INDIANAPOLIS -- After qualifying for his first Indianapolis 500 in three years, Jimmy Kite did a victory lap of sorts.

KIte waved off the usual golf cart ride back to Gasoline Alley, loosened the upper half of his driver's uniform, wrapped it around his waist and headed out on foot through the milling fans.

The popular Kite, who stands only 5-4, didn't walk very far before he heard, "Nice run, Jimmy" and received the inevitable requests for autographs and photographs, which he cheerfully fulfilled with his day's work behind him.

Kite's average speed of 224.191 miles per hour on his four-lap qualification run was good enough for the 32nd spot in the 33-car field for the Indianapolis 500 on May 25.

"It's been a long road back, but I'm just tickled to death I'm back at Indy," said the 27-year-old Kite, who has run in three previous 500s, but failed to qualify in 2001 and 2002.

Kite's success with low-budget PDM Racing is one of the most heartwarming stories at Indianapolis Motor Speedway during this month of May. But it did not come without a touch of drama.

On his first qualification attempt Sunday, after turning two laps above 225 mph, Kite's car sputtered and he had to abandon the run.

The story that immediately began circulating on pit road was that Kite's Dallara Chevrolet ran out of fuel, but car owner Paul Diatlovich denied it.

"We had a fuel pickup problem," he said. "Contrary to popular belief, we had plenty of fuel in the car to make the run. But we had a scavenge problem."

By the time Kite's day was over, the problems were a thing of the past.

"That first run, we went out and I was just tickled to death," he said. "The car felt great. It was just turning itself. Obviously, we were about one mph slower on the second run, but still quick enough to be in.

"I'm still going to be running next Sunday, and when it comes down to it, that's all that matters."

Diatlovich said Kite was slower on his second attempt because "I got very conservative" and put more downforce in the car to make sure it made the field.

Diatlovich could afford to be conservative, because once the car qualified, Kite faced no threat of being knocked out of the field on Bump Day.

The economic downturn, plus the advent of new chassis and engine specifications for the 2003 Indy Racing League reduced the number of cars attempting to qualify to exactly 33.

Kite, whose best finish is 11th in the 1998 race, did not have a ride coming into the month. But original PDM driver Scott Mayer failed to pass the IRL rookie orientation program.

That opened the door for Kite, who ran with PDM here last year in a Sam Schmidt Motorsports car. But on Bump Day 2002, Kite had a clutch malfunction on his first attempt and never got another chance when rain ended the session early.

"We've been talking for the past year, myself and PDM, that we knew we had some unfinished business," Kite said.

"It's not as if I've just been sitting around waiting for this. I've been running the pavement Silver Crown cars and the winged sprint cars. But we had one goal starting this month of May, and that was to make up for last year."

For PDM, the Indianapolis 500 is "the granddaddy of everything we do," said Diatlovich, who owns the team with retired businessman Larry Arnold. But the underfinanced team faced the month with only one bullet in its garage.

PDM had a single car for the 87th running of the 500. The team also lacks sponsorship, which it expects to change -- for this race, at least -- now that it made the field.

But for Kite, Diatlovich and the team, the hard part is over.

"We are the epitome of a small team struggling to survive," Diatlovich said. "When the economy was good, sponsorships were hard to find. Now that we've had the downturn, sponsorships are near impossible to find."

After Mayer failed to successfully complete the rookie program, that left the team with no driver and no sponsorship.

"So we restricted our laps and we restricted our miles, put the best driver we could in the car and now we're in the show," Diatlovich said. "I might be able to sleep tonight."

It's also a big relief for Kite, who immediately shifted his own focus.

"I'm trying to remember what it felt like in 2000 to go into turn one and take the green flag," he said.