Luyendyk on Pole at Indy; Provisional Starting Line-Up
11 May 1997
LUYENDYK CAPTURES POLE POSITION FOR 81st INDIANAPOLIS 500
For Immediate Release
INDIANAPOLIS, May 10, 1997 _ Arie Luyendyk and the Treadway
Racing Team picked their spot during the day to qualify and reeled in
the pole position for the 81st running of the Indianapolis 500
Saturday at a four-lap average speed of 218.263 miles an hour .
Luyendyk, who was the fastest qualifier a year ago and also
won the pole in 1993, continues to hold every major speed record at
the historic 2 1/2-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval with the run.
His qualification in the Treadway Racing WavePhore Miller Lite
G Force/Oldsmobile Aurora was the fastest for the new Indy Racing
League machines, which were designed to slow speeds. Luyendyk holds
the Speedway records for one- and four-lap qualification runs, the
fastest practice lap and the 500-mile race record of 185.981 miles an
hour posted en route to victory in 1990.
When qualifying opened at the scheduled time, only five
drivers completed runs as others waited until higher track
temperatures were reached.
At 3:21 p.m. (Indianapolis time), Luyendyk was the first of
the rest to go into the qualifying line after more than three hours of
waiting from the initial group.
"I had my mind made up that if it was over 218, we'd take it,"
Luyendyk said. "I think it's better to _chase the mark' but I didn't
want to sit around and wait all day for somebody else to make their
mind up."
After Luyendyk's run, the line stretched out until the 6
p.m. closing gun, when Roberto Guerrero became the 21st qualifier of
the day.
Tony Stewart, who was the pole starter a year ago, qualified
second fastest in the Glidden/Menards/Special at 218.021, followed by
surprising rookie Vincenzo Sospiri, who qualified the Scandia Royal
Purple Alta Xcel entry outside the front row at 216.822.
Sospiri led four other rookies into the provisional
lineup. Jeff Ward qualified for ninth starting spot and Affonso
Giaffone, Kenny Brack and Dr. Jack Miller also put cars in the show
with additional time trials scheduled Sunday and May 17-18 to fill the
33-car starting field..
Defending winner Buddy Lazier qualified the Delta
Faucet-Montana-Hemelgarn Racing entry, a Dallara which was switched to
an Aurora engine, in 10th starting spot as the next-to-last qualifier
of the day.
In all, 12 G Force chassis and nine Dallaras are in the
provisional lineup. Seventeen are powered by Aurora engines and four
by Nissan Infiniti Indy engines.
PROVISIONAL STARTING LINEUP
81st Indianapolis 500-Mile Race
Saturday, May 10 1997
S
P CAR DRIVER CAR NAME C/E/T Time Speed
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Row 1
1 5 Arie Luyendyk Wavephore/Sprint PCS/Miller Lite G/A/F 2:44.939 218.263
2 2 Tony Stewart Glidden/Menards/Special G/A/F 2:45.122 218.021
3 8 Vincenzo Sospiri (R) Scandia Royal Purple Alta Xcel D/A/G 2:46.035 216.822
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Row 2
4 3 Robbie Buhl Quaker State/Special G/A/F 2:46.588 216.102
5 6 Scott Goodyear Nortel/Sprint PCS/Quebecor Printing G/A/F 2:46.813 215.811
6 27 Jim Guthrie Jacuzzi/Blueprint Racing Dallara D/A/F 2:47.281 215.207
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Row 3
7 52 Jeff Ward (R) FirstPlus Team Cheever G/A/G 2:47.819 214.517
8 14 Davey Hamilton AJ Foyt PowerTeam Racing G/A/G 2:47.845 214.484
9 7 Eliseo Salazar Copec/Cristal/Scandia D/A/G 2:47.973 214.320
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Row 4
10 91T Buddy Lazier Delta Faucet-Montana-Hemelgarn Racing D/A/F 2:48.000 214.286
11 51 Eddie Cheever, Jr. FirstPlus Team Cheever G/A/G 2:48.167 214.073
12 42 Robby Gordon Coors Light G/A/G 2:48.847 213.211
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Row 5
13 77 Stephan Gregoire Chastain Motorsports G/A/G 2:48.914 213.126
14 17 Affonso Giaffone (R) GM of Brazil Chitwood Dallara D/A/G 2:49.035 212.974
15 4 Kenny Brack (R) Monsoon Galles Racing G/A/G 2:50.438 211.221
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Row 6
16 90 Lyn St. James Lifetime-TV-Cinergy D/I/F 2:51.310 210.145
17 12 Buzz Calkins Bradley Food Marts G/A/G 2:51.785 209.564
18 40 Dr. Jack Miller (R) AMS/Crest Racing D/I/F 2:52.043 209.250
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Row 7
19 34 Alessandro Zampedri Mi-Jack Scandia Royal Purple D/A/G 2:52.171 209.094
20 10 Mike Groff Jonathan Byrd's Cafe./Visionaire/Bryant G/I/F 2:52.631 208.537
21 21T Roberto Guerrero Pennzoil-Pagan Racing Dallara Infiniti D/I/G 2:53.602 207.371
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1997 Field Average: 213.116
1996 Field Average: 229.329
Difference: -16.213
LEGEND: SP-Start Position; R-Rookie.
CHASSIS LEGEND: D-Dallara; G-G Force
ENGINE LEGEND: A-Oldsmobile Aurora; I-Nissan Infiniti Indy
TIRE LEGEND: F-Firestone; G-Goodyear.