INDY 500: Blueprint Racing gets helpful hand from competitor
21 May 2000
INDIANAPOLIS, IN, MAY 20, 2000 - Pole morning at Indianapolis went well for Blueprint Racing and Stockbridge, Georgia resident Jimmy Kite. Car owners Ed Rachanski and Keith Sanders announced the signing of Big Daddy’s BBQ Racing as primary supporter of the #27 G Force. Jimmy Kite also set the fast time for the first group of the morning practice session. Things took a turn for the worse as the car made contact with the first-turn wall on Kite’s qualification run due to cold tires. In true racer fashion Chip Ganassi Racing stepped up selling one of their back-up 2000 G Force chassis to Blueprint. The primary car, a 2000 G Force with a Blueprint prepared Oldsmobile engine, spun into the wall destroying the left side of the car and damaging the tub rendering it unusable for the weekend. When it was determined that the car could not be repaired, Sanders and Rachanski sought out Ganassi to purchase one of the few cars that was consistently as fast as the Blueprint entry during the week of practice. “We want to thank Chip Ganassi and Ganassi Racing for helping us when we needed it,” Sanders offered. “We have a strong 1999 chassis but we are not sure that that car would have made the show. With this 2000 G Force we know that we can put that in the show.” "Keith and Ed made sure that we had a chance to win the race when we got here this month,” Kite remarked. “Now, they have made sure that Big Daddy's/ Blueprint car will be back out there tomorrow morning. I know that the Ganassi car will be good. It is one of the few cars out here that has really been able to hang with us all week. I am not at all worried to be getting into that car. Ganassi obviously knows how to prepare a car and I know how good the 2000 G Force is. Add to that the Blueprint team and I know we can put this car solidly in the show and go for the win on Sunday. This just isn't the way we wanted to welcome Big Daddy's BBQ on board with Blueprint. We'll go out tomorrow morning and put the Big Daddy's BBQ/ Blueprint Racing Special into the show. We have more to show. This is Indy. You don't give up! None of the Big Daddy's/ Blueprint guys are giving up on me or the idea that we can win Indy this year. Brad, Randy, all the guys are busting their tails for me right now. I really have the best team in the business." Randy Ruyle, chief mechanic for Blueprint Racing, “This is the best thing we could get right now. Ganassi is a well-known team, we know the prep and everything on it is the best we can get so we aren’t worried. We should have no problem having it up and running in the morning for the ten o’clock practice. It will take us, two, two and a half hours to put our setup on it. Everyone has the utmost confidence in Jimmy and we are ready to go.” “We had been planning to buy a second 2000 G Force chassis,” laughed Sanders. “We just didn’t plan to do it this way. We are just thrilled that we have now continued our shot at winning this year’s Indianapolis 500. This has set us back a little but it hasn’t change our feelings that we can win the ‘500.’”