Indianapolis, Ind., May 28, 2006 -- Champion boxer Sugar Ray Leonard, who waved the green flag for the 90th running of the Indianapolis 500, said he was cheering for Eddie Cheever Jr. before the start of the race. He didn't get a chance to see Cheever take a second Indianapolis 500 win -- Sam Hornish Jr. won in the second closest race finish ever at Indy -- but he did see Cheever and teammate Max Papis drive all 500 miles to finish 13th and 14th, respectively.
Cheever's return to the Indianapolis 500, after a four-year break, was grueling. It was his "hottest" race ever in his 14-years of competition with temperatures reaching 89-degress, the fourth warmest on Indy 500 on record. On top of that the early laps were difficult as he battled with a loose car. Working with the engineers, they made adjustments to the car and by the last 50 laps of the 200-lap race Cheever was running lap times equal with the race leaders. Starting 19th, Cheever brought the # 51 car home in 13th place.
Max Papis had a stronger car from the beginning. The Italian immediately moved forward in the 33-car field from his 18th-place on the starting grid. Making it into the top ten just after the midway point of the 500-mile race, Papis was looking at a strong finish in his second Indy 500 until his car was damaged when a fuel probe from another car flew under the #52 Sport Clips Dallara/Honda damaging the under tray. Papis carefully brought the car to the checkered flag in 14th place.
EDDIE CHEEVER JR. "It was a difficult beginning. I got down two laps right away because the car was very nervous. We made two adjustments then it just came alive and it was good from there. I am proud of Max. He drove a good race. I am sorry that he was caught out by the debris. We finished the race, pretty much, with two complete cars. That's something in a 500 mile race."
MAX PAPIS "We had an unbelievable race. The # 52 Sport Clips car was running in the top ten. I was there battling with Michael (Andretti) and actually was running in front of Marco (Andretti). We were working the lap back that we lost in the beginning. With about 50 laps to go I was following Al Unser Jr. and he lost something from the car. It went straight underneath me and completely destroyed the under tray of my car. It's a shame but its good to take the car to the finish with that much damage. It was pretty frustrating at the end that I couldn't mix and match with everyone. I just tried to stay out of the way. Up to 50 laps to go we showed them that we were there and I am proud of that."