By Dick Mittman
indy500.com
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Who ever thought 11th-place starting position in the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race would be worth a qualifying battle royal?
Especially, since it doesn't have any bonus money, not a dime. Add to that the fact only Gordon Johncock in 1973 and Helio Castroneves in 2001 won from that position in 91 previous races.
Well, it sure meant a whole lot to veteran Tomas Scheckter and 19-year-old rookie Graham Rahal at Pole Day qualifications May 10 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Scheckter wound up with the position after bumping Rahal from it after putting him back in it.
Sounds crazy. But that's the way it happened.
Eleventh was the cutoff point for Pole Day qualifying, leaving three more days of four-lap time trials to round out the 33-car field. A new qualifying system was established for the "500" in 2005.
"Actually, it's means tonight I can go out to dinner, sleep in my bed at home and not be worrying about getting back up and qualifying again," Scheckter said about getting the final spot Saturday. "It's great because my mind now can go straight to the racing."
But 11th didn't come easy.
Rahal, son of 1986 Indy winner Bobby Rahal, clung to the day's final qualifying spot through much of the afternoon. Then when "Happy Hour" came around - with the sun still beating down because of daylight saving time - things got intense.
Japanese rookie Hideki Mutoh knocked Rahal off his tenuous perch with 40 minutes remaining with a run of 223.887 mph to latch onto ninth on the grid and push Scheckter and his No. 12 Symantec Luczo Dragon Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone down to the bubble spot with a speed average of 223.779.
Ryan Hunter-Reay was first to take a crack at Scheckter. Instead, he cracked the wall. Rahal then charged out in his No. 06 Hole in the Wall Camps machine, but when his first three laps were in the low 223-mph range, he pulled off, hoping to yet get a third shot at the elusive 11th place.
Then came a brief interlude as 2005 champion Dan Wheldon withdrew his third-place car and tried to knock his Target Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon off the pole. Dixon had qualified at 226.366 mph. The gamble got him around Team Penske driver Ryan Briscoe, but his 226.110 was bit short of Dixon's speed.
Then it was back to the back.
Scheckter, fearing his speed wouldn't hold up, withdrew his car for another attempt and temporarily put Rahal back in the field. At 5:46 p.m., Scheckter completed a run at an average speed of 223.496. That was .283 mph slower than his first run and made him even more vulnerable. Rahal jumped into the qualifying line again.
Australian Will Power and Englishman Justin Wilson each took a shot at Scheckter in the final 10 minutes of qualifying. They failed.
Rahal rolled up to the line, but then, mysteriously it seemed, the car was rolled around by the crew and began the long push to the garage.
Scheckter was 11th. Rahal had to wait for another day.
An upset Rahal explained what happened:
"I was ready to go, because I thought we had new tires on the thing I was excited to go out, and Scheckter lowered the bump speed so much that I think we could have made it. I think we were at about that speed anyway on our last run.
"It's pretty sad. When I pulled up, I said, 'Guys, we need to have tires ready just in case.' Didn't happen."
He said he was mad, frustrated and felt the team missed an opportunity.
Looking back, Scheckter, who will start 11th for the third time in seven races, said removing his car for another qualifying attempt was a serious risk.
"It was back and forth, back and forth," he said of his discussions with pit strategist Jay Penske, son of Roger Penske. "We decided (to do it), and we were lucky we got away with it."
Scheckter thinks this could be his race. He finished fourth in 2003 and seventh last May, but he also has three accidents.
"This race takes so much," he said. "We've got to go back and look at it and get a good race car. Qualifying is its own race. We certainly need to find some speed out of the car, because these guys definitely have got some speed hidden somewhere. We'll go back and look at the car and come back next week with something better."
Rahal definitely learned his first lesson at the Speedway: It can bite you in strange ways. And a racing royal name means nothing.
"We were so close - that's what's so disappointing about it," Rahal said. "Come next Saturday, I feel, after yesterday, we feel pretty comfortable that we can solidly be in the field. So we'll take a little wing out Saturday morning and go for it."
Rahal still can qualify fastest this Saturday and start 12th. That's only 3 feet to the right of the spot he wanted so dearly and Scheckter took away.
***
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