October 8, 1997 - Las Vegas, NV

Las Vegas 500K - Wednesday Practice

Johnny Unser and the Hemelgarn Racing Team began preparation for this weekend's IRL season finale today, building up speed slowly and testing the new Infiniti powerplant. Practice went well for the team, with Johnny 21st fastest in the opening session and 26th fastest in the second session. His fastest time in the combined sessions was 194.595 mph. 

"We spent tonight shaking the car down and beginning to get up to       
speed", said Unser. "We had a few problems, but we'll work on those     
tomorrow, and we're looking forward to a good qualifying session."

The overall times for the entire field were very close, with all of the contestants within 2 seconds of each other. Davey Hamilton led the field at the end of the second session, with a fast time of 204.105, with Robbie Buhl a close second.

The first practice on Thursday is scheduled to begin at 5:30 pm, with qualifying set for 8:00pm.

The practice times for the first session are listed below. We will have the times for the second session posted tomorrow.

******************************** Las Vegas 500K - Wednesday Early Practice 

 1 17  Giaffone, Affonso      202.954   
 2 33  Kite, Jimmy            202.832   
 3  7  Salazar, Eliseo        202.604   
 4 35  Ward, Jeff             202.589   
 5  2T Stewart, Tony          202.558   
 6  6  Goodyear, Scott        202.103  
 7 27  Guthrie, Jim           201.718 
 8  5  Luyendyk, Arie         201.696
 9 91  Lazier, Buddy          201.673  
10 14  Hamilton, Davey        201.147
11  1  Boat, Billy            200.156   
12  4  Brack, Kenny           199.919  
13  3  Buhl, Robbie           199.211  
14 77  Gregoire, Stephan      199.181
15  2  Stewart, Tony          198.690  
16  3  Buhl, Robbie           197.904
17 70  Greco, Marco           197.650
18 21  Guerrero, Roberto      196.464 
19 12  Calkins, Buzz          195.844   
20 24  Roe, Billy             195.801 
21  9  Unser, Johnny          194.595   
22 51  Cheever Jr, Eddie      194.210   
23 28  Dismore, Mark          192.795
24 30  Groff, Robbie          191.564
25 95  Carlson, Tyce          191.408  
26 23  Shank, Mike            191.374   
27 19  Wattles, Stan          190.510   
28 97  Ray, Greg              190.148   
29 22  Sospiri, Vincenzo      189.301 
30  1T Boat, Billy            188.640
31 18  Paul, John             188.252
32 40  Miller, Dr. Jack       187.026 
33 99  Schmidt, Sam           186.690   
34 10  Durant, Paul           163.582

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