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IRL: Polesitter Ray's Bid Ends Early

29 March 1999

Greg Ray
#2 Glidden-Menards Dallara/Aurora/Firestone

Race Notes/Quotes - Sunday, March 28, 1999
MCI Worldcom 200
Phoenix International Raceway - Phoenix, Ariz.

Polesitter Greg Ray's bid for his first Pep Boys Indy Racing League victory ended abruptly today when he was involved in a two-car incident with driver John Paul, Jr., on the 94th of 200 scheduled laps of the MCI Worldcom 200 at Phoenix International Raceway. Ray, the 32-year-old from Plano, Texas, was running in second place when he tangled with the slower car of John Paul, Jr. The two cars slid into the outside wall of the 1-mile oval, ending the day for both drivers.

Round Three of the 1999 IRL tour is a Saturday night race at Charlotte, N.C., on May 1.

GREG RAY - "We were just hanging back in second place. We had a quicker car than (leader Scott) Goodyear, but we decided we wanted to hang back and see if he slips up, or see if something happens. He was complaining on the radio about his tires, so we didn't want to force the issue. John Paul either had a tire go down or he missed a shift or something. He made an abrupt move. I was already committed to the corner and had nowhere to go. And we hit. That's all there is to it.'

JOHN MENARD - "This has been such a great weekend for us until this point. I'm not quite sure what happened. It's too bad something like that has to happen. But that's racing. If it was easy, everybody would do it."

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