IRL: Lone Star 500 Fast Facts
11 September 1998
WHAT: Inaugural LONE STAR 500
Tenth of 11 races in the 1998 Pep
Boys Indy Racing League season
WHERE: Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth,
Texas.
1.5-mile paved quad-oval
superspeedway
WHEN: 2 p.m. (CDT) Sunday, Sept. 20, 1998
DISTANCE: 312 miles (500 kilometers)/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
CURRENT POINTS Kenny Brack
LEADER:
TV:
(Race) ABC (live), 3 p.m. (EDT) Sept. 20
Announcer: Paul Page, Mike Groff
Pit reporters: Gary Gerould, Jon
Beekhuis
(Qualifying) SpeedVision (live), 5 p.m. (EDT),
Sept. 18
Announcers: Gary Lee, Derek Daly
Pit reporter: Vince Welch
RADIO
(Race) IMS Radio Network (live), 3 p.m.
(EDT) Sept. 20. Pre-race show starts
at 2:30 p.m. Area affiliate is WBAP-
AM, 820, Fort Worth.
Announcers: Gary Lee, Larry Rice
Pit reporters: Vince Welch, Mark
Jaynes
Backstretch reporter: Doug Rice
(Qualifying) IMS Radio Network, 4:30-5 p.m. (EDT)
Sept. 19. Area affiliate is WBAP-AM,
820, Fort Worth.
Announcers: Gary Lee, Larry Rice
Pit reporters: Vince Welch, Mark
Jaynes
Backstretch reporter: Doug Rice
SCHEDULE (all times
local): 7 a.m.: Pep Boys IRL garage opens
(Sept. 18) 9:45-10:45 a.m.: Pep Boys IRL
(Dallas Morning News practice (Two groups)
Pole Day) 12:45-2:15 p.m.: Pep Boys IRL
practice (Two groups)
4-5:15 p.m.: Pep Boys IRL
(Sept. 19) qualifications (Best of two laps)
7 a.m.: Pep Boys IRL garage opens
10-11:30 a.m.: Pep Boys IRL practice
(Sept. 20) (Two groups)
4-4:30 p.m.: Pep Boys IRL final
practice
7 a.m.: Pep Boys IRL garage opens
1 p.m.: Pep Boys IRL cars to grid
2 p.m.: Inaugural Lone Star 500 (312
miles/208 laps)
TRACK RECORDS:
(Qualifying, one lap) Tony Stewart, 24.059 seconds, 224.448
mph, June 5, 1998
(Race, one lap) Tony Stewart, 228.012 mph, Lap 86,
June 6, 1998
(Race, average) Billy Boat, 2 hours, 8 minutes,
45.543 seconds, June 6, 1998
Average speed: 145.388 mph
THE TRACK: 1.5-mile paved quad-oval
Length of front straightaway: 2,250
feet
Length of back straightaway: 1,330
feet
Four turns: 750 feet each
Width: 58 feet (minimum)
Banking in turns: 24 degrees
Banking on straightaways: 5 degrees
Facility opened in 1997. Texas Motor
Speedway has 150,061 permanent seats
and a total capacity of 203,061. It's
the second-largest sports facility in
the United States.
Texas Motor Speedway also includes
208 luxury skyboxes and the Lone Star
Tower condominium and office complex.
Texas Motor Speedway covers 950
acres, including a 23-acre lake. A
state-of-the-art, permanent Musco
Lighting system is used to illuminate
night events at the track.
THE RACE: This is the second consecutive year
the Pep Boys Indy Racing League has
run at Texas but the first year that
two league events have taken place at
one track. The previous Indy Racing
League events at TMS, in June 1997
and 1998, were both run at night
under the lights. The Lone Star 500
on Sept. 20 will be the first Indy
Racing League event to be run during
the day at Texas Motor Speedway.
RACE NOTES: Billy Boat leads the standings for
the "Texas Two-Step" Championship, a
$100,000 bonus that will be awarded
after this event. The driver who
earns the most combined Pep Boys Indy
Racing League points at this event
and the True Value 500 on June 6 at
Texas Motor Speedway will earn the
big bonus. The driver with the second-
highest total will earn $50,000. Boat
earned 54 points for his victory in
the True Value 500. Greg Ray finished
second and earned 40 points, while
Kenny Brack collected 35 points for
his third-place finish.
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.
This race has a strong Texas
connection. Greg Ray, who finished
second in the True Value 500 on June
6 at TMS, lives in Plano. The two-car
team fielded by four-time
Indianapolis 500 winner A.J. Foyt is
based in Houston, Foyt's hometown.
One of Foyt's drivers, Kenny Brack,
also lives in Houston.
Six Pep Boys Indy Racing League
rookies are entered in this event:
Donnie Beechler, Andy Michner, Stevie
Reeves, Dave Steele, Brian Tyler and
Robby Unser. Beechler and Michner are
USAC open-wheel standouts, 1993 USAC
midget national champion Reeves
joined the league after competing in
the NASCAR Busch Series, Steele is
the only USAC driver to win this
season in all three major divisions -
Silver Crown, sprint and midget,
Tyler is the two-time defending USAC
sprint champion, and Unser is the son
of three-time Indianapolis 500 winner
Bobby Unser and an eight-time winner
of the Pikes Peak International Hill
Climb.
SERIES NOTES: Kenny Brack has won the last three
races, an Indy Racing League record
for consecutive victories.
Kenny Brack and Tony Stewart could
become the second and third drivers
to top $1 million in season earnings
with a strong finish at this race.
Brack is second on the money list at
$953,800, Stewart third at $917,350.
Indianapolis 500 winner Eddie Cheever
Jr. leads the money list with
$1,724,800.
Billy Boat has won the PPG Pole at
the last two races. Tony Stewart won
consecutive PPG Poles this season at
Dover, Del., and Charlotte, N.C. No
driver in league history has ever won
PPG Poles at three consecutive races.
Boat won the PPG Pole at the New
England 200 on June 28, missed two
races due to injury, and then
returned with two consecutive PPG
Poles.
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 the season. The top 11
drivers in the point standings still
are mathematically eligible to win
the championship with two races
remaining.
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.
STATISTICS: 1998 Pep Boys IRL 1998 MBNA lap
point standings leaders
1. Kenny Brack 282 1. Tony
2. Davey Hamilton Stewart 547
259 2. Jeff Ward
3. Tony Stewart 257 290
4. Scott Sharp 246 3. Scott
5. Scott Goodyear Sharp 209
228 4. Scott
6. Jeff Ward 208 Goodyear 153
7. Buddy Lazier 199 5. Kenny
8. Eddie Cheever Brack 145
Jr. 187
9. Stephan Gregoire 1998 winners
184 1. Kenny
10. Marco Greco 180 Brack 3
11. Arie Luyendyk 2. Scott
173 Sharp 2
12. Billy Boat 168 Tony Stewart
13. Mark Dismore 145 2
14. Sam Schmidt 143 3. Billy
15. John Paul Jr. Boat 1
134 Eddie
Cheever Jr. 1
1998 PPG Poles
1. Billy Boat 4
Tony Stewart 4
2. Jeff Ward 1
1998 Pep Boys IRL 1998 wins by
money leaders chassis
1. Eddie Cheever 1. Dallara 8
Jr. $1,724,800 2. G Force 1
2. Kenny Brack
$953,800 1998 wins by
3. Tony Stewart engine
$917,350 1. Aurora 8
4. Buddy Lazier
$865,800 1998 wins by
5. Davey Hamilton tire
$771,950 1. Goodyear 7
2. Firestone 2