1998 Indy 200 at Walt Disney World


The 1998 Indy 200 at Walt Disney World was the first round of the 1998 Indy Racing League season. The race was held on January 24, 1998 at the Walt Disney World Speedway in Bay Lake, Florida. As in 1997, rain hampered the event, this time forcing to cancel the qualifying session.

Report

Qualifying

For the first time in IRL history, torrential rain forced the qualifying session to be cancelled. Thus, the grid was set by 1996-1997 entrant points. The remaining new entries were sorted by practice speeds. The grid was limited to 28 cars due to concerns about safety in the pit area.
  1. Changed to a backup car for the race, following a crash in a practice session after qualifying.

    Failed to qualify or withdrew

outlasted all challengers to take his second IRL victory. Starting on the pole, 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, Raul 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 were marginal on fuel mileage. Stewart, Hamilton, and Ward pitted for fuel, while Dismore and Grégoire elected to gamble and assumed the top two places.
After the restart, Dismore held off Stewart while Grégoire, Hamilton, and Ward all dueled for third. The gamble didn't work for Dismore, 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 Grégoire ran out of fuel and coasted across the line to a fourth-place finish.
PosNo.DriverTeamLapsTime/RetiredGridLaps LedPoints
11 Tony StewartTeam Menard2002:06:07113252
235 Jeff WardISM Racing200+ 8.579 sec24040
36 Davey HamiltonNienhouse Motorsports200Running19035
477 Stéphan GrégoireChastain Motorsports200Running15032
528 Mark DismoreKelley Racing199+ 1 lap222730
68 Scott SharpKelley Racing198+ 2 lap20028
710 Mike GroffByrd-Cunningham Racing198+ 2 lap4026
85 Arie LuyendykTreadway Racing197+ 3 laps5024
999 Sam SchmidtLP Racing195+ 5 laps17022
1018 John Paul, Jr.PDM Racing194+ 6 laps7020
1120 Tyce CarlsonImmke Racing192+ 8 laps27019
1215 Eliseo SalazarRiley & Scott Cars187+ 13 laps26018
1314 Kenny BräckA. J. Foyt Enterprises174+ 26 laps2117
1412 Buzz Calkins WBradley Motorsports168+ 32 laps10016
1591 Buddy LazierHemelgarn Racing165Accident83415
167 Jimmy KiteTeam Scandia149Half shaft28014
174 Scott GoodyearPanther Racing132Suspension21013
1830 Raul BoeselMcCormack Motorsports128+ 72 laps9012
1917 Brian Tyler RChitwood Motorsports121Accident13011
203 Robbie BuhlTeam Menard100Electrical14010
2111 Billy BoatA. J. Foyt Enterprises72Accident309
2219 Stan WattlesMetro Racing Systems64Accident1808
2340 Jack MillerCrest Racing/SRS59Handling1107
2451 Eddie Cheever W Team Cheever48Engine fire2306
2597 Greg RayKnapp Motorsports29Accident1605
2621 Roberto GuerreroPagan Racing13Accident664
2716 Marco GrecoPhoenix Racing12Accident2503
2827 Robbie GroffBlueprint Racing0Accident1202

Race Statistics

;Drivers' Championship standings
PosDriverPoints
1 Tony Stewart52
2 Jeff Ward40
3 Davey Hamilton35
4 Stéphan Grégoire32
5 Mark Dismore30