After Giaffone Gets Call, He Bumps Luyendyk Jr.

Crusty old A.J. Foyt put bumping back into the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, dashing fellow 500 winner Arie Luyendyk’s hopes of seeing his son, Arie Jr., race in his first 500.

As young Luyendyk was being coached by his father about running four laps at qualifying speeds, Foyt was on the phone to Felipe Giaffone, a veteran of four 500s, to come qualify a third car for him. Foyt’s adopted son Larry and grandson, A.J. IV, had qualified Saturday.

Giaffone, a Brazilian living in Orlando, Fla., had come to Indianapolis on Wednesday in hopes of landing a ride but had no offers, even though he had finished third in 2002.

“I was shopping at Babies R Us with my wife about 1:30 when I got the call,” Giaffone said. “I was not expecting it, not at all. We were packing and shopping to get ready to go home Monday.

“I had no [Indy Racing League] hard card, no credentials to get into the speedway, and I wasn’t cleared to drive. I told my wife, ‘Let’s try and sneak in with my 2004 hard card,’ to get in the track. And we did.”

At 3:46 he took his first lap.

Luyendyk Jr., who had expected to be the only driver making a qualifying attempt on the last day, made his official four-lap run of 215.039 mph a half-hour earlier, filling the field of 33 for Sunday’s race.

After 45 laps to acclimate himself with the red No. 48 Toyota-powered Panoz, Giaffone rolled off pit road for the first bump attempt at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in three years. He warmed up at 215.877 and smoothly put together a 217.645 average that not only knocked Luyendyk from the race, but was fast enough that 23-year-old Arie Jr. had little or no chance to bump back.

Luyendyk made a futile try, moving out 10 seconds before the 6 p.m. gun went off, but when he reached only 214.123 on his first lap it was all over for the No. 98 Curb-Agajanian-Beck Motorsports entry.

“I was flat out, but it was in the 214s, [so] I knew that it would just not be enough to cut it, and I wasn’t going to risk putting the car into the wall to run a 216 because that would have been enough,” he said. “It’s a shame, getting into the field, then getting bumped out. It’s probably the hardest way to go.”

Many trackside observers felt relieved when young Luyendyk was bumped, because he had had no practice with any other car in traffic, and he had never driven in an IRL race of any kind. And his speed would have been more than 4 mph slower than the next-slowest.

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The middle of the starting line, from eighth through 16th, reads like a United Nations roster. Not even Formula One could match nine countries represented: Kosuke Matsuura, Japan; Buddy Lazier, U.S.; Tomas Enge, Czech Republic; Tomas Scheckter, South Africa; Bruno Junqueira, Brazil; Scott Dixon, New Zealand; Adrian Fernandez, Mexico; Sebastien Bourdais, France; and Dan Wheldon, England.

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Sarah Fisher, who drove in five 500s and held the women’s one-lap record before Danica Patrick ran 229.880 mph in practice, is here but not as a driver. She is spotting for rookie Jeff Bucknum.

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All 33 starters are scheduled to appear in New York today for a TV shoot in Times Square.... Patrick will be a guest on the “Late Show With David Letterman” tonight with Paul Newman. Letterman is co-owner of her car, and Newman is co-owner of cars driven by Bourdais and Junqueira.

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The oldest qualifier is Marty Roth, 46. The youngest is Foyt IV, who turns 21 Wednesday.... There are six rookies, the fewest since 2001, when there were also six.... Honda and Toyota will each power 14 cars, and Chevrolet, in its last year as an Indy car engine builder, will have five.