Brickyard Lure Is Irresistible

INDIANAPOLIS —  Only two Indy car drivers, Mike Groff and rookie Richie Hearn, have raced in both Indy Racing League and Championship Auto Racing Teams events this season.

Both are here for the IRL’s Indianapolis 500 on May 26, shunning CART’s U.S. 500, scheduled on the same day at Michigan International Speedway.

The depth of the field is greater in CART, they agreed, but both also said that they choose being here because it’s the Indianapolis 500--and that was reason enough.

“From my viewpoint, it’s still the Indy 500,” Groff said. “I’ve seen grown men cry when they didn’t get in the 500. I’ve never seen anyone crying at missing Long Beach or the Milwaukee 200.”

Hearn, at Indy after two winning seasons in Formula Atlantic with car owner John Della Penna, had his choice of races May 26.

“I would rather be here than Michigan,” he said. “If I thought I’d rather be at Michigan, I’d be there, but this is the greatest track, the greatest race and to have a chance to be here is the greatest thrill I can imagine.”

CART scheduled its Michigan race after the IRL decreed that 25 of the 33 starting positions in the Indy 500 would be reserved for drivers from the IRL series. That meant that the elite drivers would be at Michigan, with a field of mostly rookies anticipated for Indy.

Hearn, 25, will be in a Reynard-Ford Cosworth. He qualified for the front row for both IRL races, at Walt Disney World and Phoenix. In the Disney World 200, however, he was forced to start at the rear of the field after demolishing his No. 1 car in a crash during practice.

In Hearn’s lone CART race, against Al Unser Jr., Michael Andretti, Bobby Rahal, Emerson Fittipaldi, et al, on the street circuit in Long Beach, he started 22nd and finished 10th.

Groff, after driving for A.J. Foyt in the IRL races, drove for Derrick Walker at Nazareth, Pa. He qualified 20th and finished 14th.

“There is no question that there is more depth to the field in CART,” Groff said. “There are some guys toward the back that give their series some problems, but overall it’s as good as or better than it’s ever been.

“On the other hand, as a race car driver, and putting politics aside, you’ve got to look out for yourself. I’ve been at Indy before, but this time I’m in the best car I’ve ever driven. I honestly think I have a good shot at winning.

Groff, 33, will drive a Reynard-Ford Cosworth, the one Robby Gordon won with last year in Detroit.

And what would he do if he won?

“I’d just sit and look at my old mug on the Borg-Warner trophy alongside all those other great drivers,” he said. “That’s one thing they couldn’t take away from me.”

In two IRL races in Foyt’s car, Groff finished third at Phoenix, his highest finish in 56 Indy car starts, and sixth at Disney World.

Walker, one of the CART franchise owners, will have Gordon, his primary driver, in the U.S. 500. When Scott Goodyear, Walker’s other driver, was injured while practicing before a race in Rio de Janeiro, Groff was brought in to race the team’s second car.

“You can’t expect the IRL to have the depth that CART does,” Groff said. “It never happens in any new series. I would say, though, that the top half of the grid here would be very similar to how it’s been in the past.”

Qualifying is set for Saturday and the two fastest qualifiers last year, Scott Brayton and Arie Luyendyk, are back.

The name Indy car drivers--Unser, Andretti, Rahal and Fittipaldi--will be in the other race. As will Jimmy Vasser, winner of three of five CART races this year.

“I just wish those guys were here instead of Michigan,” Groff said. “I wish all the Brazilians who beat me out of rides [by bringing sponsorships or money] were here. I’d like to beat them and I think I have the car that could do it.”

Seven Brazilians are among the 27 drivers entered in the U.S. 500.

Although Groff is second in IRL points behind Disney World winner Buzz Calkins, he is not one of the 25 drivers seeded into the Indy 500 because of IRL participation. Points are awarded to teams, not drivers, so Foyt’s third driver, Marco Greco of Brazil, will get the spot.

Groff, of Palm Desert, will be shooting for one of eight at-large berths in the 500 starting grid.

Hearn, of Canyon Country, and owner Della Penna, as IRL regulars, have no such problem.

“We didn’t plan on being in the IRL, but we had planned to be at Indy long before there was a split,” Della Penna said. “After we won the Atlantics championship last year, we decided we could run six to eight Indy car races, including the Indianapolis 500.

“We planned to buy a year-old car, so when the IRL came about and its rules called for ’95 equipment, it fit our plans. We’re glad to be a part of seeing the IRL grow. It took CART 17 years to get where it is today. I think we’re looking just fine for our first season.”

Hearn said racing against the cream of CART at Long Beach gave him a tremendous lift.

“When I dreamed of Indy car racing, this is what I saw,” he said. “I went to Long Beach for so many years, and watched Al Unser Jr. and Michael Andretti race there, that racing against them on my home track was a great feeling. It made me feel like I’d really made it to Indy cars.”

Indianapolis 500 Notes

Tony Stewart, a 24-year-old rookie, led a Team Menard sweep of the top three speeds in the first full day of practice. Stewart turned a lap of 236.121 mph, ahead of Eddie Cheever’s 235.997 and Scott Brayton’s 235.750.