2000 RACING NEWS

April - June

APRIL

ROOKIES TRYING TO QUALIFY FOR THIS YEAR'S 500
  • ANDY HILLENBURG - Fast Track Racing Enterprises
  • SAM HORNISH JR. - PDM Racing
  • DAN DINAN - Hemelgarn Racing
  • SARAH FISHER - Walker Racing
  • JUAN MONTOYA - Target/Chip Ganassi Racing
  • GUY SMITH - March Racing (Sinden)
  • DOUG DIDERO - Mid America Motorsports
  • MEMO GIDLEY - Team Pelfrey
  • AIRTON DARE - Team Xtreme
  • RONNIE JOHNCOX - Jonathan Byrd/McCormack Motorsports
  • JAQUES LAZIER - Trucelli Team Racing

I don't know why Jaques Lazier is listed as a rookie, he was in last year's Indy 500.

Andy Hillenburg, an Indy native who now lives in Charlotte, has raced ARCA, Winston Cup and sprints. His dream since he was a kid has been to be in the Indy 500. Lots of hard work, patience and persistence has finally paid off! Andy is not only and excellent driver, he's a Hoosier! Go Andy!!

I'm not sure yet what happened with rookies Casey Mears. I know Casey passed his rookie orientation, but I never heard about him getting a ride. Treadway picked up Shigeaki Hattori and his Epson sponsorship. The Shigster passed the 4-phase 500 rookie orientation according to Treadway, however they will not be starting him in the Indy 500. Shiggy will start in the IRL at Texas in June.
Treadway Racing is going to run 24 y/o Jason Leffler in the 2000 Indy 500. They ran him at Vegas last month and at WDW last year. (He also races for Joe Gibbs over in Nascar and is a midget champion.) The most intriguing part of this story is that his sponsor is United Auto Group, whose C.E.O. happens to be Roger Penske!

Several other teams have car seats to fill: Menards, Walker, Cheever, Dick Simon, Nienhouse, Coulson, and Foyt/Brack. Kenny Brack won the Indy 500 last year while driving for A.J. Foyt. Brack moved to the CART series in 2000. He had an agreement with team owner Bobby Rahal that he could defend his championship at Indy. Brack and Foyt bought the cars and equipment for an Indy 500 run, but Rahal has backed out of the deal and isn't allowing Kenny to compete. Meanwhile, Kenny's talent is shining brightly in Cart, although only briefly as his Team Rahal cars experience mechanical difficulties. A lot of Indy fans will miss having Kenny Brack in the 500, but thats the way it goes when you deal with dorks like Rahal.

Niclas Jonsson, Bobby Regester, Jon Herb and Russ Gamester are rookies that have signed for some teams, but I haven't heard of them passing rookie tests or being entered in the 500.

Robby Unser has shown up at the track testing. Looks like he might be driving for McCormack/Byrd. If he gets in, we will have the first Indy 500 with 3 Unsers competing!

Stan Wattles has signed up with Hemelgarn Racing and the new March racing organization! English rookie, Guy Smith, will also be racing for March.

Where is Marco Greco, Steve Knapp, John Paul Jr., and Mike Groff this year? Probably looking for money like Andy Michner and J.J. Yeley.

Other racers who are not IRL regulars who will be trying to qualify May 20th.
Raul Boesel is back!! Treadway Racing has signed him to drive Shiggy's car in this year's 500 mile race!! Way to go Fred! Boesel has 11 Indianapolis 500 starts under his belt with a total of two top five finishes, four top ten finishes and a career total at Indy of $2,060,634.

Robby Gordon, a man who has raced successfully off-road and with CART, who has almost won the Indy 500 and who currently races for Menards in Nascar's Winston Cup series, is again running a car for Team Menard with sponsorship from Conseco.

Jimmy Vasser has also ran in the Indy 500 before, but not since 1995. He races in the CART series and won that championship in 1996.

Vasser will be accompanied by his Target/Ganassi teammate, Juan Pablo Montoya. Montoya is a 25 y/o Columbian with amazing driving skills. He won the CART championship last year in his rookie year, with 7 wins!

Memo Gidley is another American joining us from the CART series. He will be driving for Team Pelfrey at the Indy 500. (If Michael Andretti could race in the 500, we would have all 3 of the Americans in CART.)

(Also, don't forget, the Nazareth race got snowed out and these CART guys will be running the re-scheduled race the day before the Indy 500!)

Richie Hearn will be driving for Pagan Racing. Richie drove in the IRL in 96 and 97 and then he switched to the CART series for 98 and 99.

Wym Eyckmans, from Belgium, is returning again to the 500 and driving for Dick Simon. Likewise, Hideshi Matsuda returns with Beck Motorsports.







Racing News - April 2000

  • Holy Cow! There has been a different winner in each of the first ten races in Winston Cup this year!!

  • The Formula One Grand Prix of Britian is won by a Brit.

  • Greg Ray, fastest in testing at Indianapolis, surpassed 220 mph. Engine sizes were reduced this year so I look for speeds to come down too. About this time last year they were hitting 224 mph.

  • Al Unser, Jr. wins the Indy Racing League Las Vegas Indy 300.

  • Bobby Labonte won the 2nd IROC race of the year at Talledega

  • April 12 was the deadline for filing entries for the Indy 500. 94 cars have been entered, almost half of those are backup cars. 33 cars will qualify for the 84th Indy 500

  • The CART race in Nazareth PA is postponed due to snow. It has been re-scheduled for May 27th - the day before the INDY 500. Will this pose problems for CART regulars Jimmy Vasser and Juan Montoya? Perhaps, but other drivers have ran in two big races on Memorial Day weekend.

  • IMS will not be hosting the free Indy Fanfest in the infield this year. Hopefully it will return next year.

  • 4/05/00 - Jason Leffler is going to try to run in the 500 this year. He is currently running the NASCAR Busch series for Joe Gibbs Racing. He's won the USAC National Midget Championship numerous times, infact three times in a row! He also raced in the IRL event at WDW last year. Treadway Racing is giving him the opportunity to participate in the Indy 500 Rookie test this week. Good Luck Jason!

  • 4/05/00 - Lee Petty, one of the first heroes of stock car racing, died today at age 86. Lee was the father of Richard Petty, the grandfather of Kyle Petty, and the great-grandfather of Adam Petty, who made his Winston Cup debut this past weekend in Texas.

    Lee Petty was a three-time champion on what has become the Winston Cup circuit and won the inaugural Daytona 500 in 1959. Lee had 55 career wins.

Racing News - May 2000

  • Indy 500 is delayed by rain. Greg Ray, Sarah Fisher, Lynn St. James, and Sam Hornish Jr hit the wall and all were unhurt. Indy rookie Juan Montoya won the race for Target/Chip Ganassi Racing. Buddy Lazier 2nd, Eliseo Salizar third.

  • Gil de Ferran wins Roger Penske his 100th victory! They raced at Nazareth the day before the 500.

  • Sunday May 21 - All 33 positions in the 84th INdy 500 are filled with Andy Hillenburg in the 33rd position. Wattles & Boat hit the wall but are ok. Matusuda hits and is not alright. His team, Beck, ends their month with 2 drivers in the hospital and 4 wrecked racers.

  • Saturday May 20 - Greg Ray wins $100,000 for capturing the pole position. Hillenburg, Kite, Harrington, St. James and Gidley hit the wall but are ok.



  • A concrete pedestrian walkway spanning a four-lane highway collapsed, injuring more than 90 people - at least 11 critically - as they left a NASCAR race at Lowe's Motor Speedway.









  • Friday May 19 - Greg Ray had fastest time today at 223.948 - a whole second faster than everyone else!

  • Thursday May 18 - Another windy day. Track got some rain at 3 pm. Jimmy Vasser goes out at the end of Happy Hour and gets fastest time of the day - 221.681

  • Wednesday May 17 - Rains all day, track only open for 30 minutes.

  • Tuesday May 16 - Scott Sharp ran fastest this practice day at 223.936 during "Happy Hour," the final hour of practice when track conditions are most ideal for higher speeds.
    Dan Drinan and Donnie Beechler both hit the wall hard and both were unhurt.

  • Monday May 15 - Robby Gordon ran fastest this practice day at 223. This is amazing. Their engines are down 50 hp from last year, and they're only a mph or so off from last year! Dan Drinan and Sam Hornish, Jr. had run ins with the wall but they are ok.

  • Tyce Carlson hit the wall Sunday and has injuries sufficient to keep him out of this year's 500. 500 veteran, Hideshi Matsuda, has been picked to take his place.

  • Saturday May 13 - Al Unser, Jr. had the fastest time for this windy practice day. Eddie Cheever tags wall, comes back and runs well.

  • Michael Andretti and his Cart team were disqualified from thei last race for injuring one of their pit crew. In an attempt by CART to create a safer situation for the crews, they will be disqualifying teams who cause injury to crews. None the less, Takuya Kurosawa, hit one of his crew men in the race today in Japan while pulling in to the pits and not braking properly. The top three open wheel series all have a pit lane speed limit with Formula One having the slowest at around 50-60 mph.

  • $200,000 will be awarded in prize money on Pole Day this Saturday.

  • Lynn St. James will be racing for Dick Simon this month. Along with Sarah Fisher (Walker Racing), there will be two females attempting to qualify in the 84th running of the Indy 500. They are also the oldest and youngest drivers in the field at 53 and 19.

  • May 12 - Adam Petty, fourth-generation driver of NASCAR's most famous family, died after a crash at the New Hampshire Speedway. The 19-year-old driver was practicing for the Busch 200 on the 1-mile oval.

  • Treadway racing announced they have signed Raul Boesel to drive their third entry, the #55 Epson, in the 500! (Shigeaki is going to have to wait untill Texas to run in the IRL.)

  • Well, they finally picked a driver for the pace car for the 500. They chose the Hollywood actor Anthony Edwards. He was "Goose" in "Top Gun". He also plays a doctor on the television show E.R. (The pace car this year is the 250 h.p. Oldsmobile Aurora.)

  • The sold-out "U.S. Grand Prix at Indianapolis" has had the starting time changed from 2 p.m. to 1 p.m.

  • The IRL announced two new venues for next year's season: Kansas Speedway and the new Chicagoland Speedway. The race at Chicago's new 1.5 mile oval will be on September 2, 2001, on Labor Day Weekend!

  • Treadway Racing announced that the sponsor for driver Jason Leffler will be United Auto Group, whose C.E.O. is Roger Penske!

  • The number of teams to participate in the Coor's Pit Stop Challenge on Carburation Day increases to 12 this year. Last year 8 teams competed. The purse for this test of the pit crew is $80,000.

  • They have moved the Indy 500 Victory Party to raceday! It's traditionally been held the day after the race.


Racing News - June 2000

  • Sam Schmidt returned home to Las Vegas. He will continue his rehabilitation there.

  • Panther Racing announced that Scott Goodyear will not be driving for them after this season. They will be testing two replacement drivers this weekend at Kentucky - Sam Hornish, Jr., a young IRL driver; and Alex Barron, a CART driver.

  • Eddie Cheever, Jr. gave Infinity Engines its first win in Indy Racing when he won Pikes Peak June 18th.

  • CART pit crews look to be the most dangerous job around. Although CART has started punishing drivers for hitting pit crewmen with a Stop-and-Go penalty, another crewman got hit this week. This time it was Paul Tracy's sloppy entrance during the Detroit race.

  • New 2001 IRL schedule announced! There will be 12 races over a 7 month span next year. The IRL will be adding the following venues next year: Miami; Richmond, Va.; Nashville, Tenn.; St. Louis, Chicago and Kansas City, Kan.

  • Dorkboy Bobby Rahal has replaced Andrew Craig as the CEO of CART. Directors cited declining interest and attendance at races as the primary reason for the shake-up. Since Booby hates Tony and the IRL, we'll probably see another smear campaign soon. However, I do not see the other team owners in CART putting up with him for long.

  • More fan injuries at Lowes Motor Speedway in Charlotte. This time they were blowing something up as a side-show and debris flew into the crowd. A month ago, a walk-way collapsed injuring over 100 people. Last year, three fans were killed there. The place seems cursed.

  • Scott Sharp beat Robby McGehee to the finish line by a fraction of a second in the Casino Magic 500 at the Texas Motor Speedway. THIS RACE WAS COMPETITIVE!!! Side by side racing the whole way with 31 Lead changes!

  • The IRL's Texas night race was rained out and will be ran Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. on ESPN2

  • Eddie Cheever, Jr. won the 3rd IROC race of the year. Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt, Mark Martin and Dale Jarrett filled out the Top 5.

  • IRL drivers, Greg Ray, Eddie Cheever, Jr., and Mark Dismore will also race in the IROC race at Michigan before flying to the Texas race today.

  • Rain cancels qualifying for Texas race, Buddy Lazier to start from pole since he is first in the point standings. Race begin at 7:00 Indiana time on ESPN.

  • Dreyer & Reinbold Racing is switching to Infinity power for Robbie Buhl's Indy Car at Texas this weekend.