Indy increases family ties by one
Associated PressINDIANAPOLIS -- Unsers, Andrettis, Bettenhausens. Now
Laziers.
Rookie Jaques Lazier, younger brother of 1996 winner Buddy
Lazier, joined the lineup Sunday, making his family one of a
handful with more than two members to qualify for the Indianapolis
500.
Their father, Bob Lazier, drove in the 1981 race.
"All the credit goes to the team," said Jaques, whose
Truscelli Racing crew waved off his first attempt Saturday after
two laps at about 219 mph. "We had a total of about 80 laps at
speed in this car, and they busted their tails the whole weekend
just to get this car going."
On Sunday, he called off one attempt on the final warmup lap and
came back a few minutes later with a four-lap average of 220.675
mph, guaranteeing a spot in the May 28 race on the ninth row, three
rows behind his older brother.
"That's the whole goal, just to get into the show," Jaques
Lazier said. "Buddy's proven in the past you can win from the
back, so that's what were going to try to do. This is everything to
me now. I'm just honored to be in such a talented field."
The younger Lazier, then driving a car entered by his father,
qualified at Indianapolis last year but was bumped from the lineup.
He finished fourth in the IRL rookie points a year ago.
Kite gets to fly in new car
Blueprint Racing withdrew the car Jimmy Kite wrecked
during a warmup lap Saturday and bought a second Ganassi Racing car
that had been entered for Jimmy Vasser.
Kite, who was not injured in the crash, qualified the new No. 27
G Force-Aurora at 220.718 mph Sunday, putting him in the lineup
for the third straight year.
"I went into turn one on the warmup lap and knew the next time
around the tires would still be cold. ... I went in conservatively,
and it still spun around," Kite said of the crash. "I am,
unfortunately, getting used to this."
Earlier, during practice before qualifications Saturday, Kite
spun out without making contact with the wall.
"This is Indy. You don't give up," he said.
Closer than close
How close is the competition at Indy?
Consider this: It took Greg Ray 2 minutes, 41.095 seconds to
drive four laps and win the pole position, just 3.827 seconds
quicker than rookie Andy Hillenburg, the slowest qualifier.
The closest margin for the entire field was 3.695 seconds
between Arie Luyendyk and Wim Eyckmans last year.
The difference between Ray and Eliseo Salazar, who will start
from the outside of the row one, was 0.173 seconds, the narrowest
front-row separation in Indy history.
This year's field also includes two pairs of drivers who had
identical qualification speeds, with Donnie Beechler and Buddy
Lazier at 220.482 mph and Stephan Gregoire and rookie Airton Dare
at 219.970.
"If you check through our other races, we qualify pretty
close," Beechler said. "But Indianapolis is it; it's a challenge
being here, wanting to get in this race."
The last time there was even one tie in qualifications was 1978,
when A.J. Foyt and Danny Ongais tied for the second-fastest average
at 200.122. Two years earlier, there were four pairs of ties in
qualifications.
Hamilton's IRL streak alive
Davey Hamilton will keep his streak alive as
the only driver to compete in every race in the five-year history
of the IRL.
It wasn't easy.
"It's been frustrating, let me tell you," Hamilton said Sunday
after he qualified at 219.878 mph for his fifth Indy start. "The
great thing is we've got a good race setup."
Hamilton's TeamXtreme had struggled all week and waved off its
first attempt earlier Sunday. About three hours later, he was
ready.
"When I left this pit area, I knew I wasn't going to lift off
the throttle. I didn't care what happened," Hamilton said. "This
is the Indy 500. You hang it out a little bit farther to get in it.
The car got really loose, but I wasn't going to lift for nothing."
Hamilton, who finished fourth at Indy in 1998, will have driven
in each of the 38 IRL races.
"We're in this thing and there's a lot of stress off right
now," he said.
Breakthrough times two
Twenty-three years after the first woman drove in
the Indianapolis 500, there will be two women in the starting
lineup.
Sarah Fisher, a 19-year-old rookie, qualified Saturday. Then Lyn
St. James, who crashed during a warmup lap before she could make an
attempt Saturday, tried again in a team backup car Sunday and
qualified at 218.826 mph for a spot in the middle of the 11th and
final row.
It will be the seventh start for St. James, the 1992 rookie of
the year. The only other woman driver at Indy was Janet Guthrie,
who drove three times from 1977-79.
