Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: 13 unlucky? Not for Greg Ray at Indianapolis

Wednesday, May 28, 2003 | 9:40 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.

The number 13, which hadn't graced an Indianapolis 500 entry since 1914, proved to be anything but unlucky for Greg Ray.

Ray, the 1999 Indy Racing League champion, returned to the Brickyard this month as an owner/driver and posted a career-best eighth-place finish in Sunday's Indy 500.

It appeared late last year as if Ray might not have a ride for this season after running 11 races for A.J. Foyt and two events for Sam Schmidt, filling in for injured Richie Hearn. Ray announced earlier this year that he was starting his own team, Access Motorsports, but missed the first two IRL races while waiting for the team to come together and a car to be built.

Ray finally made it on track at the IndyCar Series race in Motegi, Japan, and posted an impressive ninth-place showing in the team's debut. At Indy, Ray qualified the No. 13 G Force/Honda 14th on the grid and brought it home on the lead lap.

"I think it's spectacular to come right out of the box in this day and age in the Indy Racing League, with the newest, youngest, least-budgeted team and have two top-10 finishes," Ray said. "From a team ownership standpoint, we're very, very proud of that.

"As a driver, I'm definitely chomping at the bit because I know we have so much more to offer. We have the ability to have a very successful season; we have the ability to win races this year."

Ray said his decision to go with the number 13 stemmed from his team's struggles in its early days.

"We kind of got the ball rolling in January and made some solid gains in February," Ray said. "We had some good days and bad days (and) lots of setbacks. That's one of the reasons why, I think, we chose the number 13 -- we had so much bad luck at first that we all kind of stayed unified, we all stayed in unison and we all stayed working very hard and very focused and we were able to push the thing forward and debut the team at the Indy race in Japan."

Ray was able to secure sponsorship TrimSpa, a weight-loss supplement, for Indy and the remainder of the season. Being able to back up the top-10 finish in Japan with another strong run in the 500 has Ray looking forward to the remainder of the IRL season and his first attempt at an ownership role.

"I'm very happy with our progress up to this point and I'm very, very excited about our future," Ray said. "I think that we can definitely do good things and my philosophy has been live by the sword, die by the sword but, unfortunately, in positions I was in before, the sword wasn't in my hands."

According to published reports, Cabarrus County (N.C.) sheriff's deputies seized at least three trailers, a souvenir hauler and a pace truck belonging to the series following Saturday night's WoO show at Lowe's. The court-ordered seizure came about as a result of a lawsuit filed by Wheeler Television Inc., which is seeking payment for World of Outlaws shows it produced for WoO last season for broadcast on the Speed Channel.

Wheeler Television Inc. run by Patti Wheeler, the daughter of Lowe's Motor Speedway president H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler.

WoO founder and president Ted Johnson said Tuesday in a prepared statement that his series would continue racing.

"A business relationship that existed between the World of Outlaws and another entity has resulted in some issues that, at this time, remain unresolved," Johnson said. "It was our hope the situation would be addressed amiably but, unfortunately, a lawsuit has been filed.

"Due to the pending legal proceedings, the series is unable to comment on the merits of the case except to say there are two sides to every story and ours will be presented in the appropriate venue.

"The World of Outlaws is still committed to bringing the worlds best winged sprint car racing to its fans."

The winged sprint cars are scheduled to conclude the 2003 season in Las Vegas with a two-night show Oct. 31 and Nov. 1. LVMS and Lowe's Motor Speedway both are owned by Bruton Smith's Speedway Motorsports Inc. Smith has long been rumored to be interested in buying the World of Outlaws Series.