Sam Schmidt took his first Pep Boys Indy Racing League win by passing Kenny Brack late on, a result that kept Greg Ray's title lead intact but trimmed it sharply.
Sam Schmidt won the 1999 Vegas.com 500 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, taking his first career series victory by 0.617 seconds from Kenny Brack. The win moved Schmidt to third in the standings and trimmed Greg Ray's lead.
On 26 September 1999 the Pep Boys Indy Racing League visited Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Nevada for the Vegas.com 500. Sam Schmidt of Treadway Racing took the win, passing Kenny Brack in the closing laps to claim his first series victory. A late caution and a close fight over the final two laps decided a race that had been dominated by Brack for much of its length.
What was the 1999 Vegas.com 500?
The race was the ninth of ten scheduled open-wheel events for the 1999 season, and the fourth time it had been run since 1996. It was contested over 208 laps, which covered 502 km (312 miles) around a four-turn oval.
The track is 2.4 km (1.5 miles) in length. Its banking runs at 12 degrees through the turns, 3 degrees on the back straight and 9 degrees on the front straight. The high speeds on the circuit made it one of the fastest venues on the calendar.
The race had a clear bearing on the title. Greg Ray led the Drivers' Championship with 246 points, and Scott Goodyear was second with 202. Kenny Brack was third on 199, and Ray only needed to finish 56 points ahead of the runner-up to clinch the title.
A late pass for the lead, one last lap and a first career win for a driver whose career would change in a single crash.
Why did the championship battle matter so much?
Greg Ray was in control of the title race heading into Las Vegas. He held a lead that Brack and Goodyear could only chip away at, and a strong result would have helped him seal the championship. Brack, meanwhile, needed a win to close the gap.
Buddy Lazier sat fourth on points, 14 behind Brack, and Davey Hamilton was fifth, 19 behind. Those gaps meant that a single race could move several drivers up or down the table.
The standings made the race a test of nerve as much as speed. Ray's lead was large enough to be a cushion, but a bad result would have let his rivals close in very quickly over the final round.
How did the new entries and testing shape the field?
The race entry list featured 26 cars, using two engine makers, two chassis makers and two tyre suppliers. Among the entrants was Niclas Jonsson, a former European Formula 3 driver, who passed his rookie orientation test on 1 September and raced with Blueprint Racing.
Sarah Fisher completed the orientation too, but she skipped the race to gain more track time before the Mall.com 500. Buhl was at TriStar Motorsports, making his first start since the 1999 Indianapolis 500.
Willy T. Ribbs was the most notable newcomer. He signed with McCormack Motorsports, making history as the series' first African-American driver. His last American open-wheel start had come at Monterey in 1994.
August testing at the track had produced fast laps above 200 mph (320 km/h). Six teams took part in the sessions on 11 and 12 August, and Greg Ray had two accidents at the track that week, one in turn four and one in turn two. Scott Sharp was the fastest driver on 11 August at 209.45 mph (337.08 km/h). Dismore, who drove alongside him for Kelley Racing, recorded the top lap speed of 336.69 km/h (209.21 mph).
Who was fastest in qualifying?
Sam Schmidt claimed his first career pole with a time of 25.780 seconds, which was the fastest lap of the weekend's qualifying. He had also been quickest in the Friday practice at 25.856 seconds, and he led the second session with 25.977 seconds.
Dismore was 0.045 seconds slower, which gave him the second spot on the front row. He had earned front-row starts four times that season. Brack returned to a G-Force chassis, which he had last used in 1997, and qualified third. Ray and Goodyear were fourth and fifth.
The rest of the top ten was made up of Sharp, Carlson, Hollansworth, Boat and Lazier. Gregoire, Harrington, the two Unsers and Beechler took places eleven to fifteen.
Qualifying was held at noon on Saturday in humid conditions, and each driver was allowed at most two timed laps, and the faster one counted.
Buzz Calkins completed only one lap and started 16th, because he believed the flag had come out at the end of his first lap. Eddie Cheever spun in turn three on his second timed lap and started 18th. Davey Hamilton switched to a back-up car and started last, while Ribbs and Jonsson took the final places.
How did the race unfold?
The race began at 11:42 AM local time, with Danny Greenspun waving the green flag. ESPN2 carried the race, with Bob Jenkins and Arie Luyendyk commentating and Jack Arute and Vince Welch working the pits. Singer Serena Henry sang the national anthem, and William D. Jansen, the judge, gave the command to start engines. The conditions were dry and muggy, with air temperatures of 37 C (98 F) and the track reaching 56 C (132 F). Around 32,000 people watched in the stands.
Dismore briefly led on the first lap, but Schmidt retook the lead at the end of that lap. Hamilton spun into the turn-three wall on the opening lap and collided with Gregoire. Beechler spun in turn two a little later, which brought out the first caution.
At the sixth-lap restart Dismore got the field rolling again. Brack tried and failed to get past Schmidt for second early in the lap. Two laps later Johnny Unser lost his car in turn four on cold tyres, and a second yellow flag came out.
Schmidt charged past Dismore on the 13th lap to take the lead. Ribbs spun in turn four on the 18th lap and hit the wall heavily, with flames briefly visible, which brought out the third caution. Cheever climbed to third by that point.
Racing resumed on the 27th lap, and Dismore drove alongside Schmidt to take the lead on lap 28. Cheever passed Schmidt for second, then overtook Dismore for the lead. Brack first took the lead on the 50th lap and went on to lead 118 laps in total.
On the 85th lap, Jonsson's car caught fire after a fuel leak burned into the wiring, and he retired. On the 138th lap, Cheever's engine gave out, and he was out of the race, handing second to Jaques Lazier. Robby Unser then pulled into the pits with a failing engine a lap later.
Schmidt got by Jaques Lazier for second on lap 145, then used Brack's draft to pass him on the outside for the lead on lap 150. The margin grew until a caution came out after Johncox struck the barrier leaving the second corner.
Brack regained the lead after the pit cycle under caution, and Schmidt closed in on him for the next 23 laps without a pass. On the 193rd lap, Sharp collided with Hamilton in turn three, and that brought out the tenth caution. The final caution came a lap after racing resumed on the 197th lap, when Salazar spun at turn four.
On lap 206 Schmidt steered to the left of Brack on the back straight and took the lead. He held on for the final two laps to win by 0.617 seconds.
Why did Schmidt's win matter?
Schmidt earned $146,200 for the victory, and he celebrated with his team in victory lane. It was his first career win in the Pep Boys Indy Racing League, and it proved to be his only win before a crash in January 2000 left him a quadriplegic. The car had been the class of the field that afternoon, which made the victory all the more satisfying for Treadway.
He said the car had been the best on the track and that it could run flat out for long periods. He also said the cautions had caught his team out, because it had been hoping for long runs. Schmidt later formed Sam Schmidt Motorsports in 2001, and the team went on to win numerous races.
Brack said the cars had been evenly matched and that tyres made the difference at the end. He had driven as hard as he could, he added. Buhl was pleased with a third-place finish after a difficult Friday.
| Position | Driver | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sam Schmidt | Winner, first career series win |
| 2 | Kenny Brack | 0.617 seconds behind, led 118 laps |
| 3 | Robbie Buhl | Third, his podium finish |
| 4 | Scott Sharp | Fourth place |
| 5 | Buzz Calkins | Fifth place |
How did the points race change after Las Vegas?
Greg Ray kept the Drivers' Championship lead with 255 points, although Brack trimmed the advantage to 15 points. Schmidt jumped from 12th to third with 225 points, ahead of Sharp on 209 and Goodyear fifth on 207, with one race left in the season.
With one round left, the title race was still tight, and Schmidt's climb to third showed how quickly a single result could change the order.
Ray was frustrated with Dismore, who had made contact with him on the 105th lap in turn four. Ray said Dismore had blocked him low in turn four, which left him no room to pass. He said the impact had broken his timing chain, which he described as a hard blow for his championship run. Dismore said the team had been running consistently and simply had an accident.
Goodyear had a hard accident of his own on lap 49, when he spun into the turn-four wall and bruised his left knee. Johncox fractured his left foot after his right-front tyre punctured in an earlier incident.
What did the cautions and penalties mean for the race?
The race had 11 cautions and 11 lead changes among five different drivers. Brack led the most laps, 118, and Schmidt led on four occasions, covering 35 laps.
Carlson and Johncox were both penalised for speeding up too early before the start-finish line, and each had to serve a stop-and-go. The penalties did not change the finishing order, but they added to the frustration of a race that had been stopped repeatedly.
Johncox's broken foot and Ray's damaged timing chain were among the costliest mishaps for the title contenders that afternoon. Brack's second place was a strong result for A. J. Foyt Racing, and it put him within reach of the championship lead.
