Dan Gurney has run at Indy every year since 1962. Starting in 1966 he began building his own cars. In 1968 Bobby Unser won the race in one of Gurney's Eagles, and Dan placed second, the first time that he had actually finished the race. He finished second again last year. Gurney gave up Grand Prix racing last year so that he could focus all of his energy on his domestic racing efforts. This year he has entered a team of Plymouth 'Cudas in the SCCA Trans Am series. If he wins at Indy, he would like to go back to Grand Prix racing, as time permits. On the basis of qualifications he hardly looked like a potential winner. But he posted the third fastest time in carburation tests on Wednesday. He should be running with the leaders, and if a couple of people break, Gurney could be driving Grand Prix cars for Jack Brabham on his off weekends.

Joe Leonard still holds the Indianapolis qualifying records. He set them back in 1968. This year he is the teammate of pole sitter, Al Unser. But he only managed to qualify in the slowest half of the field, in a car that was identical to Unser's. Then in carburation tests, Leonard came out of nowhere to run speeds two miles per hour faster with full tanks than he had managed ten days be with the car set up for qualifying. ?? just explained that the crew had go ?? some of the kinks out in the interver?? time. He was second fastest on Wed??day, bettered only by Unser. At the of the race, he should move up a lot ?? quickly. He may be the only driver ?? can run with Unser at the start of ?? race.

Johnny Rutherford pulled much same trick that Leonard did, but ?? days before. Rutherford was one ?? USAC's bright young stars in the ?? sixties, but he broke both arms ?? accident, and sat out a year. Then ?? seriously burned his hands in ano??wreck. He could only get second ?? rides, and when the track ?? May first Rutherford at the age ?? thirty-two had the look of a never ?? was. His car, a many times rebuilt sion of one Dan Gurney's original Eagles, couldn't even make qualify ?? speeds. Then his crew started ma?? ?? chassis adjustments, and everyday ?? started to come together. He wou?? ?? in the middle of the first row, and st?? ??ticians figured that if he and pole ?? Al Unser had raced together, at the of the ten mile trial, Unser would ?? won by only two and a half feet. Rut??ford looked pretty happy for a man ?? had just lost $20,000 by two and a ???? was an impressive effort, and ?? one seems to be very pleased for ?? Still, when the car was run full ?? in a race setup, there were four five cars that were faster. Rutherford ?? pull another suprise and win the ?? but odds are that he won't. Ruther?? says that he feels it's his year, and ?? going to win. He should be happy ?? a good placing. But, still, he is one ?? five drivers who really could win ??.

?? Unser won the first race of the year ?? the Championship Trail, finished ?? in the second one, and led the ?? one until mechanical difficulties ?? him down. This month he's been ??astest man in practice, qualification and carburation tests, and always ?? wide margin. So far this has been ?? nser's year. There is no doubt that ??ser's machine holds up, he will win race. Many people pick him to win race, and Unser is confident about ?? chances. But Mario Andretti domied practice in much the same way in ?? and 1967, only to fall out early in race. The fact is, only seven times ?? the race been won from the pole. ?? last time was 1963, when Unser's ?? owner, the semi-retired Parnelli ??, took the checkered rag. As good ??nser's chances look, and they do look good, he will be beating the odds if he wins.

This leaves only one man to be considered, three time race winner, A. J. Foyt. He has raced at the Speedway every year since 1957. He reminds everyone that he has won every three years starting in 1961, and that it's that time again. More convincing is the fact that Foyt's crew, headed up by his father, had everything so well in hand that they were able to qualify four cars for the race, including one on the very last day, for fellow Texan Jim McElreath, whose original car had been bumped from the field by a faster qualifier. On top of this , Foyt just happens to be the distributor for the turbocharged Ford V8 racing engines that two thirds of this year's qualifiers are using. When he was first awarded the franchise last fall a lot of jokes were going around about how the next Memorial Day would see 32 engine failures at Indianapolis. They may not tell those jokes around Al Unser's pit anymore. but I'm sure George Bignotti, the chief mechanic isn't too worried about Unser's Ford self-destructing. Still, you can be quite sure that there are no stronger Fords in the field than Foyt's. Since 1967, the year that he won the last of his record five national championships, Foyt has sharply curtailed his racing activities. He races when he feels like it, and at thirty-five he doesn't stick his neck out the same way that he did ten years ago. But he can still charge with the fastest of them. In March he won an exceptionally hard fought race in the Astrodome Midget race, where no quarter was asked, none given, and a lot of officials almost got run over by enthusiastic racers.

Foyt always runs well at Indianapolis. Last year he had the fastest cars at the track for himself and Roger McCluskey. Foyt sat on the pole for the second time in his career, and led the race until his engine came apart. There's no reason to suspect that his engine will come apart tomorrow. A. J. Foyt would like to retire, and it has been rumored that he will when he wins the 500 again. With so many really competitive teams entered in a relatively long race, there can be no odds-on favorite. But there's a good chance that A. J. Foyt will drive his last 500 tomorrow.