Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Gordon taking aim at front of Indy field

Friday, May 9, 2003 | 9:22 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

When Robby Gordon signed on with Andretti Green Racing to drive for injured Dario Franchitti in this month's Indianapolis 500, it didn't look as if there would be enough car/driver combinations to fill the 33-car field.

As of Thursday's practice, only 28 drivers had been on the track -- although 48 cars had passed inspection and Indianapolis Motor Speedway officials have expressed confidence that there will be 33 cars in the field for the May 25 race.

None of that, however, has been a concern for Gordon, who has approached the first five days of practice as if there were 333 cars attempting to make the field. Pole-day qualifying for the 87th Indianapolis 500 is Saturday, second-day qualifying is Sunday and "bump day" is Sunday, May 18.

"I am sure more cars will come out of the woodwork, more engines, more drivers -- they always do at the Speedway," Gordon said.

More important, Gordon said, "There is also that first-turn survival thing, and it seems like ... I know (pole-sitter) Scott Sharp a couple years ago crashed at the front, but that does not happen very often. It seems to happen back in row five (where) you have incidents at the start of the race.

"I think qualifying is still very important because it puts you up with faster cars, faster (drivers). So I do not know if I would completely just say 'rule out qualifying and start working on race setup.' I think they still reward you pretty big for qualifying on the pole there and I know it is important."

Gordon will be attempting to qualify for his ninth Indy 500. He has five top-10 finishes in eight starts, including a career-best fourth place in 1999. This will make the fourth time since 1997 that Gordon will attempt to run both the Indy 500 and the NASCAR Winston Cup Coca-Cola 600 near Charlotte, N.C., on the same day.

Although he finished eighth last year in the 500 and 16th in the Winston Cup race at Lowe's Motor Speedway, Gordon said he has taken steps this year to eliminate the cramping he experienced late in the race at Lowe's.

"I did not expect to get a cramp under my left rib section in my stomach," Gordon said. "And I am sure that was because of the g-forces and dehydration. Last year, I did not take the IV between the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600. I felt so good after Indy and had that adrenaline running, I felt I was fine and I refused it.

"Eleven hundred miles is a long ways. I have done the Baja 1000 (off-road race) by myself many times and I did not ever have time for a two-hour break or three-hour break. With the Coca-Cola 600 and Indy 500 double, I do have that break time and I think, I think if I am, one, in physically good enough shape when that time comes, and, two, eating right and getting good sleep and take the IV, I do not foresee a problem doing the effort this year like I did last year."

Nadeau suffered unspecified head, lung and rib injuries when he crashed his U.S. Army-sponsored Pontiac during a practice session last Friday at Richmond International Raceway. Doctors said Nadeau's vital signs were normal and he continued to show improvement.

Mike Wallace has been named as the substitute driver for Nadeau beginning with next weekend's The Winston Open at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Park replaces Jeff Green, who was released by RCR on Monday and hired on an interim basis to drive Park's No. 1 Chevrolet at DEI.

Busch won his first ARCA start for Hendrick Motorsports last month at Nashville Speedway.

Smith told the Associated Press that officials from ZMax are discussing taking over as title sponsor of the all-star series, which is losing True Value as its sponsor at the end of this season.

Smith said that if his company ends up sponsoring the series, it would not necessarily mean that any or all of the four races that make up the IROC season would move to tracks that he owns.

"I don't want to get into management of the series," Smith told the AP. "It would still be up to the present people to decide where they are going to run the races. We are not going to dictate that."

This season, the IROC series is running at Daytona International Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway, Chicagoland Speedway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Surgeons placed a plate on Stewart's right collarbone to stabilize the fracture. Stewart, 17, is expected to miss at least the first two rounds of the Chevy Trucks U.S. Motocross Championships series, which begins this weekend in San Bernardino, Calif.