INDIANAPOLIS – David Byrd has experienced enough history in more than three decades of being involved in racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway to realize the emotional roller coaster that qualifying for the 102nd Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil brings with it.
He had watched his Foyt with Byrd/Hollinger/Belardi Racing crew work all night to restore the No. 33 Jonathan Byrd’s 502 East Chevrolet after James Davison crashed in Friday practice, on the eve of qualifications. Byrd didn’t sleep a wink, either. Just one protein water, a quick shower and change of clothes.
The team was proud to be first in line for technical inspection at 4:55 a.m. ET Saturday. During a lengthy qualifying rain delay of more than two hours, members of that exhausted crew laid on the concrete of their Gasoline Alley garage to rest.
Byrd’s premonition proved prophetic. Whether he would celebrate this joint venture — his family’s Greenwood, Indiana-based team using AJ Foyt Racing equipment with assistance from Williams Formula One businessman Brad Hollinger and successful Mazda Road to Indy owner Brian Belardi — would come down to the final minutes of bump day qualifying.
Byrd crunched numbers from the pit box and was convinced James Hinchcliffe of Schmidt Peterson Motorsports would knock Davison’s car out of the field.
Then that didn’t happen.
Hinchcliffe, the 2016 Indy 500 pole sitter and five-time Verizon IndyCar Series race winner, was unable to take the green flag on a qualifying attempt with 12 minutes remaining due to a tire vibration. Then he didn’t get back on track.
The driver on track as the final gun sounded was Pippa Mann of Dale Coyne Racing. After her first lap was too slow, Byrd modestly shook his fist. After her second lap was also too slow, he knew his team could celebrate the 20th time in 33 years that a Byrd-backed car had made this race.
A day later, Davison made the greatest improvement of anyone, moving up 14 positions to earn the 19th starting position for Sunday’s race (11 a.m. ET, ABC and Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network).
Jonathan Byrd’s Racing most recently entered the Indy 500 in 2015 and 2016 with Bryan Clauson, but took last year off after Clauson suffered fatal injuries in a midget crash. Along with their mother Ginny, Byrd and his brother Jonathan II are continuing the legacy of their late father, Jonathan, who first entered a car in the Indy 500 with Rich Vogler in 1985.
The Byrd family's extensive history of drivers includes Arie Luyendyk, who still holds the IMS one- and four-lap qualifying records set in 1996, as well as Gordon Johncock, John Andretti, Rich Vogler, Stan Fox, Buddy and Jaques Lazier, Scott Brayton, Davy Jones and Mike Groff.
The best Indy 500 finish was fifth with Buddy Lazier in 2005. Jonathan Byrd died in 2009.
“The greatest part about Indy is the whole experience,” Byrd said. “It’s pretty incredible. The one thing I know, it will happen again next year. We can go right back to work hopefully putting a program together for next year based on what we did this year, bring some of the same partners, hopefully put it together a little sooner, and do all the things that have to come together to make the program as successful as it can be. It’s always big picture for me. It’s a passion.”
Before Saturday’s drama unfolded, David Byrd reminded how his team had been on the disappointing side of qualifying too many times.
“We were on the outside looking in three times here in 1990, 1999 and 2000,” he said. “We ended up not making the show. Other times, we’ve just barely bumped our way in by the skin of our teeth, a couple of times after the gun had sounded in ’85 and ’89.”
No such bad luck this time, as Davison survived sitting on the bubble. As the car was wheeled back into the garage after such a long day, an appreciative Ginny Byrd hugged groggy crew members.
“You guys deserve this,” she said proudly. “You guys deserve this.”
They were rewarded on Sunday’s final day of qualifying. Davison, first to make a four-lap attempt by virtue of being slowest the day before, stunned many by putting together a run in midday heat at 226.255 mph – an improvement of 1.5 mph from the day before. The Australian will take the green flag from the inside of Row 7.
"It's been an incredible weekend for the team after our mishap on Friday,” said Davison, making his fourth Indy 500 start.
“We punched above our weight on bump day and got ourselves in, but didn't show our hand. We really laid it down on pole day to move from 33rd to 19th. It's basically two days in a row the team has been rewarded for their hard work, making the show and moving up 14 positions on the grid.
“Unexpected results are always really nice in motorsports and we got that today with our improvement, substantially,” Davison concluded. “Just very proud of the entire team.”
The Byrd family is just as proud. The legacy lives on.