IRL: Lowe's Motor Speedway Will Provide Many Firsts
21 April 1999
Pep Boys Indy Racing League ready for VisionAire 500By Ron Green
Charlotte, N.C., - Firsts. Everyone remembers firsts. Whether it was the first car or the first kiss, it is remembered. May 1, 1999, will be remembered by many in motorsports for the historic firsts that will take place that day.
The Pep Boys Indy Racing League's VisionAire 500 will be the first major auto race at the newly named Lowe's Motor Speedway. The facility, formerly the Charlotte Motor Speedway, recently hosted two auto shows. But a live, national TV audience on SpeedVision (8 p.m. EST) will see the first green flag drop at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
For the first time in League history another race besides the Indianapolis 500 will be run in the Month of May. The first two VisionAire 500 races, in '97 and '98, were run in July. But, speedway officials wanted to find a more desirable date for the event and chose the first weekend of May.
Defending Indianapolis 500 winner Eddie Cheever will also be experiencing a first on May 1. The VisionAire 500 will mark the first race the Team Cheever-Children's Beverage Group car will be powered by the Infiniti Indy V8 engine.
In winning Indy in 1998, Cheever was behind the wheel of a Dallara chassis on Goodyear tires and powered by the Oldsmobile Aurora V8 powerplant. That same combination was under him when he won the season-opening race of 1999, the TransWorld Diversified 200 at Walt Disney World Speedway in Orlando. And at Charlotte and Indy, he expects nothing but a first!
Several drivers are on a list wanting to make Lowe's Motor Speedway the site of their first Pep Boys Indy Racing League victory. Greg Ray and Mark Dismore lead that list.
Ray is driving for a team that has seen success at Charlotte, but not a victory. Team Menard, with Tony Stewart driving, sat on the pole for the first two VisionAire 500s. Ray is hoping to drive the Glidden-Menards Dallara/Aurora/Firestone car into victory lane for his first career win and the team's first win at Charlotte.
Dismore has been in first-place in the middle of the VisionAire 500 before, leading 21 laps of last year's race, yet he did not win. So, Dismore knows he needs to lead, and possibly win, in his MCI WorldCom Dallara/Aurora/Goodyear machine.
The VisionAire 500 will be the first League event for Johnny Unser in 1999. Unser, a three-year veteran of the Indianapolis 500, will drive the Tae Bo-Delta Faucet-Hemelgarn Racing Dallara/Goodyear/Goodyear entry. Unser is the cousin of Robby Unser, who will be driving the PetroMoly/Team Pelfrey Dallara/Aurora/Firestone car. Both Unsers are looking for their first career win at Charlotte.
Former U.S. F2000 standout Robby McGehee is making his first start ever in the Pep Boys Indy Racing League at Lowe's Motor Speedway. The VisionAire 500 will be the League debut of Conti Racing and McGehee, who will be driving a Dallara/Aurora/Firestone machine.
Points leader Scott Goodyear got his first taste of victory in the Pep Boys Indy Racing League at Phoenix in March in the MCI WorldCom 200. He liked the taste of first, and wants to taste it again at Charlotte.
And what would a victory in the VisionAire 500 be to Kenny Brack? It would let him relive his first career victory, the 1998 VisionAire 500, which propelled him on his way to the PepBoys Indy Racing League championship.
Is it May 1st yet?
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