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School of hard knocks Rookie learns wrong way not right way
Posted: Tuesday May 18, 1999 10:05 PM
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- When a race driver is heading toward Turn 3, it's not a good idea to be facing Turn 2. Mike Borkowski learned that the hard way -- a 200 mph reverse spin into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's concrete wall. "We didn't have a lot of time to test before we came out here," the rookie driver said Tuesday. "The biggest thing we're working on right now is me, getting me up to speed, comfortable with the car, the track." Borkowski was the SCCA Trans-Am rookie of the year in 1997. He competed last season in Indy Lights for Team Rahal and is entered in the May 30 Indianapolis 500 with the low-budget PDM Racing. Borkowski wasn't hurt, but the left side of his G Force-Aurora was damaged after he spun into the wall Monday. "The car works better but it's not so different, say, than an Indy Lights car, so I feel I can get a decent feedback from the get-go," said the Dublin, Ohio, driver, who blamed a wind gust for his crash. "That will get a lot better as I experience more and more changes with the car." Borkowski managed only six laps on Monday and 28 laps in his repaired car on Tuesday, with a top speed of 207.977 mph. Practice was delayed Tuesday because of a morning rain, leaving only three full days of practice before qualifications. Scott Goodyear was fastest at 223.842 mph. Stephan Gregoire improved his top lap to 223.647, followed by Kenny Brack at 223.447 and Greg Ray at 223.214. "I need laps," Borkowski said. "It could be windy on race day. ... A couple laps before that seemed fine and suddenly I got my nose pinned down. It felt like a gust of wind. Now, on a day as windy as yesterday, you have to pay a little more attention, maybe be a little more cautious." His top lap Monday was 212.389 mph, more than 3 mph slower than his best the day before, when track conditions were better. "You get more mad than anything, worried about the car getting hurt," he said. "I'm fine. I feel OK physically. I just feel very bad for my guys. They've been working very hard and we're not a big-dollar team, so this was tough for us." Through the first four days of practice, there have been four crashes: Billy Boat on Sunday and Borkowski, Scott Harrington and Boat again on Monday. Harrington said his car "just didn't want to steer," and now he's down to one car. Sam Schmidt, who started sixth last year but finished 26th after a seven-car crash early in the race, said drivers know the risks. "You know people have gotten hurt doing this, but this is my lifelong dream. This is everybody's dream that's out here," Schmidt said. "You can't dwell on the risks, otherwise you'll go slow. And sometimes there's more risk going slow than going fast. "But when the car's good, like Saturday, 224 wasn't probably as difficult as some of the laps I ran in the wind yesterday," he said. Defending Indy 500 winner Eddie Cheever, who has worked with rookies as a car owner-driver the past three years, was watching a Speedway television monitor when Harrington crashed. Asked what he tells his drivers about safety, Cheever said: "I tell them, 'Crashing is not an option. Don't even consider it.' They have to leave themselves enough room until they understand. "I tell them, 'That's a very hard wall, and if you spin you could kill yourself, or nothing could happen. So you make that decision.'"
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