1999 Indy Racing League
| 1999 Indy Racing League season | |
|---|---|
| Pep Boys Indy Racing League | |
 |
|
| Season | |
| Races | 10 |
| Start date | January 24 |
| End date | October 17 |
| Awards | |
| Drivers' champion |
 Greg Ray
|
| Indianapolis 500 winner |
 Kenny Bräck
|
The 1999 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 driver Greg Ray capturing 3 race wins in a row and the series championship. This was the last year before CART teams began to break ranks and jump to the IRL.
This race was held January 24 at Walt Disney World Speedway. Scott Sharp won the pole.
Top ten results
This race was held March 28 at Phoenix International Raceway. Greg Ray won the pole.
Top ten results
This race was held May 1 at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Greg Ray won the pole.
With crowds estimated at 50,000, the track opened extra sections of track to accommodate the additional spectators. As reported on the radio broadcast, sections of Turn 1 and Turn 4, and the first eight rows of all open grandstands, were closed by the track for safety. At 8:50 p.m. during lap 59 of the race, Stan Wattles suffered a suspension failure that shot his car into the wall, shearing both right wheels off the car. John Paul, Jr.'s car subsequently hit the debris field and the contact sent Wattles' right rear wheel and tire assembly over the catch fence. Three spectators in the vicinity of the section which had been opened for the overflow crowd were killed from the flying tire debris. Scott Harrington spun to miss the debris field and the accident is often described as a 3-car crash, however, Harrington's car made no contact with the wall or other cars and was undamaged.
Buddy Lazier was leading the race at the time of the caution. He pitted a few laps later to change tires because of a puncture. Greg Ray then took over the lead. A long caution resulted from the lap 62 crash. After 25 minutes under yellow, race officials brought out the red flag, and stopped the cars in the pit area. Medical helicopters needed space to land to aid the injured spectators. At 9:15 p.m., the halted race was scored through 79 laps. Shortly after the red flag was put out, track and series officials announced the fatalities had occurred, and Humpy Wheeler made the decision to cancel the remainder of the race.
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