Unser Jr. bumped from Indy 500 qualifying Sunday
Heilo Wins Indy 500 Qualifying
INDIANAPOLIS -- If Pole Day for the 91st Indianapolis 500 had the cliffhanger element of a Hollywood epic, Sunday's second round of qualifying action had all the excitement of a dry documentary.
With nothing more than 12th place on the 33-car grid at stake, there wasn't much incentive to pull out all the stops and shoot for an eye-popping speed. And once again, most of the tension didn't develop until the final half hour, when Jon Herb bumped two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser Jr. from the starting field.
Herb was then knocked out of the fastest 22 by another former Indy winner, 1996 champion Buddy Lazier, who had to sweat out an unsuccessful last-minute attempt by his brother Jaques.
Indy's new 11-11-11 qualifying format no longer offers a cash prize for being the fastest second-day qualifier, so Rahal Letterman Racing's Scott Sharp had to be content with knowing that his 223.875 mph average would have put him ninth on the grid had he done it a day earlier.
Rahal Letterman was the day's unofficial moral victor as Jeff Simmons completed a 1-2 (or more accurately, a 12-13) for the Ohio-based team.
"We knew we probably wouldn't win the qualifying battle, but we might have a really good chance to win the main battle -- the 500 miles," said Sharp. "I've started from pole and on the first three rows, and that doesn't matter. It's how good your car is in race trim."
Panther Racing and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing also provisionally secured two cars in the starting field, while Tony George's Vision Racing team put three more cars in the show to accompany Tomas Scheckter, who qualified 10th on Pole Day.
Vitor Meira, who qualified 19th, said that he and Panther teammate Kosuke Matsuura concentrated on race setup throughout the first week of practice knowing that pole was an unrealistic goal.
"We had a chance to run for 'best in class' honors yesterday, but Tomas capitalized on that," Meira said. "By the time all the Penske, Ganassi and Andretti Green cars qualified, that was 10 of 11 places?
"It wasn't worth it to put everything on the line so we could start 10th instead of 15th," added the Brazilian. "If we do a good job with our race setup, we'll get past those cars in the first two laps anyway."
Unser, the 1992 and '94 Indy winner, qualified his A.J. Foyt Racing entry with a 220.963-mph average, only to have Herb, a 36-year-old journeyman who made one Indianapolis start in 2001, put together four laps at a shade over 221 just after 5:30 p.m.
Herb's moment of glory lasted a little more than 25 minutes until Buddy Lazier coaxed 221.380 mph out of the No. 99 Sam Schmidt Motorsports entry.
"We just picked a number and if we would have had to go 222, we probably could have done it," said the Coloradoan. "I'm really proud of the team and Tim Neff, the engineer, tuned me just right."
Jaques Lazier ran laps at 220 and 218 mph before waving off to wait for the second weekend of qualifying, when grid positions 23-33 will be up for grabs and any potential bumping will occur.
Despite small crowds for the second consecutive day of perfect weather, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Indy Racing League officials said they were happy after finally seeing their new 11-11-11 qualification format in action for the first time.
"It was nice to see it in progress and see the result," said IMS president Joie Chitwood Jr. "Our goal was to come up with a process that provided more activity on each day of qualifications and I think the numbers bear that out. We're really pleased that it did what it was supposed to -- not only provide a run for the pole but the top 11, and then today, a run for the next set of 11. The energy was there among the fans and there seemed to be a lot of people enjoying the days."
IRL chief operating officer Brian Barnhart added: "Now the second day for the middle of the field had meaning that didn't exist the last few years. So it was very successful from our standpoint and I've been overwhelmed by the response from the drivers and the fans. We're very pleased."
John Oreovicz covers open-wheel racing for National Speed Sport News and ESPN.com.
