The Official Blog of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Arie Luyendyk 1985

He holds the top three speed records at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and has two victories.

One qualifying lap – 237.498, 1996
Four-lap qualifying average – 236.986, 1996
500 miles – 185.981, 1990

And Arie Luyendyk figures his 500-mile mark will stay for a while – it’s already stayed 22 years.

“That (500-mile) record will stay there for a long time,” said Luyendyk, 59, now living in Fountain Hills, Ariz. “Back then we didn’t have a pit speed limit. Now it takes time.”

But for qualifying?

“They could change the cars to make that happen,” he said. “The fans want to see it (broken). Those records are there, but I would like to see someone break them.”

He wasn’t always an ovalmeister, starting with when the Dutchman came up with the former Provimi Veal team.

“We had a small team, and there wasn’t one guy who had worked with a car on an oval,” Luyendyk said. “When I started in ’85, we had a little help from Lola, but no one had worked on a car for an oval. The big change came when I got with a team that could prepare a car for an oval. That started in ’87 with Dick Simon when I got with Larry Curry. You change your attitude and confidence. I had good races with Simon.”

But the 1990 victory at Indianapolis was his first in Indy cars – and Luyendyk could feel it coming.

“I really did feel good about it,” he said. “The whole month went well, qualified third and after some really good days, I thought we could be right there. The communication was good between me and Doug Shierson (the car owner). It was good and professional. We didn’t change that much during the race. Teams like Penske and Newman-Haas knew we were fast.

“I didn’t feel that confident in 1997 (with Treadway Racing). I had the pole, but I was always on the edge. Going into that race with that feeling isn’t good. We worked on the car during the whole race.”

Everything didn’t always work fine. In a race at Texas Motor Speedway in ‘97, scoring had Billy Boat winning in A.J. Foyt’s car, but Luyendyk thought he had won and also went to Victory Lane. An argument ensued, and Foyt pushed/hit Luyendyk into a flower bed. Video of the incident played on sports shows all week.

Eventually, a scoring audit showed Luyendyk to be the winner. After the first day the next weekend at Pikes Peak, Luyendyk came back to the hotel and said: “A.J. and I were talking out on the pit road, and you should have seen it. There must have been 50 photographers there.”

And at Christmas, Texas Motor Speedway promoter Eddie Gossage outfitted his whole staff in officials’ uniforms and the track’s Christmas card showed them all in Victory Lane, Gossage in front with a whistle.

It was rumored at the time and has been confirmed by some that Foyt still has the trophy for that race … he didn’t give it back.

Luyendyk is still in the sport, sharing some INDYCAR race control, rookie coaching and two-seater driving duties. He also said he is “playing around with some real estate.”

“In race control, it really opens my eyes on what goes on there,” he said. “Dispatching safety vehicles and calling cautions. If you’re an active driver, you don’t see it.”

In 1990, a friend of Luyendyk walked on to the pit road on Opening Day at the Speedway and went through Victory Lane, which was, at the time, at pit center. He looked down and saw a coin. It was a Dutch dime. He put it in his pocket and forgot about it.

After Luyendyk won, the friend glued the dime to a block of wood and gave it to Luyendyk the day after the race, telling him the story.

“Oh, that’s spooky,” Luyendyk said at the time.

Earlier this month, the Dutchman was asked about it. Even after 23 years, Arie said, “I still have it.”

Billy Boat 1998

Billy Boat went through some trials and tribulations before he grabbed the pole position for the 1998 Indianapolis 500.

“We crashed in practice right before qualifying,” Boat said. “I knew we had the speed, but we had some other issues. I knew we had an awesome race car.”

The pole came when the legendary A.J. Foyt gave Phoenix native Boat his shot at Indianapolis.

But mechanical problems in the race kept Boat from Victory Lane that year. But the pole was quite an achievement, and kitchen magnets featuring his picture appeared the next year.

“Any time you can see the leader with 25 laps to go, you’ll have a shot to win it,” Boat said. “We had the best car in ’98.”

In 1999, Boat finished third, his best in seven starts at Indy.

“The third behind Kenny (Brack) was a great accomplishment,” Boat said. “In the heat of the moment, you always want to win.”

Boat joined IndyCar at a time when opportunities opened up for sprint and midget drivers around the country.

“That was always my goal,” he said. “I was at the right place at the right time. I was happy to be there. I did my own team with Cary Agajanian and Mike Curb in 2001 and 2002. But for 2003, the budget was going to go from $1.8 million to $3 million, so we just couldn’t do it.”

Boat was operating an automotive exhaust business in Phoenix before he came to the Speedway.

“I started Billy Boat Performance Exhaust in 1990,” he said. “Since then, I’ve taken a more active role in the company. We work on Corvettes, Camaros and BMWs, high-end performance cars.

“My son Chad was only 8 or 9 when I was racing Indy cars, and I’ve taken an active role in his racing. Now he’s living in North Carolina. He’s going to be 21, and he’s been running some NASCAR and ARCA. He hopes to be in the Nationwide Series next year.

“My brother Mike is still here doing sales for us. My daughter Trisha works in the social media department for Chip Ganassi in Charlotte. My other two daughters, Emily, 17, and Brooke, 18, are into cheerleading, and Brooke goes to Arizona State next year.”

Boat said his IndyCar Series victories at Texas were rewarding, and he was in Victory Lane with Foyt in ’97 when a scoring question arose and Arie Luyendyk came to Victory Lane with his team to protest. A.J. promptly shoved Luyendyk into a flower bed. Through a long audit, Luyendyk was declared the winner.

But Boat confirmed something that has floated around the paddock for a long time: A.J. still has the trophy.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Historian Donald Davidson has been the expert on the history of the Racing Capital of the World since he arrived in Central Indiana in the mid-1960s. Now 2010 Auto Racing Hall of Fame inductee Davidson is answering your questions periodically in this blog!

Q: With the Red Bull Indianapolis GP MotoGP race approaching, I find myself wondering if any Indiana-built (or even Indianapolis-built) motorcycles ever raced or were tested at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

—Scott Smith, Brownsburg, Ind.

A: It turns out that there were actually several motorcycle companies in Indiana in the early days, but as with the majority of the automobile firms, they were short-lived, typically lasting only a year or two. Certainly none ever was tested at the track in the early days, the only makes participating in the seven events held during the one and only day of actual competition—Aug, 14, 1909—being Indian, Harley-Davidson, NSU, Excelsior, Reading Standard, Peugeot, Merkel, Minneapolis and Thor.

[More]

A year out of high School and living in my 1^st place on my own, ½ of a double 1 house off of Crawfordsville Road and Gerrard (for racing fanatics, behind what would later become Hurtubise’s Muffler Shop) I was close to what I called Utopia, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  Along with my best friend Dave, whose family had connections to the longtime car owner Lindsey Hopkins, we approached May with great anticipation.   In our hands ( our 19year old hands I might add), were 2 season Gate Passes, a Garage Area Pass each AND 2 great tickets to the race in the grandstands (yeah, like 2 nineteen year old testosterone loaded boys could sit still for 4 hours in a grandstand seat when the infield Snakepit was loaded with gorgeous cuties) and we couldn’t wait until Opening Day.

As I recall (and a LOT of time has passed since then), all days possible were spent there at the track.  As Race Day approached, my main entry (Crawfordsville Road) to my “digs” on Gerrard kept loading up with race fans and revelers and soon my 1 room studio flat became a “crash house” for other friends old and new.

Hopkins & Marshman

We partied for 3 days and on race day we had, of course, sold our great tickets and headed for the infield (with new general admission ducats acquired from another source).  We had a great time until the big crash and drifted through the rest of the race in stunned silence (we were race fans too!). I still remember the silence of the crowd and the PA announcements that day………

AJ Foyt - Winner of the 1964 Indy 500

AJ Foyt won the race, the last winning front engine car to do so, for his 2^nd win.

Little did I realize what the Speedway would become to me and the career I would make of it.

Over 4.5 million photos reside in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Photo archives at the Hall of Fame Museum. In the next few weeks, I will extract some of the most fascinating shots to share the story and provide insight to the “behind the scenes” of how they were taken.

I remember it like it was yesterday…..The buzz around the month of May and the opening of the track at Indianapolis. Several exciting things were happening around the track that year. The fact that a lap of 200 mph in qualifying was almost a foregone conclusion, Janet Guthrie was in a capable car and would be the 1st to make the race.

Tom Sneva at the 1977 Indianapolis 500

It was my 1st year as “Director of Photography” after being an IMS Staff Photographer for the past 5 years. Before the month started out Gordon Johncock had been clocked at a tick over 200 in March tire tests on the freshly repaved Indianapolis Motor Speedway (yes I had to check with Donald Davidson on these facts) and during the week of practice before the Qualification weekend, AJ Foyt, Mario Andretti and Johnny Rutherford all did “unofficial” 200 MPH laps.

When Pole Day came Tom Sneva was the 1st and only driver to eclipse the “magic number” during qualifying. He was greeted by local sponsor, Phil Hedback of Bryant Heating and Cooling Company with 200 silver dollars which he dumped into Tom’s upturned helmet. This had been done in 1962 when Parnelli Jones was the 1st driver to qualify at 150 MPH. Later, Mr. Hedback put 188 (her qualifying speed) silver dollars into her helmet as the 1st female to qualify for the Indianapolis 500.

Janet Guthrie at the 1977 Indianapolis 500

How did they top all of that excitement? By AJ Foyt becoming the only driver up to that date to win the race 4 times. While Gordy Johncock ran away with the race, his car failed and AJ won the day. Tony Hulman, for the first time since he owned the track rode on the victory lap with Foyt. It would unfortunately be Tony’s last 500 as he passed away that October.

A.J. Foyt takes his Victory Lap in 1977

Turn 1 of the 1965 Indianapolis 500

Turn 1 of the 1965 Indianapolis 500

Jimmy Clark and A.J. Foyt together in 1966

Jimmy Clark and A.J. Foyt together in 1966

A.J. Foyt's 50th Anniversary Indianapolis 500 Winner

A.J. Foyt’s 50th Anniversary Indianapolis 500 Winner

Paired - last front engine to win, first rear engine to win

Paired – last front engine to win, first rear engine to win

A.J. Foyt Waves to the Crowd at the Start of the 1970 Indianapolis 500

A.J. Foyt Waves to the Crowd at the Start of the 1970 Indianapolis 500