DOCTORS: SHARP HAS TO SIT OUT; HEAD INJURY NEEDS MORE TIME TO HEAL.

Byline: Daily News Wire Services

Scott Sharp will miss the Indianapolis 500 because of a head injury suffered in a crash in practice.

The 29-year-old racer was knocked unconscious when he slammed into the wall Friday during practice for the May 25 race. He quickly regained consciousness but was hospitalized overnight.

Sharp, of Danville, was back at the speedway on Saturday, hoping to be cleared to drive by early this week. But a subsequent CAT scan revealed a small brain contusion.

``We're just hoping that Scotty will be back for Texas (on June 7),'' team owner A.J. Foyt said Monday. ``For his health and everybody concerned . . . we elected to stick with the doctors because they know best.''

Foyt said the injury is healing but added, ``It takes a while for the brain to mend itself, and it's just not worth taking . . . chances.''

Sharp's fast lap of 217.402 mph, run shortly before his crash, makes him the third-fastest since practice began May 6. Only pole-winner Arie Luyendyk and Tony Stewart, who took the middle of the front row, have been faster.

Sharp, who also bruised his right knee in a crash earlier in the week, had started three consecutive Indy 500s. His best finish was 10th last May, and that gave him a share of the first Indy Racing League championship. He is sixth in the IRL standings for the 1996-97 season, thanks in large part to a victory last August at Loudon, N.H.

Davey Hamilton qualified over the weekend in one of Foyt's G Force-Aurora race cars in the middle of the third row for the 33-car field, at 214.484. Foyt hopes to have two more drivers qualify next weekend, during the final two days of time trials.

Rookie Billy Boat, bumped out of the race last year after qualifying one of Foyt's cars, will try again to make his first Indy 500 start.

Foyt said Monday he also is trying to make a deal with Winston Cup team owner Cale Yarborough to put John Andretti in a third team car this week. Andretti is to drive in NASCAR's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on the same day.

``I've talked to Cale Yarborough,'' Foyt said. ``We're good friends. I've asked him for a big favor. John's such a great race driver and he's driven for me before.''

He said Andretti would use a private jet to get back and forth for practice, qualifying and the races.

If Yarborough agrees, Andretti would practice at Indianapolis on Wednesday or Thursday and qualify either Saturday morning or Sunday, depending on the driver's schedule at the North Carolina track, Foyt said.

The IRL is using all new cars and engines this year, but Foyt says that should be no problem for Andretti.

``John's a race driver and it don't take race drivers very long to adapt to anything,'' the first four-time Indy winner said.

Andretti, Foyt's godson, is the only driver to have done the same-day double. In 1994, he finished 10th at Indy and got to Charlotte in time to start the 600 but crashed midway through the stock-car event.

Andretti, nephew of former 500 winner Mario Andretti, is a veteran of seven Indy starts.

Robby Gordon, a rising star in the CART Indy-car circuit until switching to NASCAR's top series this season, also will try to run both races on May 25. He'll also use a private jet to travel between Charlotte and Indianapolis.

Miller time returns: A familiar corporate name is back at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway after a one-year absence.

Miller Brewing Co. products are now available at the Brickyard after being banished a year ago, a well-publicized side effect of the split between the Speedway and Championship Auto Racing Teams Inc.

Miller's Lite brand also is a secondary sponsor on Luyendyk's car, for a fraction of what it spends on other sponsorship deals.

The return of the brewer is an indication of the lessening of business tension at the Speedway.

Last year, Miller was caught in the middle because it sponsors CART driver/owner Bobby Rahal who, like most CART drivers and teams, did not participate at the Indianapolis 500. CART and the Speedway split last year after years of disagreements over a variety of racing issues and the Speedway launched a new circuit, the Indy Racing League.

Miller dropped its sponsorship of the Speedway's pit-stop competition for the Indianapolis 500. Alolph Coors Co. picked up the pit-stop sponsorship.

Meanwhile, Miller soon found it couldn't sell beer at the Speedway - even at the track's private luxury suites. Miller's only tie to the Indy 500 in 1996 was as a sponsor of ABC's telecast of the race.

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Photo

PHOTO Indianapolis Motor Speedway emergency personnel attend to Californian Scott Sharp after his Turn 3 crash Friday.

Associated Press