Monday, May 12, 2003 | 9:41 a.m.
One year ago, Tony Renna was an instructor at the Derek Daly Performance Driving Academy at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Today, he is the fourth-fastest rookie to qualify for this month's Indianapolis 500.
Renna averaged 228.765 mph over four laps Sunday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and will start the 87th running of the Indy 500 from the middle of the third row.
"It's just exciting to be in the show," Renna, a Las Vegas resident, said after qualifying for his first Indy 500. "I was a little nervous going into qualifying, which is pretty normal, but once I got started the nerves went away and I was able to focus on the job at hand."
Renna was the first of 24 drivers to make a qualifying attempt in Sunday's session and held the pole position for all of about 15 minutes, until the third driver out, Kenny Brack, posted a four-lap average of 229.509 mph. Two-time defending Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves eventually captured the pole with a 231.725-mph run late in the day.
Al Unser Jr., a two-time Indy 500 winner and a part-time resident of Henderson, qualified 17th and will start the May 25 race from the middle of the sixth row. Las Vegas resident Jimmy Vasser is expected to attempt to qualify during the final day of time trials on Sunday.
Renna, 26, said he was satisfied with his qualifying run.
"Really and truly, at the end of the day, that's pretty much where we figured we'd be," Renna said. "We had put in some bigger laps earlier in the week ... (but) we focused our efforts all this week on race setup so we put a day and a half into qualifying trim.
"Qualifying wasn't too big of a concern for us; we knew we weren't going to go for pole. To be where we're at (is) pretty good. We're solidly in the show."
Renna, who will drive the No. 32 Cure Autism Now/HomeMed Dallara/Toyota for Kelley Racing in the Indy 500, was instructing at the Derek Daly Academy last year when he was hired by team owners Tom and Jim Kelley as test driver for their Indy Racing League IndyCar Series and Infiniti Pro Series teams.
When Unser Jr. checked into an alcohol rehabilitation center last July, Renna replaced him for two races. When Unser returned, Renna drove a third Kelley Racing entry for the final four races of the season. Renna scored one top-five and four top-10 finishes in six starts, including a career-best fourth at Michigan International Speedway in his second start.
Unser, who won the Indianapolis 500 in 1992 and 1994, said he was happy with his qualifying effort on a blustery day.
"We went out there (Sunday) morning and the way that the wind is blowing and all that kind of stuff, I wasn't really happy with the car," Unser said. "We decided I didn't have a shot at the front row or the second row, basically, so the best thing to do is to put this thing in (the race). As long as you're in it, you can win it. So that's what we decided to do."
Unser said he has been impressed with the way Renna, his teammate, has performed at Indy.
"Tony's doing a super job," Unser said. "He takes it very methodically. He takes his steps one step at a time. He's not overly aggressive out there. He's just taking it day by day and learning as much as he can about his car.
"He's gradually built up the speed chart and went out there and put four real good laps together."
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