INDY 500: Infiniti Indy Racing notes and quotes, Thursday
18 May 2000
Posted By Terry CallahanMotorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
Infiniti Indy Entries For The Indianapolis 500:
Eddie Cheever, Jr., No. 51 and No. 51T Excite@Home
Dallara-Infiniti-Firestone
Ross Cheever, No. 52 and No. 52T Team Cheever
Dallara-Infiniti-Firestone
Robbie Buhl, No. 24T Team Purex Dreyer & Reinbold Racing G
Force-Infiniti-Firestone
Reliability Factor:
Only five drivers have been running at the finish of each of the first three races of the 2000 Indy Racing Northern Light Series, and Infiniti powers one of those entries. Eddie Cheever Jr., in the Excite@Home Infiniti, joins Billy Boat, Robbie Buhl, Tyce Carlson, and Jeret Schroeder in this honor. Cheever finished 3rd at Walt Disney World, 10th at Phoenix, and 11th at Las Vegas.
Robbie Buhl and Dreyer & Reinbold Renew Partnership With Infiniti Indy: Robbie Buhl returns to using the Infiniti Indy engine that powered his third place finish at Phoenix International Raceway last season with the Dreyer & Reinbold/SRS group. The recently-created Purex Dreyer & Reinbold Racing team hopes to test the Infiniti Indy V8 powerplant in their backup car this month at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and plans to switch over to Infiniti 100-percent after the Indianapolis 500. Team co-owner Robbie Buhl said, "We got a new G Force about 10 days ago and we have been working nights putting that together and fitting in the Infiniti motor. We hope to take that on track and see how that goes. I am looking forward to running the Infiniti engine, because once May is over we are definitely going to go in the direction of using the Infiniti powerplant."
New Infiniti Indy "35A" Update:
Described by many as Infiniti's secret weapon, the new "35A" engine is smaller, lighter and features a lower center of gravity than the current engine. The design of this engine is the result of a cooperative effort between Nissan's motorsports group in Japan and the U.S.-based Infiniti Indy design team. Although this new engine is tagged as all-new, it contains components that have been track-tested in some the most grueling long-distance races. It contains the best technology of the current Indy Racing engine combined with the best of the 5.0-liter engine Nissan raced at last year's 24 Hours of Le Mans and Fuji 1000 Kilometer races. Regarding the expected debut of this engine, Infiniti Motorsports manager Frank Honsowetz says, "There are thousands of bits and pieces and many other aspects that go into the creation of a new engine, so it is difficult to predict a specific date. Right now our focus is on winning with the current engine at the Indianapolis 500. After that, we have to be ready for Texas and Pikes Peak with the current engine, but we will be able to take advantage of the lulls in the schedule to start bringing the "35A" to fruition. Once the Infiniti Indy 35A has run flawlessly on the dynamometer, then the race track, and it is shown to be better than our current engine we will put it in a race car. We certainly expect to reach this point during the 2000 season."
Why We Race:
In 1967, Nissan won its first motorsports championship with a 1600 Roadster, marking the beginning of one of the great American motorsports winning traditions. This victory-followed by more than 160 major championships in the United States alone-would instill a passion for performance in every engineer, designer, and employee at Nissan. This passion for speed and competition on the track continues at Nissan with Infiniti, the luxury brand division, participating in the Indy Racing Northern Light Series and the Indianapolis 500. Steve Kight, director of marketing for Infiniti Division, says, "The Indy Racing Series is great racing, and great competition. It is the ideal venue to communicate to our customers that we are a performance-oriented, luxury automaker. The key is that the Indianapolis 500 is still the premier racing event in the world. This is important locally for Infiniti, which sells cars in the United States, and worldwide for Nissan."
1999 Infiniti Indy Results:
Best finish of 3rd at Phoenix (Robbie Buhl); 49 race laps led; four top-five finishes
1998 Infiniti Indy Results:
Best finish of 4th at Texas (Roberto Guerrero); 22 race laps led; one top-five finishes
1997 Infiniti Indy Results:
Best finish of 2nd at Orlando (Mike Groff); two top-five finishes
1999 Indianapolis 500 Recap:
The Infiniti Indy powerplant led the Indianapolis 500, with Eddie Cheever Jr. leading four laps in the No. 51 Team Cheever/Children's Beverage Group Dallara. He ran in the top ten for 138 laps, before retiring on lap 141. Two other Infiniti's made the field: Jeret Schroeder ran as high as seventh and finished 15th, and Roberto Guerrero finished 25th.
1998 Indianapolis 500 Recap:
One Infiniti-powered car qualified for the 1998 Indianapolis 500. Dr. Jack Miller qualified 15th with an average speed of 217.800 mph, and finished 21st.
1997 Indianapolis 500 Recap:
Infiniti had six cars in the 1997 Indianapolis 500. Mike Groff (started 18th, finished 12th), Lyn St. James (started 34th, finished 13th), Dennis Vitolo (started 28th, finished 15th), Johnny Unser (Started 35th, finished 18th), Dr. Jack Miller (started 17th, finished 20th), and Roberto Guerrero (started 19th, finished 27th).
Text provided by Heather Handley
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