Champion Lazier ready to start over

Mike Harris

Thursday, March 15, 2001 | 5:19 a.m.

AVONDALE, Ariz. - With the green flag ready to wave on another Indy Racing League season, series champion Buddy Lazier knows it's time to stop talking and start driving.

And there's little doubt about what drives him.

"For me, the passion is winning the championship," Lazier said. "We've tried to take advantage of all the opportunities and it's been a really wonderful offseason, right up to now. But it's time to get back to work and win another one."

That won't be easy with more races and even tougher competition than last season, when he won the championship by just 18 points over Scott Goodyear and 33 over Eddie Cheever.

The schedule has increased from nine races to 13, with the addition of events in Joliet, Ill.; Kansas City, Kan.; Madison, Ill.; and Nashville, Tenn.

The longer season begins Sunday with the Pennzoil Copper World 200, where a long list of drivers would like to start the process of unseating Lazier. Cheever, looking for the first championship of his long, steady career, is at the head of the line.

"Phoenix is the first race after a long winter break, and everybody has been sharpening their tools," said the IRL's only driver-owner, who won the 1998 Indy 500. "I think the expanded schedule is good.

"I think the good teams will come out ahead in the middle of the season when it gets very tight. Management of human resources and hard assets will be essential."

Cheever's team is one of just two trying to win with new Nissan Infiniti engines against the dominant Oldsmobile Auroras. Last year, he gave the old Infiniti its only victory in IRL history, and is confident about 2001.

"It is a totally different engine," he said. "It's like having a brand new everything. We are starting over from scratch and have to perfect our recipe.

"Phoenix will be the toughest race of the season for us. But, we are now on the same playing field as our competition."

Greg Ray is coming off a disappointing season. He was favored to repeat as series champion, but wound up 13th in the points and won just one race.

"My desire is as big as ever, certainly, having the year we had last year," Ray said. "I drive race cars to win, and we didn't do enough of that last year."

He concedes that winning won't be easy this year, and believes there are about 15 drivers who can win.

Ray, who drives for John Menard, finds it hard to balance running for wins against racing for a title.

"It's a fine line of balancing cold, hard desire and passion with calculated risks and keeping the championship in mind," the Texan said. "Sometimes your desire to make a car do something when the car isn't handling right is big. But you can't make two and two be five very many times."

He says winning is about capitalizing when the car is right and making compromises when it isn't. Above all, he says a driver needs to realize he can't challenge for the win in every race.

Even those not in the points race will be a factor. Team Penske, from the rival Championship Auto Racing Teams, has entered defending CART champion Gil de Ferran and Helio Castroneves in both the Phoenix race and the showcase Indianapolis 500.

Last year, CART's Chip Ganassi Racing ran only Indy, but dominated with Juan Montoya winning and Jimmy Vasser finishing seventh. Ganassi will be back this year with a pair of touted rookies - Bruno Junqueira and Nicolas Minassian.

Lazier, who drives for Hemelgarn Racing, welcomes the challenge.

"You want to win against the best," said Lazier, the 1996 Indy 500 champion who finished second last year to Montoya. "Those guys just raise the bar a little higher and would make winning the championship again just a little sweeter."