INDY 500: Cheever, Goodyear pick up speed in third day of practice at Indy
Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
May 9, 2001Indianapolis, IN (May 9, 2001) - For the third consecutive day, Cheever Indy Racing teammates Eddie Cheever Jr. and Scott Goodyear ran strongly in the top ten in practice for the 85th Indianapolis 500 on May 27. Cheever entered the 223mph bracket with a lap of 40.3323 seconds (223.146 mph) in his #51 Excite@Home Dallara, while Goodyear recorded a top speed of 222.132 mph (40.5164 seconds) in his Infiniti-powered #52 Cheever Indy Racing entry.
Eddie Cheever Jr: #51 Excite@Home Indy Race Car
Position: 5th Speed: 223.146 mph Time: 40.3323 seconds
Cheever (on Tuesday practice): "We made a lot of progress today. As usual, the Firestone tires were great, and I think the Infiniti engine is capable of running 225mph, but our handling is lagging behind. We can't get the car to handle well in Turn 1. Two things I'm not worried about, however, are our Infiniti engine and our Firestone tires."
On teammate Scott Goodyear's Tuesday practice: "Scott seems to have the #52 car working a bit better than our #51 Excite@Home car at the moment. I think he could have been in the high 223s or low 224s today, but he has been very unlucky. Every time that he has put on a new set of tires it has either rained or something has broken." (Goodyear suffered minor gearbox and alternator problems during the afternoon session).
On his role as owner/driver and teammate Scott Goodyear: "It's very strange when you are a driver and a team owner because you go from wanting to beat everybody to trying to find the right people to build a team around. The whole Cheever Indy Racing team, with our partners Infiniti and Excite@Home and the addition of Scott Goodyear, is really coming together. The funny thing is that when Scott and I first met each other ten years ago, we didn't really like each other. I wouldn't say we hated each other or anything, but we were definitely wary of each other. I'm sure that neither one of us would have guessed that we'd be working so well together as teammates at the Indy 500. When Scott and I first discussed the possibility of him joining Cheever Indy Racing, I guaranteed him that there would be no "number one" driver. The same equipment and the same effort that is being put forth on the #51 Excite@Home car is being applied to the #52 car, and if I can't win the 500 on May 27, I'd be more than happy to see Scott win it."
Scott Goodyear: #52 Cheever Indy Racing Infiniti
Position: 10th Speed: 222.132mph Time: 40.5164 seconds
Goodyear (on Tuesday practice): "We got some good running in today. We went through a lot of things with shocks and springs and bars. We found some things that worked very well for us and we ran throughout the heat of the day, which was also beneficial. Again we ran strong with tires that had a lot of laps on them. We've never really had a chance to run on new tires yet, actually, so we're anxious to get out and see what that is like. We put a set on today, went out, and there was a yellow, and when we went back out and started to get up to speed, we had a gearbox problem. Tomorrow hopefully we'll find a bit more speed just by being able to bolt some tires on that are fresh."
On his preparation for qualifying: "I think that we just need to do some more running in the next couple of days to see if we have a chance at the front row in Saturday's qualifying. We've just been running by ourselves and we haven't even started trimming the car out yet. There's more speed left in the car. We decided not to run in happy hour today just to keep some tires and some miles for the heat of the day tomorrow, when the race will be and when qualifying for us will be."
Text provided by Ashleigh Higgins
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