IRL: Atlanta 500 Classic Presented by MCI Fast Facts
26 August 1998
WHAT: Inaugural ATLANTA 500 CLASSIC presented
by MCI
Ninth of 11 races in the 1998 Pep Boys
Indy Racing League
WHERE: Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hampton, Ga.
1.54-mile quad-oval superspeedway
WHEN: 9 p.m. (EDT) Saturday, Aug. 29, 1998
DISTANCE: 320 miles/208 laps
POSTED AWARDS: More than $1 million
CARS: Dallara, G Force and Riley & Scott
chassis; Oldsmobile Aurora V8 and Nissan
Infiniti Indy V8 engines; Firestone and
Goodyear tires
1996-97 IRL CHAMPION: Tony Stewart
POINTS LEADER: Scott Sharp
TV:
(Race) TNN (live), 9 p.m. (EDT) Aug. 29
Announcers: Mike Joy, Tom Sneva
Pit reporters: Ralph Sheheen, Vince
Welch
(Qualifying) SpeedVision (live), 6 p.m. (EDT) Aug. 28
Announcers: Gary Lee, Derek Daly
Pit reporters: Calvin Fish, Vince Welch
RADIO:
(Race) IMS Radio Network (live), 9 p.m. (EDT)
Aug. 29; prerace show starting at 8:30
p.m. Area affiliates: WBTR-AM/FM,
1330/92.1, Carrollton, Ga.; WYAY-FM,
106.7, Gainesville, Ga.; WEKS-FM, 92.5,
Griffin, Ga.; WTRP-AM, 620, LaGrange,
Ga.; WMKS-FM, 92.3, Macon, Ga.
Announcers: Bob Jenkins, Gary Lee
Pit reporters: Mark Jaynes, Doug Rice
Backstretch reporter: Mark Garrow
SCHEDULE (all times
local):
(Aug. 27) 8 a.m.: Pep Boys IRL garage opens
4-6:20 p.m.: Pep Boys IRL practice (Two
groups)
8:45-10:15 p.m.: Pep Boys IRL practice
(Two groups)
(Aug. 28) 10 a.m.: Pep Boys IRL garage opens
(Georgia Power Pole 3:45-5:15 p.m.: Pep Boys IRL practice
Night) (Two groups)
6:30-8 p.m.: Pep Boys IRL qualifications
(Best of two laps)
(Aug. 29) Noon: Pep Boys IRL garage opens
4:30-5 p.m.: Pep Boys IRL final practice
8 p.m.: Pep Boys IRL cars to grid
9 p.m.: Atlanta 500 Classic presented by
MCI (312 miles/208 laps)
TRACK RECORDS:
(1.522-mile oval) Rick Mears, 26.730 seconds, 204.983 mph,
April 1983 (CART)
(1.54-mile quad-oval) Geoff Bodine, 28.074 seconds, 197.478
mph, November 1997 (NASCAR Winston Cup)
THE TRACK: 1.54-mile paved quad-oval
Length of front straightaway: 1,471 feet
Length of back straightaway: 1,380 feet
Banking in turns: 24 degrees
Banking on straightaways: 5 degrees
Atlanta Motor Speedway opened in 1960
with a 1.522-mile oval. The facility
underwent a significant, $30-million
transformation in 1997 when the track
was reconfigured into a 1.54-mile quad-
oval similar to Charlotte Motor Speedway
and Texas Motor Speedway, its sister
tracks under the Speedway Motorsports,
Inc. umbrella. The oval includes a state-
of-the-art Musco lighting system that
will illuminate an AMS race for the
first time during this event.
AMS annually plays host to many series
besides the Pep Boys Indy Racing League,
including the NASCAR Winston Cup Series,
the NASCAR Busch Series and the
Automobile Racing Club of America.
The 870-acre facility also includes a
2.518-mile road course, a 1-mile infield
road course and a quarter-mile Legends
track. Atlanta Motor Speedway is the
largest sports facility in Georgia, with
125,000 permanent grandstand seats. The
track also has 144 luxury VIP suites.
The nine-story Tara Place office and
condominium complex houses AMS corporate
offices and 46 condominiums.
THE RACE: This is the inaugural Pep Boys Indy
Racing League event at Atlanta Motor
Speedway, but the area has a long
tradition of open-wheel racing.
The first Indy-style races in the
Atlanta area took place from May 5-7,
1910 on a dirt track. Ray Harroun, who
won the first Indianapolis 500 in 1911,
won the first Indy-style race in Atlanta
on May 5, 1910. It was his first career
victory.
An Indy-style race was held annually
from 1946-1948 on a dirt track at
Lakewood Park in Atlanta. USAC
sanctioned champ-car races on the 1.522-
mile oval at Atlanta Motor Speedway in
1965-66 and 1978, with three-time
Indianapolis 500 champion and current
Pep Boys IRL advisor Johnny Rutherford
winning in 1965.
CART conducted seven races at AMS
between 1979 and 1983. Rutherford swept
a pair of 125-milers on April 22, 1979.
Four-time Indianapolis 500 champion Rick
Mears then won four straight at AMS
between 1979-82.
Buddy Lazier ushered in the Pep Boys IRL
era at the track, turning a lap of
212.576 mph during a test on the new
1.54-mile quad-oval in November 1997.
1996-97 league champion Tony Stewart set
an unofficial track record of 228.505
mph on July 7, 1998 during the league's
inaugural Open Test at AMS.
RACE NOTES: Kenny Brack will try to become the first
driver in Indy Racing League history to
win three consecutive races in one
season. Brack won the VisionAire 500 on
July 25 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and
the Radisson 200 on Aug. 16 at Pikes
Peak International Raceway. Arie
Luyendyk won the Indianapolis 500 and
the True Value 500 in succession in
1997. Brack drives the Power Team
Dallara/Aurora/Goodyear owned by four-
time Indianapolis 500 winner A.J. Foyt.
Kenny Brack could get one step closer to
sharing $1 million with a Pep Boys Indy
Racing League fan if he wins this race.
Brack became the only driver eligible to
win the MCI Pep Boys Million Dollar
Driver sweepstakes with his victory in
the VisionAire 500 on July 25 at
Charlotte Motor Speedway. Brack must win
this event and at the season finale Oct.
11 at Las Vegas to split $1 million with
a lucky fan that picked him to sweep the
three races, all televised on TNN.
Greg Ray will return to the Pep Boys
Indy Racing League at this event with
Thomas Knapp Motorsport, the team with
which he qualified second for the
Indianapolis 500 in May and finished
second at the True Value 500 on June 6
at Texas Motor Speedway. TKM was
sidelined after Texas due to low
funding, but the team secured
sponsorship from Best Access Systems and
Mitsubishi Forklift Trucks for the last
three races of the season.
Other drivers returning to Pep Boys Indy
Racing League competition at this event
are rookies Stevie Reeves and J.J. Yeley.
Reeves, a former USAC national midget
champion, formerly drove in the NASCAR
Busch Series.
Three Indianapolis 500 winners are
entered in this event: 1998 champion
Eddie Cheever Jr., 1990 and 1997 champion
Arie Luyendyk and 1996 champion Buddy
Lazier.
John Paul Jr. is the only active Pep Boys
Indy Racing League driver to have
competed in an open-wheel race at Atlanta
Motor Speedway. Paul finished third in
the CART race in 1983 at AMS. Paul now
drives the Jonathan Byrd's-VisionAire-
Bryant Heating & Cooling G
Force/Aurora/Firestone.
It's almost certain at this event that
Buddy Lazier will join Arie Luyendyk as
the only drivers to earn $3 million
during their Indy Racing League careers.
Luyendyk has earned $3,019,653, passing
the $3-million mark at the Radisson 200
on Aug. 16 at Pikes Peak International
Raceway. Lazier has earned $2,981,504
during his Indy Racing League career.
A.J. Foyt, car owner for Billy Boat and
Kenny Brack, won the pole for the USAC
open-wheel race in 1965 at AMS, finishing
19th. He finished fourth in the USAC race
in 1978 at AMS. Johnny Rutherford, who
drives the Oldsmobile Alero Pace Car
among his Indy Racing League duties, won
three Indy-style races at AMS, in 1965
and 1979. Pep Boys Indy Racing League
driver coach Al Unser competed in all of
the USAC open-wheel races at AMS in the
1960s and late 1970s and all of the CART
races at the track from 1979-83.
Seven rookies are entered in this event:
Andy Michner, Steve Knapp, Stevie Reeves,
J.J. Yeley, Robby Unser, Brian Tyler and
Donnie Beechler. Michner, Yeley, Tyler
and Beechler are USAC open-wheel
standouts. Reeves is a former USAC
national midget champion who moved from
the NASCAR Busch Series to the Pep Boys
Indy Racing League in July. Knapp was
named Indianapolis 500 Bank One Rookie of
the Year in May after finishing third.
Unser is son of three-time Indianapolis
500 winner Bobby Unser.
SERIES NOTES: Team Menard was fined $25,000 and its
drivers, Tony Stewart and Robbie Buhl,
each lost 15 points in the season
standings after technical violations were
discovered on the team's cars after the
Radisson 200 on Aug. 16 at Pikes Peak
International Raceway. Stewart fell from
first to third in the points after the
penalty, while Buhl fell from 16th to
18th.
This event is the last of three night
races on the 1998 Pep Boys Indy Racing
League schedule. A.J. Foyt Racing has
ruled night racing this season. Billy
Boat won the True Value 500 on June 6 at
Texas Motor Speedway, while his Foyt
Racing teammate, Kenny Brack, won the
VisionAire 500 on July 25 at Charlotte
Motor Speedway.
Defending league champion Tony Stewart
has won the pole at four of the five
night races in Pep Boys Indy Racing
League history, including both this year.
But he is winless in those four races.
Race teams will be allowed to tow their
cars to the garage from the pits for
service during the race under an Indy
Racing League rule instituted last
October at the Las Vegas 500K. Teams are
allowed to repair their cars in the
garage and return to the race. Teams
can't change their engines or chassis.
Two Indy Racing League technicians must
approve any repairs before the car
returns to the track, with Indy Racing
League Technical Director Phil Casey
overseeing the process.
All teams are aiming for the Pep Boys
Million, a $1 million prize from Pep Boys
to be split between the championship-
winning driver and owner at the end of
this season.
STATISTICS: 1998 Pep Boys IRL 1998 MBNA
point standings lap leaders
1. Scott Sharp 233 1. Tony Stewart
2. Kenny Brack 232 535
3. Tony Stewart 227 2. Jeff Ward
4. Davey Hamilton 226
219 3. Scott Sharp
5. Scott Goodyear 209
194 4. Billy Boat
6. Buddy Lazier 186 132
7. Jeff Ward 178 5. Kenny Brack
8. Stephan Gregoire 128
174
9. Marco Greco 163 1998 Pep Boys IRL
10. Eddie Cheever winners
Jr. 152 1. Kenny Brack
11. Arie Luyendyk 149 2
12. Billy Boat 147 Scott Sharp
13. Sam Schmidt 128 2
14. John Paul Jr. 127 Tony Stewart 2
15. Mark Dismore 119 4. Billy Boat 1
Eddie
Cheever Jr. 1
1998 . PPG Poles
1. Tony Stewart
4
2. Billy Boat 3
3. Jeff Ward 1
STATISTICS (cont.): 1998 Pep Boys IRL 1998 wins by
money leaders chassis
1. Eddie Cheever 1. Dallara 7G
Jr. $1,655,100 Force 1
2. Tony Stewart
$860,650 1998 wins by
3. Buddy Lazier engine
$831,100 Aurora 8
4. Kenny Brack 1998 wins by tire
$792,850 1. Goodyear
5. Scott Sharp 6Firestone 2
$702,500