Spring 98 Volume III Issue 2

Arie Luyendyk's got a pretty good track record. The Indy-car driver has won two Indianapolis 500s, millions of dollars, and countless fans, male and female alike. When he's not negotiating hairpin turns at 200 mph, Luyendyk can usually be found at the Scottsdale, Arizona home he shares with his wife and four kids. SMOKE caught up with the handsome Dutchman, who brought us up to speed on the state of racing, his golden-boy image, being pulled over for speeding, and, of course, the joys of a good cigar.

The pure speed involved in Indy-car racing is very exciting. It's an amazing feeling. But with that comes a lot of danger. And that is NOT exciting, like most people seem to think. People think race car drivers have some sort of death wish, but it's really the opposite. Crashing is the nastiest part of the job. Race cars are built to go 200 mph, while you feel out of control going 100 mph in a regular car.

I always compare race car driving to horse racing. A lot of people don't think horse racing is a sport, either. But it is. There must be a bond between the rider and the horse. You have to guide a horse, make the moves, time the moves right. It's the same with a car. You go out, drive the car before a race, feel what the car can do. Then you work on the car's mechanics to make it run better. You can change the springs, shock absorbers, and wing settings. So a driver must feel the limits of the car, then turn to his engineers, to computer data, to a pit crew. It's really a team sport. Then, once you're in the race, that's when it's a real sports competition. It's you against 32 other guys.

It's growing like crazy There are two series. There's the CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams) series and a rival series, which is ours, called the Indy Racing League (IRL). We compete at Indianapolis, which in my mind is still the biggest race there is. Then there is NASCAR, for the stock cars, which has a tremendous following.

The split has definitely not done great things for open-wheel racing. It seems that NASCAR has taken advantage of that. But I think the impact of the split is becoming less and less of a problem. More people are aware of the IRL now. They're aware of the races and the acceptance level is a lot higher than it was a year ago. I think the split hurt racing, but I believe it will be OK over the long run.

Every year for the past few years, the rules have been adjusted to make cars go slower. If we raced by the same rules we had three years ago, we'd probably be going around the track at 240 mph, average. And that's too fast, for safety reasons. When you hit the wall at those speeds, the impact is tremendous. Last year, Scott Braden, who was my teammate for several years, spun out at Indy, hit the wall and died instantly. What (IRL boss) Tony George did was to make them design new and different cars that are slower, that have less down-force and less horsepower.

Jeff Gordon is the golden boy of the moment. He's got his hair all nicely done and he's got the image they want. I guess that when I had my hair really long, I looked different from most drivers, which helped make me the golden boy. What really fueled the fire was being named one of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People in 1992. 1 don't have a problem with the golden boy image. It's better than some other things people can call you.

I maybe smoke one a week, and I do it basically for relaxation. A good cigar puts you in a mood that's very relaxing.

Of course! (Laughs). I don't get too many tickets. I'm pretty good at dodging them. Any time they had proof I was speeding, even if they recognized me, they'd fine me. They don't cut me any slack.