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Monday, May 7
Andretti ready to continue family legacy
ESPN.com news services
INDIANAPOLIS -- It was just like old times for Michael
Andretti on Monday as he climbed into an Indy car to begin
practice for the Indianapolis 500.
He arrived with a determined attitude that he had work to do and
it was time to get down to it.
|  | | Michael Andretti is busy preparing for his first Indy 500 appearance in six years. |
Hard to believe Andretti has not raced at the world's most
fabled race course in five years.
Andretti arrived at the Indianapolis 500 ready to continue the
family legacy that has been put on hold since CART left over the
creation of the rival Indy Racing League in 1996. He is driving
an IRL car prepared by Panther Racing but operated by Team
Green, Andretti's CART team.
Andretti's Dallara/Oldsmobile Aurora was 19th of 32 drivers in
39 cars that took practice laps on Monday before rain ended the
session at 3:58 p.m. EDT. His top speed was 217.636 miles per
hour on the 2 1/2-mile oval.
There is more work ahead for Andretti this week as he tries to
get up to speed and qualify for the Indianapolis 500 for the
first time since 1995.
"I think the goals were to just get settled in a little bit,"
Andretti said. "We had a little bit to go by with what Sam
Hornish Jr. did on Sunday. We started there and had the same
problems he did. He went one step further and made his car
better. We were going that way and we got caught with the rain.
"We are right in there. A couple of changes here and there and
you are in the top 10. We are going to be chipping away at it
all week. Once you pull out onto the race track, it's just the
way it was the last time I was here. It wasn't any different."
Andretti's team has devised a meticulous schedule this week,
using the seven hours of daily practice time at the Indianapolis
Motor Speedway leading up to Saturday's pole qualifying. Time is
important for Andretti, who has to depart for Japan early in the
morning on May 14 to compete in the CART race at Twin Ring
Motegi on May 19.
That means Andretti's operation cannot afford any weather
problems like the late afternoon thunderstorms that deluged the
Speedway on the first two days of practice.
"It messes you up a little bit," he said. "I'm hoping it
doesn't do this too much during this week. Our time is going to
be very important to us because we don't have the luxury of next
week. We have to take advantage of every moment we have, so
losing the couple of hours we lost today didn't help us any."
Andretti is getting used to the IRL car, which features nearly
300 less horsepower than the engine he uses in CART. The IRL
car also has considerably more downforce.
"It's really different," Andretti said. "The CART car has a ton
of horsepower and it's like trying to tame a wild bronco. Here,
it's a bit more spread out, a car with less horsepower and a car
that is a little bit different to drive with the weight of the
engine. It feels a bit different.
"But I'm used to that sort of thing because of all the different
tracks we run on in CART. It's no big deal, you get used to it
in just a few laps."
When Andretti announced March 27 that he would return to the
Indianapolis 500, he was joining fellow CART competitors
Marlboro Team Penske and Target/Chip Ganassi Racing. That meant
Andretti, Gil de Ferran, Helio Castroneves, rookies Bruno
Junqueira and Nic Minassian would be representing CART in this
year's race.
That changed Monday, however, as Chip Ganassi parked his two
drivers in favor of the more experienced Jimmy Vasser and NASCAR
Winston Cup star Tony Stewart, a former IRL champion.
"It's going to be really tough competition," Andretti said. "I
definitely wasn't kidding myself coming here, I don't think
anybody was on this team. We know it's going to be a hard
fight. You have the IRL regulars who know these cars very well
and then you have the best that CART has to offer coming as
well. Tony Stewart is going to be in a really good CART car. He
has gone on to bigger things in Winston Cup, different things in
Winston Cup. He's another guy we have to beat. He has put
himself together with a pretty good team and mark him up as
another guy we have to beat.
"We are going to fight as hard as we can. I want this thing
really bad. We are with a really good team. I think the
Panther team has shown they can win races. I'm real happy with
the engineering and real happy with the sponsors, and we have a
strong combination. We're going to be one of the guys you have
to beat to win."
Andretti believes the IRL regulars understand how to set up the
race car for a full 500 miles, while the CART veteran is trying
to determine that this week in practice. He also is working
with different engineers from the ones he uses in CART.
"We have Andy Brown from Panther and we were lucky enough to get
Steve Newey to come over from my CART team," Andretti said. "We
all speak the same language because they are good engineers,
they are racers and they have tons of experience.
"I'm hoping my experience in the race will pay off. You always
have a lot of guys who run fast early and a group of guys who
get it right for the end of the race. That's what it's all
about. Having said that, Juan Montoya came in and did what he
did last year, so he figured it out quickly. I hope my
experience helps and the experience we have on our racing team
will help and that will help out at the end of the day."
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“ |
My feelings for this race have changed a lot. When you are involved in something, you don't realize what you have until you've lost it.” |
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—Andretti |
Andretti tested the IRL car in March at Homestead, Florida and
again last month in windy conditions at the Indianapolis Motor
Speedway.
He believes that cars are a bit of a throwback to the ones he
drove at Indy in 1986 and 1987.
"I think we have about the same amounts of horsepower as we did
then and the same amount of downforce as we did then," Andretti
said. "That's a fair comparison. The last time I was here, we
were in the 230 mph range. We were going way too fast. That
was one of the big concerns I wasn't happy about coming here
then.
"I think the formula they have now is better for this race
track, for sure."
Andretti has some haunted memories of near-misses at
Indianapolis. He has led 382 laps in the Indianapolis 500 -- the
most of any driver who has never won the race.
Three in particular stand out.
In 1992, Andretti led 160 laps and had a huge advantage with 11
laps to go when a fuel pressure problem killed his engine. That
also was a day when younger brother Jeff crashed hard into the
second turn wall when a wheel hub sheared off, badly breaking
his legs.
Doctors wrestled with the decision to amputate before lengthy
surgery was performed to repair Andretti's legs. His father,
Mario, also crashed in that race and suffered broken toes when
his car slammed into the fourth turn wall on a restart due to
cold tires.
"There was probably not a worse day in my life, professionally
and personally," Andretti said. "Professionally, with the
engine quitting so close to the win; personally, with Jeff
getting so seriously hurt and my dad also in the hospital. That
was a bad day."
The other disappointment came in 1989 when Andretti led 35 laps
and was ahead on lap 163 before his engine blew on the
frontstretch.
"That was another race we had one, but unfortunately the engine
broke near the end of the race," he said.
The other near-miss came in 1991 when Andretti was the fastest
driver, leading six times for 97 laps, but was passed by Rick
Mears on the outside of the first turn with 12 laps to go.
Andretti finished second as Mears became the third four-time
winner of the Indianapolis 500.
"We dominated the race, had him almost a lap down, then I had a
flat tire," Andretti said. "If I didn't have a flat tire, he
would have been a lap down and he wouldn't have been in that
position to win the race.
"Those are the three that stick out in my head."
Those are the ghosts that Andretti hopes to conquer this year.
"I'm very happy I have that experience in the bank and I'm going
to draw a lot of that out on race day, for sure," he said.
"Hopefully, it's going to work for me.
"My feelings for this race have changed a lot. When you are
involved in something, you don't realize what you have until
you've lost it. After experiencing five years of loss by not
being here, I definitely appreciate it a lot more than I did
when I was here the last time. The intensity is so hard. I'm
working my butt off to race here."
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