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Friday, May 25

Luster back in Indy 500
ESPN.com news services

INDIANAPOLIS – Things have changed at the Indianapolis 500 this year. Instead of controversy over the drivers who are absent, this year the focus is on those competing in the world's biggest race.

Ever since 1996, when CART teams decided they would not compete in the race because of their opposition to the Indy Racing League, a tremendous amount of attention has been placed on the drivers who chose not to compete.

Names such as two-time Indy 500 winner Al Unser Jr., Michael Andretti, Jimmy Vasser and Roger Penske, the winningest team owner in the Indy 500, were nowhere to be found.

Five years later, those names are back. Combine that with the continued growth of teams in the IRL, which has grown in professionalism and competitiveness since the inaugural season in 1996, and this year's race may be the deepest, most competitive in years.

In fact, it is better than before 1996, when, with a few exceptions, the lineup was the entire CART series plus whoever Team Menard and Hemelgarn Racing entered.

Team Menard and Hemelgarn Racing only competed in the Indy 500 in the years before the creation of the IRL, but have gone on to become championship teams in the Indy Car series.

This year's Indianapolis 500 has the best in the IRL, the best in CART and perhaps the best driver in NASCAR Winston Cup racing in Tony Stewart.

The driver from Rushville, Indiana, who won the 1997 IRL season title will attempt to drive in both the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte, North Carolina for the second time in his career.

He is one of four drivers for Target/Chip Ganassi Racing, a CART team that is the defending champion after Juan Montoya led 167 of the 200 laps in last year's 500.

About the only driver missing from this year's field is Montoya, who has moved on to Formula One but will race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the United States Grand Prix in September.

"Like I've said before, the more the merrier," said two-time Indy 500 winner Arie Luyendyk, back from a one-year retirement. "For years, I've said the race is an open invitation and whoever showed up is who we are going to race against. Whoever didn't show up, it's their loss."

Team Penske has brought a full-scale operation to the 85th Indianapolis 500 with defending CART champion Gil de Ferran and Helio Castroneves adding additional luster.

While skeptics and critics have loudly attacked the Indy 500 since the time of the split, Penske disagrees with the claim that it is no longer the greatest race in the world.

"There is no race bigger than Indy, don't let anybody kid themselves," Penske said. "The benefits that accrue out of winning Indy for our company and our people over the years, you can't add it up. The Daytona 500 is a great race, but there is only one Indianapolis."

Speedway president Tony George created the IRL in 1996 to help create opportunity for other teams and drivers to race in the Indy 500.

Eddie Cheever is a former Formula One driver who has also raced in CART before joining the IRL in 1996. Cheever won the 1998 Indy 500 in a hard-fought battle against 1996 champion Buddy Lazier.

Cheever believes it is about time that some of the drivers from CART realize the importance of the Indianapolis 500.

"How can you be racing open wheel racing and not compete in the Indianapolis 500?" Cheever asked. "I could win at Texas 10 times in a row and not have half the value of being on the pole in the Indianapolis, much less winning the race."

When it comes to defending the IRL, Cheever is its most articulate spokesman. He has strong views and opinions on why the IRL is getting some momentum and why the Indianapolis 500 has returned to glory.

"I'm not embarrassed to admit that I'm very biased towards the IRL," Cheever said. "I believe Tony George's vision is a correct one."

Cheever blames some of the IRL drivers for feeling their circuit and competitors were far superior.

"I think that was very short-termed and it was wrong. Even amongst thieves, there is a little bit of honor. For one racing driver to say the other one is not competent, I think is really silly. It's the Indianapolis 500 and this year it has proven to be bigger than any one series or any one driver."

Cheever and Luyendyk are both former drivers in CART who decided the IRL was the direction to go.

One thing is certain, however. The CART teams that have returned to the Indy 500 are doing so on George's terms, which means no team or driver in the field has an unfair advantage.

The winners are the 400,000 fans who will fill the seats in the massive speedway and the millions more that will watch on television.

"This is going to be one of the strongest races in the last 10 years, for sure," said Luyendyk, who noted that when he won in 1990 few drivers had the Ilmor Chevy engines.

"You don't have that now. Because of the equipment, everybody has what the other guy has and that makes it more competitive. The fact everybody runs on the same tires makes that competitiveness higher."

With some of the glamour teams of the sport competing in the race, along with the hard-chargers of the IRL, Sunday will underline just how important this race really is.

"It only enhances the importance and aura of this race," Luyendyk said.

During the IRL era, Lazier has been one of the most successful drivers at Indianapolis. His victory in 1996 came just two months after breaking his back in a crash at Phoenix International Raceway.

It continues to stand as one of the most heroic victories in Indy 500 500 history.

"There's no other race like the Indy 500," Lazier said. "It certainly would not feel like this at any of race. It's just that big of an event and there's just that much on the line. As soon as I strap in the car, I feel good.

"I'm ready to go."

And, so is the Indianapolis 500, ready to strut its status as a premier sports spectacle.

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