INDY 500: Electrical problems foils Cheever's bid for second Indy 500 title
Posted By Terry CallahanMotorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
May 29, 2001
Indianapolis, IN - Eddie Cheever Jr. started 25th in his #51 Excite@Home Infiniti and ran as high as 11th during Sunday's 85th running of the Indianapolis 500 before an electrical problem thwarted his bid for a second Indy 500 title. The 1998 Indy 500 Champion, who finished fifth at last year's race in his Infiniti-powered #51 Excite@Home entry, retired on lap 108 of the 200 lap event.
Eddie Cheever Jr: #51 Excite@Home Indy Race Car
Started: 25th
Finished: 26th (DNF - Electrical)
Cheever (on his race): "It's very frustrating. It has not been a very good month for us, much less a good race. We're not sure what our problem was but it might be something electrical. We did a lot of work and the #51 Excite@Home car was good. It's very disappointing because we were running well and everyone has worked a lot of long nights for a long time. You have to remember that this Infiniti 35A engine is just three months old. The guys on the Excite@Home team and at Infiniti have put a lot of effort into this. We ran well at Atlanta, and now we just have to pick up the pieces and head to Texas. I'm very sorry that Scott got caught up in that accident at the beginning because I think he would have had a great race. But this is racing, and you have to take the good with the bad. Right now we just have a big chunk of bad."
On the conditions at the start of the race: "It was just like 1992 when it was cold. It wasn't really slick, it was just cold. Everybody should have just held their horses. You cannot ask the car to do something that it can't do when the tires are not warm enough. If you're not paying attention, this place can be very mean indeed."
On the fans: "I want to thank all the fans who came out here today. It's really special to race in the 500 and they're the ones who make it as good as it is."
Text provided by Ashleigh Higgins
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