This just in from my Sentimental pick for this
year's Indy 500, as I've already scribbled 'bout the reasons why in;
As Buddy's one of the Coolest Catz' I've met
and who doesn't like a little team doing good! As I've even gotten to meet 'N
greet Bob Lazier (#91 Team Owner) and
Jaques Lazier - both during last year's Legends Day autograph session.
As now comes word that Lazier
Partners have announced the addition of veteran engineer David Cripps to their line-up this year, along with the addition of Briggs & Stratton as associate
sponsor.
As Cripps's repertoire is quite diverse, having
seen the veteran engineer finding himself in Sochi for
the Winter Olympics this past February, helping the United States earn four
medals in men’s and women’s bobsled
competition, but now he is back where he is most comfortable – the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
competition, but now he is back where he is most comfortable – the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Lazier
Partners Racing (LPR) co-owner Bob
Lazier announced yesterday that Cripps will be the lead engineer for the
team’s No. 91 University of Iowa Stephen A. Wynn Institute for Vision Research
Dallara/Chevrolet/Firestone car in this year’s Indianapolis 500. The car will
be driven by 1996 Indy 500 winner Buddy
Lazier.
As the
U.S. Bobsled team’s technical director in Sochi, Cripps’ job was to make the
team’s sleds as fast as possible. His job with LPR is no different, and few
know how to make a Verizon IndyCar Series car as slippery and fast at the
Speedway better than Cripps. His record in the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race is
eye-opening.
On
four occasions, drivers in cars engineered by Cripps have won the coveted
Rookie of the Year award for the Indianapolis 500. And though he has not sipped
milk in victory lane yet, Cripps has been the engineer on five cars that have
finished the Greatest Spectacle in Racing in second place.
LPR
will be attempting to qualify for its second consecutive race with Vail,
Colo.’s Buddy Lazier driving.
Lazier, in addition to winning Indy in 1996, is the 2000 Verizon IndyCar Series
champion.
This
year’s Indianapolis 500 will be Lazier’s 18th start in the Greatest
Spectacle in Racing. In addition to his 1996 Indy 500 win, Lazier has finished
second twice (1998 & 2000), fourth (1997) and fifth (2005).
* * *
As
Lazier Partners Racing continues to augment its competition department with key
personnel, the team also is bolstering its portfolio of sponsors, having just
signed Briggs & Stratton as
an associate sponsor on the No. 91 University of Iowa Stephen A. Wynn Institute
for Vision Research car this week. As Briggs & Stratton joins other associate
sponsors Herman Miller and Phillips Energy Partners supporting
Lazier Partners Racing in 2014.
Buddy
Lazier will be 46 when he takes
the green flag in this year’s Indy 500. Is that too old to win? Ask Emerson Fittipaldi, Bobby Unser or Al Unser. Fittipaldi was 46 when he
won in 1993, while the Unser brothers each recorded their last wins at the age
of 47.
Practice
for the Indianapolis 500 begins on Sunday May 11.
Qualifying for the Indy 500 is on Saturday, May 17 and Sunday, May 18. The 98th Running of the Indianapolis
500 is Sunday,
May 25, and will be live on ABC...