bob jennings' WORLD O' RACING  05/15/99

Eddie Cheever on the way to winning the 1998 "Indianapolis 500"

Bob Jennings

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.

During post race interviews, shortly after he won the 82nd "Indianapolis 500," Eddie 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'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.

During his 132 Formula One starts, he drove for the Hesketh, Osella, Tyrrell, Ligier, Renault, Alfa Romeo, Carl Haas and Arrows teams. 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. However, a couple second place finishes represented Cheever's best results.

He came to the new Chip Ganassi team, in 1990, and the organization was built with Cheever as the intended number one driver. But he was fired after the 1992 season, with his principal accomplishment being second on the grid for the 1992 "Indianapolis 500."

During his time, driving for A.J. Foyt, the closest Cheever came to success was at Nazareth, in 1995. Eddie reasoned that he could do 200 miles, on the Nazareth tri-oval, with one pit stop. It was a bold gamble, and 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.

His most noteworthy accomplishment, during the three races he ran for John Menard, in May 1993, 1994 and 1996, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, was running the fastest race laps, in "Indianapolis 500" history. Cheever ran over race laps over 235 mph, in the 1996 "500," in one of the Lola - Menard Buick V6 turbo entries.

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 circumstances.

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.

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. Just before the 1998 IRL opener, at Walt Disney World, First Plus decided to take their sponsorship, for Cheever's car, to NASCAR.

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." 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. 

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, in which Cheever expressed optimism for the 1998 "500." He 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.

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.

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. His car 91 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.

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!

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.

The 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.

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.

In the next Indy Racing League event, at Phoenix, Cheever and his now usual rival, Buddy Lazier, were battling for the lead and it looked like the contest for the win would come down to Eddie and Lazier. But a slower moving Scott Harrington caused Eddie to check up and Lazier ran into the back of Cheever's car 51, taking them both out of the race.

A few weeks ago, primarily because Team Cheever needs money, the decision was made to switch from the Oldsmobile Aurora V8 to Nissan Infiniti power. Judging by his performance in the ill fated IRL race, at Charlotte, the switch isn't going to impact Cheever's performances too much. When the yellow flag came out, for the crash involving Stan Wattles and John Paul Jr., which caused the spectator deaths and injuries, in turn four of Lowes Motor Speedway, Eddie was running a strong third, behind Lazier and Greg Ray.

Based on his 1999 IRL performances, so far, I'd rate Cheever among the top threats to win the 1999 "Indianapolis 500," despite Infiniti power. His racing is reminding me of Johnny Rutherford. 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? It seems like he's gone from perennial "screwup" to a mean, starving tiger of a racing driver looking for prey.