McLaren's last Indy 500 winner Rutherford hopes Alonso is in 'awe'
McLaren's last Indianapolis 500 winner Johnny Rutherford hopes double Formula 1 world champion Fernando Alonso will be in "awe" of the Brickyard on race day
Rutherford, who won for McLaren in 1974 and '76 and is an ambassador for its return to IndyCar, wants a repeat of last year's massive crowd, to make a big impression on Alonso.
"Last year was a throwback [in crowd size] and this year is looking good," said Rutherford.
"This place is incredible, the day when I first came here, Indianapolis was the largest-attended sporting day event in the world and second on that list was qualifying.
"Times change and things change, but I really hope we have a big crowd and Fernando can awe at it.
"He runs all over the world in Formula 1 cars and each country has large-attended races, so we'll see what he thinks about this."
The 79-year-old, who won his third Indy 500 in 1980 for Chaparral, the year after McLaren pulled out of Indycars, has also warned Alonso to pace himself during the race on May 28.
"It's just little things that he needs to think about," said Rutherford when asked by Autosport what his advice will be.
"He's a good race driver, so he just needs to think about traffic and some things that can happen.
"This is a long race, 500 miles and three hours so you've got to really pace yourself and be in the right place at the right time in the end.
"I've always told the rookies, if you can run a good, steady race all day and have good pitstops without any major problems happening, you can finish in the top five here pretty easily."
Rutherford also joined the chorus of voices impressed with Alonso's ability to adapt to the challenges of driving at Indianapolis.
"He is a professional race driver, he's won the world title twice and it shows," said Rutherford.
"He has done very, very good and whistled right through his [rookie] driver's test, he ran 220 or 220 [mph] I think.
"Watching his line, it's perfect, he's right on. It's where he needs to be.
"Sometimes he gets a little under the white line with his left-side tyres and that can be tricky, but he handles it well.
"So does everyone else who is running round out there, they are cutting corners a bit."
Indianapolis 500 qualifying delayed by bad weather
Indy 500 qualifying: Carpenter leads day one, Alonso into Fast Nine
NASCAR bans Chastain Martinsville wall-ride manoeuvre
NASCAR has decided to ban the wall-ride manoeuvre made famous by Ross Chastain at Martinsville that secured him a place in the Championship 4.
Gasly: Mindset for Alpine is "completely different" to Red Bull F1 move
Pierre Gasly says he has a "completely different" mindset for his Alpine Formula 1 move thanks to lessons taken from his failed stint at Red Bull in 2019.
GTD Pro win a “proper send-off” for retiring IMSA stalwart MacNeil
Winning the GTD Pro class at the Daytona 24 Hours was a fitting way for Cooper MacNeil to retire from racing in the IMSA SportsCar Championship, says team-mate Jules Gounon.
The all-French F1 partnership that Ocon and Gasly hope to emulate
Alpine’s signing of Pierre Gasly alongside Esteban Ocon revives memories of a famous all-French line-up, albeit in the red of Ferrari, for BEN EDWARDS. Can the former AlphaTauri man's arrival help the French team on its path back to winning ways in a tribute act to the Prancing Horse's title-winning 1983?
Nigel Mansell’s greatest F1 and Indycar drives
It’s 30 years since Mansell won the Formula 1 world title and then headed off to do battle in America. Here are his best races – and the Briton’s memories of them
How Ericsson achieved Indy immortality as Ganassi's main man stumbled
Chip Ganassi Racing team was strong again in the Indianapolis 500, with poleman Scott Dixon and reigning champion Alex Palou leading almost three quarters of the race between them. But when dominator Dixon was penalised for pitlane speeding, ex-Formula 1 driver Marcus Ericsson stepped up to score the biggest win of his career and seize the IndyCar points lead
Ranking the top 10 IndyCar drivers of 2021
In an enthralling 2021 IndyCar campaign, the series bounced back from its COVID-19 truncated year prior and Alex Palou defeated both the established order and his fellow young guns to clinch a maiden title. It capped a remarkable season with plenty of standout performers
How F1's other IndyCar exile finally unlocked his potential
Romain Grosjean's swashbuckling rookie year in IndyCar captured the imagination of many in 2021. But another ex-Formula 1 driver whose potential was masked by five years of toil in, at best, middling machinery also enjoyed a breakout year in 2021 - winning twice and finishing sixth in points. Here's how Marcus Ericsson finally delivered on his promise
How Ganassi's relentless new champion outfoxed IndyCar's best
IndyCar sophomore Alex Palou stunned by overcoming team-mate Scott Dixon and the rest of a white-hot field in 2021. He was consistently fast and crucially showed a level head, rebounding well from setbacks to put himself in a near unassailable position entering the final round
Have Harvey and RLL formed IndyCar’s next winning match-up?
Despite appearing to have an IndyCar job for life with Meyer Shank Racing, Jack Harvey’s departure and move to Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing sparked plenty of debate. However, Harvey's and RLL's combined strengths could prove to be a winning combination - if they get the balance right
Remembering Dan Wheldon and his last and most amazing IndyCar win
Saturday 16 October marks the 10th anniversary of Dan Wheldon’s death. David Malsher-Lopez pays tribute, then asks Wheldon’s race engineer from 2011, Todd Malloy, to recall that magical second victory at the Indianapolis 500
Why Kyle Kirkwood is America's new IndyCar ace-in-waiting
Kyle Kirkwood, the record-setting junior formula driver, sealed the Indy Lights championship last weekend. But despite an absurdly strong junior career and scholarship money, his next move is far from clear
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.