Walker And Galles Going To Indy
IndyCar (CART) team owners Derrick Walker and Rick Galles have announced that they are sending one driver each to the 1996 Indianapolis 500. Mike Groff will drive for Walker Racing and Davy Jones will drive for Galles Racing."I've been at Indy before, but this is the best opportunity that I've had," Groff said. "To say the least, I'm excited. We're going to be swinging as hard as we can to bring home a win."
At the time of this writing, these are the only two IndyCar teams planning on running the '96 Indy 500. The official entry list for the 80th running of Indy, which had hosted the CART-based teams since 1979, will be released sometime this week.
Many had speculated that none of the IndyCar teams would race at Indy this year, with CART presenting their own race, the US 500, the very same day, at Michigan International Speedway.
Both Galles and Walker will field drivers at both races. Galles Racing will run Jones at Indy and IndyCar rookie - Eddie Lawson - at the US 500, while Walker Racing will run Groff at Indy and IndyCar veteran - Robby Gordon - at the US 500.
Walker and Galles are among the few IndyCar teams that had been rumored to attempt to run both races and Galles says it was not because of sponsor pressure.
"Delco didn't force me to do it, but they indicated it wouldn't hurt," Galles said Friday, "They are going to have 6,000 people at the race and they have been a terrific sponsor, so if I can do something to help them, I will.
"Finding good sponsors isn't easy, and you need to keep them."
The Walker Racing Team had been between a rock and a hard place between Indy the the US 500 until Valvoline pulled the plug as fuel supplier for the Indy 500 last month. That cleared the road to the US 500...or did it? Even though Walker's primary sponsor will not be at Indy, co-sponsors, Cummins and Craftsman will be there, and Valvoline had already purchased commercial time on ABC-TV, which will air the Indy 500.
"Even though our relationship with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has changed, we are still a sponsor of the ABC telecast and still have quite a few customers who will be attending the event," said Mark Coughlin, director of sports marketing for Valvoline, whose company is spending an estimated $3.5 million on television ads for ABC's telecast.
"(With) Cummins and Craftsman, we all have customers who have been planning to attend the '96 Indy 500 since May 29 of 1995, and we feel we need to be represented at Indianapolis."
