IRL: Arie Luyendyk has Fine Run at New England
30 June 1998
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Due to the rain-soaked delays from the previous afternoon, schedule changes demanded a warm-up session to be held prior to this afternoon's feature event on New England's one-mile oval. Luyendyk and the crew ran a short session this morning and within ten laps felt the set-up was working and it was time to go racing.
While the skies played a cat-and-mouse game between threatening gray clouds and long patches of blue, the team's luck held and the conditions were optimum for the Indy Racing League event. Arie started on the inside of row four in seventh position, and kept his head and car clean during the yellow-flag infested race. Several spectacular accidents added spice to the 200-lap race and the Treadway team took advantage of the yellows to maintain excellent pit and position strategy.
On approximately lap 178, the team began to notice difficulties with off-board telemetry systems and determined that electrical gremlins had set in and the last 20 laps were going to be a test of skill for Luyendyk and the #5 Sprint PCS/RadioShack/QUALCOMM entry. With no telemetry to work with, the team shut off their computers and left it up to Luyendyk to finish the battle. A skilled veteran of the ovals, Luyendyk did not disappoint and settled quickly into the top-five.
Quote from Arie Luyendyk:
"I finished fifth today, but I am not quite happy. The car was a bit loose during the beginning, but it was manageable. When the electrical problems hit, we just kept cutting out, and it was tricky to get around the track. We hung in and the car was OK, but there just wasn't enough to win."
The next race on the IRL schedule will be at Dover Downs on July 19 for the Inaugural Pep Boys 400K.
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