Arie Luyendyk Q&A

"I didn't realize that I would miss driving at the Indy 500 as much as I did. That's really why I came back last year, and that's pretty much the whole story. I enjoyed it a lot. I think we were competitive up until race day, when we had some problems in the pits that put us back. But we intend to do better, of course, this year. Treadway Racing basically has been my home since 1996, since the beginning of the IRL, and it's very easy for me to go back there. It's like family."



"In a way we are slightly behind, but on the other hand, Treadway Racing is competing in the series. So they're always on top of the latest developments of these cars and engines. Probably for me, it would be better to do a couple of races before Indy. But Indy 500 is the race that I want to do, and I'll just stick to that plan. The nice thing about Indy is you get to spend two weeks here and you can do a lot of miles on the track before you actually start the race. If it was just a one-weekend deal, like let's say Fontana, coming in on a Friday, then it wouldn't be possible for me to just do one race a year. But Indy you can."



"Since I came to America in the early '80s, this is the race that you hear about. This is the race that everybody wants to win, every open-wheel driver. Winning it in 1990 was just amazing. And when you win it once, your goal is to win it again and again, because it's such an addictive event. The history, the way qualifying goes, the amount of people that show up for Race Day, the electricity in the air on Race Day - just everything about it. It's just enormous. To have won it is obviously an honour, and you feel privileged to be able to say I won the Indy 500, because you don't really have to say much more than that. It's a lot easier to explain to people what you do when you say, 'I won the Indy 500'. Then they know."



"Well, it wasn't frightening at all because the cars back then had a lot of downforce and a lot more horsepower, and the combination of that produced those speeds. Also in 1996, the track had just been resurfaced, Firestone came out with a better tire, and they did away with the rumble strips. So they gave us a foot, foot and a half more racetrack. And all these factors played into producing those kinds of speeds. The following year, in 1997, they went to the normally aspirated IRL cars with less downforce, and I was doing a 218mph with the new car. But it was more frightening to do the 218mph, believe me, than it was the to do the 238mph. The new cars were a little bit more tricky. The engine and the gearbox, that combination was very heavy. So the car was always on the edge and never really as comfortable as the car doing the 238mph speed. Now I think we will get closer to 229mph and 230mph in qualifying. So it's getting up there again, but these cars now also feel very comfortable at those speeds, so there is nothing frightening about it."



"Always turn left! I guess have respect for the racetrack. Like when I'll come back here in a couple weeks, I won't go out and try to set really a fast time within the first 10 laps. I'll try and get into a rhythm, into a groove without rushing into it. This track can bite you before you realize it. And that's pretty much the advice I give to all of the youngsters. For the new guys, don't think it's just a track with four turns. A lot of Europeans come over and they go, ah, it's only four turns. OK, well you find out for yourself. They'll find out pretty quick it's more than that. A slow approach with a lot of respect is my advice to young guys and new guys."



"We're almost certain that he is going to run in the new Infiniti Pro Series, so we're working on that really hard trying to scrape together sponsorship, which is really difficult. But I have gotten to the point where you have to make a decision, and we pretty much decided we are going to do it. It looks like Dallara built a really nice car there, and he has always been from day one very quick and really fast turns and on ovals, the few ovals that he has run in the Formula Ford 2000 series. I am hopeful he will be very competitive in this series and it will lead to an Indy Car ride in the future. But he is looking forward to it more than I am, because it's pretty scary watching your own kid driving race cars."