Unique rookie class set for Indy 500

Above: Fernando Alonso takes part the Rookie Orientation Program sit-down meeting on Monday morning. A few veteran drivers, along with representatives from each team, also sat in on the meeting.

One guy wants his autograph; the other is dealing with a serious case of idol worship and the third couldn't give a damn. Welcome to the surreal Indy 500 rookie field where Zach Veach, Jack Harvey and Ed Jones will welcome Fernando Alonso to the Speedway's kindergarten class on Monday morning.

"I think the first thing I'm going to be accomplishing that morning is asking Fernando for an autograph before we put the helmets on," Veach (pictured, Michael Levitt/LAT photo) told RACER of the Rookie Orientation Program sit-down meeting. "So, hopefully he'll just view me as a fan and I can get my autograph from him. And then I can switch it into competitor mode."

Veach, who's driving for A.J. Foyt this month, will have an easier time managing his Alonso fandom. For Harvey, who is making his debut along with the Spaniard as part of Michael Andretti's stable, the two-time Formula 1 champion is more than just a teammate.

"Fernando is a childhood hero of mine," Harvey (pictured, Alastair Staley/LAT photo) added. "That is a fact. When he was winning his World Championships I was in karting and he was the guy that I aspired to be like and he was living the dream that I wanted to live. Here's the guy who I really put on a pedestal throughout my whole career, and now I'm his teammate, on pretty equal terms, moving into our first Indy 500 together. I mean, honestly, I don't really have the words to ... It's such a bizarre feeling – it's awesome, it's crazy, and I'm like...how did this even happen? I think it will certainly be a little weird."

Jones has shown immense potential to start the season at Dale Coyne Racing as the understudy to Sebastien Bourdais. He was also the first of the rookies to express something other than reverie for the fourth member of the class.

"At the end of the day, Alonso's another competitor," said Jones (pictured, Phil Abbott/LAT photo). "Same with having Seb as my teammate. I watched him growing up and a lot of the other Formula 1 guys, so it's fantastic to have him there, but at the same time, you've got to treat him just like another competitor. He's one of the best in the business, and has been for a long time, but I find that hard to get star-struck ... I don't know why."

And then there's IndyCar race director Brian Barnhart, who isn't exactly sure what kind of meaningful advice he can offer Alonso (pictured below, Michael Levitt/LAT photo) in the ROP classroom.

"Clearly there isn't anything I can tell him in terms of driving a car," he said. "Kind of like what he did going through that ROP on his own earlier in the month – it's only an ROP, but it clicked for him straight away. And he had so many people talking to him that day, the last thing I wanted to do was try and fill his mind with a bunch of procedural stuff.

"That's the beauty of his situation: he's got plenty of people from Michael [Andretti], from Marco [Andretti], to Ryan Hunter-Reay, to Bryan Herta, and all of them around there to talk on the driving side."

With four rookies with varying degrees of oval experience to educate, Barnhart will look to fill the most common knowledge gaps they'll encounter at the brickyard.

"I'll give then the rules: on practice days we pit off Turn 3, unless it's yellow, and under yellow we pit from Turn 4; here's your warm-up lanes, if you're not at speed at both ends of the racetrack, here's your access to them," he said. "And watch your closing rate on that because if you don't get out of the pits and get it on it quick enough and get down into Turn 3 and you're only running 180, you may think you're going along pretty good but when the guy coming up there's running 230, 50 miles an hour eats you up in a hurry and he doesn't have anywhere to go. There's no place to hide, there's no double groove around here. So you need to think about those things."

Following the example set by Jones, Veach and Harvey expect to harden their stance on Alonso once they hit the track.

"That's the thing that I love about motorsports, because it's always about rising to a challenge and having Fernando as part of the race is just another challenge," Veach said. "It's great for everybody. It's great for the sport. If one of us rookies from Indy Lights beats Fernando for Rookie of the Year, beats him in the race, it will say a lot. You're going to win Rookie of the Year 100 percent on merit this year."

Harvey hopes his oval experience from Indy Lights – which includes winning the Freedom 100 race at IMS – will put Alonso and the rest of the rookie class in his mirrors on race day.

"In some terms, I've got more experience on the oval than he has," he said. "The flip side is: two-time world champion, he clearly knows a bunch, he's got way more career experience than what I do. Honestly, all four of us are going to be hoping to be Rookie of the Year, and by Fernando coming over, it could put more prestige on winning it. If there was ever a time to win it, you could certainly feel like this is a good year to do it."