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INDY 500: Robby Gordon to tackle unfinished business at Indy

6 May 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

Hard-luck driver from 99 to drive Team Menard entry in Indianapolis 500

INDIANAPOLIS- Robby Gordon, who came within one lap of possibly winning the 1999 Indianapolis 500, will drive in the 84th edition of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing in the second Team Menard entry, Indy Racing Northern Light Series officials announced today.

Gordon will drive the #32 Team Conseco-Quaker State-Moen-Menards Dallara/Oldsmobile/Firestone entered by Team Menard. No backup car was entered.

Chris Sumner is the chief mechanic. Gordon will be a teammate to defending Indy Racing Northern Light Series champion Greg Ray.

Gordon finished fourth last year at Indianapolis in a Team Menard entry. He led Kenny Brack by 1.563 seconds with two laps remaining but was forced to pit for fuel just before the start of the final lap. Brack sped past and went on to victory.

California native Gordon will attempt to make his sixth Indianapolis start. His fourth-place finish last year was a career best at Indy, and he also placed fifth in 1994 and 1995.

This season, Gordon moved from CART to the NASCAR Winston Cup Series to compete as the driver-owner of Team Gordon.

In other Indianapolis 500 entry updates, four-time USAC national champion Jason Leffler will drive the #50 UnitedAuto Group Special G Force/Oldsmobile/Firestone fielded by Treadway Racing. Leffler, now competing full time in the NASCAR Busch Series, passed the Rookie Orientation Program last month at Indianapolis.

Treadway took its #55T entry and converted it to #50 for Leffler, also fielding a backup car for Leffler. Jamie Nanny is the chief mechanic.

Roger Penske is the chief executive officer of UnitedAuto Group, a retail auto dealership company. Penske-owned cars have won a record 10 Indianapolis 500s.

Stan Wattles will drive the #92 March Indy International-Hemelgarn Racing Riley & Scott/Oldsmobile/Firestone fielded by Hemelgarn Racing. Dennis LaCava is the chief mechanic.

Wattles was a regular competitor in the Indy Racing Northern Light Series from August 1996 through May 1999. He will attempt to make his third career Indianapolis 500 start and his first Indy Racing Northern Light Series start since finishing 17th last year at Indianapolis.

Two teams are switching from Riley & Scott to Dallara chassis for their primary cars. 1996 Indianapolis 500 winner Buddy Lazier will drive the #91 Delta Faucet/Coors Light/Tae-Bo/Hemelgarn Racing Dallara/Oldsmobile/Firestone, while rookie Sarah Fisher will drive the #15 Walker Racing Cummins Special Dallara/Oldsmobile/Firestone.

Both Lazier and Walker will have Riley & Scott chassis as backup cars.

Indy Racing Northern Light Series point leader Robbie Buhl has switched the engine in his backup #24T Team Purex Dreyer & Reinbold Racing G Force chassis from Oldsmobile to Infiniti. Buhl will continue to use an Oldsmobile engine in his primary car.

Buhl joins the two Team Cheever entries - one driven by 1998 Indianapolis 500 winner Eddie Cheever Jr. - as the cars using Infiniti power this year at Indianapolis.

The 84th Indianapolis 500 starts at noon (EDT) May 28. Practice starts May 13, with Pole Day May 20 and MBNA Bump Day May 21. Coors Carburetion Day is May 25.

Text provided by IMS

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