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Thursday, June 7
Sharp out to beat Indy disappointment
Associated Press
FORT WORTH, Texas -- Scott Sharp just can't get over that mistake at Indianapolis, where from the pole he crashed in the first turn of the first lap.
"I don't think that will happen for a long time," Sharp said. "It was a nightmare."
|  | | Scott Sharp won last year's Casino Magic 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. |
After a nearly perfect May in which he earned the Indy 500 pole and was the fastest during practice on most days, Sharp went too low on the track with cold tires to start the race. He spun out of control and crashed into the wall.
"I realize, unfortunately, that's a circumstance in my life that I can't hit rewind," Sharp said. "I've got to look at the future. It's something I can turn into a motivator."
A trip to Texas Motor Speedway, for the Casino Magic 500 on Saturday night, couldn't come at a better time for Sharp as he tries to overcome his most bitter disappointment.
Sharp will start on the outside of the first row alongside Kelly
Racing teammate Mark Dismore. Sharp's qualifying run of 215.065 mph Thursday night was beat only by the pole speed of 215.508.
Sharp's most exciting racing moment came last June at Texas when he beat Robby McGehee by just .059 seconds -- about a half of a car length -- in the Casino Magic 500. It was the closest finish in Indy Racing League history and many consider it the best open wheel race ever after 31 lead changes and no accidents.
"I love racing here. I just feel good driving under the tunnel coming into the infield. You feel the heartbeat crank up," he said. "You come here wide open, not looking at what I should have, could have or would have done."
That goes for all of the IRL drivers, not just Sharp.
The first-mile crash by Sharp was just the beginning of what was a tough Indianapolis 500 for the IRL in its showcase event. Championship Auto Racing Teams took the top five spots -- including the 1-2 finish by Roger Penske's team -- and former IRL champ and NASCAR driver Tony Stewart finished sixth.
"I don't think it says anything other than Penske has a world class organization," said McGehee, who finished 11th at Indy. "It shouldn't be a surprise. Some of the IRL teams that could really race with them had problems. It was a bad day for those particular teams, but it was a great Indy 500."
There won't be any CART drivers this week at Texas, where the rival open wheel series canceled its scheduled race in April because of concerns over driver safety.
Turbocharged Champ cars were going as fast as 236 mph in practice and most drivers experienced dizziness or disorientation. The problems caught CART officials, who never did wide-scale testing in Texas, by surprise.
Kenny Brack earned the pole at 233.447 mph before CART's race-day cancellation. The IRL qualifying record at Texas is Billy Boat's 233.447 mph in 1998, but pole-sitters have been in the 212-216 range since IRL switched to a smaller engine.
Still, the IRL's two fastest races were at Texas last year. Sharp's average speed of 169.182 mph last June was a record until Scott Goodyear won the season finale at 175.276 in October.
Even though he followed Greg Ray as the second straight Indy pole-sitter to finish last, Sharp is still fourth in the IRL points with 97.
"I'm excited because we've never been in such strong shape as we are now," Sharp said. "Indy was a disappointment, but we had a great month. We went fast whenever we wanted to be fast, we won the pitstop contest and sat on the pole. So much good came about."
With nine races to go, Sharp has plenty of time to try to win the IRL championship, which he shared with Buzz Calkins in 1996-97, IRL's inaugural season. He is also looking to win his sixth career IRL race and break a tie with Ray for the most on the circuit.
Sam Hornish Jr., who won the first two races, is the points leader with 152. Eliseo Salazar, whose seventh-place Indy finish was the IRL best, has 131 points, and rookie Felipe Giaffone has 100. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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