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IRL: Menard, Kelley teams file entries for 84th Indy 500

9 March 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

Ray set to drive for Team Menard, Dismore and Sharp for Kelley Racing

INDIANAPOLIS - Two of the most powerful teams in Indy Racing - Team Menard and Kelley Racing - each filed two entries March 8 for the 84th Indianapolis 500.

Defending series champion Greg Ray will drive one Team Menard entry. A driver wasnt named for the second entry. Northern Light Indy Racing Series veterans Mark Dismore and Scott Sharp will drive at Indy for Kelley Racing, the same lineup the team has fielded since its debut in January 1998.

Ray, 33, from Plano, Texas, will be behind the wheel of the #1 Team Conseco-Quaker State-Moen-Menards Dallara/Oldsmobile/Firestone. He won three races and the series championship last season for Team Menard, which also earned its second entrant championship in the last three seasons.

Ray will attempt to make his fourth consecutive start at Indianapolis since his rookie year in 1997. He has started second each of the last two years. His best finish was 18th in 1998. He led four times for 32 laps in the 1999 Indianapolis 500 before a pit-road collision while leading ended his race, and he was classified 21st.

Chris Sumner is chief mechanic, and Thomas Knapp is team manager for both Team Menard entries. Rays entry has a backup car; the second entry does not.

Sharp, 32, from Carmel, Ind., will drive the #28 Delphi Automotive Systems-MCI WorldCom Dallara/Oldsmobile/Firestone. He will attempt to make his sixth Indy start since his rookie year in 1994. His best finish was 10th in an A.J. Foyt-owned entry in 1996, which secured him a share of the inaugural Indy Racing League championship with Buzz Calkins..

Dismore, 43, from Greenfield, Ind., will attempt to make his fifth consecutive start since 1996 at Indianapolis. His best finish was 16th last year for Kelley Racing.

Robert Perez is the chief mechanic for Sharps entry, while Glenn Scott is the chief mechanic for Dismores entry. Jim Freudenberg is the manager of Kelley Racing. Both Kelley Racing entries include backup cars.

The 84th Indianapolis 500 is May 28. Practice starts May 13, with Pole Day May 20 and Bubble Day May 21.

Text provided by IMS

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