1999 Indianapolis 500
It was also one of the most-successful races for A. J. Foyt Enterprises, with Bräck the winner, and team cars Billy Boat third, and Robbie Buhl sixth.With backing from his regular sponsor The Home Depot and support from his car owner Joe Gibbs, Stewart was attempting to become the first driver to complete the entire 1,100 in one day.* Includes days where trackactivity was significantlylimited due to rain ROP — denotes RookieOrientation Program For the second year in a row, practice and qualifying during the month of May was trimmed down to a compressed "two week" schedule.In addition, for the second time, an open test was conducted in early April, which also included the annual rookie orientation program.No serious incidents were reported, but Ray, Mike Groff, Robby Unser, Donnie Beechler, and Scott Harrington all brought out yellow flags for blown engines or mechanical failures.Rookie Dave Steele crashed hard into the outside wall in turn 1 at 11:33 a.m., suffering a concussion, and was forced to sit out the remainder of the month.Stewart's attempt at "Double Duty" meant that he was due in Charlotte later that afternoon for The Winston all-star race, and had a tight window in which to qualify at Indy.The slow qualifying speed put Stewart in a somewhat precarious situation that left him vulnerable to possibly being bumped before day's end.As time trials closed for the day at 6 o'clock, Scott Harrington completed his run, filling the field to a full 33 cars.Since Stewart was expected to miss the mandatory NASCAR pre-race drivers meeting, he was poised to start last on the grid at Charlotte regardless of his qualifying speed.The top three race qualifiers and their respective pit crews were automatically eligible: Arie Luyendyk, Greg Ray, and Billy Boat.Two teams earned berths by winning the Coors Light Pit Stop Contest Award during the first two races of the 1999 IRL season.Luyendyk ended up making the event based on qualifying on the front row, so Hamilton, Bräck, and Sharp advanced from the "playoff".The first caution flag flew on lap 9 when Eliseo Salazar got loose coming off turn 2 and slammed into the inside wall.Kite's car suffered extensive internal damage and spent most of the race in the garage for repairs, before retiring late due to engine trouble.Sam Schmidt inherited the lead until the cars of Roberto Guerrero and Hideshi Matsuda stalled on the track, bringing out a yellow flag.Kenny Bräck, the reigning IRL champion, driving for four-time Indianapolis 500 winner A. J. Foyt, took the lead for the first time on lap 60 after passing Ray in turn two.Shortly after the restart on lap 100, Scott Goodyear, another of the prerace favorites, brought out another yellow, stopping in turn two with engine problems.Luyendyk tried to overtake Carlson on the inside of the corner, but grazed the left rear wheel, slid backwards and into the turn three wall.Defending Indy 500 champion Eddie Cheever led the field for the restart on lap 124, but was passed by Kenny Bräck and Jeff Ward at the drop of the green.With teammate Greg Ray already out of the race after the mishap with Dismore, Gordon was left to carry the banner for owner John Menard, who was making his 20th appearance at Indy.Robbie Buhl, who struggled during practice and barely made the field on Bump Day, charged from 32nd starting position to finish 6th.Scott Sharp, who qualified on the outside of the second row, suffered a humiliating gaffe when his pit crew neglected to remove the protective air blocks from the radiator inlets.In the May 10, 1999, edition of Sports Illustrated, Ed Hinton penned an article reporting the tragedy, and discussed the general topic of safety in motorsports.[8][9] In the week following the magazine's release, IMS/IRL president Tony George issued a letter stating his extreme displeasure with the article and the photo, describing that it was insensitive and inappropriate, and declared that Hinton was to be denied credentials to the 1999 Indianapolis 500 and future events at the track.The Chicago Tribune, The Detroit News, Los Angeles Times, and several other newspapers announced they were all boycotting the event, citing censorship.Due to the tragedy at Charlotte, the league adopted wheel tethers in time for the 1999 Indy 500 to prevent tires from flying off cars during crashes and potentially injuring spectators and drivers.Tom Sneva returned as analyst, and for 1999 the "host" position was revived, with longtime ABC personality Al Michaels joining the crew.Jack Arute had left ABC for a short time to cover IRL races on Speedvision and FSN, and thus was absent from this telecast.Host: Al Michaels Announcer: Bob Jenkins Color: Tom Sneva Practice and time trials were carried over three networks: ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2.