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Tuesday, May 26, 1998 | 11:17 a.m.

Crash halts day for Schmidt

As Las Vegas residents, Sam Schmidt and Davey Hamilton know each other quite well. During Sunday's Indianapolis 500, the two drivers got a little closer than either would have liked.

During lap 49 of the 200-lap race, Schmidt made contact with Hamilton in turn three, spun in the infield grass and slammed hard into the outside wall. Although not injured in the spectacular multi-car accident, which took seven cars out of the race, Schmidt's hopes of a top-five finish disintegrated like the front end of his Best Western Gold Crown Dallara/Aurora.

"We're just disappointed because we had a car that, you know, what if?" said Schmidt, who ran the entire 49 laps in the top 10. "We were just kind of hanging out there, we weren't being aggressive or anything and we were just driving around waiting for the end of the race.

"We got an opportunity going down the backstretch to (pass) a few people and I came up on Davey and I thought he saw me and he didn't -- it's as easy as that. We were pretty close and I didn't realize he was in the middle of the track. I thought I was up far enough for him to see me and he didn't and that was about all she wrote."

Schmidt and Hamilton rubbed wheels as Schmidt was trying to pass Hamilton on the inside, but Hamilton continued on and eventually finished fourth.

"Sam was so low (on the track) that he was not in my mirror," Hamilton said. "I saw four other cars back there but not Sam's car. I feel bad for him but when he knocked me nearly sideways, it was all I could do to hang on."

Race winner Eddie Cheever finished 3.191 seconds ahead of 1996 Indy 500 champion Buddy Lazier. Steve Knapp, an Indy 500 rookie who was sponsored in part by Southern Nevada's Primadonna Resorts, was third.

Schmidt, who finished 26th in the 33-car field and earned $215,300, said the accident put a serious damper on what had been an excellent two-week practice and qualifying period at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

"It's pretty disappointing because we had what I thought was a pretty darn good race car," Schmidt, who qualified sixth-fastest, said. "We, as a team, were extremely satisfied with the practice sessions, where we ran all week and, ultimately, where we qualified. We were just ecstatic with the performance of the car up to that point.

"We fell back a little at the start of the race and then we held our position. If we had an easy chance to pass somebody, we did. We ran a lot of race laps faster than the leaders and it seemed like when we got halfway through a fuel load, they would kind of come back and we could pass some people at that time."

At the time of the accident, Schmidt was running fifth and looking to take over fourth place from Hamilton, who was running slower than Schmidt.

"Hindsight is always 20-20 but we probably should have been a little more patient there that early in the race," Schmidt said. "But, like I said, I thought (Hamilton) saw me. We definitely had a faster car than Davey's to that point so I figured, 'Why not try to get him?'

"It's just one of those racing deals; when you've got a good car under you, you want to go forward (but) in that situation you probably should have a little more patience. If anything, I'm glad I didn't take him out as well."

Schmidt, who also owns his race team, said before the race that he needed a good finish in the Indy 500 in order to be able to compete the remainder of the Indy Racing League season, including the season finale at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in October. Schmidt said he is only sure that he will run in the next race, June 6 at Texas Motor Speedway.

"We're going to talk about that a little more (today)," Schmidt said. "We'll see how much (money) we actually get out of this finish. You never quite get anywhere near what they post as earnings -- the net money is quite a bit less because they take out Indiana state taxes and other things.

"(But) that should pay some bills that we're facing right now and get us to Texas. We're still working hard to try to find some (sponsorship) deal that can sustain us after that."

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