The Callahan Report: The Indy 500 Revisited
1 June 1997
Winners and Losers:The 1997 Indy 500 Revisited
The 81st running of the Indy 500 is in the history books. Obviously, Arie Luyendyk and Treadway Racing were the big winners of the month. There are plenty of other winners from the month of May, as well as some losers.
Arie Luyendyk
The Winners:
Due to a rainy spell, it took three days to finally get the big race underway. The biggest winners of the month were the fans that walked onto the grounds of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on the morning of the third "race day". The fans were greeted by those familiar yellow shirted guards with a smile. As I started to show my rain check, I was told "Don't bother.... enjoy the race!". The word spread quickly as the pay phones inside the track were occupied by fans calling their friends saying "Get out here.... It's FREE!!!". In fact, my entire family sat in "E" stand overlooking the first turn. We have been trying to acquire upgrades to E stand for years. This year we got them. It will be hard to return to the Tower Terrace for next year's race.
Oldsmobile (Aurora) and Nissan (Infiniti) were also big winners. They had been ridiculed all month about the reliability of their racing engines. This was the first big test for the new normally aspirated machines. They had never ran 500 miles in competition. Some so called "experts" were predicting the engines would not be able to endure 500 miles. A review of the stats shows that only seven cars dropped out of the race due to engine related failures. The new racing engines had outperformed their predecessors. They proved to be more reliable (and much cheaper) than the turbocharged powerplants used in years past (and currently used in the CART series).
Given the fact that the engines held up, and the fact that the chassis protected drivers in the many dramatic crashes (there are no drivers still in the hospital from this year's 500), the Indy Racing League is also a big winner. The league has proven that there is a way to make big time racing less expensive. The racing was close. The cars were equal. The racing teams having a flawless day remained on the lead lap. The size of their checkbooks was not the determining factor.
The Losers:
Some fans were forced to return home or work after the two postponements. Mother nature played a cruel trick on them. These dedicated fans missed seeing and being a part history. They were forced to miss the third closest finish in Indy 500 history. "Without the fans, we would not have a race." Tony George said. He is absolutely right. The fans that couldn't be at the Indy 500 were the biggest losers of all.
Even though the Indy Racing League appears in the winners column, they belong in the losers bracket too. The league made the worst call I've seen at the Speedway in my twenty-seven Indy 500s. This "bad call" greatly effected two teams and drivers. On the last day of qualifying, the league announced two cars (bumped earlier in the day) would be added back into the field. The league said they wanted to make sure the fastest 33 cars would start the Indy 500. They didn't.
Alessandro Zampedri, driving for the Mi-Jack team, was bumped on that notorious day. His car was not added to the field. He was in the race, but with a back-up car he had qualified. The league did not start the 33 fastest cars. The Mi-Jack team should have been allowed to hire a replacement driver for the car that was bumped from the field. The league also failed to tell Scott Harrington and the SJM team they were going to change the rules after qualifying. Harrington only needed a speed of 207 mph to make the field (under the "we will start the 33 fastest cars" scenario). He crashed after turning a lap of over 214 mph during a qualifying attempt. The Indy Racing League told some of the teams about the change, but not others. Drivers Johnny Unser and Lyn St. James were much too relaxed for drivers just bumped from the Indy 500 field. Scott Harrington was sweating bullets. The league failed to inform all participants of the planned rules change. The league is a loser when it comes to communications.
And last but not least, the Conseco Team lost big at this year's Indianapolis classic. Driver Scott Sharp received a head injury in one of his two crashes at the Speedway. He was not allowed to participate in the 500. Johnny O'Connell was named to replace Sharp. He spent three days in an Indianapolis hospital after he tested the concrete at Indy. The Conseco Team finally got the number one Conseco car in the field with Paul Durant as the driver. Durant (along with driver Billy Roe) went hard into the wall in turn three halfway through the race. Another car destroyed.... another Conseco driver to the hospital. The team's luck was not any better off the track. The Indianapolis based company also lost one of its VPs as he walked into the path of a helicopter rotor as he was exiting the aircraft. Conseco is one of the major sponsors in the Indy racing league. They are the defending co-champions of the league. It was a tough month for one of the leagues most dedicated sponsors. The bright point for Conseco was when Billy Boat crossed the finsh line in the top ten, in the number 11 Conseco car.
Billy Boat finished in the top ten for Conseco
The month was filled with other personal triumphs and tragedies. Teams and drivers work the entire year to get to Indianapolis. These are but a few of the stories.
Terry Callahan -- The Auto Channel