Unser Jr., Hearn get on track

Thursday, May 16, 2002 | 10:57 a.m.

Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser Jr. played high-speed tag at 224 mph with his teammate and Richie Hearn became a test driver for a racecar sponsored by Sam Schmidt Motorsports during practice Wednesday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

After a fast lap of 225.605, Unser followed Kelley Racing teammate Scott Sharp in close quarters for several laps around the 2.5-mile oval.

"We're going to do that some more," Unser, a part-time Henderson resident, said. "The team is definitely pulling in one direction and it's great. The car is great."

Hearn, of Henderson, hopped in a Schmidt-sponsored Dallara/Chevrolet assigned to rookie Indy 500 driver Anthony Lazzaro and ripped off a fast lap of 225.515 after only 11 laps in the racecar.

"The car had a lot of understeer and Anthony wanted me to take it out," said Hearn, who qualified a Schmidt-owned racecar on Pole Day, last Saturday.

"We've got one car (Hearn) in the race," Schmidt, also of Henderson, said. "Anthony's a little frustrated so we wanted to get the car sorted out."

Among non-qualified drivers, Paul Tracy of Las Vegas had a fast lap of 223.301 in the rebuilt Team Green 7-Eleven Dallara/Chevrolet.

"It's been a pretty frustrating day," Tracy said after his first day of practice since he crashed last Saturday. "We made some changes to the car, but we couldn't get the results we wanted. Right now we don't know where the problem lies. We've been shooting darts at the board, but we haven't hit the bull's-eye yet.

"I keep getting asked if this is frustrating, and right now it is because I feel like I'm in the movie 'Groundhog Day;' I wake up at the same time every morning, the same song is on, and the whole day goes the same. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day."

John de Vries of Las Vegas, another non-qualified driver, had a fast lap of 221.360 in a Brayton Racing Dallara/Chevrolet. The crew was installing a new engine for today's practice.

"The car is loose and not coming off the corner strong," de Vries said. "We were hoping to be running 224s by now."

Also, a G Force/Chevrolet entered by Las Vegas real estate company owner John Zimmerman arrived at the track and went through technical inspection near the end of practice.

"We are fashionably late," said Zimmerman of the late arriving racecar for driver Billy Roe. "We hope to run 220 right out of the box and pick up speed so we can qualify."

Jimmy Vasser of Las Vegas went 226.088 in the qualified Miller Lite Rahal Letterman Dallara/Chevrolet.

Airton Dare and Greg Ray, two non-qualified drivers in A.J. Foyt-owned racecars, posted the top speeds of the day at 228.628 and 227.909, respectively.