John Andretti back at Indy 500 as darkhorse

INDIANAPOLIS — John Andretti loves the 2.5-mile oval at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It doesn’t always love him back.

Andretti took a double hit here on Sunday, crashing while trying to find more speed on the famed Brickyard track and then getting bumped from the tentative Indy 500 lineup by a faster car.

So instead of spending the four days on the track this week working on the race setup in his Richard Petty Motorsports entry, the 46-year-old will be forced to requalify on Saturday, when the final 11 spots in the 33-car field are filled, or on Sunday, when the slowest qualifiers can be bumped out of the lineup for the May 24 race.

“I feel fine,” Andretti said after the crash. “The car took a beating, and that’s frustrating. But the team will work on it and we’ll be back next week.”

It’s just the latest setback for a member of his family — another chapter of the so-called “Andretti Curse” at Indianapolis.

Since Mario Andretti, John’s uncle, won the 500 in 1969, at least one family member has raced here in all but two years (2004 and 2005) without another victory. Broken parts and broken hearts have mostly been their lot at Indy.

Mario raced here 24 more times, dominating at times, but never again reaching the checkered flag first.

His oldest son, Michael, raced at Indy 16 times. He also dominated races and still holds the record for leading the most laps (431) without winning.

Michael’s younger brother, Jeff, crashed out of two of his three Indy starts.

Marco Andretti, Michael’s son and Mario’s grandson, seems to have the best shot at ending the family jinx. He has finished second and third in three tries, losing the lead to Sam Hornish Jr. on the last lap of the 2005 race. He will start in the middle of the third row next week.

That leaves John, who has had his own misfortunes here but plans to be racing in the 500 for the 10th time.

“This is the only race in the world that counts,” he said last week, before his latest Indy crash. “You’ve got to understand my family history. … When I was a kid, I was here. When I was grown up, I was here.

“This place has been good to our family, a little bit, and rough on it in a lot of ways. But that’s the passion of this place.”

John, who has won in the now-defunct CART series, NASCAR and sports cars, as well as competing in Top Fuel drag racing, has a best finish at Indianapolis of fifth in 1991. Worse for a driver who loves this place so much, he didn’t race here from 1994 through 2007, mostly because of contractual obligations to teams in other series.

“When I came back two years ago, I’m like, I don’t ever want to miss it again,” Andretti said. “If there’s still life in me, I want to be at Indianapolis in the month of May.”

Being back this year wasn’t a given until he convinced former employer, longtime friend and stock car legend Richard Pretty to co-own an Indy 500 entry with him.

“I came here with John last year and it was exciting,” said Petty, who owns a team in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup. “I know how much this whole thing means to John and his family and I’m just glad I can be a part of it with him. And I know he’s still a good race car driver.”

Andretti and Petty made a deal with the Dreyer &Reinbold IndyCar team to field their car and Andretti was able to take a sabbatical from NASCAR, where he is racing this season for Front Row Motorsports’ Bob Jenkins.

“Tony Raines will be in the car until I get back,” said Andretti, who will return to the Sprint Cup team for the Dover race on May 31. “Tony runs Bob’s Nationwide (Series) car and he understands the goals and objectives, and he has a good head on his shoulders. He isn’t out there trying to prove a point.

“That team keeps getting better, week in and week out. We know where our weak points are and we’re trying to correct them.”

The Cup team is currently 35th in car owner points, the last spot that guarantees a starting position at each race. Andretti expects the team to stay competitive despite being one of the smallest operations in NASCAR’s top series.

“All these other little teams are getting all this credit and we’re by far the smallest full-time team,” Andretti said. “When I say the smallest, I mean the least amount of outside help. These other guys may have the same number of employees, but they’re having (Richard) Childress do all their chassis work, they’re leasing engines from one of the powerhouse teams. … We have about 15 employees and we’re doing body and everything.”

But, for now, Andretti’s focus is on Indianapolis.

“When I drive in through the tunnel each day, I feel lucky that I get the opportunity to be here,” he said. “Where I am now, the best we can be is a dark horse going into the race. But we can be that, and that’s my goal. If we do all the right things and have a great day, we can be that guy.”