The Callahan Report from Indianapolis, May 12

12 May 1997

There was light action at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway today. There were 17 cars on the track practicing for the 81st running of the Indianapolis 500. The fastest of those was Arie Luyendyk at 217.103 mph.

Only one of the top 10 speeds today was by an unqualified driver. That was Billy Boat in the number 11 Conseco car owned by A.J. Foyt. Boat toured the speedway with a lap of 212.334 mph.

In other news, Billy Roe has passed his Rookie test and will be practicing at speed tomorrow.

Alessandro Zampedri: Determination

INDIANAPOLIS: Just under a year ago, Alessandro Zampedri was in an Indianapolis hospital. Doctors were trying to save his feet. Both feet had suffered compound fractures. Just a few hours earlier he was in serious contention to win the Indianapolis 500. He led the race from lap 170 to 190 before a broken shock slowed him a bit.

Zampedri, a talented IRL driver from Monte Carlo, Monaco, was in a last lap battle in the world's greatest auto race when something went terribly wrong. Roberto Guerrero, Eliseo Salazar, and Zampedri all tangled coming out of the fourth turn heading toward the famous yard of bricks for the last time. Zampedri's car had its nose sheared off. His feet were dragging the catch fence as his airborne car went over the top of Salazar.

Alessandro Zampedri

He made a promise to himself last June. "I will walk by Christmas time." He also said he wanted to race at Indianapolis again this year.

The bright and determined driver qualified for the 1997 Indianapolis 500 last Saturday. He said "It certainly feels great. A very tough year for me."

Zampedri described his painful year. He said "I had rehab eight hours a day until December. From December till now, six hours a day."

Zampedri's return to racing was somewhat of a "gamble". In April, he ran some laps at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He ran some low speed race sequences to be used in a race simulator in the new Sahara Casino. He returned to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway later that month for some testing, running laps at 209 mph.

Zampedri will run the remainder of the season with Team Scandia, sponsored by Mi-jack.

Mid Day Recap

INDIANAPOLIS (3:00 PM CST): There has been a total of 12 cars on the speedway asphalt today as practice continues for the 1997 Indy 500.

The fastest speed of the day was posted by Arie Luyendyk at 215.522. Luyendyk has already qualified for the pole. He is testing his race day setup.

Robbie Buhl was out in his backup car. He was second quick with a lap of 214. 659 mph. His team mate, Tony Stewart was also out running 210 mph. Both drivers have already qualified for the May 25th race.

The only unqualified cars that made appearances before the lunch break were Billy Boat (driving the Conseco car) and Billy Roe.

Andretti Could Be In Foyt Car

INDIANAPOLIS: A.J. Foyt, team owner of Indy Racing League car number one, Conseco/A.J. Foyt Enterprises, announced today that Scott Sharp will not be driving in the 1997 Indy 500. It was announced at 10:00 AM Sunday that Sharp has a small brain hemorrhage as a result of his crash on Friday. His condition remains good. He is no longer hospitalized.

Foyt stated "Steve Hilbert (Conseco) and I decided, together, for Scott's health and everyone concerned; we elected not to have Scott drive. We are going to stick with the doctors; they know best. We definitely do not want anything to happen to Scott and we do not want to take any chances. Mr. Hilbert and I and the Conseco Team decided that this was best for everybody. We are happy this it isn't worse and everything will be fine and he'll be back with us."

A.J. Foyt

A.J. Foyt stated that he is working with Cale Yarborough on getting John Andretti into Scott Sharp's car. Andretti drives for Yarborough in the NASCAR circuit. Andretti is scheduled to run in the NASCAR Coca Cola 600 on the evening of May 25, the same day as the Indy 500. Foyt said " It is going to be hard to get him (Andretti) back and forth, but, whatever....we can work it out. His schedule is tight."

Another NASCAR star is trying to perform the same difficult task. Robby Gordon qualified for the Indy 500 this past weekend. He will travel to Charlotte immediately following the race at Indy to run the 600 miler down South.

Foyt went on the say "John will probably be in the number one car and Billy Boat will be in the number eleven Conseco car. We are putting a brand ne G Force Aurora together and it should be back today."

Foyt was asked if he would drive one of the cars. Foyt said "I sat in one of the cars last night and it felt damn good". He went on to say that he will not be driving.

Other trackside notes: There is little activity at the speedway this morning. Robbie Buhl was out in the Menard backup car (3T) testing race day setup. He had a top speed of 210.912 mph. Stephan Gregoire was also out in his Chastain Motorsports car. Affonso Giaffone and Dr. Jack Miller also made track appearances before noon.

Schmidt Looks Forward To Next Weekend

INDIANAPOLIS: HOPE/Blueprint Racing driver Sam Schmidt has been forced to delay his second qualifying attempt for the 81st Indianapolis 500 until the second weekend of qualifying.

The HOPE/Blueprint Racing team experienced some problems with its Oldsmobile Aurora engine with less than one hour left in qualifying yesterday.

"There was a coolant leak and we don't know where it is yet," said HOPE/Blueprint Racing owner Ed Rachanski. "We'll have to take apart the engine to find it. We figured we'd better take it back and look towards next weekend rather than have problems when he's out on the track at speed."

"I was hoping to get it over with this first weekend," said Schmidt, who turned the sixth-fastest lap of the month (216.956 mph) during Saturday's testing.

"But we'll wait until we have a good mule under us and go out next weekend. I couldn't qualify any higher today than I can next weekend," added Schmidt. "I'm confident the crew can locate and fix the problem and we can go out next weekend."

Terry Callahan -- The Auto Channel