INDY 500: Olds Indy 500 Report
18 May 2000
GREAT SCOTT! SHARP RUNS 223 MPH ON DAY 4
Sharp Turns Fastest Lap Ever with 3.5-Liter Oldsmobile
INDIANAPOLIS 500 PRACTICE DAY #4 FAST FIVE:
Driver Entrant Engine Speed
1. Scott Sharp Kelley Racing Oldsmobile 223.936 mph
2. Juan Montoya Ganassi Racing Oldsmobile 222.102
3. Jimmy Vasser Ganassi Racing Oldsmobile 221.733
4. Greg Ray Team Menard Oldsmobile 221.740
5. Stephan Gregoire Simon Racing Oldsmobile 221.397
On the fourth day of practice for the 84th Indianapolis 500, Scott
Sharp became the fourth driver to top the speed chart. After an afternoon
spent dodging rain drops, Sharp ripped off a 223.936 mph lap in Kelley
Racing's Delphi Automotive Systems Oldsmobile Dallara to establish himself
as a contender for the Indy 500 pole.
Sharp ran the event's fastest lap in the closing minutes of "Happy
Hour," that magical time when conditions are most favorable for speed.
Ganassi Racing's CART champions Juan Montoya and Jimmy Vasser shadowed
Sharp with laps of 222.102 mph and 221.773 mph respectively in their Target
Oldsmobile G-Force entries, while reigning IRL champion Greg Ray was fourth
on the speed chart at 221.740 in Team Menard's Conseco Oldsmobile Dallara.
"We weren't trying to go fast until the end, and then we decided it
was time to see what the car had," said Sharp. "We took a little wing out,
and when the lap time came up on my dash, I said, 'Wow!'"
Sharp came within 1.7 mph of the 225.643 mph track record for a
naturally aspirated IRL car set last year by polewinner Arie Luyendyk with
a 4.0-liter Oldsmobile engine. Engine displacement was downsized to 3.5
liters at the start of the 2000 season.
"I'm surprised that we're that quick," Sharp conceded. "When we
tested here last fall while the 3.5-liter engines were first being
developed, there was a big difference in speed - and a big difference in
driving the car. It was easy to go flat out all the way around the track,
but as the builders have developed the engines and raised the power level,
now you have to work pretty hard to go flat. I drive the track very much
like I drove it last year with a 4.0-liter engine. The smaller engine
doesn't have as much bottom-end torque, but once the rpm gets up there, I
don't notice a difference."
Oldsmobile IRL Aurora V8 engines prepared by Comptech Machine of
Eldorado Hills, Calif., produced the three fastest speeds in the Kelley
Racing and Ganassi Racing entries. "If you look at the last two years, the
Comptech engines have been really strong for Kelley Racing," Sharp
reported. "Those guys are busting their tails to delivery us great engines
with more power."
Intermittent rain couldn't dampen the steady escalation of speed on
the 2.5-mile oval. Twelve drivers practiced at over 220 mph, and 15 racers
were within one second of Sharp's fast time. Thirty-six cars were on the
track today, with 34 of them powered by Oldsmobile IRL Aurora V8 engines. A
total of 1,121 laps were logged between the rain showers.
Distaff driver Sarah Fisher lapped at 220.881 mph to post the
seventh fastest time in Walker Racing's Cummins Special Oldsmobile Dallara,
and Lyn St. James was 13th on the chart at 219.974 mph in Dick Simon
Racing's Yellow Freight System Oldsmobile G-Force.
Practice will continue through Friday, leading up to Pole Day
qualifying on Saturday, May 20, and Bump Day on Sunday, May 21. The 84th
running of the Indianapolis 500 will start at noon EDT on May 28 and will
be televised live by ABC Sports.