Tomas Scheckter looks at his switch to Panther Racing for his third Indianapolis 500 as another chance for Victory Lane.

“I look at it as another ‘500,’” Scheckter said March 25 at the Panther shop during the 2004 Indianapolis 500 Media Tour. “I’ve led it the two times I’ve entered it. I look at it as the possibility of drinking some milk.”

His first two trips to Indy were with Red Bull Team Cheever and Target Chip Ganassi Racing in 2002 and 2003, respectively.

“Here it’s a little more race-oriented, and they’re not concerned so much about being on top of the time charts every day,” Scheckter said of Panther, which won the IndyCar(R) Series championship in 2001 and 2002.

And he’s moved.

“I’ve had an apartment here since I’ve been racing over here,” Scheckter said, “but I’ve lived in the offseason in Miami. I just bought a house in Geist (an Indianapolis area), so now I’m a Hoosier.”

***

Third Panther car up in air: John Barnes, chief executive officer of Pennzoil Panther Racing, was noncommittal about adding a third car to the team’s stable for the “500.”

“I don’t know,” he said. “We’ll make an announcement here soon. We have ‘til the 31st to decide that.”

Panther has eight Dallara chassis in its shop, Barnes said. Six are updated to current specs, with the others in the process.

***Tickets: Tickets are available for the 2004 Indianapolis 500 on May 30. For information, log on to indianapolismotorspeedway.com, or call the IMS ticket office at (800) 822-INDY or (317) 492-6700.

Click here for the Official Tomas Scheckter web site - designed and built by Racecar