Sharp Puts Olds on Indy 500 Pole

Contact: Rick Voegelin
rickvoegelin@compuserve.com
GM Racing Communications
(831) 761-2201



Sharp Puts Oldsmobile on Indy 500 Pole for Fifth Straight Year

INDIANAPOLIS, May 12, 2001 - Scott Sharp trusted his faith and his IRL
Aurora V8 today in qualifying for the Indianapolis 500. Sharp was richly
rewarded when he won the pole for the crown jewel of the Indy Racing
Northern Light Series with Kelley Racing's Delphi Oldsmobile Dallara. Sharp
averaged 226.027 mph on his four-lap, ten-mile qualifying run. His speed
eclipsed the Indy 500 four-lap qualifying record for naturally aspirated
cars set by Arie Luyendyk at 225.179 mph in 1999.

    "I just put my faith in the man upstairs and went along for the
ride." said Sharp. "I went out there and hammered it. The car was a little
loose on the first couple of laps and then it came in nicely for the rest
of the run."

    Greg Ray, last year's polesitter, and Robby Gordon will start
alongside Sharp on the front row. Sharp made his qualifying run shortly
after noon, and then had to wait for his rivals' challenges in the final
hour before qualifying ended at 6:00 p.m. Ray averaged 225.194 mph in Team
Menard's Oldsmobile Dallara to claim a front-row starting spot in the Indy
500 for the fourth straight year. Robby Gordon qualified third with a
224.994 mph run in an Oldsmobile Dallara that is co-owned by four-time Indy
500 winner A.J. Foyt and NASCAR Winston Cup-winning team owner Richard
Childress.

    Sharp relied on a 3.5-liter Oldsmobile engine prepared by
Ilmor Engineering to turn the fastest lap ever recorded by a naturally
aspirated engine at Indy. Sharp's 226.423 mph fastest lap surpassed the
225.643 mph single-lap record set by Luyendyk with a 4.0-liter engine
before the maximum engine displacement for IRL cars was reduced to 3.5
liters at the start of the 2000 season.

    "We're really pleased with the progress Ilmor has made," Sharp
noted. "They didn't even have an Oldsmobile IRL engine on the dyno until
last December. To see them catch up with all the guys who have been working
hard on these engines for four years is pretty exciting."

    The pole celebration was tempered by the sad news that Paul
Morgan, co-founder of Ilmor Engineering, died today in a plane crash in
England. "We were deeply saddened to hear of Paul Morgan's death," said Joe
Negri, GM Racing IRL/Road Racing Group manager. "GM had a long and fruitful
business relationship with Paul during the Chevy Indy V8 program, and we
had just reestablished that relationship with Ilmor's entry into the
Oldsmobile IRL program. On behalf of his many friends at General Motors, we
extend our deepest sympathy to Paul's family and the employees of Ilmor."

    Sharp will start on the sharp end of the grid for the first time in
the Indy 500 and the third time in his IRL career. He previously started on
the pole on one-mile ovals at Pikes Peak (1997) and Orlando (1999).
Sharp maintained Oldsmobile's perfect record of 42 consecutive pole
starts. Oldsmobile engines swept the first two rows of the starting grid
and powered 24 of the 27 first-day qualifiers. Three drivers using Infiniti
35A engines qualified ninth, 16th, and 25th.

    Sharp won the $100,000 MBNA Pole Award and the Oldsmobile Official
Pace Car Award, a new 2001 Aurora. Jim Vurpillat, brand manager for
Bravada, presented the award to Sharp and team owner Tom Kelley at the
conclusion of qualifying. "The entire Oldsmobile organization congratulates
Scott and Kelley Racing on their pacesetting performance," said Vurpillat,
"and we thank them for putting Oldsmobile on the pole at the Indy 500 for
the fifth straight year."

    The two Kelley Racing entries will line up nose-to-tail as
Sharp's teammate Mark Dismore qualified on the inside of the second row.
"The engine performance was great," said Dismore. "The motor was really
strong, we just missed a little on the setup. We're looking forward to the
race."

    "Today was an exceptional demonstration of the level of competition in
the IRL - just look at the closeness of the field," said Negri. "GM is
again off to a fast start at the Indy 500. The few problems that teams had
with engines built to special qualifying specifications are to be expected
when engine builders are trying to wring out the last bit of performance
for a four-lap sprint. We believe we have an extremely reliable engine
package for the race."

    After six days of practice in balmy weather, teams had to adjust
for chilly 50-degree temperatures at the start of qualifying. Ray waved off
his first qualifying attempt before making a last-minute run for the pole
at 5:11 p.m. "I wasn't happy with the car the first time," Ray explained.
"We went back and thought about it. I was flat on the gas for 15 of the 16
corners. I drove into Turn 1 and the car just went straight. I had to lift,
and that killed my exit speed all the way through Turn 2 and the back
straight. That's what made that last lap fall off nearly a full
mile-per-hour."

    Gordon also waited for cooler afternoon temperatures to launch his
assault on the pole. "A.J. had a couple of tricks up his sleeve and we
thought we might have something for these guys," Gordon said, " but they
put numbers up a little higher than we could.

    "This year you can bet I will beat Greg through Turn 1," Gordon
promised.

Oldsmobile Qualifying Quotes

    Gil de Ferran, Marlboro Team Penske Oldsmobile Dallara, qualified fifth
at 224.406 mph: "It was so cold the car was twitchy on cold tires. That was
very much on my mind as I went out onto the racetrack. The first lap was
good. We were having difficulty gearing the car this morning, so about
halfway through the run I changed gears and I think I left a little on the
plate in the last two laps. It was a good, solid run. I didn't have any
heart-stopping moments. Here you run wide open all the way around, so it's
just a matter of getting the car on the limit. When you're wide open all
the time the car is not accelerating a tremendous amount."

    Tony Stewart, Target Chip Ganassi Racing Oldsmobile G Force, 1997
IRL champion, qualified seventh at 224.248 mph: "The first two laps weren't
bad, but at the end of the second lap the car started to get a little
tight. With the wind blowing down the front straight, my car just got
tighter on the third and fourth lap. I was probably more driver error than
anything. I only put a half-turn of front wing in before the run, and
probably should have asked for a turn and a half. I figured we were better
off being on the conservative side than going over the top. With the new
engine package, it's like what we see at Daytona or Talladega with the
Winston Cup cars. If you can see a car ahead of you, you are getting
drafting help from him and it shows up in the practice speeds."

    Buddy Lazier, Hemelgarn Racing Oldsmobile Dallara, 1996 Indy 500
winner, 2000 IRL champion, qualified 10th at 224.190 mph: "The car was
awesome, just perfect. I looked down and saw 225 and I knew the tires
hadn't quite got up to temperature yet. I figured we could qualify just a
little bit higher, and then the thing just started to slow down. For a team
that focuses all of its effort on being the baddest cats in town on race
day, that kind of qualifying run is exciting. My car would certainly have
been capable of starting on the front row."

    Sarah Fisher, Walker Racing Kroger Special Oldsmobile Dallara,
qualified 15th at 222.548 mph: "We've been trying all week to get speed out
of the car and we've only been able to accomplish 220. This morning we got
a 223 out of it. In qualifying we ran the four most consistent laps we've
run all week. I'm very pleased with the results that we got. The team did
an awesome job putting the together. We made some last-minute changes to
counteract for the temperature increase."

Top Qualifiers

Pos./Driver/Engine/Speed
1. Scott Sharp, Oldsmobile, 226.037 mph
2. Greg Ray Oldsmobile, 225.194
3. Robby Gordon, Oldsmobile, 224.994
4. Mark Dismore, Oldsmobile, 224.964
5. Gil de Ferran, Oldsmobile, 224.406
6. Arie Luyendyk, Oldsmobile, 224.257

Schedule

    Qualifying will continue on Sunday, May 13, from 1:00 p.m. to 7:00
p.m. EDT. "Bump Day," the final day of qualifying, is Sunday, May 20. The
85th running of the Indianapolis 500 will begin at 12:00 noon EDT (11:00
a.m. local time) on Sunday, May 27. The 200-lap, 500-mile race will be
televised live on ABC and broadcast live on the Indy Racing Radio Network.

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  E-mail from: Rick Voegelin, 12-May-2001