INDIANAPOLIS – Arie Luyendyk was at dinner at St. Elmo’s Steakhouse in Indianapolis Saturday night, but his mind was not on his steak or shrimp cocktail.
He was distraught over the fact he had lost his 1990 Indianapolis 500 winners ring, filled with diamonds and worth $25,000.
The two-time Indianapolis 500 winner remembers taking it off to wash his hands at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but didn’t remember what he did with it after that. He enlisted his friends to put out the word on social media to help him in his search for the ring.
After Luyendyk was at dinner with Jason Clark of ripKurrent, he remembered opening the trunk of his car at IMS and decided to drive back to the Speedway late Saturday night to inspect the area where he parked.
Using the flashlight function on his phone, Luyendyk saw something sparkling in the grass near the fence.
It was the prized ring.
“I was standing behind my car to open the rear lid, pulled my keys out of my pocket and had my ring in my pocket and it pulled the ring out,” Luyendyk said. “I didn’t realize it; I had my earplugs in.
“About 10:30, I was at my hotel a half-hour away and I thought to go check on my parking spot.
“I went back and there it was.”
Luyendyk admitted he was quite nervous and concerned.
“I was pretty upset,” Luyendyk recalled. “I have two, but this was a special 1990 ring, and it was my first career victory. It was big drama there for a couple of hours.
“I didn’t realize it until I had left the track and I was on my way to the restaurant. I could not go to the restaurant because I had an appointment. I was sitting next to Jason Clark and all the while at the dinner table, I was trying to think of what I did with it.
“It’s back. It won’t happen again.”
He found his ring on Saturday night and helped celebrate his young Dutch protégé, Rinus VeeKay, who qualified for the outside of the front row for the 105th Indianapolis 500 Sunday.
Luyendyk serves as his mentor.
“I said, ‘Hey, the last time a Dutchman was on the front row, he won starting in third place,’” Luyendyk said, referring to himself in 1990. “He likes this place. Ed Carpenter gave him a good car. They were seven-thousandths of a mile an hour apart after four laps. That’s very close.”
Luyendyk believes VeeKay has taken to Indianapolis Motor Speedway like he did a generation earlier. The high speeds and the tight turns of the IMS oval have made VeeKay a huge fan.
Last year, VeeKay was the fastest teenager in Indianapolis 500 history. On Sunday, he became the youngest front row starter in Indianapolis 500 history.
“My first memory of the Indy 500, probably my dad showing a video of Arie winning the race in 1990,” VeeKay recalled. “I was hooked to racing as long as I can remember. I was fans of two big drivers, Arie Luyendyk and Ayrton Senna. I think they were both best in the business in two different categories.
“When I saw that, IndyCar was something you dream of when you’re a little kid. I’m living a dream right now.”
When Luyendyk was no longer racing, the young VeeKay cheered for fellow Dutchman Robert Doornbos in Champ Car.
“Then once I got to the United States with go-karting, that’s when I found out about the Road to Indy,” VeeKay recalled. “Yeah, then all that stuff happened.
“I went to the Indy 500 for the first time in 2016. Since then, I’ve been to every 500. It’s been a big dream. I’ve been here as a spectator. Right now, I’m starting on the front row for my second Indy 500, which is insane. I’m over the moon.”
It was 2016 when he met Luyendyk, who was impressed with the then teenager and began to give him advice.
“I met Arie at a meet-and-greet at the Union Jack’s Pub,” VeeKay remembered. “That was pretty cool. He heard about a Dutch kid trying to make it to the IndyCar. Then in my first year I made some cool moves, I won some races. He was like, Well, I’m quite impressed. He started to get at little more involved.
“Right now, I think he’s as excited as I am.”
Luyendyk found his ring on Saturday night. VeeKay is hoping to get his Indianapolis 500 winners ring in Sunday’s 105th Indianapolis 500.