifying was hearing announcer Tom Carnegie intoning, “And it’s a new track record.”

From 1962, when Parnelli Jones broke the 150-mph barrier, to 1996 when Arie Luyendyk pushed the four-lap record to 236.239 mph, records were set nearly every May.

After Luyendyk’s record run, engine rules were changed in 1997 from turbocharged to non-turbocharged, dramatically reducing speeds.

Little by little, however, time trial speeds have been creeping up. In 1997, for instance, 218.263 earned the pole. Last year, Scott Sharp clipped off four laps at an average speed of 226.037.

If Friday’s final day of practice is any barometer, today’s pole winner could be over the magic 230 mark.

Thirteen drivers bettered 230 under perfect conditions, with defending champion Helio Castroneves fastest at 232.092 mph. Then came Robbie Buhl, 231.603; rookie Tomas Scheckter, after serving a three-day IRL suspension for unsportsmanlike conduct, at 231.600, and Bruno Junquiera, last month’s CART winner in Motegi, Japan, 231.526.

Rain, which cut short running time four of the last six days, is forecast for both today and Sunday.

With or without record crowds or record speeds, one thing is certain: The 33-car field for the 86th Indianapolis 500 on May 26 will represent the strongest entry in many years, if not in the storied history of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”

There are six former 500 winners--Castroneves, Al Unser Jr., Buddy Lazier, Eddie Cheever, Kenny Brack and Luyendyk; four IRL champions--Sam Hornish Jr., Greg Ray, Scott Sharp and Lazier; four CART champions--Gil de Ferran, Michael Andretti, Jimmy Vasser and Unser; a winning Formula One driver, Johnny Herbert, and a winning Winston Cup driver, Robby Gordon.

Plus national motocross champion Jeff Ward.

Only three active Formula One drivers, Michael Schumacher, Jacques Villeneuve and Eddie Irvine, have more F1 wins than Herbert’s three.

The busiest driver will be Gordon, who hopes to qualify this weekend for the 500, jet to Charlotte to qualify next week for the Winston Cup Coca-Cola 600, and then race in both May 26. Only Tony Stewart and John Andretti, neither of whom is here this year, have driven in both marathons on the same day.

Two of CART’s most successful teams, Team Rahal and Team Green, are back at the speedway for the first time since 1995. Bobby Rahal, the 1986 winner, has Vasser as his driver. Barry Green, who won the 1995 race with Villeneuve, has Andretti, Paul Tracy and Dario Franchitti.

“This field is the most competitive in years, it’s kind of like the playoffs where the best from both leagues are going head to head,” said Tracy, who drove in four 500s before the IRL-CART split kept him on the sidelines. “It’s good to be back, although with the new control tower and all the other [Formula One track] changes, I hardly recognize the place. But the important things haven’t changed. It’s still the world’s biggest race and you’ve still got to put four solid laps together to get in the show and then work on running the full 500 miles.”