|| *Comments on the 1996 Indianapolis 500:* View the most recent comment <#61> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. adamal82 posted: 01.30.2009 - 9:18 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) First Indy 500 after the split with CART. Cart ran the US 500 at Michigan on the same Weekend. 2. MegaRacer posted: 01.30.2009 - 1:36 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Scott Brayton qualified for pole position on May 11 but sadly was fatally injured in a practice crash on May 17. Danny Ongais was named to replace him in the race. RIP Scotty! 3. Indycar1 posted: 01.30.2009 - 1:57 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Buddy Lazier's only Indy 500 win. Richie Hearn was the highest finishing rookie in 3rd. Alessandro Zampedri had a nasty crash just a few hundred yards before the finish line. Scott Brayton won the pole for a second straight year, the last back-to-back pole winner to this day. But was killed when he cut a right rear tire in turn 2 and hit the wall hard with the left side, just 6 days later. 4. Sad but true... posted: 01.30.2009 - 3:44 pm Rate this comment: (4) (2) The day the doors opened for NASCAR to take over the American motorsports scene... 5. Darrell posted: 01.30.2009 - 5:05 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Buddy Lazier won this race with back injuries suffered earlier. Tony Stewart won Rookie of the Year despite finishing way back in the field. He inherited the pole from deceased teammate Scott Brayton and led a good portion of the race before his car suffered mechanical problems. 6. RR posted: 01.30.2009 - 8:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Alessandro Zampedri goes for a wild ride coming to the checkers. The wreck also involved Guerrero and Salazar. Bad day in AOWR history. The Indy 500 runs with many unknowns, and the "Stars and Cars" take each other out before the race began at Michigan. 7. Darrell posted: 01.31.2009 - 3:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Failed to qualify: Justin Bell (#15), Billy Boat (#84/#87/#99), Butch Brickell (#77), Tyce Carlson (#36/#77), Dan Drinan (#36), Dave Kudrave (#15), Andy Michner (#36), Randy Tolsma (#24/#45), and Rob Wilson (#46) 8. Anonymous posted: 02.01.2009 - 12:30 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) So... what, over 60 cars ran in AOW series on the same day? Probably over 70 if you count the DNQ's! Why can't we get more than 24 now? 9. Anonymous posted: 02.01.2009 - 1:31 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) It caused by the fact Open wheel racing in America hasn't been popular for years and the cost of getting an Indy ride. 10. samfan09 posted: 02.03.2009 - 1:05 am Rate this comment: (2) (1) Overall pretty boring race because of the lack of big names. But I'll never forget Buddy Lazier in victory lane. You could tell he was in obvious pain, and if I remember right he told everyone to not touch him so he could have some time to get out of the car. Truly gutsy performance. 11. Steve posted: 03.16.2009 - 3:24 am Rate this comment: (2) (2) The reason CART staged the rival U.S. 500 at Michigan was because IRL founder and IMS President Tony George decided to create the "25/8" rule (similar to NA$CAR's Top 35 rule), meaning that the Top 25 drivers in IRL driver points (as opposed to owner) would automatically start the Indy 500 regardless of qualifying speed. This essentially locked out the CART stars (teams and drivers already had commitments with sponsors for 1996): 6-Michael Andretti 1-Raul Boesel 32-Adrian Fernandez 8-Gil de Ferran 11-Christian Fittipaldi 9-Emerson Fittipaldi 5-Robby Gordon 17-Mauricio Gugelmin 28-Bryan Herta 16-Stefan Johansson 99-Greg Moore 34-Roberto Moreno 20-Scott Pruett 18-Bobby Rahal 31-Andre Ribeiro 3-Paul Tracy 2-Al Unser Jr 12-Jimmy Vasser 4-Alex Zanardi These 19 quality drivers were among the participants of the 1996 CART season. Imagine just EIGHT of them being allowed into the Indy 500, and explaining to the other eleven why they aren't. Meanwhile, guys like Buzz Calkins, Brad Murphey, and Dr. Jack Miller get to race. 12. RaceFanX posted: 04.10.2009 - 12:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Davy Jones finishes 2nd in his only IRL start 13. Pacer posted: 04.21.2009 - 5:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The pace car for this Indy 500 was a Dodge Viper GTS. 14. Turn it around posted: 05.10.2009 - 10:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hemelgarn Racing wins the Indy 500 with the purple Delta Faucet #91 one year after Stan Fox suffered a career-ending accident on the opening lap in the previous Indy 500 with the same team First of two IRL races for Danny Ongais. The 7th place here was the Flying Hawaiian's best IRL outing. 15. RaceFanX posted: 05.14.2009 - 11:17 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) In addition to Ongais, this was the IRL debut for Mark Dismore, Eliseo Salazar, Alessandro Zampedri, Scott Harrington, Hideshi Matsuda, Joe Gosek, Brad Murphey and Marco Greco In addition to Davy Jones, this was the only IRL start for Racin Gardner 16. Steve posted: 12.25.2009 - 8:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Third place finisher Richie Hearn should have been named Indy 500 Rookie of the Year (or at least co-RotY with Stewart). But because he and John Della Penna were running IndyCar (CART) races along with the IRL, it apparently didn't sit well with the IRL guys. He wasn't even in the media guide for that year's Indy 500. See a National Speed Sport News Archive at: http://www.autoracing1.com/Images/2004Misc/racer1996.12-01.jpg 17. Anonymous posted: 03.17.2010 - 7:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Randy Tolsma, the NASCAR driver try to make the field. But this is somewhat the most lacking field for the most part to ever run. Well, maybe not well in their time it would be. No offense. Like a fourth or two. Only like 10 had success for example Eddie, Tony, Arie to name a couple. 18. jamie88fan posted: 05.05.2010 - 10:51 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The min speed to qualfield was 220.. 19. AutoRockinRacing94 posted: 05.26.2010 - 7:06 pm Rate this comment: (3) (0) Say what you will, Tony Stewart is not the true pole-sitter, even Versus claimed him as winning back-to-back poles and was the last one to do it until Helio. 20. AutoRockinRacing94 posted: 05.26.2010 - 7:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Nobody worth mentioned that Arie Luyendyk set the fastest speed in Indy 500 history of well over 236.985 MPH! If they never reduced speeds, Helio would have gone about 247.323 MPH (my random speed) and for a while it was very lacking on names, some that aren't even important. 21. AutoRockinRacing94 posted: 05.26.2010 - 7:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) 238.493 was Arie's speed, referring to Helio, then it would be about 250.111 MPH in my opinion. 22. Steve posted: 06.07.2010 - 3:32 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The speed were so fast in 1996 because boost restrictions were loosened, likely to reset any speed records set by CART's IndyCar teams/drivers. While in Michigan, Mario called this descision a matter of "playing Russian Roulette". Most of the field lacked the experience, the skill, or both, required to handle such an increase in speed. Despite his fatal accident, Scott Brayton was one of those who had both, as did Cheever, Guerrero, Luyendyk, while F1 veteran/winner Michele Alboreto had enough racing experience to find the necessary skill. Obvisously, Stewart proved he could learn it quickly. I really think we could see 250 mph pole runs, and 240+ mph Bump Day speeds today, if the stock block engines weren't brought in 1997. They sounded like stock car engines on expresso. 23. awesomegordonfan posted: 12.13.2010 - 4:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) ...But obviously that is way too dangerous! :P 24. Anonymous posted: 05.22.2011 - 4:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) what the f**k is expresso 25. ericthenau posted: 06.19.2011 - 10:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Anonymous, I think the "expresso" that Steve mentioned is more like horse steroids or something related to any kind of thing used to increase the performance of something. 26. RaceFanX posted: 11.23.2011 - 2:14 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Did not qualify: Billy Boat- #84 (AJ Foyt Enterprises), #99 Beneto Tank Lines (Pagan Racing), #87 (Pagan Racing) Butch Brickell- #77 Radisson / Earl's (Brickell Racing Group) Dan Drinan- #36 State Bail Bonding/Kelly's Pub Too (Loop Hole Racing) Justin Bell- #15 Tempero-Giuffre Racing (Tempero-Giuffre Racing) Tyce Carlson- #77 Radisson / Earl's (Brickell Racing), #36 State Bail Bonding/Kelly's Pub Too (Loop Hole Racing) Scott Harrington- #39 Harrington Motorsports (Harrington Motorsports) David Kudrave- #15 Tempero-Giuffre Racing (Tempero-Giuffre Racing) Andy Michner- #36 State Bail Bonding/Kelly's Pub Too (Loop Hole Racing) Randy Tolsma- #24 Team Losi (McCormack Motorsports) Rob Wilson- #46 Ruger-Titanium (Project Indy) Scott Brayton- #2 Glidden / Menards (John Menard) - technically withdrawn after he lost his life, became Ongais' #32 in the race 27. RaceFanX posted: 11.23.2011 - 2:17 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) *Rob Wilson- #46 Ruger Titanium (Project Indy)- no dash 28. nascarfreak99 posted: 12.20.2011 - 7:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The start to this race had quite a few problems too. Hideshi Matsuda, Arie Luyendyk, Johnny Unser, and Mark Dismore all had trouble before lap 1. Hideshi could not get the car started until the final pace lap, along with radio trouble. Arie Luyendyk likewise had radio trouble at the start. Johnny Unser parked it when his gearbox gave out. And Mark Dismore pitted at the start. Also, after the command, the engines had to be shut off because the IRL had not finished their technical inspection. However, they were re-fired in a matter of moments. The caution was thrown 2 laps in due to mud being flung onto the racetrack from Mark Dismore loosing control on the start and driving into the grass at the very start. Also during the pace laps, Scott Harrington was trying to catch up to the field, came up way too fast, lost control and spun into the infield, dodging pace-speed cars in the process. 29. kup posted: 05.24.2012 - 12:26 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) UPS - Universal Points System - after all 3 races of 1996 IRL Points for a driver = His Distance /devided/ His Average Finish Dis/AvFn = Driver = KM-Miles / AV-FN 113 = Scott Sharp = 869 / 7,7 101 = Robbie Buhl = 838 / 8,3 95 = Buzz Calkins = 763 / 8 30. Unser1 posted: 01.20.2013 - 4:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The IRL's first season ends with the Indy 500 as Tony George originally planned for every season. In reality that was a stupid idea from the word go. The focus was so much on the 500 itself the title battle, ending in a tie between Buzz Caukins and Scott Sharp, was unnoticed and never even mentioned on the ABC race broadcast. Teams also complained about it being harder to set up sponsorships with a May-to-May season so for the next season the format was abandoned with an extended 1997 season with two races in 1996 and normal calandar year ones from 1998 onward. 31. 33kalam posted: 05.28.2013 - 1:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) There's mistakes on the results. Only 8 cars finished the race. Eddie Cheever blew his engine which caused Scott Sharp to crash. Alessandro Zampedri suffered a horrific crash on the final lap. 32. NazRacePhan posted: 05.28.2013 - 2:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) First year since 1964 with no Andretti in the field 33. NazRacePhan posted: 05.28.2013 - 2:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 17 drivers started their first Indy 500 34. Anthony posted: 08.18.2013 - 11:53 pm Rate this comment: (1) (2) what a joke of a race, comparing no names like Racin' Gardner to people like Mears, Foyt, Andretti and Unser is laughable 35. We need more Onion posted: 11.29.2013 - 10:28 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor corrections: #8 - Lanco/Agip/Mi-Jack #52 - Firestone #54 - Firestone/Original Coors #44 - Gold Eagle/Food-4-Less #27 - Linkite #41 - Bosch #16 - Elek-Tek #18 - V-Line /Pennzoil 36. Ed posted: 03.04.2014 - 10:58 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Correction to the lap data: final caution ended on lap 199, not 198 37. Swift SC93F posted: 04.03.2014 - 6:35 am Rate this comment: (1) (1) Does Tony George ever wonder to himself about his own stupidity? 38. joebev910 posted: 03.30.2015 - 5:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Never hear the name racin gardner 39. FortiFord posted: 04.04.2015 - 8:10 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hiteshi Matsuda, Danny Ongais, Marco Greco, Davy Jones, Brad Murphey, Joe Gosek and Scott Harrington all make their IRL debuts. 40. Anthony posted: 04.16.2015 - 7:31 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) Worst race in auto racing history 41. AnonymousEFR posted: 04.16.2015 - 8:48 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) That's rather opinionated. How about the 2011 IZOD Indycar World Championships? 42. Hinch5 posted: 04.16.2015 - 11:39 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) 1967 Mosport? 1973 Indy 500? 1955 Le Mans? 43. joebev910 posted: 04.24.2015 - 9:57 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Buddy Lazier give firestone it first indy 500 win since 1971 44. FortiFord posted: 11.16.2015 - 2:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Attendance: 300 000 45. FortiFord posted: 11.28.2015 - 5:11 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Withdrew #? Jeff Wood 46. SpeedWorld97 posted: 12.27.2015 - 2:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mechanically, this was the last Indianapolis 500 for many of the race's different chassis and engines. This was Reynard's final Indianapolis 500, and it resulted in its second and final win (1995 and 1996). The unique-looking IndyCar chassis continued in CART for the following few years and found much success before ultimately leaving American open wheel racing. This was also Lola's final Indianapolis 500. The chassis was a mainstay for decades at Indianapolis and was used by many teams despite only winning three times (1966, 1978, and 1990). In terms of engines, this was the final Indianapolis 500 to feature turbocharged engines until 2012. This was Menard/Buick's final race at Indianapolis after being run by John Menard's team. The unique-sounding turbocharged V6 found some success against the more powerful turbo V8s at Indy year after year, even scoring the pole position with Roberto Guerrero in 1992 as well as the pole for this 1996 race. This was also Ford Cosworth's final Indianapolis 500. The engine won many Indianapolis 500s, including nine straight from 1979-1987 as well as this race in 1996. They too continued to run in CART with turbocharged V8 motors until the series folded in 2008. 47. Anonymous posted: 03.11.2016 - 1:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) DNQ Info ## - Driver - Owner - C/E/T #15 - Joe Gosek - Tempero-Giuffre Racing - ??? #25 - Joe Gosek - Tempero-Giuffre Racing - ??? #45 - Randy Tolsma - McCormack Motorsports - L/F/G 48. Anonymous posted: 04.15.2016 - 1:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Brayton's #2 car did NOT become the #32 car -- after he qualified the #2 car for the race, he scratched it for a last minute run at the pole and the track record in the #32 car. Arie Luyendyk also qualified the #35 Reynard/Ford/Firestone car on Pole Day, but his time was thrown out after it failed inspection. The 35 car was, in fact, his backup car. His primary car still holds the track record for qualifying. 49. Jolly Mean Giant posted: 08.31.2016 - 12:45 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) First Indy 500 starts for Richie Hearn, Robbie Buhl, Davey Hamilton, Michel Jourdain, Jr., Buzz Calkins, Jim Guthrie, Mark Dismore, Fermin Velez, Tony Stewart, Paul Durant, and Johnny Unser. Only Indy 500 starts for Scott Harrington, Joe Gosek, Brad Murphey, Racin Gardner, Johnny O'Connell, and Michele Alboreto. Last Indy 500 starts for Danny Ongais and Johnny Parsons. 50. Jolly Mean Giant posted: 08.31.2016 - 4:38 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) This was also the last Indy 500 start for Davy Jones. 51. Burl posted: 04.02.2018 - 2:36 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) I was there. Some thoughts: Some seriously good race car drivers mixed in with short track drivers and club-level racers. Buddy lazier was a hard-charging, quality driver who deserved his win. Tony Stewart got ROY because of politics. He was good, borderline great, but broke. Richie Hearn was good, borderline great all month, and finished fourth. He deserved ROY by far. Bullcrap IRL/IMS politics, that still exist today. Eliseo Salazar drove like an idiot. Hideshi Matsuda and Robbie Buhl looked like future winners of the 500, they drove so smoothly, fast, and good. Gardner was a wtf entry and many people in our seats laughed. Weird day at Indy. I will never forget it. 52. Unser1 posted: 05.12.2018 - 7:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) IndyCar: Civil War 53. RaceFanX posted: 05.25.2019 - 7:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Davy Jones and the Gallas Racing team's black-and-silver #70 Delco Lola in this one marked the only IRL appearance for a Mercedes-Benz engine...and the Ilmor-built motor almost carried them all to victory lane. 54. RaceFanX posted: 05.25.2019 - 8:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The 1996 Indianapolis 500 was a defining moment in the race's history...but not a good one. Right from the word "go" people were pegging the Indy 500/U.S. 500 IRL-CART battle as only being good for NASCAR and they were right. The field for this running of the 500 was filled with many new faces but Arie Luyendyk provided some familiarity as the only former winner who sided with the IRL in the split. The Flying Dutchman was living up to his image throughout much of May as a repaved Brickyard and widened racing lanes after the 1993 rumble strips were removed made for a lightning quick track. Luyendyk clocked a lap of 239 miles per hour in practice and on pole day he was initially in the top spot before his ex-teammate Scott Brayton and the Menards team withdrew his already qualified car in the last hour to take another shot at him. The gamble paid off as Brayton bested Luyendyk for the pole before Arie's car failed post-qualifying inspection and his team was disallowed. Luyendyk set his track record qualifying run on the second day of qualifying. Brayton died in a practice crash the following week when he blew a tire and crashed in Turn 2. Tony Stewart inherited the pole and was fast in the opening laps as he zoomed out front and led the first 31 laps. Stewart's big debut saw him lead 44 of the first 54 laps and he was contending for the victory when he Menard V6 engine failed while he was running third, sending him to the sidelines. The pop-off valve malfunctioned, the motor lost a cylinder, and then it failed completely. After his penalty Luyendyk started 20th but in the first half of this race he'd driven through the field and inherited third when Stewart dropped out. Under caution for Brad Murphey getting into the wall though Eliseo Salazar lost it coming out of the pits and got into Luyendyk before spinning under yellow. Salazar was able to continue in the #7 but the damage to Luyendyk's #5 saw him spend several laps in the pits for repairs before he returned to the race. Arie later fell out due to the damage. Salazar's impact on the race didn't end with the Luyendyk incident as he found himself in front of the leaders and blocked Davy Jones so low he almost hit the inside wall to allow his teammate Alessandro Zampedri to get past him into the lead. Zampedri would lead 20 laps before Jones and Buddy Lazier, who had been in contention all day, zoomed past him. The final laps saw Lazier's Ford chasing Jones' Mercedes. With just eight laps to go he blew by Jones with a slingshot pass on the frontstrech and led all the way home to complete his incredible comeback after the Phoenix wreck. Lazier, to this point a CART also ran, instantly became one of the biggest names in the IRL thanks to his Indy 500 win. 55. RaceFanX posted: 05.25.2019 - 8:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Roberto Guerrero, Alessandro Zampedri, and Eliseo Salazar all crashed coming down to the finish line on the last lap with Zampedri getting airborne and flipping into the catch fence and then back onto the track. Zampedri suffered serious leg and feet injuries in the crash and would remain hospitalized for almost a month recovering from them. He'd be sidelined for more than a year before returning to racing in the 1997 running of the 500. Zampedri's flip would later be used by ABC to represent the "Agony of Defeat" in the weekly opening of its "Wide World of Sports" broadcasts, joining Vinko Bogataj's spectacular ski jumping wipeout in 1970. 56. SweetRich posted: 02.26.2020 - 12:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The Commentators For The Race Were Paul Page, Bobby Unser And Danny Sullivan. The Pit Road Reporters Were Jerry Punch, Jack Arute And Gary Gerould. 57. 23andJoe posted: 05.21.2020 - 7:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Other sources show Zampedri having driven a Lola, not a Reynard? 58. GovernorJoe posted: 08.20.2020 - 9:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 57: You are correct. Zampedri drove (and demolished) a Lola T9500 in this race. 59. Rich posted: 12.23.2020 - 6:38 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Along with being the play by play announcer, Paul Page was the studio host. 60. RaceFanX posted: 01.27.2021 - 1:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Arie Luyendyk was the only former 500 winner in the field but behind the scenes there was a push to get some additional ones to join the IRL so there would be some big names to help the series battle CART and its U.S. 500. Team owner A.J. Foyt wasn't fully retired from driving yet, he'd even attempt the NASCAR Brickyard 400 here later in the year, but ruled himself out of an Indy 500 comeback due to not having enough time to get back into shape for racing open wheel. Instead of jumping back in Supertex called up another four-time Indy 500 winner and offered Al Unser a comeback ride for this one in one of his competitive cars. Big Al's Indy career had ended rather unceremoniously with a whimper in 1994 and Unser did give the proposal legitimate consideration but ultimately decided against it. Seperately, now 59-year-old Gordon Johncock also considered making a comeback for this race. He hadn't raced at Indy in four years and ultimately nothing came of it. 61. Anonymous posted: 04.12.2021 - 8:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) In the first year in the split, there were really only 7-8 quality drivers in the field with reasonable stats - Tony Stewart - Arie Luyendyk - Roberto Guerrero - Eddie Cheever - Michele Alboreto - Scott Sharp - Eliseo Salazar - Danny Ongais ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: