Cheever snaps up Goodyear for Indy 500

The 41-year-old was second to Al Unser Jr in the closest finish in the race's history in 1992, just 0.043secs behind despite having started last. Five years later, he recorded the third closest finish when he was 0.57secs in arrears of team mate Arie Luyendyk. To add insult to injury, he was also leading the 1995 Memorial Day event with less than 10 laps to go but was black-flagged for passing the pace car on a restart, ignored the signal, and was disqualified with just five laps to go.

"We were not planning on running two cars, but we have adjusted our plans to take advantage of Scott's exceptional record at the Indy 500," said team mate and team boss Eddie Cheever. The former Renault and Arrows F1 star finished third overall in the 2000 Indy Racing Northern Light Series championship, 15 points behind runner-up Goodyear, who failed to find a drive for the full IRL schedule. Goodyear will race in the International Race of Champions series, however.

"Scott is a very exciting driver, and his record at 500 mile races speaks for itself," added Cheever. "He has a great ability to stay out of trouble and be there at the end. After his successful 2000 season, the opportunity to run Scott in a second Team Cheever-Infiniti entry was too good to pass up."

Canadian Goodyear scored one victory, one pole position, two second place finishes, and six top-10 results in nine Indy Racing League events last year.

"I have a lot of respect for Eddie, both as a driver and a team owner," said Goodyear.
"I believe that the Infiniti engine will be the one to have at the Indianapolis 500 this year [he is the test driver for the engine's development]. I will be focusing on the development of the new Infiniti engine to allow Team Cheever to have the best possible package when we head to Indy in May."