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INDY 500: Ray shines in final day of practice

20 May 2000

Greg Ray Joins Pole Contenders with Fastest Lap of Event

INDIANAPOLIS 500 PRACTICE DAY #7 FAST FIVE:

Driver                Entrant           Engine        Speed
1. Greg Ray           Team Menard       Oldsmobile    223.948 mph
2. (tie) Jeff Ward    A.J. Foyt Ent.    Oldsmobile    222.949
   Scott Sharp        Kelley Racing     Oldsmobile    222.949
4. Eliseo Salazar     A.J. Foyt Ent.    Oldsmobile    222.921
5. Robby Gordon       Team Menard       Oldsmobile    222.901

    Greg Ray saved his best for last, running the fastest lap of the event
in the seventh and final full day of practice for the 84th Indianapolis
500. Ray, the reigning IRL champion, toured the 2.5-mile oval at 223.948
mph in Team Menard's Conseco Oldsmobile Dallara, surpassing the mark set by
Scott Sharp at 229.936 mph on Tuesday.

    Two-car teams claimed four of the Fast Five spots on a cool and
overcast day in Indianapolis. Stablemates Jeff Ward (222.949 mph) and
Eliseo Salazar (222.921 mph) posted the second and fourth fastest laps
respectively in A.J. Foyt's Oldsmobile G-Force entries. Ray's teammate
Robby Gordon was fifth on the speed chart at 222.901 mph. Kelley Racing's
Scott Sharp ended the day in dead heat with Ward for the second spot on the
list at 222.949 mph.

    "I believe that a lot of these guys are capable of 225 mph laps,"
said Ray. "It's about getting the right setup at the right time with the
right weather. If you nail it in qualifying, you're going to be smiling -
and if you miss it, you might be 20th. It's going to be bloody tight.

    "I was just trying to post a time and get a feel for the car
driving totally flat out in all four corners," Ray explained. "The car is
very close now for these conditions - but if conditions change, we're going
to have to go back to our notes. When the car is set up right, we're able
to go as fast as we did at many race tracks last year with four-liter
motors.

    "The one thing different about this track is the long straightaways,"
Ray continued. "We're able to trim the cars out here, and you can take
advantage of the draft. One of the key issues at rhythm. You have to time
the passes coming off of the corners."

    Forty-eight cars were on the track today, with 46 of them using
Oldsmobile IRL Aurora V8 engines. The three fastest cars represented three
independent Oldsmobile engine builders: Team Menard (Greg Ray), Roush
Technologies (Jeff Ward), and Comptech (Scott Sharp). Jimmy Kite, sixth on
the speed chart in Blueprint Racing's Oldsmobile G-Force at 222.700 mph,
continued to impress trackside observers. Kite's Oldsmobile engines are
prepared by Sonny Meyer - the son of three-time Indy 500 winner Louis Meyer
and the father of Team Menard engine wizard Butch Meyer.

    The field of 33 starters will be determined by four-lap qualifying runs
on Saturday and Sunday. Pole Day will be televised live from start to
finish on Saturday, May 20, on ESPN (noon-2:30 p.m. EDT), ABC (2:30-4:30
p.m.), and ESPN2 (4:30-7 p.m.).