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INDIANAPOLIS -- Jaime Camara's debut in the Indianapolis 500 next week won't be his first race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
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Three years ago, as a rookie in the developmental Infiniti Pro Series -- now known as Indy Lights -- the Brazilian driver started from the pole and won the Freedom 100. Then, smoking his tires along the main straightaway, he put the car into a celebratory spin and inadvertently backed into the inside wall, damaging a side wing and suspension.
That embarrassing burnout was his only bobble at the track, though, until this year. Now, he feels a bit snakebit.
"This track is not easy, at least for me it is not easy," Camara said Saturday after qualifying for the May 25 race.
Camara was third in the Freedom 100 in both 2006 and 2007, then moved up to the IndyCar Series this season with Conquest Racing and was 21st in his series debut last month at Kansas. He returned to Indy for rookie orientation two weeks ago but crashed in practice and spent a night in the hospital.
On Saturday, he qualified at 219.345 mph.
"You feel the wind, you feel the heat. The track conditions change every lap. If a cloud comes over the track, it changes again," he said.
The 27-year-old Camara said it also was difficult coming back from the crash and the hospitalization for a soreness in his back.
"I just have to suck it up and go," he said. "It is just getting out there and having seat time and track time, and figure it out again. ... I got here and I thought this was going to be easy, but it is a tough track."
Owner-driver
Driving a race car might be the least of Sarah Fisher's worries.
Fisher qualified Saturday for her seventh start in the Indianapolis 500, but it's her first as both the driver and owner of her own race team. It's also her first race this season amid a difficult search for money to keep the team afloat.
Two potential sponsors still haven't come through with the cash they had promised, and Fisher and husband Andy O'Gara have had to invest their own savings in the team.
"It's not as fast as we wanted it to be, but we'll take it," she said after qualifying at 221.246 mph for a tentative spot on the inside of the eighth row. "We're in, and we can keep moving forward."
Fisher was 18th for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing last year, her best finish in her six starts at Indianapolis. But coming back with a new team, along with no other starts this year and limited practice time because of rain, posed other problems.
"You don't really have a baseline to start from," she said of her preparation for Indy. "When you haven't run any other races, you're starting from scratch. It's just roll-out and go. ... It's a challenge."
Rahal apology
Rookie Graham Rahal apologized for criticizing his own team for not having new tires ready for a late qualification attempt last week.
Bumped from the lineup three times, Newman/Haas/Lanigan put Rahal's car back in the qualifying line but didn't think there was enough time to make an attempt. Then, after other teams ahead of him began pulling out of line, Rahal was caught short
"(The team) said they didn't think we were going to make it (to the front of the line), so we didn't bring tires, and that's my point. You need to be prepared," the 19-year-old rookie said at the time.
On Saturday, after qualifying at 222.531 mph, more than fast enough to make the field, he said he should have kept quiet.
"It's nice to get in," he said. "Obviously, I feel bad about my comments last week. This team is certainly known for its preparation, and we showed it today."
Senior moment
Jeff Simmons had to call off his first qualification attempt Saturday because team owner A.J. Foyt forgot to display a green flag to signal the starter before the end of Simmons' warmup lap.
Asked about the lapse in concentration, the 73-year-old Foyt said, "I guess I had a senior moment."
Simmons went out again 18 minutes later and qualified at 221.103 mph to earn his fourth start at Indianapolis. His best previous finish was 11th last year for Rahal Letterman Racing.
Still recuperating
The crewman struck by Danica Patrick's race car last week is home, still recuperating from a fractured skull and other injuries and eager to get back to the Speedway.
Chuck Buckman, a crewman for Dale Coyne Racing, spent five nights in the hospital after he was knocked to the ground by Patrick's car as it entered the pits during practice May 9.
"The only problem I am having right now is a case of vertigo when I sit or stand up," he said. "Besides that, my right arm is bruised all over, I have a fracture in my skull, my face is scraped and I have to wear a neck brace for a month. Other than that I feel fine and want to get back to work."
Buckman said he remembers very little of the accident.
"All I remember at this point was walking down pit lane to get my jacket and I stopped off to talk with someone from Marco Andretti's crew then everything after that is blank," Buckman said in a statement released by his team. "I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. It was not Danica's fault and I do not hold her to blame for what happened."
Buckman hopes to return to the track for the race May 25 -- just to watch.
Lug nuts
- Graham Rahal qualified 13th in the tentative lineup, four spots better than his father, Bobby Rahal, did in his rookie race 26 years ago.
- The National Weather Service declared the Speedway a "StormReady Supporter" for its weather preparedness and monitoring capabilities.
- Karle Schaefer, 21, a senior at nearby Franklin College, was selected Indianapolis 500 Festival Queen.
- After former winner Buddy Rice qualified on Saturday, his wife, Michelle, brought their 5-week-old daughter to pit road for the traditional photo shoot. The baby, Mina, was wearing pink headphones and an Indianapolis 500 hat.
