"CART/IRL FEUD WILL BE            
PARKED FOR 85TH INDY 500"                   

Published, in edited form, in the Johnson County (Ind.) Daily Journal, May 26, 2001 ©

         Despite the media hype, Sunday's Indianapolis 500 won't be about choosing up sides, like in a schoolyard pickup game.

         At least that's what some of the key players have been saying in the last few days before the big race. The "us-versus-them" attitude among teams from the divided factions in American open-wheel racing, the Indy Racing League (IRL) and Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART), whether real or imagined, won't turn Sunday's event into a high-speed, high-stakes tug-of-war between playground rivals, they insist.

         "No, I don't think so," car owner Derrick Walker answers, when asked if the battle lines will be drawn between the two rival organizations in the 85th edition of the 500 Sunday. "One of the good things about racing is when we all get on the same patch of ground we forget our political affiliations and you're out there to beat the next guy, and the next guy could be an IRL guy, could be a CART guy."

         So, Walker, the only car owner to run separate teams for both the IRL and CART seasons, contends that the politics will stay locked in their trailers when the field heads for the green flag Sunday with strong contingents from both racing circuits - bolstered this year by CART "crossovers" like Team Penske, Ganassi Racing and a team for veteran driver Michael Andretti.

         "I think there's probably no element of that in anybody's mind when they're here," he says. "They're just thinking about how the heck are they going to get through all these 32 other cars and be the winner."

         Walker's Indy driver, Sarah Fisher, seated next to him earlier this week, sees it the same way. "I agree completely," the only female driver in Sunday's lineup says. "We're very, very lucky to have Michael come and join us, and Gil (de Ferran) and Helio (Castroneves) and Tony (Stewart), and it's a great feeling to know that they want to come and participate.

         "But you have to block it all out. Certainly, when I get on the track, they're just another car and you're trying to beat them."

         Even the fact that one CART team, Ganassi Racing, crossed the political boundary line last year and grabbed the top prize with rookie driver Juan Montoya - now racing Formula One - doesn't bring out the territorial instincts of contending IRL drivers like Sam Hornish Jr.

         "All I'm here to do is try to keep the points lead and maybe win the race," the current IRL points leader and winner of two league races so far this year says. "I don't feel like I have to hold up anything for the league; I think the other guys in the IRL are doing a great job of that so far.

         "The IRL guys have been the fastest throughout the month, but it's not a rivalry."

         Another voice in the same non-combative chorus is that of Jaques Lazier, younger brother of 1996 Indy winner Buddy Lazier and driver of the Team Xtreme Indy-car backed by Greenwood cafeteria owner Jonathan Byrd. "It's a non-factor," the 30-year-old second-time Indy starter says of the supposed political factionalism. "Honestly, what you have here is a bunch of drivers trying to compete at the greatest race in the world.

         "It doesn't matter if it's a Penske, doesn't matter if it's Ganassi, doesn't matter if it's Team Xtreme or Jonathan Byrd. This place is one of a kind, and the bottom line is everybody wants to win the greatest race in the world."

         So, instead of a bitter grudge match, a Pro Bowl or All-Star Game with conference bragging rights at stake, fans apparently should expect something more like an Olympics, with 33 athletes all going for the same gold medal and a place on Indy's Borg-Warner Trophy.

         "I think it's going to be very competitive," predicts Fisher, who will start her second Indy 500 from 15th place, ahead of CART imports like Andretti and regular Ganassi Racing drivers Bruno Junqueira and Nicholas Minassian. "The talents that are out there now are unbelievable. I mean, it is the closest field in Indy so far, I think, so we've already shown it's going to be very competitive."

         Her boss agrees. "It will be a very interesting race because you have quite an array of teams and capabilities and probably strategies," Walker observes.

         "It will be quite a pace, I'm sure; there won't be too much time to pace yourself. You're going to have to run with the pack or be left behind."

         Other 500 contenders paint the same kind of fast-paced picture for their Sunday drives at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. "I think it's going to be a fast race, probably one of the fastest races I've been in," says Hornish, who starts 13th in his Panther Racing entry Sunday.

         "You're really going to have to push it all the time."

         "I think it's going to be a real competitive race," the younger of the Lazier brothers from Vail, Colo., who will start 17th, adds, "and it's going to be real exciting at the same time.

         "Traditionally, you had everybody talking about, 'We want to be there the last 50 miles, and that's when we're gonna go racing.' I think what you're going to see this year is a 500-mile sprint. It's gonna be run as hard as you can for 500 miles."

         So, while they tend to downplay the IRL-CART rivalry and view pre-race favorites like de Ferran, Castroneves, Andretti and Ganassi Racing's top two threats, Stewart and Jimmy Vasser, as just other competitors for the drink of milk at the end of 500 miles Sunday, at least two of the IRL regulars confess to a bit of youthful home-league loyalty.

         "Yeah, if I had a choice, I'd like to see an IRL winner," the 21-year-old Hornish, from Bryan, Ohio, admits. "It makes us look better - but I'm sure they're thinking the same thing."

         And Fisher and her car owner can lapse into a little good-natured ribbing about the prospects of beating out some of the "outsiders" from the other racing nation.

         "You will take great satisfaction in beating some of those CART boys, won't you?" the Scottish-born Walker playfully asks his 20-year-old driver from Commercial Point, Ohio.

         "I'm already ahead of a couple of them," Fisher replies, with a quick, airy laugh.

         "Make sure you stay that way, too," Walker shoots back, smiling like someone who, if he could, gets to choose sides first for the biggest pickup game in motorsports.

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 Copyright 2001 by Jerry Miller ©

 Color photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway

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