Greg Ray won his first and only Drivers' Championship whileKenny Bräck (pictured) finished second in the championship.
The1999 Pep Boys Indy Racing League was highly competitive and parity was the order of the year.Team Menard had a very good season with their driverGreg Ray capturing 3 race wins and the series championship. This was the last year beforeCART teams began to break ranks and jump to the IRL.
On lap 62,Stan Wattles crashed after suffering a suspension failure.John Paul Jr. made contact, sending Wattles' right rear wheel and tire assembly into the grandstand.Scott Harrington also spun in the incident.[3]
The race continued under caution, with Lazier initially leading until he had to make a pit stop to replace a punctured tire, giving Ray the lead. On lap 79, the race was stopped, so that medical helicopters could land.
The race was stopped permanently by track general managerHumpy Wheeler when it was announced that 3 spectators were killed. As a result, fans and participants were offered refunds.
The race was scratched from the record books, due to the fact that it did not reach the official race distance of 105 laps (the halfway point plus one lap, unlike theFIA Code, which is simply making it to the start of the fourth lap).
Until2006, this race had the latest pass for the lead in Indianapolis 500 history when Gordon pitted on Lap 199, and Bräck took the lead in Turn 4.
Combined,Arie Luyendyk andGreg Ray led 95 laps. Luyendyk crashed while attempting to lapTyce Carlson on Lap 118, and during the ensuing caution, Ray was hit byMark Dismore while exiting his pit stall.
Stewart, who moved to theNASCARWinston Cup Series, didDouble Duty by competing at Indianapolis and theCoca-Cola 600 atLowe's Motor Speedway. He finished 9th at Indianapolis, 4 laps down, and 4th at Charlotte on the lead lap, despite being moved to the rear of the field due to missing the drivers meeting.
Rookie of the Year McGehee had an incident during a pit stop where a pit crew member hit the ground, but survived.
This race was planned on being Luyendyk's final race. However, he returned to race part-time from2001 to2003.
4 drivers named either Robby or Robbie finished in the Top 10.
Points leader Ray was the only championship eligible driver to finish in the top 5 and top 10, finishing 3rd.Scott Goodyear finished 23rd due to a crash,Scott Sharp finished 19th due to an engine failure,Sam Schmidt finished 22nd due to a separate crash, andKenny Bräck finished 16th, 22 laps down.
There were several changes in the top 10 in points following this race, due to 3rd being separated from 10th by 31 points. Race winner Dismore moved up from 11th to 3rd,Jeff Ward (at one time the points leader) dropped from 7th to 11th, Sharp dropped from 4th to 8th, Goodyear dropped from 5th to 9th, and Hamilton moved up from 7th to 4th.
Dismore's only IndyCar win.
Schmidt's final IndyCar race. His career would end due to a testing crash atWalt Disney World Speedway in January 2000 that left him paralyzed.
Sarah Fisher made her IndyCar debut in this race, becoming the first woman sinceLyn St. James at the1997Indianapolis 500 to start an IndyCar race. She started 17th, but finished 25th due to a broken timing chain.
Ties in points broken by number of wins, followed by number of 2nds, 3rds, etc., and then by number of pole positions, followed by number of times qualified 2nd, etc.
Additional points were awarded to the pole winner (3 points), the second best qualifier (2 points), the third best qualifier (1 point), and to the driver leading the most laps (2 points).
Greg Ray
Kenny Bräck
