INDY 500: Penske leads busy day of entries for 85th Indianapolis 500
Posted By Terry CallahanMotorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
March 30, 2001
INDIANAPOLIS - Penske Racing filed two of the four entries received March 29 for the Indianapolis 500, ending a five-year absence at the Brickyard for the team that has won the Greatest Spectacle in Racing a record 10 times.
Sam Schmidt Motorsports and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing also filed single entries for the Indianapolis 500, scheduled for May 27. Entries must be postmarked by April 11. All drivers will compete for one of the 33 starting spots in the world's most prestigious auto race.
Defending CART champion Gil de Ferran and Helio Castroneves were named as drivers for Penske Racing, which last entered the race in 1995. But both of the team's drivers that year - Al Unser Jr. and Emerson Fittipaldi - didn't make the starting field for the race. Penske Racing last took the green flag for the race in 1994, when Unser produced a dominant victory.
de Ferran, from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., will drive the No. 66 Marlboro Team Penske Dallara/Oldsmobile/Firestone, with an identical backup entered. Matt Jonsson is the chief mechanic. de Ferran will attempt to make his second start at Indianapolis, as he finished 29th in 1995 after his race ended in a first-lap, multicar accident.
Castroneves, from Miami, will drive the No. 68 Marlboro Team Penske Dallara/Oldsmobile/Firestone, with an identical backup entered. Rick Rinaman is the chief mechanic. Castroneves is an Indianapolis 500 rookie.
Tom Wurtz is the team manager for both Penske Racing entries.
This will be the second Indy Racing Northern Light Series event this season for Penske Racing. Castroneves and de Ferran placed 18th and 24th, respectively, at the season-opening Pennzoil Copper World Indy 200 on March 18 at Phoenix. Both led laps, but Castroneves was eliminated by engine failure, and de Ferran's race ended in a multicar accident.
Davey Hamilton was named as the driver for Sam Schmidt Motorsports. The new Indy Racing team was formed earlier this year by Schmidt, a former Indy Racing standout who was paralyzed in a testing accident in January 2000. Hamilton finished 12th at Phoenix.
Hamilton, from Las Vegas, will drive the No. 99 Sam Schmidt Motorsports Racing Special Dallara/Oldsmobile/Firestone, with an identical backup car entered. Steve Dunlap is the chief mechanic, and Larry Nash is the team manager.
Two-time series runner-up Hamilton will attempt to make his sixth consecutive Indianapolis 500 start. His best finish was fourth in 1998. Hamilton is the only driver to start all 44 Indy Racing events since the league's debut in January 1996.
No driver was named for the No. 23 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing G Force/Infiniti/Firestone entry, with an identical backup entered. John O'Gara is the chief mechanic, and Jim Robinson is the team manager.
Dreyer & Reinbold already filed an entry March 19, with Robbie Buhl named as the driver of the No. 24 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Team Purex G Force/Infiniti/Firestone.
Text provided by Paul Kelly
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