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Last chance Nervous drivers ready for final qualifying day
Updated: Tuesday May 22, 2001 8:15 PM
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- The wheeling and dealing began in earnest Saturday as teams and drivers searched for speed on the eve of the final day of qualifying for the Indianapolis 500. Only one spot remains open in the 33-car field, but, once the lineup is filled on Sunday, faster drivers can bump out the slowest qualifiers -- one at a time -- until the 7 p.m. EDT end of the six-hour session. After a rare rainout on Friday, the 2.5-mile Indy oval was a whirlwind of activity on the final full day of practice before the May 27 race. The drivers hoping to earn a starting spot were desperately trying to get up to speed, while many of those already in the field were working on their race day setups with only short periods of practice remaining Sunday and Thursday during the traditional two-hour "Carburetion Day" session. There was also plenty of intrigue in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway garages, where team owners with proven spare cars were being visited by drivers looking for a ride and representatives of other teams needing a faster car.
"That car has the fastest laps of any extra car here," chortled Ron Hemelgarn, who has 1996 Indy winner Buddy Lazier solidly in the field and another Dallara race car that has turned laps above 223 in practice sitting in his garage. "I don't know what I'm going to do with it. I probably won't know until sometime Sunday. I'm open to offers." Also among the best of the remaining unassigned cars is a Dallara from Kelley Racing, which already has pole-sitter Scott Sharp and Mark Dismore in the show. A possible deal was cooking to put rookie Casey Mears, who has been struggling to get a Galles Racing entry up to speed, into the spare Kelley car with an Ilmor-prepared engine from Team Penske. Mears' his uncle, four-time Indy winner Rick Mears, is a Penske consultant. "Right now, everything is status quo at Galles Racing," said team spokeswoman Cori Galles. "Things could change later, though." One official change that did take place Saturday was a switch of teams for struggling Stephan Gregoire. The French driver, a five-time Indy starter, admitted earlier this week he had lost confidence in his race car at Dick Simon Racing. Simon brought in 15-time Indy starter Roberto Guerrero to help get Gregoire into the 500-mile race. His help was not enough to get Gregoire to that point, and Guerrero wound up qualifying the team's primary car last weekend. Gregoire was offered a drive in Jeff Ward's backup car at Heritage Motorsports. Ward is already qualified at 224.222 mph and has put laps on his spare at over 222. Simon, who has driven here as well as entering and preparing cars for numerous Indy starters over the years, said, "When we came here this month, we had one goal in mind -- put Stephan in the show and try to race for a win. ... Unfortunately, since Day One we've encountered a communications problem and never found enough speed for Stephan to pass the 220 mark. "Our team is 100 percent behind Stephan's decision and we hope he is successful." Meantime, Simon switched his focus to Guerrero, who is the slowest of last weekend's qualifiers at 220.054 -- and is almost certain to be bumped on Sunday. "Right now, we're working on the type of setup Roberto would like," said Simon, who has put Guerrero in the team's year-old G Force in which Gregoire finished eighth last year." But speed was hard to come by in the early going Saturday. By mid-afternoon, the fastest non-qualifiers were A.J. Foyt Enterprises drivers Donnie Beechler at 221.032 and Eliseo Salazar at 220.410. Foyt said Beechler, a late addition to the team, will get to qualify only if Salazar gets into the field. "We have a commitment to Eliseo to get him in the race," Foyt said. "We'll try to get him in early and then we'll work on Donnie's situation." Billy Boat, another Indy veteran, was the only other non-qualifier over 220, running a lap at 220.025. Gregoire had yet to get in his new car, while Guerrero and Mears were barely up to speed at 212.264 and 210.507, respectively.
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