Luyendyk was tempted by CART

Joseph Siano

Friday, May 30, 1997 | 11:44 a.m.

The month of May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway ended happily for Arie Luyendyk when the 43-year-old Dutch driver from Scottsdale, Ariz., won his second Indianapolis 500 Tuesday after two consecutive rain delays. But the storm clouds -- professionally speaking -- briefly gathered earlier in the month, although they never burst.

Luyendyk, probably the best driver in the world when it comes to circulating Indy as fast as possible, was a prime choice of Carl Haas, a top car owner in the rival Championship Auto Racing Teams Indy-car series, to replace the injured Christian Fittipaldi of Brazil in a 300-mile oval race in Madison, Ill., on May 24, the day before the Indy 500's original date.

But a conflict between Haas' sponsor (Budweiser) and one of the sponsors on Luyendyk's car (Miller Lite) ultimately killed the deal.

"It was obviously an honor for me to get a call from a car owner like Carl Haas," Luyendyk said. "In the end, it probably wouldn't have worked out that good, because Indy was supposed to be the next day and I would have been tired."

But that's not to say Luyendyk wasn't upset at the time. It was a chance to prove himself against those CART drivers, who think they're so superior to the lineup in the Indy Racing League, where Luyendyk now competes.

And even though his car owner, Fred Treadway, was ready to let Luyendyk do it, the fact that he was stopped by the Miller Lite sponsorship -- which probably represented a relatively minor sum, because it was financed by a local beer distributor -- was rumored to have had Luyendyk fuming.

"I wasn't ready to walk out," he said of his team, "but you could always threaten. I did get a little excited in the garage, but sometimes you have to take a little stand for yourself."

It all worked out, in hindsight. Not only did Luyendyk win another Indy 500 to go with his 1990 victory -- and a record total purse of $1,553,650 -- but Haas' car, driven by Roberto Moreno of Brazil, went a short distance in the CART race before breaking down.