bob jennings' WORLD O' RACING
The "meteoric" rise of Eddie Cheever
(completed
02/23/99)
Eddie Cheever on the way to winning the 1998 "Indianapolis 500"
Bob Jennings
I started this piece, several weeks ago during the holiday season. It was being written to look at Eddie Cheever's frustrating thirty year plus search for success in racing's big time.
During post race interviews, shortly after he won the 82nd "Indianapolis 500," Cheever made the comment that by winning the "Indianapolis 500," he had "finally" done something in his racing career that "would stick." In addition to his powerful drive to victory, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, he also put together the team and all the components that enabled the win. I liked the phrase which Cheever used to describe his Indianapolis victory and I was going to title my piece "Something that will stick." I wanted to show Eddie Cheever as a guy who, after years of falling short, had neatly put together all the pieces, in the 1998 "500," to ensure his place in the racing history books.
However, considering Cheever's win, on January 24, at Walt Disney World Speedway, to open the 1999 Indy Racing League season, I decided to alter my presentation of Eddie Cheever. He kicked butt, at Disney World, about as badly as he did, last May, at Indianapolis. Now I wonder if all the years of frustration has set a fire in Cheever's 41 - 42 year old belly.
Eddie's Rachel's Indianapolis winning Rachels Potato Chips Dallara - Oldsmobile, at speed, has a "racy" look. Car 51 looks fast. It looks fast in the photo on this page. Perhaps the uncluttered arrangement of bright blue, black and the "Rachels" script, on the side pods, combined with the "swooping" lines, of the Dallara chassis, does it. There's little signage on Cheever's car. Maybe that's part of it. It has a clean look that many of today's more commercially supported racing machines lose with sponsor colors and decals covering them. Maybe Cheever's Dallara is painted like a sack of Rachel's potato chips. I don't know. I haven't seen any Rachel's potato chips. For whatever the reasons, the winning car, in the 1998 "Indianapolis 500," looks the way a racing car should -- fast! Eddie Cheever drove this car fast, on May 24, 1998; as fast and aggressive as I've seen anyone drive to win the "500."
Eddie's performance reminded me of Johnny Rutherford's winning drive in the 1974 "Indianapolis 500." Rutherford was another guy for whom success had been predicted early in his career. Johnny went through years of mediocrity and little success until 1974. Rutherford started the 1974 "500," from 25th, but drove his orange McLaren - Offy like a demon to win. That was the start of a long string of racing success for "Lone Star JR." Could Eddie Cheever be in the same cycle?
My long time pal, Tim Pendergast, and I used to play what we called the "top ten cars" game. This was back in the early to mid 1980's, after Tim inspired me to get into racing photography. After spending an afternoon, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, watching practice for the "Indianapolis 500," Tim and I would stop at a local bar to discuss what we'd seen, over beers. This often occurred after we'd made our initial May trip to the Speedway and had just seen the new cars, in person, for the first time. We would pick which cars we thought were the best looking; colors, presentation, etc. Since nearly everyone was running a March, for many of those years, the chassis didn't often come into our selection process, and looking back at the "short-nosed," round, almost "chubby" looking Marches, of that period, it's not difficult to see why. The Penske cars were always included on the list, as were Pat Patrick's cars. The True Value Hardware cars, Dan Cotter ran, for Roberto Guerrero, were clean in their white and navy blue colors. Regardless of what he was driving, I'd find a way to include Al Unser's car on the list, although Tim would challenge if he didn't agree. It was the way we opened our personal month of May, at the Speedway. It was a good game. I'd include Cheever's 1998 car, on that list, if Tim and I were still playing the "top ten cars" game.
The 1999 colors on car 51 were different at Disney World, and it didn't look as fast. The bottom 3/4 of the car is painted red-orange, with a yellow, orange, red "Menards stripe" bordering the blue around the cockpit and engine cover. It looks like Eddie has a bit more commercial support for this season, which is good, but the graphic effect of the 1998 Indianapolis winning car was missing at Disney World. There wasn't anything missing from Eddie Cheever's driving though. He looked strong!
I've had varying opinions of Cheever's talents, behind the wheel of a racing car, since I first heard of the 18 year old "boy wonder" of European junior formula racing, who was from Arizona, but lived in Italy, in 1976. I saw him reach the upper levels of Formula One, in the early 1980's, only to become another of the ever increasing F1 "cast-offs" who made their way into CART's open arms. He came to Indy car racing, in 1990, with substantial fanfare. Until May 24, 1998, his results never measured up to his promise.
I've never been able to get a clear "make" on Eddie Cheever. He talks with a funny accent and favors big words, but he's as articulate as racing drivers come and seems to be a sharp, pleasant guy. At times, he's been fast and shown a competitive will. At other times, he's looked lazy in a racing car.
Eddie made his way into Formula One, as a youngster for whom big things were expected. In the early 1980's, when Cheever became an F1 regular, Grand Prix racing was ultra-competitive; nothing like the current era of seasons dominated by one or two teams. For instance, in 1982, 11 different drivers won during the 16 race season, for seven different teams. It was an environment that offered opportunities for success and Cheever looked like he had the talent to take full advantage.
He made his F1 debut, at age 20, in the 1978 Grand Prix of South Africa, in a Hesketh - Ford, but lasted only eight laps, before retiring with an engine problem. Two seasons later, he joined F1, as a regular competitor, driving an Osella - Ford. He was a "DNF," in all but one of the ten races he started.
The following season, Cheever's F1 career appeared to be on the rise. In 1981, Eddie had points finishes, in a Tyrrell - Ford; a fourth, at Silverstone, fifth place finishes in Long Beach, Monaco and Hockenheim, and a sixth at Zolder. The following season, driving a Ligier - Matra, he made it to the podium three times, with a second in Detroit and third place finishes at Zolder and in Las Vegas.
At the time, it seemed like progress, but Eddie's move to Renault, for the 1983 F1 season, might've been his F1 undoing. At the end of 1982, Renault looked to be, potentially, the strongest Grand Prix team. Cheever was brought in as a "number two" to Alain Prost, after Prost's fellow Frenchman and unfriendly rival, Rene Arnoux, left for Ferrari.
Cheever did a decent job, driving to a second, in Montreal, third places at Paul Ricard, Spa and Monza, a fourth in Austria and a sixth at Kyalami. Unfortunately, Prost and Renault found a way to lose the 1983 World Championship. Alain had taken four wins in the first 11 races and held something like a 17 point championship lead, with four races remaining in the season. But Nelson Piquet came on strong, in Bernie Ecclestone's Brabham - BMW. In the Grand Prix of Holland, at Zandvoort, on August 28, Prost's title bid fell apart when he and Piquet crashed, on lap 41, fighting for the lead of the race. Piquet finished 1983, close to perfect, taking wins at Monza and Brands Hatch and a third in the season finale, at Kyalami. Prost scored six points, during the same period, when he finished second to Piquet, at Brands Hatch. Alain lost the World Championship to Piquet by two points. Shortly after the 1983 season, Renault "cleaned house" and replaced Prost and Cheever with Patrick Tambay and Derek Warwick.
After that, it was mostly downhill for Cheever. He drove for Alfa Romeo, the next two seasons, with a fourth place, in 1984, being his only points finish. In 1986, his only F1 start came as a substitute for Patrick Tambay, at Detroit, driving one of Carl Haas' Lola - Fords. Do you remember Carl Haas' Formula One team? USF&G (I think it stands for United States Financial & Guaranty) wanted an American driver when it sponsored the Arrows team and Cheever came back to F1, full time, in 1987. Over the next three seasons, he scored eight, six and six World Championship points respectively.
I can't recall now, whether it was Cheever's decision to leave Formula One, after failing to win in 132 starts, or a lack of interest among F1 teams, but for 1990, Eddie signed to drive for the new Chip Ganassi Target Indy car team.
Ganassi was a major investor in the Patrick - Ganassi program, that won the 1989 "Indianapolis 500," five other races and the CART title, with Emerson Fittipaldi, driving the team's Marlboro Penske - Chevrolet car 20. Patrick - Ganassi Racing was destined to split up, however, before the 1989 season had gotten underway. Fittipaldi and Marlboro were set to move to the Penske team, for 1990, and at the end of the 1989 season, Pat Patrick took team manager Jim McGee and engineer Mo Nunn to a new team, with a March - Alfa Romeo package, supported by Miller Brewing. Ganassi purchased Patrick's share in the existing team as well as the complete inventory of 1989 Penske - Chevrolets, and the entire team headquarters, just south of Lafayette Square Mall, on the north west side of Indianapolis. He retained Tom Anderson, who had been Fittipaldi's crew chief, in 1989, as team manager.
Cheever was the first of the drivers Chip Ganassi went through on the way to building the most successful CART team in the post-Indianapolis era. Ganassi started with 89 Penske - Chevrolets, then switched to Lolas later in the 1990 season. By 1992, Ganassi had replaced Chevrolet power with the new Ford Cosworth XB V8 package, and perhaps most importantly, hired Mo Nunn. For 1993, Ganassi replaced Cheever with Arie Luyendyk and one year later Arie had been replaced with Michael Andretti and the Target Lolas had been replaced with Target Reynards. Andretti brought the team's first victories, in 1994, at Surfer's Paradise and Toronto, and then returned to Newman Haas, for 1995. Bryan Herta was brought in to replace Andretti and a second Target car was added for Jimmy Vasser. With the first year of the CART - Indianapolis Motor Speedway split, in 1996, Ganassi replaced Herta with Alex Zanardi, Goodyear tires with Firestones and Ford power with the Honda Indy V8 package. The rest of that story is history.
There wasn't a lot of success, for Cheever, during his three seasons in the Ganassi Target cars. He had some consistent finishes and was among the top ten in CART points, but other than qualifying second for the 1992 "Indianapolis 500," his performance was basically mediocre. Even that accomplishment resulted in what had to be an embarrassing moment for Cheever. After pole sitter Roberto Guerrero hit the wall, on the Pace Lap, Eddie's Lola - Ford was given the responsibility of bringing the field to the green flag. You've probably seen footage of the start of the the 1992 "Indianapolis 500." As Cheever came into turn one, his car was sandwiched by the two Newman Haas K Mart - Texaco Lola - Fords, with Mario Andretti going inside and Michael Andretti coming around on the outside. It was spectacular to see and it didn't present Cheever well, as he followed the Andrettis into turn two.
After Cheever was fired by Ganassi, he became an Indy car "journeyman" of sorts. He ran for John Menard, at Indianapolis, in 1993 and 1994, and he ran some CART races, in 1993, for both Norm Turley and Kenny Bernstein.
When Cheever became involved with the A.J. Foyt team, it seemed like an unlikely pairing of personalities. The Foyt - Cheever pairing brought little success, but there were some memorable moments during the "season plus" Eddie drove the black Foyt Copenhagen Lola - Fords. At Nazareth, in April 1995, Cheever and Foyt nearly pulled a major surprise on the rest of the Indy car racing community. Eddie reasoned that he could do 200 miles, on the Nazareth tri-oval, with one pit stop. It was a bold gamble, but it nearly proved successful. Cheever had a good setup and a light fuel load and was fast during the final 50 laps of the race. With less than two laps remaining, Eddie had a strong lead on Emerson Fittipaldi and Jacques Villeneuve. Coming through the final corner, on lap 199, Cheever's car 14 coasted to a stop, out of fuel, ending up in fourth. Had Cheever held on to win, it would've been the first CART win, for A.J. Foyt, as either a driver or car owner. At the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the misfortune continued, as Cheever happened to be right behind, when Stan Fox's car went hard into the wall, out of turn one, on the first lap of the "500." As fate would have it, three years later, Cheever would be bumped and turned sideways by J.J. Yeley, in a nearby location, on the first lap of the 1998 "Indianapolis 500." Unfortunately, unlike last May, Eddie was out of the 1995 "500."
Cheever had had fallen out of the CART mainstream and the Indy Racing League seemed to be made for Eddie and drivers like him; the guys who weren't wanted or needed in CART. Cheever's IRL career hasn't been spectacular, but there have been times when Eddie has looked strong, and he has started all but one IRL race.
He returned to Team Menard, for 1996, and his most noteworthy accomplishment was running the fastest laps, in "Indianapolis 500" history, over 235 mph, despite being laps off the pace at the time.
During 1996, Cheever formed his own IRL team, with partners Bob Hanscher and Gary Sallee. First Plus Financial sponsored the team, and Eddie won the first race for the new IRL style Indy cars, at Walt Disney World, in January 1997. The win was handed to Cheever after leader Tony Stewart blew an engine and spun, on lap 145. That placed Cheever's G Force into first, when rain began falling. The field made four laps, in the rain, under caution, with Cheever in front, before the red flag was thrown and the race halted. Victory had finally come, but under opportunistic circumstance.
At Indianapolis, Cheever was out of the race early, but the second First Plus Team Cheever G Force - Aurora, with rookie Jeff Ward, came close to winning. Ward was leading, when he pitted for fuel, with eight laps left, and finished third behind Arie Luyendyk and Scott Goodyear.
In the IRL race, at New Hampshire International Speedway, in August 1997, Cheever had another situation very similar to the 1995 Nazareth race. He led 80 laps, of the race, and was ahead of Robbie Buhl and Vincenzo Sospiri, when a gearbox failure, on lap 198, took another Indy car win away.
There was a split among investors, in First Plus Team Cheever, later in 1997, and Hanscher and Sallee broke away to form ISM Racing, with Jeff Ward as their driver. Cheever's team manager, Mitch Davis, also left to join ISM. Then, just before the 1998 IRL opener, at Walt Disney World, First Plus decided to take their sponsorship, for Cheever's car, to NASCAR. Eddie made it Disney World, in a new Dallara, but was out of the race after 48 laps. At the next IRL race, in Phoenix, Cheever finished tenth and led six laps in the race.
The only former First Plus Team Cheever principal to remain with Eddie was Dick Caron, who became manager of the new organization. Owen Snyder was available for the "Indianapolis 500" and Cheever hired Snyder to be his crew chief. Snyder had served as Al Unser Jr.'s crew chief, in the Valvoline cars, during the glory years of the Galles team and prepared Unser's "500" winning Valvoline Galmer - Chevrolet in 1992.
There had been rumors, throughout the early weeks of 1998, that Team Cheever was barely clinging to life financially. Whether the rumors were true, Cheever continued to persevere and he also announced he was putting rookie Robby Unser in another of his cars for the "Indianapolis 500."
I recall seeing Cheever standing by his car, on opening practice day, last May 10, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I noticed that the usual white, red and blue graphics design, carried on Eddie's helmet, had been replaced, on car 51, with the new teal blue and black colors, although the sponsor name hadn't been placed on the car at that time. A day or two later, it was announced that Rachel's Gourmet Potato Chips would be the sponsor. Who? The media reports, I heard, placed the Rachel's support in the $200,000 - 250,000 range. Certainly by modern standards, Rachels received a terrific return on their investment. If the speculated dollar amount speculated is accurate, Cheever has to be one of the most creative guys in the racing game for putting together such a strong program with so few resources.
Eddie qualified a "leisurely" 17th, last May and I don't recall anyone taking special notice of Cheever's pre-race activity. One thing I do recall, however, is an interview with Cheever after Carburetion Day. I wish I could find that damn cassette, with "Carb Day" television coverage, so I could describe the optimism Cheever expressed after the final practice, for the 1998 "500" concluded. I probably have a couple thousand video cassettes, with motorsports, that I've recorded over the past 15 years. Unfortunately, I'm in the process of creating a catalog of all these cassettes, which means I can't yet find the cassette I want to look at when I want to look at it. But I do recall that Cheever told one of the ESPN guys (I think it was Dr. Jerry Punch) that he had a great race car for the "500." My guy Big Al (Unser), who serves as an Indy Racing League consultant, suggested setups to Cheever for both Eddie and Al's nephew Robby, during Carburetion Day, and the results were positive.
I was wrapped up in Tony Stewart winning the "Indianapolis 500" last May. But things weren't turning out the way I'd imagined they would. Going into May 1998, I felt that Tony Stewart had the package to win, with a new Dallara that John Menard purchased especially for the "500." Three or four days into "500" practice, it became apparent that A.J. Foyt's cars were faster. At the same time, Stewart was blowing engines daily and my optimism was turning into concern, regarding Tony Stewart's long awaited "Indianapolis 500" victory.
After qualifying concluded with Tony sitting inside row two, on the starting grid, behind Billy Boat, Greg Ray and Kenny Brack, I tried to convince myself that it was Tony's year to win. I was concerned about Boat and Brack, in the Foyt cars, and I was also concerned about Scott Sharp and Scott Goodyear, but I didn't think much about Eddie Cheever.
I should've thought about Cheever though. Some people have suggested that Cheever won a race where many contenders fell out early. Billy Boat, Greg Ray and Scott Goodyear all had early mechanical problems that sent each of them to the garage for repairs and out of contention. Tony Stewart took the lead with a neat pass on Greg Ray, into turn one, on lap 24, and then blew up as he passed the starting line on the same lap. Maybe Tony Stewart would've had something for Eddie Cheever. Maybe Tony wouldn't have had anything for Cheever. I'm pretty well convinced that Cheever had the field covered in the 1998 "Indianapolis 500."
Cheever was bumped and turned sideways by J.J. Yeley, out of turn one, on the first lap and fell back to 27th. When Stewart blew, on lap 24, Cheever had moved to 13th. Ten laps later, Cheever had moved to seventh, behind Kenny Brack, Robbie Buhl, Davey Hamilton, Scott Sharp, Sam Schmidt and Boat. By lap 41, he had passed Schmidt and Sharp and was running third behind Brack and Hamilton. This was about the time I got the sense that Cheever was the man to beat in this "500."
Within a few laps, Cheever was chasing the leader Brack and he barely missed being involved when Schmidt and Hamilton made contact, touching off the big crash, at the north end of the Speedway, that eliminated the cars driven by Schmidt, Roberto Guerrero, Stan Wattles, Mark Dismore and Jim Guthrie.
The race went green again, on lap 62, and Cheever almost took the leader Brack going into turn one. Eddie tried again, in the same place, on lap 67, and Brack held him off again, but the next time into turn one, Cheever finally made the pass for the lead.
Cheever, John Paul Jr., Brack and Arie Luyendyk ran together in a tight lead pack until the next series of pit stops. The fortunes were smiling on Eddie this particular day. He overcame being "punted" by J.J. Yeley, in turn one, on the first lap. He missed the big multi-car wreck, in the north chute by inches. Then during this pit stop, Cheever almost pulled out of the pits (ala Lloyd Ruby in the 1969 "500") with his fuel hose connected. When it's your day, it's your day!
Two challenges faded, when Brack ran out of fuel and Luyendyk had to deal with a broken clutch, which eventually put Arie out of the race.
Buddy Lazier pitted out of sequence early in the race and inherited the lead when the others pitted and he was getting good fuel mileage. Given his winning charge, in the closing laps, of the 1996 "500," I began to project Buddy as a potential threat.
CART fans can say what they want about the quality of competition, but the race that the IRL guys put on was terrific. If there's one thing the Indy Racing League has produced, it's been fast, tight, furious wheel to wheel racing. The IRL formula seems to generate close competition, which puts a premium on driving talent and sheer "bravado." During the middle third, of the 1998 "500," Cheever, Paul, Lazier, Davey Hamilton, Robby Unser and Steve Knapp put on a tremendous show of 200 mph plus action. Neither Robin Miller, nor anyone else, can convince me that today's CART contemporaries could've done a better job.
In addition to the close competition, the other big plus, from the Indy Racing League, is the reduced cost to compete at the highest level in the series.One of the neat things about Eddie Cheever's win, last May, is that it actually happened. Cheever is a smart enough guy to have put together the deal that put him in the winner's circle, at Indianapolis. But the primary reason that he was able to put it all together is because, in the Indy Racing League, he could. The current environment in CART is too political, too structured and way too expensive to have allowed a sharp "hustler," like Eddie Cheever, to emerge in the manner he did, last May. The same thing can be said of John Paul Jr. Paul walked away from his original ride, for the "500," with the PDM team, because he didn't have any sponsorship money to bring to the program. But John Paul Jr. was able to get a ride with the new low budget Pelfrey team, after Danny Ongais was hurt in practice. As a result, Paul put on the racing performance of his career, leading 39 laps, and was a genuine threat to win the "Indianapolis 500," until a long stop in the pits took his car out of contention.
I think the circumstances which allowed guys like Eddie Cheever and John Paul Jr. to compete for victory in the "500" are positive. It's a lot closer to what the "Indianapolis 500" has represented, in its 82 runnings, than the stuff CART produces and it's a better product. The IRL has yet to sell to the racing public, but I sincerely hope for the future of Indy car racing that it does.
When Luyendyk lost the clutch, in his G Force, for good, coming out of the pits, near the 150 lap mark, bringing out the yellow, the battle to the finish was set up between Cheever and Lazier. At the restart, on lap 156, Cheever led from Lazier and Knapp, with Paul running fourth, also on the lead lap. Seven laps later, however, Eddie went by Paul to put him one lap down.
Cheever was running laps consistently in the 210 mph range, when Stephan Gregoire brushed the wall, coming out of turn four, bringing out the yellow flag again. The leaders all pitted and Eddie was first out.
There were three cars between Cheever and Lazier when the race restarted on lap 178. Buddy got by one of them before Jack Hewitt brought out the yellow, with a spin. On the next restart, Lazier made an outstanding pass on Jeff Ward and Robby Unser to follow Cheever into turn one. But Eddie picked up his pace to nearly 214 mph and pulled away from Lazier.
Another yellow came out when Marco Greco's engine blew. Lazier was on Cheever's tail when the race restarted on lap 194, but Eddie went low to block into turn one.
Cheever moved to 210 mph, with five laps remaining, while Lazier ran 208.5. The next lap, Cheever nearly caught the wall out of turn four, but he increased his pace to 213 and 212 mph the next two laps. Even with the gap to Lazier growing, Cheever still ran the final lap at 210 mph and beat Buddy to the flag by 3.191 seconds.
It would've been interesting to see what would've developed had Tony Stewart stayed in the "500." The potential battle between Stewart and Cheever could've been spectacular, but I'm not convinced any one could've beaten Eddie in the 1998 "500."
The total payoff for the 1998 "500" was a record $8,722,500. The winner's share, of $1,433,000, collected by Cheever, and Robby Unser's fifth place prize, of $209,400, must have had a larger impact on Team Cheever than most recent winning teams, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
After Indianapolis, Cheever's best finishes were in the IRL races at Atlanta and Las Vegas, where he had a third and a fifth respectively. At Dover, he was fighting for third place, with Greg Ray, when they made contact and had a savage crash out of the second corner.
The recent race, to open the fourth Indy Racing League season, at Walt Disney World, on January 24, was a positive experience; this being the first IRL race in the "post Tony Stewart - Arie Luyendyk era." They've been drawing crowds, right at 50,000, to Disney World for the IRL race, the previous three years, so it was surprising to me that only something like 28,000 seats were erected for the 1999 race. The IRL weekend, at Disney, has become something of a mid-Winter tradition, for racing fans, and the crowd base appeared to be relatively solid. The seats that were available were filled to near capacity under sunshine, as the race ran for the first time on Sunday.
The Disney World tri-oval is a neat little race track. I love the way the cars almost drive uphill into the second corner and the in car camera shots, from the IRL race, give the impression of riding a roller coaster. I used to love going to the mile tri-oval, at Nazareth. It's still my favorite circuit on the CART schedule. I think Disney World has a similar personality. Some time, I have to get to that race.
I missed having Tony Stewart driving, at Disney World, this time, and I wasn't sure how much I'd enjoy the race.But the event was another intense entertaining IRL show.
Initially, it appeared that Scott Sharp was going to dominate and he led for 100 laps, until Scott Goodyear made a pass on lap 103. Sharp's Dallara encountered a minor mechanical failure, which led to handling problems.
Greg Ray followed Sharp, in second, for the first 44 laps of the race, before he was passed by Goodyear and Buddy Lazier. Ray's Menard Dallara began spraying a fine mist, from the rear of the car and was black-flagged and retired after 163 laps, with gearbox problems.
Lazier was also fast during the early part of the race, before minor incidents with both Sharp and Steve Knapp dropped him to tenth at the finish.
Cheever had his usual mediocre qualifying effort, to start 13th. By the tenth lap, he was running tenth. He moved to eighth, by lap 50, fourth by lap 78, and third on lap 109. Cheever gained a position, out of the pits, for his second stop, and his crew made some adjustments to the handling of the Dallara car 51. On lap 142, Cheever caught Goodyear in traffic and powered by into the lead.
Eddie pitted on lap 174, followed by Goodyear on lap 178 and Sharp, on lap 181. That gave the lead to Raul Boesel. Boesel had last pitted on lap 117 and was gambling on a two stop strategy that almost paid off. But Raul was forced to the pits on lap 193, on green flag restart, and fell to fifth, at the finish.
Cheever had lost radio contact, with his crew, earlier, and he actually thought he was running second to Sharp. But he regained the lead, when Boesel ran out of fuel, and came across the winner by 5.148 seconds over Goodyear.
Perhaps Eddie Cheever will fill the void, in the IRL, left by Tony Stewart's move to Winston Cup and Arie Luyendyk's retirement, after Indianapolis. It's clear there is an opening, in the series, for a name recognition driver and Cheever would seem a likely candidate for that role.
Going on his Disney World performance, Cheever appears to be class of the IRL and I'd be reluctant to bet against his repeating, in May, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The "Indianapolis 500" ought to be competitive, with the expected return of both Stewart and Luyendyk, and the appearance of Robby Gordon, in addition to the usual wide open IRL competition.
The early reported television ratings for the ABC telecast of the Disney race were a strong 2.5. Hopefully the positive start of its fourth season, at Disney World, will help to push the Indy Racing League product into better acceptance by the American racing public.