IMS Announces $200,000 Plus in Awards for Pole Day Qualifying

7 May 1997

DRIVERS SHOOT FOR BIG POLE PAYOFF SATURDAY
IN INDIANAPOLIS 500 QUALIFYING


INDIANAPOLIS, May 7, 1997 _ Drivers and teams will be shooting for
more than $200,000 in qualifying prizes Saturday when they line up on
pit road at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the first day of time
trials to bid for starting spots in the field for the richest auto
race in the world, the 81st Indianapolis 500.

The top prize up for grabs is the PPG Pole Award of $100,000 plus a
custom van valued at over $40,000 from Chevrolet, which goes to the
pole-position qualifier for the auto racing classic.

In addition, GTE has posted $10,000 in GTE Front Runner Awards for
each of the three qualifiers for the front row and Pennzoil has posted
up to $25,000 in qualifying awards as part of a new contingency
package.

The postings are part of a record total of $1,767,250 in prizes
offered by participating companies, an increase of $237,000 over the
total posting for the 1996 edition of the "500."

Heading the list is PPG Industries' posting of $495,000 in addition to
its pole award, or $15,000 each to the 33 starting cars in the
field. Pennzoil's recently announced awards program includes
contingency awards of up to $170,000.

Other qualifying awards include the True Value Pole Winning Chief
Mechanic Award of $10,000, the Sure Start/Automotive Armature "On the
Bubble" Award of $10,000 to the 33rd fastest qualifier, the Ferguson
Steel Most Consistent Qualifier and Most Consistent Rookie Qualifier
Awards of $5,000 each and the Ameritech Youngest Starting Driver Award
of $7,500.

Also on the list of $5,000 qualifying prizes are the Citadel Group
"Overachiever" Award for the team which achieves the greatest success
with limited resources, the Buckeye Machine Race Spec "Final Measure"
Award for the last team to pass inspection and qualify for the race,
the Snap-On/Championship Association of Mechanics "Top Wrench" Award
to the chief mechanic voted by his peers as best in practice and
qualifying, the Mi-Jack "Top Performer" Award to the driver recording
the single fastest qualifying lap, the SRE Industries "My Bubble
Burst" Award to the last driver to be bumped from the field and the
T.P. Donovan Top Starting Rookie Award.

Qualifications are scheduled Saturday and Sunday and May 17-18. The
Speedway's gates open at 7 a.m. and time trials are set to begin at 11
a.m.  Saturday.

ABC Sports will televise Pole Day qualifying live from 1-3 p.m. (EDT)
Saturday and 1:30-2:30 p.m. (EDT) Sunday.  ESPN has scheduled
time-trial coverage from 507 p.m. this Sunday, and from 3:30-5:30
p.m. Saturday, May 17 and 5-7 p.m. Sunday, May 18.

...IMS97-06...