Indy 200

Location:   Walt Disney World Speedway 1 Mile Paved Oval 200 Laps/200 Miles January 24, 1998 Time of race: 2:06:07 Average speed of winner: 95.14 Margin of victory: 8.579 Lead changes: 8 among 5 leaders Cautions: 10 for 77 laps Lap leaders: Stewart 1-7, Guerrero 8-13, Stewart 14-126, Brack 127, Stewart 128-131, Lazier 132-165, Stewart 166-168, Dismore 169-195, Stewart 196-200

Summary:

Tony Stewart outlasted all challengers to take his second IRL victory. Starting in order according to last year's points, due to qualifying being rained out, put Stewart on the pole, but he was quickly passed by Roberto Guerrero who pulled away until he got collected in an accident in turn 1. Stewart then led the rest of the first half of the race, which was marked by numerous incidents taking out contenders: Scott Sharp got tangled up with a slower car and had to pit for a new nose; Scott Goodyear slid into the wall in the midstretch and suffered suspension damage; Raoul Boesel collided in the pit lane with Robbie Buhl and needed a radiator replaced, and defending champion Eddie Cheever dropped out with engine failure. Unexpected cold weather caused tire problems for the competitors; Robbie Groff wrecked at the start of the race when his rear tires broke loose under acceleration, and Billy Boat had a grinding crash on the inside wall of the front stretch when the same thing happened to him on a restart. On lap 132, Buddy Lazier took the lead and held it until he got bound up behind a slower car, spun, and hit the back stretch inside wall on lap 166. At that point, all five cars remaining in the lead lap -- Stewart, Davey Hamilton, Jeff Ward, Stephan Gregoire, and Mark Dismore -- were marginal on fuel mileage. Stewart, Hamilton, and Ward pitted for fuel, while Dismore and Gregoire elected to gamble and assumed the top two places. The excitement built after the restart, as Dismore held off Stewart (who had moved back up to second), while Gregoire, Hamilton, and Ward all dueled for third. Unfortunately for Dismore, his gamble didn't work, and he finally had to pit for fuel on lap 197 after Stewart had passed him two laps earlier when the engine stumbled. On the final lap, Ward passed Hamilton, and then claimed second place as Gregoire ran out of fuel and coasted across the line to a fourth-place finish. Despite the numerous wrecks, there were no injuries. (from IRL Underground)