Oldest rookie is first to crash in Indy practice

Monday, May 11, 1998 | 10 a.m.

The former U.S. Auto Club Silver Crown champion, trying to get into the Indianapolis 500 for the first time, was warming up under 100 mph on Sunday, the first day of practice for the May 24 race.

All of a sudden, his car was up against the fourth-turn wall. And with just five days left before the start of qualifications, his chances of making the field may be gone.

"I don't know what's going on here now. It looks bad to me. It's pretty bad," he said of the heavy damage to the right rear of the car.

Car owner Paul Diatlovich said it appeared the tub could be salvaged, but coming up with enough money might be a problem. The PDM Racing team does not have a backup car.

"I knew I was in trouble long before I hit the wall. It just started pushing, and I just couldn't do nothing about it," said Hewitt, 46, the oldest of 10 rookies entered in the race. "I didn't know what to do. Turn the wheel a little more, and it don't help. You just keep hoping it's going to grab shortly, but it never did.

"I just entered the corner too high, went through the corner too high and never gave the car a chance to work. It was my fault. Just a rookie mistake. Dumb."

Hewitt had breezed through the first three phases of the rookie test three weeks ago. Driving a G Force-Aurora, he had a top lap at just over 198 mph on Sunday but was going under 100 mph when the car hit the outside wall. He made a half-spin across to the inside of the track, hit the pit wall and bounced back to the outside wall, coming to a stop as flames and smoke enveloped the car.

He climbed out of the car unassisted.

"Probably I was the most excited to be here of any of the other drivers and we're probably the most depressed now," said Hewitt, who began racing in 1973, won 42 sprint races, a record 20 Silver Crown races and was the Silver Crown series champion in 1986 and 1987. "I guess I've been on both ends of the scale, but I'd sure like to mellow out somewhere right about in the middle. That would be fine with me."

Jimmy Kite, another rookie who completed all four phases of the test in April, also was unhurt when he smacked the wall coming out of Turn 4 with about 15 minutes left in practice. Kite was the fourth-fastest driver of the day and had a top lap of 218.765 mph.

Almost three dozen drivers practiced, with veteran Robbie Buhl turning the quickest lap at 219.325 mph. Defending champion Arie Luyendyk was second at 219.207, followed by Scott Sharp at 219.101, Kite, Eddie Cheever at 218.066 and Mark Dismore at 217.759.

"The thing that's going to play a big role is track conditions, and your ability to tune your car for that qualifying run. I think you're looking at the whole front row, definitely, at 220-plus," Buhl said.

"I was surprised how good my car felt as windy as it was."