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STAR POWER; 10 former 500 winners will be working behind the scenes at Indianapolis this year.(Competitions.)
Byline: CURT CAVIN
The field of drivers assembled for this month's Indianapolis 500 lacks the notoriety of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's glory years. Once the green flag drops there will be no Andrettis, not a single Mears, and just one Unser. But that does not mean there is a shortage of star power in Gasoline Alley.
It seems everyone who was ever any-one in the 500 will play a role in the staging of the 88th annual event. And the strongest contingent is among the former winners, where 10 drivers accounting for 23 race wins will have some type of duty at the track.
The latest to join the list is 1983 winner Tom Sneva, who recently accepted a job at Panther Racing as the spotter for series rookie Mark Taylor. The other former winners participating include team owners A.J. Foyt, Bobby Rahal and Eddie Cheever, IRL officials Al Unser, Johnny Rutherford and Rick Mears, active drivers Al Unser Jr. and Helio Castroneves, and the injured Kenny Brack, who will work as a consultant to Team Rahal's three-car team.
Two other former winners have unofficial capacities. Defending 500 winner Gil de Ferran, who retired at the end of the 2003 season, will be back to support his former Team Penske crew and Castroneves, while 1969 winner Mario Andretti will be in Indy to support the four-car Andretti Green Racing team co-owned by his son Michael.
Foyt, for one, is happy to see so many of his former rivals supporting the current crop of drivers and the IRL in general. "There's so much these guys can give to the rookies,'' he said. "And, it's good to see they're giving back to the place that made them who they are.''
Foyt, the godfather of Speedway president Tony George, is arguably the most loyal IRL supporter of the bunch. He fielded cars in the inaugural series event at Orlando in 1996 and has not missed a race since. Now that John Menard has moved his sponsorship to Panther, Foyt is the only full-time team owner left from that first season.
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