Former champion Buddy Lazier gets ride for Indianapolis 500

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Buddy Lazier came into the month of May with two goals: find a ride for the Indianapolis 500 and get his racing future in order. <br/><br/>One down, one to go. <br/><br/>If all goes

Monday, May 17th 2004, 6:07 am

By: News On 6

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Buddy Lazier came into the month of May with two goals: find a ride for the Indianapolis 500 and get his racing future in order.

One down, one to go.

If all goes as planned, the 1996 Indy 500 champion will get into the Dryer & Reinbold Racing backup car Friday and begin preparing to qualify for the race May 30 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. "I was hoping to be out today," said a downcast Lazier, sitting in the back of the team's garage Thursday watching his new crew preparing the car. "I'm a very patient man but my patience has kind of run out, for sure. I think it's just because I love this racetrack and hate missing all the practice.

"I'm blessed, though, to be working with a team that's been running the last three months, has (team manager) Owen Snyder, has (teammate) Felipe Giaffone and a lot of good race notes."

The deal finally came together when Ron Hemelgarn, owner of the team for which Lazier has raced the past eight seasons, put together a deal with Dryer & Reinbold to pool sponsorship and team personnel.

The 36-year-old Lazier said he had several other opportunities, though not with experienced teams. The one thing he didn't consider, though, was joining 2003 Indy winner Gil de Ferran in retirement.

"I believe I have 10 years of very, very strong running in front of me and that's what I'm going to do because I love it," Lazier said. "I talked to Gil the other day and he's very happy with his decision to explore other facets of his career. For me, racing's the only thing I love doing.

"I'm old enough to do what I want to do, but also old enough that I don't want to waste my time. So I'm going to choose a car that is going to give me the best opportunity."

Lazier said he is also working hard on a ride beyond Indy, although probably not with Dryer & Reinbold.

"We're working on all kinds of things for the long term, but we came into this month with two things in sight: the Indy 500 - you can't miss the Indy 500 - and things that we're working on for the future."

While he has been waiting for something to open up this month, Lazier, who also finished second here in both 1998 and 2000, has been keeping busy driving one of the IRL's two-seater Indy cars used for charitable rides.

"That's a really neat program," he said. "That helps me feel where the bumps are, what condition the track is in, the groove that everybody's running.

"Obviously, I've spoken to a lot of friends and know that the grip level is way down. That falls right into my hands. I've always excelled where grip was hard to get."

Lazier will have two days of practice to get up to speed before the third and final day of time trials on Sunday.

Only 26 of the traditional 33 starting spots for the 500 had been filled by Thursday.

Of the 25 cars that made it onto the track on Thursday, only the one driven by rookie Marty Roth of Toronto was not already qualified and working on a race day setup. Roth ran 43 laps with a top speed of 212.352 - still about one mile per hour slower than the current slowest qualifier.

P.J. Jones, selected drive for Beck Motorsports, also is expected to make his first track appearance Friday.

Also, PDM Racing announced that four-time Indy starter and 1999 Rookie of the Year Robby McGehee will be its driver.

The only other non-qualified driver assigned to a car so far is former IRL champion Greg Ray, who has yet to make it onto the 2 1/2-mile oval.

There remain plenty of eligible cars and drivers on hand at Indy to fill the field, but the deals to put them together have yet to be made.