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INDY 500: 1998 Winner Cheever enters 84th Indianapolis 500

14 April 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

PDM Racing, Nienhouse also file entries

INDIANAPOLIS,- Former Indianapolis 500 winner Eddie Cheever Jr. filed an entry April 12 to compete in the 84th running of the Indy 500.

Cheever will attempt to qualify for the race in the #51 Excite@Home Dallara/Infiniti/Firestone. A backup car is entered as well. The chassis for that car will be announced at a later date.

Dick Caron is team manager, and Owen Snyder is chief mechanic. Snyder has won two Indy 500s as a chief mechanic, having won with Cheever in 1998 and with Al Unser Jr. in 1992, when Unser won by .043 of a second, the closest finish in Indy 500 history.

Cheever is sixth in the 2000 Indy Racing Northern Light Series season points standings after finishing third at the season-opener at Orlando Jan. 29, and 10th at Phoenix on March 19.

Team Cheever, which Cheever co-owns with Clyde Perlee, a Tuscon, Ariz., businessman, also filed an entry April 12 for a second car, the #52 Team Cheever-Infiniti-Firestone. A driver has not yet been assigned to the entry. The car will use Infiniti engines and Firestone tires, but the chassis will be announced at a later date as well.

Northern Light Series rookie Sam Hornish Jr., the first driver to complete this year's Indy 500 Rookie Orientation Program, is listed to drive the #18 Hornish Bros. Trucking-Advantage Power Coating Dallara/Oldsmobile/Firestone entered by PDM Racing, Inc., on April 12. PDM Racing entered a backup car as well, with a G Force chassis.

Chuck Buckman is PDM Racing's team manager and Paul Murphy is chief mechanic.

Nienhouse Motorsports entered a second car today, the #37 Nienhouse Motorsports Racing Special G Force/Oldsmobile/Firestone. Larry Nash is listed as team manager on the team's entry form. The driver and chief mechanic have yet to be announced.

Nienhouse's first entry for the Indianapolis 500, which was filed April 10, is scheduled to be driven by Scott Harrington, the 1999 Indy Racing Rookie of the Year.

Truscelli Team Racing today notified the Indy Racing League, sanctioning body for the Northern Light Series, that they will compete with a Dallara chassis at the Indy 500. The team, which is based in Colorado Springs, Colo., originally entered the #33 Miles of Hope entry with a G Force chassis.

All entries for the 84th Indianapolis 500 had to be postmarked by midnight April 12. The Indy Racing League expects to receive several more entries within the next few days.

Text provided by Eric Powell

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