Track: Walt Disney World Speedway
Date: Saturday, January 24, 1998
Start time: 12:30 PM EST
Weather: Cloudy and cool
Serial: #1 of 11 in 1998 season
History: IRL race #3, Indycar race #3 at this track
Config: 1-mile triangular, flat track
Wing package: Short track
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.
Fin St Qual Car C/E/T Driver Entrant Laps Status Laps Pts
Spd # Led
1 1 Points 1 G/A/F Tony Stewart Meanard 200 Running 132 52
2 24 Points 35 G/A/G Jeff Ward ISM 200 Running 40
3 19 Points 6 G/A/G Davey Hamilton Nienhouse 200 Running 35
4 15 Points 77 G/A/G Stephan Gregoire Chastain 200 Running 32
5 22 Points 28 D/A/G Mark Dismore Kelley 199 Running 27 30
6 20 Points 8 D/A/G Scott Sharp Kelley 198 Running 28
7 4 Points 10 G/A/F Mike Groff Byrd-C'ham 198 Running 26
8 5 Points 5 G/A/F Arie Luyendyk Treadway 197 Running 24
9 17 Points 99 D/A/F Sam Schmidt LP 195 Running 22
10 7 Points 18 G/A/G John Paul Jr. PDM 194 Running 20
11 27 Prov. 20 D/A/G Tyce Carlson Immke 192 Running 19
12 26 Points 15 R/A/G Eliseo Salazar R&S 187 Running 18
13 2 Points 14 D/A/G Kenny Brack Foyt 174 Running 1 17
14 10 Points 12 G/A/G Buzz Calkins Bradley 168 Running 16
15 8 Points 91 D/A/G Buddy Lazier Hemelgarn 165 Crash MS 34 15
16 28 Prov. 7 D/A/G Jimmy Kite Scandia 149 Halfshaft 14
17 21 Points 4 G/A/G Scott Goodyear Panther 132 Suspension 13
18 9 Points 30 G/A/G Raul Boesel McCormack 128 Running 12
19 13 Points 17 D/A/G Brian Tyler Chitwood 121 Crash T2 11
20 14 Points 3 G/A/F Robbie Buhl Menard 100 Electrical 10
21 3 Points 11 D/A/G Billy Boat Foyt 72 Crash FS 9
22 18 Points 19 R/A/G Stan Wattles Metro 64 Crash T1 8
23 11 Points 40 D/I/F Jack Miller Arizona 59 Handling 7
24 23 Points 51 D/A/G Eddie Cheever Cheever 48 Engine 6
25 16 Points 97 D/A/G Greg Ray Knapp 29 Crash T2 5
26 6 Points 21 D/A/G Roberto Guerrero Pagan 13 Crash T2 6 4
27 25 Points 16 G/A/F Marco Greco Phoenix 12 Crash T2 3
28 12 Points 27 D/A/F Robbie Groff Blueprint 0 Crash FS 2
Laps under green: 123 of 200 laps (61.5%)
Caution flags: 10 for 77 laps (38.5%)
#1: lap 1, crash (R. Groff), FS, 6 laps
#2: lap 13, spin/crash (Greco, Guerrero, Luyendyk, Salazar), T2, 14 laps
#3: lap 31, blown engine/crash (Ray), T2, 11 laps
#4: lpa 49, blown engine (Cheever), 5 laps
#5: lap 66, crash (Wattles), T1, 6 laps
[crash during caution period (Boesel, Buhl), pit lane]
#6: lap 72, crash (Boat), FS, 10 laps
#7: lap 102, crash (Buhl, Sharp), T3, 6 laps
#8: lap 124, crash (Salazar, Tyler), T2, 8 laps
#9: lap 134, crash (Goodyear), T2, 6 laps
#9: lap 166, crash (Lazier), MS, 5 laps
Red flags: 0 for 0 minutes
Lead changes: 8
St: Stewart 1-7
#1: Guerrero 8-13
#2: Stewart 14-126
#3: Brack 127
#4: Stewart 128-131
#5: Lazier 132-165
#6: Stewart 166-168
#7: Dismore 169-195
#8: Stewart 196-200
C/E/T finish averages (# started / avg finish):
Dallara: 14 / 17.2
G-Force: 12 / 10.1
Riley & Scott: 2 / 17.0
Aurora: 27 / 14.2
Infiniti: 1 / 23.0
Firestone: 8 / 15.4
Goodyear: 20 / 14.2