|
 |   |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Multimedia Central Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities Work in Sports
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE |  |
Better result Cheever's Infiniti engine improving for 2000
Posted: Monday January 31, 2000 03:54 PM
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) -- Losing a race was only part of Eddie Cheever's disappointment. The former Indianapolis 500 winner thought it was time for a victory for the Infiniti engine. Cheever's Riley & Scott chassis was the only car in the field of 26 in Saturday's season-opening Delphi Indy 200 without a version of the Oldsmobile Aurora engine that has won every one of the 30 events in Indy Racing League history. It appeared that string would end when Cheever, who previously won races on the 1-mile Walt Disney World Speedway tri-oval in 1997 and 1999, took the lead from Buddy Lazier 10 laps from the end. But Cheever was blocked by a lapped car two laps from the end, allowing Robbie Buhl to take the lead and win his second IRL race, and his first since 1997. "I had my hands on Infiniti's first win and I failed them," Cheever said. "Julius Caesar once said, 'To trust is good. To not trust is better.' I should have followed that advice and not trusted the slower car to give way. We deserved to win this one." Cheever switched to Infiniti just before last year's Indy 500. "The engine kept getting stronger and stronger," Cheever said. "Believe me, I did everything I could to break it. I pushed it to its limit and it just kept giving." While Cheever was apparently taking control after going into the lead, Buhl, whose only previous IRL victory came on a 1-mile oval in Loudon, N.H., was moving into contention. The eventual winner passed Lazier for the runner-up spot on lap 192 and kept his G Force-Aurora within 3 seconds of Cheever's car, hoping the leader would get held up in traffic. "I knew that was the only way I was going to get him," Buhl said. "But the traffic was tough all day and I knew what could happen. All I could do was wait and take advantage if the right situation came up." Actually, it was because of Buhl's pressure that Cheever ran into the problem. "I wanted to put a car between us," Cheever said. "With two laps to go, I went down to get around the blue car. I don't know who it was, but he moved down. I tried to go on the outside. His car drifted up, pushing me into the marbles." The marbles, slick little chunks of rubber from the race tires that covered the outer portion of the track, adhered to Cheever's tires and he briefly lost momentum. He not only lost the lead, but second place to Lazier. "We had a car capable of winning and put ourselves in a good position," said Buhl, who led a race-high 49 laps. "We don't think we had anything handed to us." Actually, it was amazing that Buhl was even in contention, considering the team co-owned by Buhl, Dennis Reinbold and Eric DeBord didn't announce until Jan. 18 it would be competing this season. Their car wasn't even delivered until three weeks ago. "It was a fantastic start. What this win does is bring us all closer together," said Buhl, whose victory from 22nd place -- the farthest back in IRL history - was worth $139,000. There were several one-car crashes and two drivers were injured in the race that was slowed by eight caution flags. Davey Hamilton slightly fractured his back and was treated and released on Saturday. Jaques Lazier, Buddy's younger brother, also fractured his back but was released from Orlando Regional Medical Center after spending the night.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
