A rookie named Buzz Calkins won the first race of the breakaway Indy Racing League, with Tony Stewart taking second on his Indy car debut.
The 1996 Indy 200 at Walt Disney World was the first race of the Indy Racing League, won by rookie Buzz Calkins on 27 January 1996. Tony Stewart finished second on his Indy car debut, and the race is remembered as the start of a twelve-year open-wheel split.
The 1996 Indy 200 at Walt Disney World opened the Indy Racing League's first season on 27 January 1996. Buzz Calkins, a rookie, led 130 laps and won by eight tenths of a second, while Tony Stewart made his Indy car debut and finished second after a late duel. The race marked the start of a split in American open-wheel racing that would last for twelve years.
What was the 1996 Indy 200 at Walt Disney World?
The race was the first event for the breakaway Indy Racing League and was held on the 1.609 km (1.000 mile) Walt Disney World Speedway in Bay Lake, Florida. Calkins won in front of a published gate of 50,742 spectators, and the race averaged 128.325 mph (206.519 km/h) for its full distance.
The contest had six lead changes among six different drivers. It was a grand opening for a series that had been created to rival the established CART championship.
The first race of a new series produced a rookie winner, a debut podium for Stewart and a finish settled by eight tenths of a second.
Why did the Indy Racing League start at Walt Disney World?
The Indy Racing League began life after a dispute with the established IndyCar World Series. The so-called 25/8 rule, which CART teams saw as a way to lock them out of the Indianapolis 500, sat at the heart of the quarrel and pushed the two sides apart.
The conflict grew in December 1995, when CART announced a rival event called the U.S. 500 at Michigan International Speedway on Memorial Day. In January A. J. Foyt filed a suit for $5 million against CART over alleged anti-competitive practices, and Oldsmobile was named as the first engine supplier for the 4.0 V8 formula the IRL would use from 1997.
Walt Disney World Speedway itself was new. It opened on 28 November 1995, and the first tyre sessions were held by Firestone and Goodyear before the series began its real preparations.
How did the testing and entry list take shape?
An open test ran from 4 to 8 December 1995 with 16 drivers taking part at some point. A tentative entry list of 13 drivers was published on 6 December, headlined by Arie Luyendyk, Roberto Guerrero, Scott Brayton, Eddie Cheever and Eliseo Salazar. Michele Alboreto and Richie Hearn were among the rookies.
No IndyCar team agreed to join the new series, and none of the top 16 drivers from the two previous IndyCar seasons were entered. Testing continued from 9 to 19 January, with 18 drivers involved. Buddy Lazier set the early pace, and Scott Sharp, John Paul Jr. and Robbie Buhl were among five new signings that week.
Tony Stewart became Team Menard's third driver after a test day on which he ran a car that had been discarded by Cheever and Brayton for handling reasons. John Menard had wanted to field Jim Crawford in the third car, but USAC's representative persuaded him to give the 24-year-old rookie a chance. Stewart had earlier declined an offer from A. J. Foyt, which would have meant giving up a part-time NASCAR Busch Series schedule.
Who was in the field and what happened in qualifying?
Butch Brickell broke two vertebrae in a hard crash on 13 January and was ruled out, although his entry stayed on the list. Bill Tempero and Rick DeLorto failed their driver tests, and the car of Jim Buick never appeared on pit road. The field was therefore thinner than the entry list suggested.
Friday morning practice ended badly for Eliseo Salazar. He clipped the wall at the exit of turn three, and a stabilising rod pierced his cockpit and injured his right leg. Surgery followed for a fractured femur and thigh injuries, and he was listed afterwards in stable condition.
In qualifying Lazier took pole. He had not finished higher than 16th in 55 previous Indy car starts, so the result was a surprise even to those close to the team. Hearn qualified second in his first Indy car qualifying session, and Guerrero and Luyendyk took third and fourth.
Tony Stewart outqualified his more experienced Team Menard teammates, Eddie Cheever and Scott Brayton, despite having completed only 67 laps in winter testing. Several drivers at the bottom of the field struggled with a lack of mileage, and David Kudrave, who had no testing mileage at all, qualified near the back.
On Friday afternoon Cheever and Hearn collided at turn one, damaging both chassis beyond repair. They started from the back after a 15-minute warm-up, and Della Penna borrowed a back-up car from Pagan Racing to replace a spare that was not competitive.
How did the race start and develop?
The start was far from neat. Only the first two rows and a few drivers at the back were loosely alongside each other when Lazier accelerated into turn four, and most of the field took the green in single file. Guerrero was caught off guard, and Luyendyk passed him for second at the first turn.
Stewart passed Luyendyk on lap 24 and grabbed the lead five laps later. Lazier lost pace with a loose right front upright and dropped out before the halfway point, but Calkins began to mount a charge toward the front. He passed Sharp on lap 32, Guerrero on lap 35 and Luyendyk on lap 51.
While heading to the pits, Luyendyk ran out of fuel and stalled as he left his pit box, which needed a push start. Calkins had a faster second stop than Stewart and opened a large gap through traffic. On lap 84 only Stewart, 15.3 seconds behind, and Guerrero, 17.2 seconds behind, were still on the lead lap.
Luyendyk, who had recovered to seventh by lap 127, lost all of his gears during a third stop and was forced to retire.
What happened in the closing laps?
Rookie Stan Wattles had been running fourth until a spin on turn two on lap 147 sent him into the inside wall, an error he called a rookie mistake. The caution let Stewart cut back the gap, while Buhl pitted under the yellow to move from eighth to third.
On lap 178 Davey Hamilton suffered a sudden mechanical failure on turn two and crashed out of sixth place. The race restarted on lap 184, and Cheever took seventh from Sharp before the pair collided on lap 189 in a crash that resembled the one with Hearn the day before.
Stewart was forced to swerve when recovery vehicles blocked his path. He brushed the wall at low speed and ran over debris, which sliced a tyre and bent his front wing. He kept going and made a late charge, but he lost ground because of the damage.
Calkins took the checkered flag by eight tenths of a second. It was a narrow margin, but the rookie had already built a sizeable lead through the middle stint, and that advantage held when the race was restarted with six laps to go.
Why was Calkins's win a historic first?
Calkins became the first American driver to win his first Indy car race, a record that stands alone in the series' history. Only Graham Hill and Nigel Mansell had equalled the feat in modern Indy car racing, through their 1966 Indianapolis 500 and 1993 Australian grand prix wins.
He also won his first oval race, which made him the second of four drivers to do so, alongside Hill, Scott Dixon and Sebastien Bourdais. The victory was the only one of Calkins's six-year Indy car career.
What were the final positions?
Most drivers in the field were rookies or had modest careers in IndyCar, so many recorded personal milestones. The table lists the notable finishing positions from the race.
| Position | Driver | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Buzz Calkins | Rookie win after leading 130 laps; eight tenths of a second ahead |
| 2nd | Tony Stewart | Indy car debut; first rear-engine open-wheel race |
| 3rd | Robbie Buhl | First Indy car podium, improving on sixth at the 1993 Long Beach race |
| 6th | Mike Groff | Equalled his sixth from the 1994 Valvoline 200 at Phoenix |
| 8th | Lyn St. James | Only top-ten result of her Indy car career |
What was the reaction to the opening race?
Stewart's runner-up finish came on the debut of a driver who had only recently joined Team Menard, and Buhl's podium was his first in Indy car racing.
The result also left Calkins with a strong start in the championship, though it was only his single win in the six seasons that followed.
Who covered the race?
The race was carried live on the IMS Radio Network. Bob Jenkins was chief announcer, with Gary Lee and Donald Davidson in the booth, while Mike King and newcomer Vince Welch worked pit lane.
ABC Sports carried flag-to-flag coverage in the United States. Paul Page hosted and called the play-by-play, and Bobby Unser and Danny Sullivan provided colour commentary.
