Jones back in car at Sebring

Tom Gardner

Thursday, March 18, 1999 | 2:16 a.m.

Davy Jones is getting back in a race car two years after a crash nearly killed him.

The 1996 Le Mans winner and Indianapolis 500 runner-up returns to the cockpit on Saturday in Florida to drive in the 12 Hours of Sebring sports car endurance race.

"The 12 hours is good. You're dealing with a team. You're dealing with co-drivers," he said. "I'm physically ready to run. What I need now is some seat time to prove it."

He will share the seat with Canadian John Graham and John Morton of El Segundo, Calif.

The return will come at a course far from his greatest triumphs, but just a couple of hours - at highway speeds - from the spot where he had his brush with death.

Jones finished eight car-lengths behind Buddy Lazier in the 1996 Indy 500 and was part of the winning Porsche team that year in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Then he seriously injured his neck in January 1997 while practicing for an Indy Racing League event at Walt Disney World Speedway in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

He was back in Florida last month, shopping for an Indy ride, when he ran into Graham.

"It just happened that he needed a third driver for Sebring. This is all part of the next step," Jones said. "For me, it's a big step."

In part, he hopes to learn this weekend if he's ready to try the Indy 500 in May.

During his two-year layoff, Jones has challenged himself physically in the summer with go-kart racing around Reno, Nev. In wintertime, it's been skiing and snowmobiling near his Lake Tahoe home.

"Now, I need to test my stamina and endurance," he said. "How else do you get an opportunity to drive in a car at racing speeds for any length of time?

"The first step is to make sure I have a competitive edge. It's one step at a time."

Being in a competitive car doesn't hurt.

Team owner Graham and Morton finished ninth overall in Sebring a year ago and third in their GT2 class, co-driving with Graham's fellow Canadian Ron Fellows.

Graham says that during his days as an International Motorsports Association driver he saw Jones' talent. So giving him a ride was not much of an experiment.

"I told him at Le Mans last year that as soon as he was ready to come back, we'd be eager to have him," Graham said. "I'm confident he'll be an asset to us."

Jones and his teammates had not decided how they would divide the driving time over the 12 hours that end Saturday at 10 p.m. EST.

He conceded that he didn't know how he would feel once he finally settled into the driving seat after his layoff.

"You try not to think about that stuff," he said. "It's the same for any driver. If they say they're not nervous, they're just kidding themselves."

But Jones wants to go fast from the start, saying he plans to follow the advice of a friend on how to handle the car:

"Drive it like you stole it."