One more time around the track for Goodyear
By Chris Corbellini, ABC Sports Online INDIANAPOLIS -- In the pecking order of tough breaks, a Scott Goodyear finish at the Indianapolis 500 has got to be up there, preceded only by a kick to the groin and followed perhaps by a night-long bout between your stomach wall and a bad shrimp cocktail.
Scott Goodyear's pit crew may be the difference this year between another heartbreaking loss and his first Indy 500 win.
This will be Goodyear's 10th time around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the "greatest spectacle in racing." The goal these days is the same -- wake up Sunday morning, race 200 laps around his favorite track, hope to drink that yummy milk in Victory Lane, thank his sponsors, and finally win the Indianapolis 500. Now Goodyear's come close, .043 of a second close, to holding aloft the Borg-Warner Trophy. Yet the Canadian remains a driver idling --- more than anyone else on that race track this Sunday -- for his victory speech.
For those of you who like to drive 12 mph past multi-car wrecks on an interstate, let's briefly relive Goodyear's more gruesome Indy finishes.
In 1992, after starting from the dead-last 33rd position, he creeped up on Al Unser Jr's rear tire in Turn 4 of the final lap only to be unable pass him ("I wasn't going to give him room," Unser said recently), losing by .043, the closest race in Indy history.
In 1995, Goodyear crossed the Brickyard finish line first, but was penalized for passing the pace car on a restart and was dropped to 14th place.
Three years ago, he couldn't catch Arie Luyendyk, losing by only .570.
"That finish in 1992 has stuck in everyone's mind," Al Unser Jr. said. "Most of all in mine, and in Scott's. He is a driver that I respect very much. I'm glad to be racing him again."
Now a graying 40, Goodyear looks a little -- no, a lot -- like your high school principal all decked out in a fireproof suit. That is, if your principal spends every morning running five miles a day working off his age, a potential belly that just wants to peek out a little more if he'd let it go. He is an energetic guy who hasn't been beaten down just yet -- throw out the .043 loss and he's still had a bunch of coyote-ugly finishes here -- and still enjoys coming to the show again and again and again. This year is just as good as any.
"I can probably just practice a day and qualify, but nothing prepares you for this event like racing in this event," Goodyear said. "No matter how much you think you're ready, it's still the Indy 500.
"You're waiting for the green flag," he said. "You're waiting on the radio for them to tell you 'go, go, go'"
Goodyear starts from the inside of Row 5 in the 13th spot in his yellow No. 4 Panther Dallara. It's very close to the ideal position that he and Pennzoil Panther Racing had envisioned, the pacesetters right in front of him, the potential disasters trailing him. His No. 4 car peaked at the right time during qualifying, running a high speed of 220.629.
"I try not to drive on the fine line, but I like to be comfortable," Goodyear said. "I like the car to be driver-friendly."
Of course -- as the drivers have been saying all month -- the last few laps and the finish is the thing. Eddie Cheever, the driver right in front of Goodyear, has already got his Indy win. Juan Montoya and Jimmy Vasser are just visiting from another league, and aren't they racing in Nazareth this weekend? And while it's been great to see 19-year-old Sarah Fisher tough it out with the men, she just got here.
Goodyear is thus Indy's hungriest driver and remains as competitive as ever, judging by his qualifying times this month, and boosted by the top pit crew -- sorry A.J. Foyt -- in the Indy field.
Goodyear ran through an impressive Carboretion Day last Thursday. He finished among the top 10 in morning practice with a high speed of 215.596 mph after a nice little run -- 25 laps to be exact. Later, during the Indy 500 Pit Stop challenge, he and Panther racing, led by chief mechanic Kevin "Rocket Man" Blanch, smoked Team Pelfrey in the first round, then defeated Galles ECR racing and Kelley Racing with pit times of under 10 seconds in the quarterfinals and semis, respectively.
During the final round against Robby McGehee's Treadway Racing crew they were beaten soundly out of the pits. Goodyear slowly clambered out of his cockpit and stood at the finish starting blankly at his crew, another oh-so-close-finish, while McGehee's team's whooped and hollered in a beer shower. But after Treadway was penalized three seconds for a tire rolling outside of a marked pit box, Goodyear was named the victor and the driver rushed into the waiting arms of Blanch and the boys.
This is a crew, Goodyear admitted, that would have probably been the difference against Unser in '92. Finally, something went in his favor before the adoring Indy crowd. This could be the start of something good.
Goodyear awaits another finish.
