Indy 500 2000 - Ray's hope: Finish where he starts Sunday

Ray's hope: Finish where he starts Sunday
By Chris Corbellini, ABC Sports Online

INDIANAPOLIS -- In garage B-23 these past two weeks, one driver acted as if he's the face of Indy racing, moving purposely toward the checkered flag. The other acted as if he's running up the Academy steps to collect his first Oscar.

Together right now -- but oh-so-separate on race day -- Indy 500 pole-sitter Greg Ray and teammate Robby Gordon make up Team Menard, the strongest dual entry in the 84th Indianapolis 500. Despite Menard's horrendous finishes last year, Ray and Gordon are primed to rebound and win at the Brickyard this year -- A.J. Foyt and Chip Ganassi be damned.


	Greg Ray has the look of a winner, but the Indianapolis Motor Speedway hasn't been kind to this year's pole-sitter.

"There is no doubt this is a great day for Team Menard," said owner John Menard. "To have two cars nose to tail at the start of the race is definitely going to be interesting."

Ray -- the really, really focused one of the two -- projects an almost Captain America-like persona while milling about Gasoline Alley. He won the pole this year by bumping off early-leader Juan Montoya, the CART guy who dissed the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as just another track, by 0.099 mph. That's faster than the time it takes to cock your head behind you when someone taps you on the shoulder.

Ray aborted his first qualifying attempt on the first lap before winning on his second qualifying run, his Dallara-Aurora rattling harder than desired from the moment it started.

"It's hard to put into words," Ray said when he won the pole. "As a child, I remember pictures of pole-sitters in the paper ... I'd be lying to you if I said it wasn't a big, big focus."

In the opening battle of open-wheel racing, his pole-winning time of 223.471 gave Indy Racing Northern Light Series president Tony George a reason to smile.

On Wednesday, Ray's the one signing autographs for a throng of fans outside Team Menard's garage. Ray's the one now available as computer wallpaper. He has become the poster .jpeg of the Indy 500.

The oh-so-lovely sight of Turn One on the horizon awaits the 1999 IRL champ when the race begins, with only Ganassi's entry Montoya to his right and Foyt driver Eliseo Salazar on the outside of the front row. Right behind Ray, in the fourth slot, is Gordon.

Don't let Gordon's "what-me-worry" act this week fool you. He is the kind of guy the school valedictorian keeps a close eye on days before graduation. He's right on that line between confident and just plain cocky -- like Reggie Miller in the fourth quarter. Gordon is jumping into this one because Menard wanted another thoroughbred in the stable. He has nothing to lose here.

Of course, before qualifying, Ray said he needed such a teammate at Indy -- any teammate really -- like he needed a shower in kerosene.

"There's a couple of hours left," Ray said on Saturday before Gordon qualified. "I know that blue (No. 32 Aurora) down there is fast."

A former CART and IRNLS driver now in NASCAR, Gordon will drive that blue bullet on Sunday. During his first day back at Indy, he said it would take him a day to get ready for the delicate Indy car setup. He was close. In three days, he broke 220 mph in practice twice before he qualified.

On Sunday during his second qualifying attempt, he nearly skidded sideways onto the rumble strip at Turn One before saving himself. On his third try, the No. 32 Aurora ran a respectable 222.885 -- 45 minutes before the end of Bump Day. He's also planning on racing at Indy and then NASCAR's Coca-Cola 600 later that night. Only John Andretti and Tony Stewart have tried the double before. You wait for that Oscar speech.

"We could roll the No. 32 out right now and be competitive," Gordon said on Sunday. "We have a few tricks up our sleeves. I think our cars are pretty good, and I don't see why I can't finish the race next Sunday where we are now."

Gordon will see Ray's rear wing from the fourth position -- the same spot he started and finished in during last year's Indy -- when the race begins.

"My nightmare is that Robby and Greg will crash into each other," Menard said ominously.

Menard has every reason to be concerned despite their excellent starting position. His drivers haven't proven anything yet at the Indy 500. Ray has never won at Indianapolis in three attempts, while Gordon has been winless in five tries. Neither even finished the race last year.

You might even say Ray had one of the more coyote-ugly finishes in 1999. Under caution with the lead after lap 117, Ray was pulling out of the pit stall and slightly veered into the outside lane of pit road when he ran into Mark Dismore. The collision made Ray slam into the wall, and ended his day.

"I looked at Indy as a two-race event," Ray said. "Qualifying was like a speed event. The actual 500 is a duration event. We did great in qualifying for this good start. Now I need to finish."

While Ray suffered from a bad pit, Gordon's finish last year was on the track and may have been the only socially acceptable time to scream an obscenity -- during a nationally televised sporting event.

Gordon became only the third person to lose Indy after leading in lap 198, joining Ralph DePalma (1912) and Al Unser Jr. (1989) in a rather unfortunate fraternity. Worse, he did so because of an error in judgment.

While most of the field pitted at lap 170, Gordon and Menard gambled and did so under caution during lap 164. Menard believed he could keep the car going for those last 36 laps. The gamble failed. On lap 197 with the lead firmly in his gloved hand, Gordon radioed in to Menard that he thought he was running out of gas. Kenny Brack passed him with a little more than a lap to go. Brack, a Foyt entry, said he was running for second. SECOND! That quick fuel on lap 199 was not a pleasant stay.

"You learn from your mistakes," Gordon said. "We built on those (last year's mistakes). We worked on our race set-up last week. We ran out of gas this week. Maybe that is why we have a better race set-up in the bag than a qualifying one. You just can't dwell on it."

Fuel should be the least of their worries on Sunday. The Menard mechanics have both cars in fighting trim. Ganassi's boys, Montoya and 1996 CART champion Jimmy Vasser, pose the greatest challenge. Defending Indy 500 champion owner Foyt, with Salazar on the front row and Jeff Ward on the second, loom as well.

"I don't look at it that way," Ray said. "I'm ready to take on anyone. They came over here, now we'll see who comes out on top."

For now, Ray goes back to signing autographs. Waiting. Gordon was in Charlotte getting ready to qualify for the Coca-Cola 600. Waiting.

"I don't care whose leading on the first lap," Ray said to a mother of a young autograph hound. "I really don't care who is leading on the 150th lap. All I care about is the last lap.

"Hey buddy," Ray whispered to the child, holding a newly autographed 1998 Team Menard hat. "That one was my favorite last year."

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