bob jennings' WORLD O' RACING 01/27/2000
Tony Stewart waits to practice on Pole day for the "Indianapolis 500" - May 16, 1998
Bob Jennings
I like this picture. It's one of my all time favorites. That's why I selected this to be the third photo to be displayed on my home page.
Each one of my home page photos has represented something to me. The photo of Arie Luyendyk and Tony Stewart in the 1997 "Indianapolis 500" represented what I was focusing on at that time which was the growth of the Indy Racing League as symbolized by the series' two most prominent drivers in their most noteworthy competition. My second home page photo, a picture of Nigel Mansell and Al Unser Jr. side by side in the 1993 "Marlboro 500" at Michigan presented a couple guys who I spent a lot of time cheering for a few years ago in one of my favorite races.
This photo represents my focus on Tony Stewart's three seasons in the IRL and his four starts in the "Indianapolis 500," but it's time to let go. Tony is one of NASCAR's biggest personalities and he isn't coming back to the "Indianapolis 500." Okay that's cool. If he doesn't want to win the "500," so be it. It's too bad, because in my mind, Tony Stewart's career, regardless of what he does in NASCAR will be incomplete until he wins Indianapolis.
Al Unser Jr. was as big a favorite a few years ago, as Tony Stewart, and
Al wants to come back to the "Indianapolis 500" and despite all the recent
movement of drivers from open wheel cars to NASCAR, Little Al doesn't want
to run NASCAR. He could've gone there and he probably would've run well.
Unser wants to run "Indy" and so I'm going with him now and for me, the
Tony Stewart era in the IRL ends and the Al Unser Jr. era
begins.
With all of that I move on. However I want to add some background to the photo on this page before I move on.
Despite the unfriendly parting between Stewart and John Menard, didn't
Tony look good in those bright yellow Glidden cars? The Menard cars looked
terrific. I hope having Conseco as Greg Ray's major sponsor this season won't
mess up the bright colors on John Menard's cars.
During the week of practice preceding qualification weekend for the 82nd "Indianapolis 500," the Menard team had been locked in a contest with A.J. Foyt's two Dallaras, driven by Billy Boat and Kenny Brack. Stewart had emerged with top practice speed of 223.797 mph, but the two Foyt cars were close throughout the week.
Tony Stewart and the Menard team were having a difficult morning when I took this photo. The morning practice sessions started off badly when Boat had a lap at 223.836 mph, which set the unofficial mark for IRL cars at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Stewart's Dallara was second fastest at 222.442 mph. It seemed as if Stewart had peaked a few days before qualifications while Boat and Brack picked up speed and all of the sudden, A.J. Foyt had a discovery which made his cars faster. Perhaps the Goodyear tires on Foyt's cars were performing better under sunny skies than the Firestones on Stewart's car. Some observers expressed the opinion that the rev limiter wasn't working on the Boat and Brack cars. Some of his competitors even speculated that A.J.'s cars were operating with a different set of rules than everyone else.
John Paul Jr. was the first driver to complete a qualifying run at 217.351 mph in the Team Pelfrey Dallara. Sam Schmidt was next at 219.982. Stewart's Menard teammate Robbie Buhl was the next qualifier at 220.236 mph.
Stewart followed Buhl and had a disappointing run at 220.386. About 30 minutes after Stewart made his run, Brack knocked Tony off the pole with a run at 220.982 mph. Forty-five minutes later Boat beat Kenny with a run at 223.503 mph, which obviously was good for pole position. To make matters worse, later that afternoon, Greg Ray surprised everyone with a run at 221.125 mph in Tom Knapp's under funded Dallara. That knocked Stewart off the front row and back to fourth on the grid.
Things went even worse in the "500." Stewart had just taken the lead from Ray, when the engine let go in Tony's car on lap 23 and he finished 33rd.