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 Friday, April 13, 2001
Field for the Indy 500 shaping up
By Jack Arute
Special to ABC Sports Online
The 85th running of the Indianapolis 500 is shaping up to be like the "Good Ol' Days" after Tuesday's announcement that Michael Andretti will join Al Unser Jr. Arie Luyendyk, Eddie Cheever Jr. and Buddy Lazier as entrants for the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing."
|  | | Michael Andretti will return to Indy this May. |
If things work out, a Jones will soon join the list as well. Sources close to Billy Boat's IRL team indicate that negotiations are under way for P.J. Jones, son of 1963 Indy 500 winner Parnelli Jones, to fill Boat's seat when Billy switches to A.J. Foyt's car for the "500."
P.J. switched to NASCAR's Busch Series last season after several years on the CART FedEx Champ Car circuit. In addition to his CART tenure, Jones has competed in Indy Lights and IMSA GTP cars. He was part of the winning Daytona Rolex 24 Hours team in 1993 and won the first NASCAR Truck Series race. If he completes the deal to replace Boat, it will be P.J. Jones' first appearance at Indy for the "500."
The early entry list includes four former Indy 500 winners -- Lazier, Luyendyk, Cheever and Unser as well as both open-wheel champs. Joining Indy Racing Northern Light Series champion Buddy Lazier is defending CART titlist Gil de Ferran, who spearheads Roger Penske's return to the Brickyard.
The last time Penske was seen at Indy was 1996 when his cars driven by Emerson Fittipaldi and Al Unser Jr. failed to qualify. Despite the prolonged absence, Roger remains the winningest Indy 500 owner and his team of de Ferran and Helio Castroneves promises to be strong contenders for this year's honors in Penske's Oldsmobile powerplants.
Luyendyk returns after a year in our ABC booth providing analysis for the 500, a job that convinced him to return to the track. Those of us who worked with Arie last year at Indy realized quickly just how much the "Flying Dutchman" missed being on the track.
A shakedown two weeks ago at Las Vegas Motor Speedway showed that Arie has little rust. In short order, he had his Treadway-Hubbard car within one-tenth of a second of the IRL track record.
Infiniti's hopes ride with Cheever and Robbie Buhl. Equipped with the lighter (by 35 pounds) and torqueier 35A engine, Infiniti fans should have something to cheer about throughout the month of May.
Lazier's run at Phoenix showed that he intends to remedy the handling woes that struck him in the late going of the 500 last season. Sure, he lost his fifth and sixth gears at Phoenix, but despite hitting the rev limiter repeatedly each and every lap, he soldiered home to a third place finish.
Last year, Chip Ganassi swooped into Indy and took the "500" honors with his driver Juan Montoya. Montoya has since departed for Formula One, where he joins 1996 Indy champ Jacques Villeneuve, but there are plenty of shoes looking to replace Montoya in the Winner's Circle.
After several seasons debating the differences between CART and the IRL, fans can now enjoy debating the merits of drivers entered for this year's show. Indy is quickly reasserting itself as open cockpit racing's "Super Bowl."
Jack Arute mans the pits for ABC Sports' auto racing coverage. He writes a column every Monday for ABC Sports Online.
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 Michael Andretti takes the checkered flag in Japan.
avi: 861 k
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Michael Andretti volunteers to give Suzy Kolber a lift, but ...
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He won Daytona, Indy and a world championship in F1. Mario Andretti won all around the world and wound up No. 3 on RPM 2Night's list of 20th Century drivers.
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