INDY 500: Infiniti ready for pole day after week of top ten practice runs
20 May 2000
Posted By Terry CallahanMotorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
Eddie Cheever Jr.'s name was never very far down from the top of the speed charts during the last week of practice for the 84th Indianapolis 500. On Sunday, May 14 he was fastest of the day, and never dropped lower than 10th fastest during the six days that Team Cheever went on track.
On the final day of practice before qualifying, Cheever completed 220 trouble-free miles of testing in his two Infiniti-powered Excite@Home Dallara cars. His quickest lap of 40.547 seconds, an average speed of 221.965 mph, ranked him 10th fastest on the daily speed charts.
1998 Indianapolis winner Eddie Cheever was one of seven different drivers that were "fastest of the day" during the seven days of practice at the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway. With no one driver dominating the practice speeds, Saturday's Pole qualifying may be one of the most exciting in years.
Of the 75 cars entered to make a qualify attempt, Team Cheever's Infiniti's are lined up 52nd (primary car) and 19th (backup car) in the qualifying order, while the Infiniti-powered backup car of Team Purex Dreyer & Reinbold Racing is 12th. Indy Racing drivers have from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. (EST) Saturday to shoot for the $100,000 PPG Pole Award. The final practice before pole qualifying takes place from 8 to 10 a.m. Saturday.
MBNA Bump Day activities will be equally exciting Sunday, as Saturday's non-qualifiers will do everything possible to find the extra speed to earn a spot in the 33-car starting field for the Indianapolis 500 on May 28. Bump Day qualifying gets underway at noon, with qualifications ending at 6 p.m. Practice from 10 to 11:15 a.m. will precede bump day qualifying.
QUOTES
Eddie Cheever Jr., No. 51 Excite@Home Infiniti: "The last day before qualifying is always very difficult because you have to find a balance in both cars, so if one fails you have the other. We went out in our #51 Excite@Home primary car earlier today and it was the most difficult session we've had so far. We were wrong on the settings, the weather changed, and we didn't really find anything until we went to the back-up car, which handled like a jewel. We took all of that information off the T-car and put it on the primary car for our late afternoon run, but I'm still not happy with it. I'm having a continuous argument with the #51 Excite@Home primary car. My chief mechanic Owen Snyder is trying to get us to kiss and make up, but I'd like to divorce her for this weekend. I'm glad that we have one car that's running very well, but the other one is a little bit dubious right now."
DAILY PRACTICE HIGHLIGHTS
1. Greg Ray, 223.948, #1T Dallara-Oldsmobile
2. Jeff Ward, 222.949, #14 G Force-Oldsmobile
3. Scott Sharp, 222.949, #8T Dallara-Oldsmobile
4. Eliseo Salazar, 222.921, #11 G Force-Oldsmobile
5. Robby Gordon, 222.901, #32 Dallara-Oldsmobile
6. Jimmy Kite, 222.700, #27 G Force-Oldsmobile
7. Juan Montoya, 222.551, #9T G Force-Oldsmobile
8. Mark Dismore, 222.117, #28 Dallara-Oldsmobile
9. Greg Ray, 221.972, #1 Dallara-Oldsmobile
*10. Eddie Cheever Jr., 221.965, #51 Dallara-Infiniti
*22. Eddie Cheever Jr., 220.413, #51T Dallara-Infiniti
Text provided by Heather Handley
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