1998 Lone Star 500

1998 Texas II
Race details
10th round of the 1998 Indy Racing League season
Date	September 20, 1998
Official name	Lone Star 500
Location	Texas Motor Speedway
Course	Permanent racing facility; 1.500 mi / 2.414 km
Distance	208 laps; 312.000 mi / 502.115 km
Pole position
Driver	Billy Boat (A. J. Foyt Enterprises)
Time	23.896
Fastest lap
Driver	Jeff Ward (ISM Racing)
Time	24.081 (on lap unknown of 208)
Podium
First	John Paul Jr. (Byrd-Cunningham Racing)
Second	Robby Unser (Team Cheever)
Third	Jeff Ward (ISM Racing)

The 1998 Lone Star 500 was the tenth round of the 1998 Indy Racing League season. The race was held on September 20, 1998 at the 1.50 mi (2.41 km) Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. Open-wheel veteran John Paul Jr. earned his first win since the 1983 Michigan 500 in a race determined by attrition and fuel strategy. It would be Paul's only win in his IRL career and the only win for Byrd-Cunningham Racing in the series. Rookie Robby Unser scored his first and only podium as well as led the only laps in his career.

The race saw many crashes and problems plague the usual frontrunners, including Arie Luyendyk (fuel pump), Eddie Cheever (engine malfunction), Scott Sharp (crash), Greg Ray (engine malfunction), and Tony Stewart (led 51 laps before an engine problem ended his race). By finishing 5th, points leader Kenny Bräck maintained his comfortable lead in the points standings, all but ensuring he would be the next IRL champion in the next race.

Report

Key	Meaning
R	Rookie
W	Past winner

Qualifying

Two laps qualifying. The worst lap from any of the drivers are unknown.

Pos	No.	Name	Lap	Best (in mph)
1	11	Billy Boat W	23.896	225.979
2	1	Tony Stewart	24.014	224.869
3	8	Scott Sharp	24.048	224.551
4	28	Mark Dismore	24.075	224.299
5	35	Jeff Ward	24.099	224.076
6	6	Davey Hamilton	24.142	223.677
7	4	Scott Goodyear	24.240	222.770
8	77	Stéphan Grégoire	24.288	222.332
9	51	Eddie Cheever	24.295	222.268
10	14	Kenny Bräck	24.304	222.186
11	43	Dave Steele R	24.319	222.049
12	97	Greg Ray	24.333	221.921
13	30	Raul Boesel	24.387	221.429
14	10	John Paul Jr.	24.394	221.366
15	16	Marco Greco	24.398	221.330
16	3	Robbie Buhl	24.451	220.850
17	52	Robby Unser R	24.454	220.823
18	23	Roberto Guerrero	24.491	220.489
19	91	Buddy Lazier	24.499	220.417
20	18	Steve Knapp R	24.669	218.898
21	12	Buzz Calkins	24.723	218.420
22	40	Jack Miller	24.821	217.558
23	99	Sam Schmidt	24.857	217.243
24	81	Brian Tyler R	24.900	216.867
25	98	Donnie Beechler R	25.040	215.655
26	19	Stan Wattles	25.387	212.707
27	15	Andy Michner R	26.119	206.746
28	5	Arie Luyendyk¹ W	24.585	219.646
Source^[1]^[2]

^ Changed to a backup car for the race, after repeatedly changing engines during the weekend before loaning one from Panther Racing.

Race

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Laps Led	Points
1	10	John Paul Jr.	Byrd-Cunningham Racing	208	2:21:53.557	14	31	50
2	52	Robby Unser R	Team Cheever	208	+1.577 sec	17	22	40
3	35	Jeff Ward	ISM Racing	208	Running	5	16	35
4	23	Roberto Guerrero	Cobb Racing	208	Running	18	22	32
5	5	Kenny Bräck	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	207	+1 Lap	10		30
6	91	Buddy Lazier	Hemelgarn Racing	206	+2 Laps	19	14	28
7	3	Robbie Buhl	Team Menard	205	+3 Laps	16		26
8	19	Stan Wattles	Metro Racing Systems	205	+3 Laps	26		24
9	6	Davey Hamilton	Nienhouse Motorsports	202	+6 Laps	6		22
10	28	Mark Dismore	Kelley Racing	202	+6 Laps	4	14	20
11	12	Buzz Calkins	Bradley Motorsports	201	+7 Laps	21		19
12	40	Jack Miller	Sinden Racing Services	201	+7 Laps	22		18
13	81	Brian Tyler R	Team Pelfrey	174	Engine	24		17
14	11	Billy Boat W	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	162	+46 Laps	1		19
15	15	Andy Michner R	Riley & Scott	158	Engine	27	7	15
16	16	Marco Greco	Phoenix Racing	133	Contact	15		14
17	30	Raul Boesel	McCormack Motorsports	133	Contact	13	30	13
18	18	Steve Knapp R	PDM Racing	131	Contact	20		12
19	98	Donnie Beechler R	Cahill Racing	122	Contact	25		11
20	1	Tony Stewart	Team Menard	80	Engine	2	51	14
21	97	Greg Ray	Knapp Motorsports	75	Engine	12		9
22	4	Scott Goodyear	Panther Racing	71	Clutch	7		8
23	8	Scott Sharp	Kelley Racing	67	Contact	3	1	8
24	43	Dave Steele R	Panther Racing	39	Contact	11		6
25	51	Eddie Cheever	Team Cheever	30	Engine	9		5
26	77	Stéphan Grégoire	Chastain Motorsports	18	Contact	8		4
27	99	Sam Schmidt	LP Racing	5	Engine	23		3
28	5	Arie Luyendyk W	Treadway Racing	5	Fuel Pump	28		2
Source^[1]

Race Statistics

Lead changes: 17 among 10 drivers

Lap Leaders
Laps	Leader
1-27	Tony Stewart
28-41	Mark Dismore
42	Jeff Ward
43-50	Raul Boesel
51	Scott Sharp
52-75	Tony Stewart
76-80	Jeff Ward
81-87	John Paul Jr.
88-109	Raul Boesel
110-116	Andy Michner
117-130	Buddy Lazier
131-136	John Paul Jr.
137-140	Roberto Guerrero
141-162	Robby Unser
163	John Paul Jr.
164-182	Roberto Guerrero
183-191	Jeff Ward
192-208	John Paul Jr.

Cautions: 8 for 74 laps
Laps	Reason
19-27	Stéphane Grégoire crash
40-48	Dave Steele crash
70-78	Scott Sharp crash
85-92	Debris
108-116	Billy Boat crash
134-152	Greco, Boesel, Beechler and Knapp crash
160-164	Tow-in for Andy Michner
198-202	Davey Hamilton's tire blow-out

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

Rank	+/–	Driver	Points
1		Kenny Bräck	312
2		Davey Hamilton	281
3		Tony Stewart	271
4		Scott Sharp	254
5	1	Jeff Ward	243

Note: Only the top five positions are included for the standings.

References

^ a b "1998 Lone Star 500". racing-reference.info. Retrieved September 7, 2017.
^ "Starting Grid, Texas (1998-09-20)". indyracingleague.com. Archived from the original on May 9, 2000. Retrieved September 20, 2017.

Previous race: 1998 Atlanta 500 Classic	Indy Racing League 1998 season	Next race: 1998 Las Vegas 500K

Previous race: 1998 True Value 500	Lone Star 500	Next race: 1999 Longhorn 500

[raceref-1] "1998 Lone Star 500". racing-reference.info. Retrieved September 7, 2017.

[raceref2-2] "Starting Grid, Texas (1998-09-20)". indyracingleague.com. Archived from the original on May 9, 2000. Retrieved September 20, 2017.