Hornish looking for some Penske magic at Indy

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ Sam Hornish Jr. hopes Team Penske's longtime success in the Indianapolis 500 rubs off on him. <br/><br/>The two-time IRL champion has replaced retired 2003 Indy champion Gil de

Monday, May 10th 2004, 5:59 am

By: News On 6

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ Sam Hornish Jr. hopes Team Penske's longtime success in the Indianapolis 500 rubs off on him.

The two-time IRL champion has replaced retired 2003 Indy champion Gil de Ferran as two-time winner Helio Castroneves' teammate in the elite operation.

While Penske drivers have won 12 poles, including one by Castroneves last year, and 13 races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Hornish's record here has been very ordinary.

Heading into Saturday's pole qualifying for the race May 30, Hornish has qualified in the top 10 (seventh) only once and has not finished better than 14th in four previous starts here.

Being with Team Penske could change all that.

``I think one of the things that makes this team strong is they do the same thing every year, whether they had a good year the year before or a bad year,'' Hornish said. ``A lot of teams will get confident or complacent with what they've done in the past.''

Castroneves and Hornish were sixth and seventh on the speed chart this week, and were both considered pole contenders going into the first of three days of time trials for the 88th 500.

Under the unique Indy qualifying format, drivers run four-lap, 10-mile sprints on the 2 1/2-mile oval, with the average speed determining their stating position.

Nowhere else in the sport does qualifying require such an extended period of concentration and precision to make the lineup.

``I don't know of four more pressure-packed laps in racing than these,'' said 1986 Indy winner Bobby Rahal, now a team owner with three cars entered here. ``I always felt there was a lot more pressure for qualifying than there was for the race.''

Dario Franchitti, one of only 28 drivers listed for 52 cars in the qualifying draw on Friday, said Indy qualifying is the biggest challenge in oval racing.

``To get a four-lap average, you have to not only get it right for each lap, you have to be spot-on for four laps,'' he said. ``If the wind comes up, or the sun is coming in and out of the clouds, each lap can be different. It's tough.''

Bryan Herta, Franchitti's Andretti Green Racing teammate, agreed it's hard to run four consistent laps.

``The car can go off from one lap to the next,'' he said. ``And it usually does.''

Adding to the uncertainty this year are a new engine with reduced horsepower and a new aerodynamics package. The combination has slowed the cars by about 10 mph and made the balance more difficult to find and harder to keep.

Castroneves won the pole last year with an average of 231.725 mph on a run that included laps over 232.

Rain washed out all but a few minutes of Friday's scheduled seven hours of practice, leaving Tony Kanaan, another Andretti Green driver, with the top speed since the track opened Sunday. Kanaan turned a lap of 222.668 on Wednesday.

The Brazilian driver said being fastest in practice guarantees nothing here.

``We always expect the unexpected in qualifying at Indy,'' Kanaan said. ``The weather has been hot all week, we've had rain that washed rubber off the track and Saturday is supposed to be much cooler, in the 70s. It's hard to know what will happen.

``And it will probably change a lot from the morning to the afternoon, so the draw could be real important.''

Kanaan drew the third spot in line for Saturday, right behind rookie Ed Carpenter and Robby Gordon. It was a great draw for Gordon, who raced in Richmond, Va., in a NASCAR Busch event Friday night and was set to run a Nextel Cup race Saturday night.

Castroneves, sixth overall in practice at 221.156, said the slower speeds this year won't really make much difference in qualifying.

``Every time you drive the car it's on the edge, whether it's 217 or 232,'' he said. ``It's always going to be difficult.''

Referring to Team Penske adviser and four-time Indy winner Rick Mears, Castroneves added, ``Like Rick says, if the car is too comfortable, that means you are too slow.''

With speeds not the top issue this year, the big question has been whether there will be enough cars to fill the field. If not, it would be the first time since 1947 that a full complement of at least 33 cars had not started the race.