Indianapolis – The extraordinarily fast Danica Patrick has brought attention to today’s 89th Indianapolis 500 because of a “battle of the sexes” story line.
But when the race begins, 32 others will be fighting for their share of freshly paved real estate at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and an intriguing “battle of the series” story line will jostle for position.
Like Patrick, Bruno Junqueira and Sebastien Bourdais are racing for more than themselves. These Newman/ Haas Racing teammates are the only drivers from the rival Champ Car World Series running today.
“They’re certainly a contender here,” admitted legendary car owner Roger Penske, who jumped from Champ Car to the Indy Racing League in 2002.
Bourdais, a 26-year-old from France, is the defending Champ Car champion. Junqueira, his 28-year-old Brazilian teammate, has finished second in the standings the past three years. Junqueira and Bourdais are 1-2 in this season’s points after two races.
Today they will be racing at the Brickyard, the foreign, though hallowed, soil of the IRL. Bourdais and Junqueira are more familiar with road and street courses, but they don’t blink at going ’round and ’round an oval.
“I don’t think anybody in the IRL has any doubt that we’ll be in the front when it counts,” said Junqueira, who won the first two Grand Prix of Denver events before finishing third last year, when Bourdais rallied from last to first.
Junqueira pointed out he ran ahead of several successful IRL drivers before they made the switch from Champ Car. With that history comes confidence.
“And right now, the top two drivers in the championship are me and Sebastien. The best Champ Car driver and the best IRL driver are very good. It’s very competitive, and that’s all people want to see. So we should leave it at that.”
Champ Car teams or teams with Champ Car roots have dominated this race since they ended their boycott and came back to Indy in 2000. All five winners since have Champ Car lineage.
Juan Montoya won as a rookie in 2000 for Champ Car’s Chip Ganassi Racing.
Helio Castroneves won in 2001 for Champ Car’s Team Penske before it defected to the IRL.
Castroneves won again in 2002 after Penske switched leagues.
Gil de Ferran won in 2003, again for Penske.
Buddy Rice won in 2004 for Rahal Letterman Racing just two months after the team left Champ Car.
“Bruno and Sebastien are awesome drivers and Newman/ Haas is a great team,” said Bryan Herta, one of four drivers for highly competitive Andretti Green Racing, which has Tony Kanaan starting from the pole. “They could pull their trucks up today and be a threat. You never count a team like that out.”
Crossing the so-called picket line for one race is financially and physically demanding. Newman/Haas and its two-car Indy sponsor, Centrix Financial of Centennial, had to acquire two IRL cars apiece for their drivers and hire IRL-only engineers. The race crew is otherwise the same for both circuits, but those crewmen have worked excessive hours the past two weeks.
After Junqueira and Bourdais qualified 12th and 15th, respectively, at Indy on May 15, they turned their attention to the May 21 Champ Car race in Monterrey, Mexico. Junqueira won that race and Bourdais finished fifth while the rest of the Indy 500 field was practicing or conducting third-day qualifying at Indy.
“We’re losing out a little bit in some ways, but because of Centrix, we’re as equipped as anybody,” said Carl Haas, who co- owns the team with actor Paul Newman. “Yes, there have been a lot of developments that were made recently that we don’t have, just because we haven’t been on the scene. But our engineers feel that we’ll be closer in the race than in qualifying.”
Both drivers played down the significance of the adjustment to IRL equipment. IRL cars normally are aspirated and generate up to 650 horsepower with traction control. Champ cars are turbocharged and create 800 horsepower and have no traction control.
“But it feels pretty much the same,” said Bourdais, who will be making his Indy debut. “The (cockpit) environment is different but the handling is similar.”
Added Junqueira, who sat on the pole at Indy in 2002 and is making his fourth start: “It’s different on the first few laps, especially the grip level and gears. But you get used to it pretty fast.”
Bourdais will have the least experience at Indy of any of the 33 drivers today. Given he missed three days of practice last week, he said he would drive conservatively at the outset.
“I can’t really feel pressure because it’s my first time at Indy and first 500-mile race anywhere,” he said. “I’m a rookie and beginner. I’m just going to have a good time and try to give a strong run at the end of the race, when it really matters.”
Staff writer Mike Chambers can be reached at 303-820-5453 or mchambers@denverpost.com.
