History at the Indianapolis 500 can be as daunting as it is rich, and Emerson Fittipaldi is trying to defy it.
Only four men have won two straight at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the 73 years the 500-mile race has been run. The last to do it was Al Unser in 1970-71.On Sunday, Fittipaldi will attempt to add his name to those of Unser, Bill Vukovich (1953-54), Mauri Rose (1947-48), and Wilbur Shaw (1939-40).
"First, you have to win the race," he said with a smile. "I have done that. Now, I have the opportunity to do this, and I think 20 years is long enough for any record. It is time for it to happen again."
Bobby Rahal, who won here in 1986 and finished 26th the next year, knows that it's difficult to repeat at any track, particularly here.
"Five hundred miles is a long way to go. Repeats are exceptions, unique. The length here further complicates the ability to repeat," he said. "This place, just when you think you've got it covered, you don't have it covered."
Danny Sullivan won Indy in 1985 and was ninth in 1986.
Asked why it is so hard to repeat here, Sullivan said, "That's a question that's been asked in the NBA, the NHL, everything. Why is it so hard to repeat? I really don't know."
Fittipaldi, Rahal and Sullivan are among eight former champions in this year's 33-car lineup. The others are four-time winners Unser and A.J. Foyt, three-time winner Rick Mears and Mario Andretti and Tom Sneva, each with one victory.
Andretti has been trying to get his second Indy victory since 1969. He has a pair of second-place finishes at Indy and has become noted for his hard luck here.
"It's has become more difficult (to win)," he said. "So much time has lapsed in between and so many real opportunities have gone by. I would think victory today would mean a lot more to me than it did then because at that time I felt like I was gonna win a dozen of these things."
Rahal says even one victory here makes all the difference in the world to a driver.
"When you win, you know the flavor and you want to taste it again," Rahal said. "When you win this race, the monkey's off your back.
"I've won a lot of races, come from behind, but they always ask `Is this your year at Indy? Are you going to win here?' Now they ask, `Can you win again?' That's different. It's like night and day."
One driver who hasn't won here, Al Unser Jr., is obviously more concerned with winning the race the first time Fittipaldi's chance for a second straight victory.
In fact, it was the younger Unser who Fittipaldi bumped aside less than two laps from the end of last May's race - sending him careening into the wall - on the way to the win.
"He naturally has to feel pressure as close as he came last year," Rahal said. "You say your time will come, but you don't know that it will."
Al Jr., who has yet to get to the end of the race in seven starts, plays down the need to win here.
"I used to think I wanted to win Indy more than anything else," said last year's second-place finisher. "Now all I want to do is race Indy every year. That's what I live for; to race here."
But the need to carry on the tradition of the Unser family - his father's four victories and now-retired uncle Bobby's three - burns bright.
"From dad, I got his smoothness," the 28-year-old said. "He's the smoothest race driver in the world. . . . Uncle Bobby is more of a mechanical mind and concentrated on the working of the car and every detail.
"Uncle Bobby was too aggressive. He wanted to lead every lap in every race. He beat the car up. And if it broke down, he'd say, "Well, when it broke, I was leading.' Dad would rather lead the last lap and win the race. I believe in my dad's way," he said.