ShareThisSome 55 years after his first visit to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the most recognizable man in American auto racing will be part of the 33-car field for the 93rd Indianapolis 500 on Sunday.
When John Andretti turned a four-lap average of 221.316 mph on "bump day" last Sunday, Richard Petty's famous blue-and-red No. 43 was in the starting grid with eight minutes to spare.
So Petty, who blamed big feet for taking away his lone chance to drive an Indy car back in the early 1970s, will have to split his time next Sunday between Indianapolis and Charlotte, N.C., where his NASCAR teams will compete in the Coca-Cola 600.
"Our goal," Andretti said last weekend, "is to make him late for Charlotte."
That will take some doing, but just making the field took some doing, too.
Andretti qualified last Saturday, was bumped early Sunday, and then had two slow runs before taking a final shot. There, he found enough speed to not only bump Ryan Hunter-Reay but to move past four others to the inside of Row 10. Hunter-Reay then grabbed the final spot back, making Alex Tagliani the final bump.
Petty is in partnership with Dreyer and Reinbold, a longtime Indy team, with Window World as the sponsor. Petty, who turns 72 on July 2, said it's likely a one-shot deal, brought about by the chance to work with other racing royalty -- the Andrettis -- and to compete one time in an Indy 500.
In a session with reporters last week, Petty said he first visited Indy in 1954. His father, Lee Petty, had raced in Michigan, and they detoured through Indianapolis in May to talk with Firestone officials about tires for their racecars.
"I was probably 15, 16 years old, and I was just blowed away," Richard Petty said. "They still had the old wooden garages, and I told 'em it was sort of like me going out behind the house to work on a car."
As Petty's success grew, stops at Indianapolis became commonplace -- to view practice and qualifying, but never on race day.
It was in 1972, when STP sponsored his Pontiac in NASCAR and Andy Granetelli-owned entries in what then was USAC that Petty nearly got into an Indy car.
"A.J. (Foyt), we knew each other from way back since he raced NASCAR, too, and he tried to get me to give it a try. I made about two laps around the car, looked at it, and said, 'See y'all, I'm going back to Level Cross, North Carolina.'
"Really, what happened is they stuff the driver down into an Indy car and had this little hole with an accelerator, a brake and a clutch. I said there was no way I'd get my 11-and-a-halfs in there. So A.J. brings out a pair of (smaller) 7s and tells me to put 'em on. I said 'no way,' and that's as close as I ever came to getting into an Indy car."
But next Sunday, at least, he'll be in pit row, watching his colors compete. Andretti will start his 10th Indy 500; he has four top-10 finishes, all in a row from 1991-94 while driving for Hall Racing and then A.J. Foyt, with a best of fifth in 1991.
Petty wasn't at Indy on bump day, but he still was a motivating force. "I can't imagine how embarrassed I would have been to call Richard Petty and have him ask, 'Where do you start?' And I don't (start)."
Last week, though, Petty said he wasn't shooting for the moon -- though he'd take it. "I think that all of our expectations is to go out and put on a decent show and have a good finish at the end of the race," said Petty. "If he could finish in the top 10, that would be big."
Manage that, and maybe -- just maybe -- Petty will be back, with his trademark plumed black hat and all. "We'll add up all the chips when it's over and see where we go from there."
(Contact Evansville Courier columnist Tim Ethridge at ethridget@courierpress.com.)
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