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Sunday, May 27

Luyendyk never comfortable on Sunday
ESPN.com news services

INDIANAPOLIS – Two days before Sunday's Indianapolis 500, two-time winner Arie Luyendyk described the scenario that a driver might encounter once the green flag fell.

"You can get in your car and feel really confident on Sunday morning, but after five laps you realize, 'Man, this thing doesn't want to turn left,'" Luyendyk said. "So it's always kind of a wait-and-see-how-it-will-go."

Little did Luyendyk know how well he was predicting his own fate here. After the race, in which he finished two laps down in 13th, the native of Holland said he had a great car -- for about five laps.

"I went on it right away," Luyendyk said. "I had no problem with cold tires. The car stuck really well. I said to myself, 'I have a good car.' But then, after four or five laps, everybody started taking off and I couldn't keep up. My car was just OK. It was nothing special at all.

"My handling was off," he continued. "And traffic was a big problem for me. I had a lot of push in traffic. I could not attack. Every time I attacked, I almost bit it. The car would jump sideways on me. And the pit stops were a nightmare. So, nah, I did not do much today."

More than 30 minutes after the race, the 47-year-old Luyendyk was still wearing his red driver's uniform as he sat in the garage of Treadway-Hubbard Racing. He munched on a sandwich of cheese and wheat bread as he explained that his problem in the pits was because of the car, not his crew.

"I could not get a good feel for the clutch," he said. "I mean, the second (pit stop), I said to myself, 'Maybe I screwed up the first time.' But I didn't really screw up. I just couldn't get (the car) to go out of the pits. The clutch grabbed really late. So stalling it twice cost me at least a lap. Without that, I probably would have been a top-10 finisher."

A top-10 finish is nothing to this veteran of 16 Indianapolis 500s. He already has seven top-10s, including victories in 1990 and 1997. Luyendyk also is the leading money winner at Indianapolis with more than $5.6 million.

From 1985 through 1999, Luyendyk ran in every 500. He retired last year and spent race day in ABC's broadcast booth. But he quickly came to realize that he missed the Indy 500. He didn't miss any other races or tracks -- just Indy.

Once Luyendyk got back in the car, it was as comfortable as an old glove. But he knew that the real test was how he felt under race conditions.

"I felt really good out there as far as racing and being aware what was going on," he said. "There was a point where I didn't challenge guys that hard because I was two laps down. So I'm not going to go and challenge a guy and take him in the corner and do all that stupid stuff. But as far as that goes, my race craft, or whatever you want to call it, is still all there."

So Luyendyk learned that he can still do it. It's just that the May classic had his number on Sunday.

"There were a lot of challenges that Indy presented today that we had to deal with," he said. "The cold and the wind and the track conditions and my car being off. That's part of the 500. That's part of the challenge to come here and beat all those odds."

Will he drive in another 500?

"I probably will be back," Luyendyk said. "A bad day like this shouldn't set the tone for the future. I have a feeling why my stuff went wrong. It can be corrected and I can come back and do it better. I don't really want to leave. I didn't have such a fun day. I don't really want this to be my last 500."

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