INDIANAPOLIS 500 DAILY REPORT : Teammates Rahal, Groff Are Ready to Bump Back If They Lose Berths

Bobby Rahal knows he and Honda teammate Mike Groff will almost certainly be bumped from the Indy 500 field, so he has come up with a contingency plan.

If they are bumped, Rahal and Groff will use 1993 Penske-Ilmor cars to try to get back into the field. They were originally entered by Roger Penske in case his Mercedes engine program ran into problems.

Rahal tested one of the cars Tuesday and went 222.833 m.p.h., faster than he has run all month in his Honda-powered Lola. Groff will test his car Thursday.

“I was smiling today for the first time since I got here,” said Rahal, who was bumped from the field last year on the final day.

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Adrian Fernandez, the second-fastest rookie in the 500, has his sights set on winning rookie-of-the-year honors for the Galles Racing International team. It would be the fifth such honor for the 29-year-old driver from Mexico City. Fernandez was top rookie in 1982 in the Mexico Formula Vee series, in 1983 in the Mexico Formula Ford series, in 1984 in the Mexico Formula K series and in 1992 in the Firestone Indy Lights series.

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Robby Gordon won the annual PPG drivers’ pole poll with a prediction of 228.400 m.p.h. as the pole-winning speed. That was only .389 off Al Unser Jr.’s pole-winning speed.

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Twenty-nine cars practiced, with Emerson Fittipaldi once against fastest with a lap at 228.717 m.p.h. Only five non-qualified drivers were on the track. Mark Smith was fastest of them at 219.647.