Andretti seeking ninth Indy start

John Andretti has started eight Indianapolis 500 races dating back to 1988.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — John Andretti has been around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway long enough to know that the weather can fool you.

After scrambling the previous day, along with everyone else, to get track time in gloomy, cold and windy conditions, Friday’s sunshine and warmer temperatures weren’t going to con Andretti, who will try today to qualify for his ninth Indianapolis 500 start dating to 1988.

“The weather obviously is nice today, compared with what we’ve been fighting,” said Andretti, who came up with a last-minute Indy ride from owner-driver Marty Roth last weekend. “It’s not going to be like that tomorrow.

“I think we’re going to get a couple of little changes in [today], do some different things. But we also know that tomorrow is going to be a big, different day and we don’t want to get so far down one way and trick ourselves into thinking that we’ve done something good when the track is just giving us more today than it will tomorrow.

“This place is hard because you can run yourself in circles. We’re going to try not to do that today.”

Television coverage will be on ESPN2 from 4:30-6 p.m.

Andretti, nephew of 1969 Indy winner Mario Andretti, is one of more than two dozen drivers hoping to grab one of the remaining 22 spots in the 33-car lineup for the May 25 race. He looked like a lock to get it done after turning a fast lap of 222.860, good for sixth on Friday’s speed chart.

Eleven drivers qualified last Saturday, the first of four scheduled days of time trials, but Sunday’s round was rained out.

Track officials are hoping to fill the lineup today, with Sunday’s “Bump Day” expected to see at least a few drivers attempting to knock the slowest qualified cars out of the field.

The forecast for today called for temperatures in the mid-60s with cloudy skies and a 40 percent chance of scattered afternoon thunderstorms.

Thirty-six cars made it onto the track Friday, the last full day of practice this month. And, after drivers completed more than 2,600 laps the previous day without a single incident, there were three crashes Friday.

Rookies E.J. Viso and Will Power, two of the drivers making the transition to the IRL’s IndyCar Series from the defunct Champ Car World Series, hit the wall, as did Team Penske driver Ryan Briscoe, last year’s fifth-place finisher and the third fastest in last Saturday’s qualifying. None of the drivers was injured.

Fortunately for Briscoe, he was driving his backup car. Viso and Power, who have not yet qualified for the race, were less fortunate, because neither has a backup car available. Both of their teams were scrambling to repair the damaged cars.

“There was a lot of blustery wind out there and I just got caught out,” said Power, the 2006 rookie of the year in Champ Car, but a newcomer to oval racing. “I wasn’t even up to speed yet and the car came around on me. I’m OK. I just have a few bumps and bruises on my knees and an ankle.”