Lazier Partners Racing had spotted other Indianapolis 500 competitors six days of track activity at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but rushing through race and qualifying preparation wasn't a path the crew and driver Buddy Lazier sought to travel.
The program came together less than three weeks ago when Lazier Partners Racing purchased from Lotus the 2012 Dallara chassis that Jean Alesi drove for Fan Force United in the Indianapolis 500. Lazier, who has logged more than 2,600 race laps on the 2.5-mile oval, served as Alesi’s driver coach for the month.
Click it: Lazier Partners Racing gets rolling
Lazier completed three laps on the 2.5-mile oval for a systems check of the No. 91 car late in the May 16 practice session and was back on pit lane at 9 a.m. May 17 to work through an INDYCAR-mandated refresher program (final two phases of the Rookie Orientation Program).
“The guys (crew) did a great job. The car feels incredibly good," Lazier said after the morning session in which he cleared the initial phase and had a best lap of 219.326 mph. "It’s always nice in the morning when it’s cool. We would have gone a lot faster, but we were just flat out of gear. We were on the rev limiter more than two-thirds of the racetrack.”
Lazier and Co. completed the program midway through the six-hour afternoon session on "Fast Friday."
"We are going to go back to what we would be doing on the first day and start going through different steps and start trying to find some speed and race setup," said Lazier, who won the Indianapolis 500 in 1996. "I like this new (chassis-engine) package. Obviously, I have some ‘fit’ issues. I’m still trying to get fit in the car just right. And these things you can’t tell until you get up to speed. You get up to speed, and you do some adjustments.
"We can’t really skip a whole lot of steps. We’ll skip the few that we can, but other than that, we just have to go step by step. But it feels really good. So far, so good.”
Lazier is the 33rd driver to log laps at the Speedway this month. He won the 500 Mile Race in the No. 91 Hemelgarn Racing-Delta Faucet-Montana car, leading 43 laps, after starting fifth. Dario Franchitti and Helio Castroneves, both with three victories, and 2008 winner Scott Dixon are the others entered who have drank the milk in Victory Circle.
Lazier has five top-five finishes (including the victory and runner-up finishes in 1998 and 2000) at the Speedway. He last qualified for the 33-car field on Bump Day in 2008 in a Hemelgarn Johnson Racing-prepared car, starting 32nd and finishing 17th. He did not make the field in '09.
He also was the 2000 IZOD IndyCar Series champion (two victories, three second-place finishes in nine races) and 2001 runner-up to Sam Hornish Jr.