By G. Venkat Ganeshan
indy500.com
Tuesday, May 27, 2003
Editor's Note: G. Venkat Ganeshan is an aspiring motorsports journalist from Chennai, India. Chennai is a city of approximately 6 million people located about 1,000 miles from Bombay, India. Ganeshan shares his perspective of Tomas Scheckter's fourth-place performance in the Indianapolis 500 from his desk in India, showing the continued worldwide reach and appeal of the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing."
Everything, almost everything, was similar about Tomas Scheckter's 2003 Indianapolis 500 compared to his 2002 race.
He started from a mid-grid position and was fast straight out of the box, seizing the opportunity to lead the most laps.
But there was one stark difference from his 2002 campaign: He has managed to shed the mistakes that cost him so dearly last year at Indy.
Forget for a moment the Brazilian armada at the top of the podium in this year's 500: Scheckter was almost there. If not for a comparatively slower pit stop than Helio Castroneves and a surprisingly slow restart late in the race, it could have been Scheckter's day all the way.
However, ifs and buts never go hand in hand with reality.
Scheckter made a quick start from the 12th starting spot in the No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Panoz G Force/Toyota/Firestone. After Michael Andretti's out-of-sequence pit strategy early in the race, Scheckter managed to move up the field.
He passed Andretti for the lead on Lap 68 and stayed there until Lap 84. He also led Laps 101-128, holding off two-time defending race champion Helio Castroneves by no more than one-half of a second for at least 10 of those laps.
That sequence of calmly climbing through the field and then holding the lead despite intense pressure bears testimony to the fact that Scheckter has started to strike balance between caution and aggression.
Though Scheckter lost his lead to Castroneves in the pit, it was the restart on Lap 135 that cost him dearly. He never got on the power quickly while running second on the restart and languished on the main straight. De Ferran passed Scheckter for second in Turn 1, while Kanaan passed him for third in Turn 3.
"Sometimes your foot goes numb, and it's hard to tell if you're flat," Scheckter said. "I think may be that's what happened."
But Scheckter quickly regained his composure and also made up the lost ground as he nailed down the gap and started to produce identical lap times of the front trio.
"Once Gil and Tony got by me, I got stuck in middle of dirty air," Scheckter said. "Tony uses the same line I like, and I just couldn't get him back. The four of us were all running the same pace, so it's tough to get by anybody."
Scheckter lost the lead for good on Lap 168 but stayed close with the lead trio of eventual winner de Ferran, Castroneves and Kanaan. He showed no signs of the wreckless abandon that caused him to crash alone in Turn 4 on Lap 173 while leading by more than 10 seconds last year at Indy.
Instead, Scheckter showed remarkable levels of patience and maturity. He kept touch with de Ferran, Castroneves and Kanaan and managed to keep Japanese rookie Tora Takagi at bay over the closing laps.
Scheckter's efforts meant that he had a date with history. He joined Frank Lockhart as the only two drivers to lead the most laps in their first two races. Lockhart's record stood unmatched for more than 70 years, as he achieved the feat in 1926 and 1927.
But there was something different about this year's drive by Scheckter. It was a composed performance, a contrast from last year's crash while leading.
Scheckter also is keeping a lower profile with Target Chip Ganassi Racing than last year with Red Bull Cheever Racing. He never truly clicked with team owner Eddie Cheever Jr. and left the team in August despite winning in July at Michigan after a stirring charge to the front in the last 25 laps.
But after joining Ganassi, Scheckter seems to have found a level of comfort that never was seen last year.
Conventional wisdom suggests that Scheckter can no longer be considered a precocious talent as his performances - especially at Indy - have reflected signs of maturity and perseverance, virtues only seen in brilliant flashes last year.
Can it be third time lucky next May for Scheckter at Indy? Only time will tell.
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