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Saturday, May 12
Sharp upsets favored Ray
Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS -- Scott Sharp didn't need any help this time.
When Sharp turned the fastest lap during the first six days of
practice for the May 27 Indianapolis 500, he laughed it off, saying
he had gotten a big aerodynamic tow from another car and he thought
Greg Ray was still the guy to beat for the pole.
|  | | Scott Sharp grabbed his first Indianapolis 500 MBNA Pole on Saturday. |
On Saturday, Sharp was all alone on the 2-mile Indianapolis
Motor Speedway oval and raised the bar too high even for Ray, the
Indy Racing League's dominant qualifier.
The 33-year-old Sharp had a four-lap, 10-mile average of 226.037
mph, with laps ranging from 225.783 to 226.423 -- easily the fastest
among the 27 qualifiers on the first of three days of time trials
for the 85th Indy classic.
"I saw that (2)25.7 on the first lap and then when I saw the
26.1 on the next lap, I said, 'OK, this is the lap,' " Sharp said.
"We did a 26.3 and I said to myself, 'I'll carry this thing in
sideways if I have to.' "
After watching Tony Stewart and Ray run laps above 226 in the
morning practice, Sharp set the pace when it counted.
"We'd had some good laps out here before, but we never put four
laps together," Sharp said. "This morning (in the final
practice), we chose not to run much. We took it around a few laps,
just ran it through the gears, then parked it, and that's never
easy when you see guys running 25s and 26s. But it was the right
call."
Sharp earned his third career pole, winning between $100,000 and
$150,000 in cash and prizes.
Ray, who won the Indy pole last year at 223.471 mph and has won
an Indy Racing League-record 11 poles overall, was far down in the
draw for qualifying positions. When he finally moved onto the
track, he knew exactly what it would take to knock Sharp off the
top.
Knowing that each car is allowed up to three attempts, the
fast-moving Texan, who led the speed charts most of the week and
had several laps above 226, called off the run after a
disappointing lap of 224.862.
A year ago, an early wave-off worked for Ray when he came out
late in the day and knocked Juan Montoya off the pole. Team owner
John Menard was hoping the same strategy would work this time.
"It would have given us a nice solid place in the field, but we
want the pole and if not the pole, to at least be in the front
row," Menard said.
He got part of his wish as Ray led a late flurry of activity in
the seven-hour qualifying session with a four-lap run averaging
225.194 and wound up in the middle of the front row, between Sharp
and Robby Gordon, another late qualifier at 224.994.
"We just could never find that magic sweet spot," Ray said.
"You can be fast, but you've really got to be on top of it to be
fast, to be trimmed out and consistently fast for 16 corners."
The return of Roger Penske, the most successful team owner ever
with 10 Indy poles and the same number of wins, got off to a great
start with both Gil de Ferran -- reigning champion of the rival CART
series -- and Helio Castroneves qualifying solidly.
All of CART's top teams and stars boycotted Indy after it became
the centerpiece for the newly created IRL in 1996. Chip Ganassi
broke ranks last year, bringing Montoya and Jimmy Vasser here and
coming away with a win by Montoya, who now is in Formula One.
Arie Luyendyk, the two-time race winner and three-time pole
winner who is ending a one-year retirement, started the qualifying
session with a 224.257 run. Then de Ferran one-upped him.
The Brazilian driver, whose only previous Indy start, in 1995
for Jim Hall, ended in a crash on the first turn of the first lap,
bumped Luyendyk off the top spot with a 224.406. Both de Ferran and
Luyendyk were eventually pushed back to the second row, along with
Sharp's Kelley Racing teammate Mark Dismore (224.964).
Pointing out that 1995 was his first year racing on ovals, de
Ferran said, "These days, I'm not only driving for a fantastic
team but I feel a lot more confident on these type of race
courses."
Luyendyk was happy with his effort.
"I thought the engine just didn't feel right," he said of his
morning practice. "We actually considered changing the engine this
morning and not even taking a run then. But there was no sign of a
problem, it was just a little bit slower."
The third row included NASCAR star Stewart (224.248) -- driving
here for Ganassi -- Jeff Ward (224,222), who finally made it on his
third attempt, and Robbie Buhl (224.213). The 1996 Indy winner,
Buddy Lazier (224.190), Castroneves (224.142), another Brazilian,
and fellow CART star Vasser (223.455) -- the second Ganassi driver --
qualified in the fourth row.
Among the other qualifiers Saturday were IRL series leader and
the winner of two of the season's first three races, Sam Hornish
Jr. (223.333), top 1999 Indy rookie Robby McGehee (222.607), the
only female entry, Sarah Fisher (222.548), two-time race runner-up
Scott Goodyear (222.529) two-time Indy winner Al Unser Jr.
(221.615), longtime CART star Michael Andretti (220.747) -- making
his first Indy appearance since 1995 -- and former pole winner
Roberto Guerrero (220.054), who didn't run a lap of practice until
Friday.
Luyendyk set the four-lap qualifying record of 236.986 in 1996,
the first year of the IRL. Speeds were cut dramatically after that
with all new engine and chassis rules.
Time trials will continue Sunday and conclude next Sunday. Once
the 33-car field is complete, faster drivers will bump out the
slowest qualifiers in the tentative lineup.
The slowest qualifier on Saturday was Buzz Calkins at 220.039.
Among the drivers still trying to find enough speed to make the
lineup are former Indy pole
winner Billy Boat and Eliseo Salazar, who crashed twice in the past
two days.
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