It is where Villeneuve scored his single biggest victory when he overcame a two-lap penalty to win the 1995 Indianapolis 500. It was a victory that catapulted the young French Canadian to the opportunity he had always dreamed of, to compete in Formula One.

	Jacques Villeneuve can salvage his season with a strong performance at Indianapolis.

After Villeneuve secured the 1995 CART title, he left Team Green to join the legendary Formula One team owned by Frank Williams. It all happened because of that glorious day at Indy six years ago.

"I have great memories here, definitely," Villeneuve said. "Having won here opened the door at Williams in 1996. It was a very important race and I will always remember it, of course.

"This is a special place to come back to. It's a good thing the F1 race is here. It's just hard to be here and not be on the oval. F1 doesn't need the oval because it already has a huge fan base. It would be difficult for our cars to run on the oval and the drivers are all scared of ovals, anyway."

Villeneuve has deep respect for the Indianapolis 500 and what it takes to win on the 2.5-mile oval. He probably has more respect for the oval configuration than the 13-turn, 2.606-mile road course.

"It's strange to be here and not be racing on the oval," Villeneuve said. "It's a fun track to drive, but it's not very interesting. There is no corner where your heartbeat goes up. It's more like playing with go-karts with your friends. That is how it feels.

"I'd rather have two interesting corners then get back on the straight rather than a lot of tight and go-kart type of corners. There is a certain amount of space and the more corners you put in a course, the more illogical it becomes. It becomes a very Mickey Mouse track."

Not expecting much
Villeneuve admits he has a car that will likely not win Sunday's SAP United States Grand Prix. He believes the car is better in the race than in qualifying, so he hasn't given up hope that he can drive through the field for a top-three finish on the podium.

He's going to need that hope because he struggled in Friday's practice session at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Villeneuve ran the 18th fastest lap with a best time of 1:14.999 in 33 laps.

"A difficult day today," Villeneuve said. "This morning, we struggled with low grip. Then this afternoon, we had some problems with the power steering, which prevented me from being able to drive the car. Olivier (Panis, his teammate at British American Racing), seems to be happier with his setup so he is more competitive. We did make some progress towards the end but I wasn't able to do enough laps to improve significantly.

"Having said that, things didn't look too promising at the start of Monza and we were able to get a point in the race. Now, we have to work hard to qualify well then keep our nose clean in the race."

Villeneuve and rookie Juan Montoya are the only two former winners of the Indianapolis 500 in the field for Sunday's Formula One race. Montoya won the 2000 Indianapolis 500 and both drivers admit they are motivated to become the first to win on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval and the road course.

"It's not only that Juan won here, he was also in CART on ovals which to me means more than racing at Indy in the Indy Racing League," Villeneuve said. "That is when open wheel racing in the USA was very strong and people in Europe looked at it positively and admired it. After the split, everyone gave up on open-wheel racing outside of the United States. The Indianapolis 500 lost a lot of its attraction, appeal and credibility.

"Even with then CART drivers coming back the last two years, nobody knows who the drivers are anyway. In Europe, people know more about the drivers in CART than the IRL. In this year's race, the CART drivers were in the front."

Sweet memories
Villeneuve's Indianapolis 500 victory was memorable for several reasons. He was assessed two one-lap penalties for passing the pace car during two caution periods, that put him two laps down. Having driven the extra five miles to get back on the lead lap, he was running second behind race leader Scott Goodyear with just over 10 laps to go coming out of a caution period.

He was able to put pressure on Goodyear, who ended up passing the pace car before it pulled off the track to restart the race. After Goodyear was penalized for passing the pace car, Villeneuve was the leader and drove to the checkered flag in a race where he had to run 505 miles to win the Indianapolis 500.

"That is the main factor in it feeling special because of the adversity there was," Villeneuve said. "It was a team effort during that race, we didn't give up and it came to us at the end. The last yellow, also, where the only way to win was to get Scott Goodyear to make a mistake like he did at the restart."

That mistake has forever haunted Goodyear, who has three times come very close to winning the Indy 500, but remains winless in what is considered the world's biggest race.

"If he felt anything bad towards me, that's stupid because I didn't make the decision to black-flag him," Villeneuve said. "He is the one who cracked under pressure and he paid the price for it.

"Racing is as much a mental game as physical, even more so on ovals. In that split second where you have to make a decision, he made the wrong one. Drivers who have been winning very rarely make the wrong decision in those moments."

In his first race back since winning the Indy 500 in 1995, Villeneuve drove an entertaining race in last year's first-ever grand prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He was one of the few drivers to pass on the race course and finished fourth, despite spinning out in the first turn.

"It was a fun race," Villeneuve said. "People either ran very low downforce where they were very slow in the infield, so they couldn't pass anyone on the main straight even though they were quicker. Others were carrying too much wing down the straight to overtake. It was a question of trying to get a car that could slide through the infield and stay in touch with the guy in front of you so you could then be close enough down the main straight.

"It is a very different track than any we go to. I was really going for it. We hadn't had a podium finish at that point of the season and it was the first race in the United States in a long time. With all memories I have here, it would have been great. I was close, but there was too much grass."

A new Villeneuve
Villeneuve admits he is much different now than when he ran in CART in the mid-1990s.

"I'm wiser and I'm a lot more philosophical after the last three years," Villeneuve said. "What has happened has tapped your energy, they are tiring. But then, when you go on, it's because you really want to go on. You learn more about yourself that way, but it's not necessary."

Villeneuve won the 1997 Formula One World Championship in just his second year in the series. After struggling with an uncompetitive car, he wonders if he will ever return to that level in his career.

"Thank God I won it because if I hadn't won it that year, it would have been even more difficult to accept this year," Villeneuve said. "I would spend more time thinking I was very close and missed the opportunity and look where I am now. It was easier to have won the championship than to not have won it and accept what is going on now. It's more frustrating, but it's easier to think winning is possible because I've done it before."

Villeneuve admits the future doesn't appear to be much brighter. He is hoping when his team unveils the new race car in January that it will be able to compete with the top teams in F1.

"If that's not the case, then I will be trying to get into a position and be with a team where I can fight up front again," Villeneuve said. "There has been a lot of talk, but everybody knows I have a long-term contract. So people have been very careful with those conversations."

Villeneuve is hopeful that he can give them plenty to talk about with a strong run on Sunday.

"We know this car is not going to win," Villeneuve said. "We know with a good weekend, we can get in the points and if a few drivers have mechanical failures or spinouts, we can luck into a podium like what has happened this year before.