The 1996 Las Vegas 500K was the second round of the 1996-1997 Indy Racing League. The race was held on September 15, 1996, and was the inaugural event for the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Clark County, Nevada. It was the fifth and last race for the IRL during 1996, and, thus, the last race contested under the frozen 1995 IndyCar regulations, before the arrival of a new chassis and engine formula for 1997. Richie Hearn was the winner of the race, which featured multiple crashes and high attrition, with 83 laps under nine lengthy cautions, a red flag and four drivers being extricated from their cars.
At 300 miles in length, it tied the existing record for non-500 mile Indy Car oval races, alongside the 300-mile Trenton contests held between 1969 and 1972, as well as the 1966 Atlanta 300. With an average speed of just 115.171 mph, it became the slowest Indy car superspeedway race since the 1946 Indianapolis 500, completed at an average of 114.820 mph with qualifying speeds that were 100 mph slower. It was also the slowest race held at the Las Vegas oval by a major racing series until the 2018 edition of the NASCAR Cup Series event.
Pre-race news Less than a month after the season opener at New Hampshire, the Indy Racing League christened the new Las Vegas Motor Speedway, even though some of its amenities and facilities were still under construction. Between both rounds, Michel Jourdain Jr. raced in the last two Indy Car events of the year at Vancouver and Laguna Seca, sharing the grid in the latter with Richie Hearn. Tony Stewart took part in all three of the NASCAR Busch Series held between the IRL events, and John Paul Jr. had successful outings in IMSA GT, with a win at Mosport and a third place at the Grand Prix of Dallas.
In the meantime, the League secured the Texas Motor Speedway as a new venue. The 500-kilometer race, to be held on June 7, 1997, was announced as the first round of the planned 1997–98 season, despite being scheduled just two weeks after the Indianapolis 500. Before the announcement, Team Menard held a private test at Atlanta Motor Speedway, another track owned by Bruton Smith's Speedway Motorsports, which fueled speculations about a future IRL round at that track. Tony Stewart's fastest lap was reportedly in the 213 mph range.
The entry list was unveiled on September 4, with 26 drivers listed. Treadway Racing added a two-year-old car for Johnny O'Connell, who had missed the New Hampshire race after losing his ride with Byrd-Cunningham Racing. Dave Steele, having failed to pass his rookie test before the New Hampshire round, and Juan Carlos Carbonell, who also failed at New Hampshire but got to pass his test on an August 25 test at Phoenix, were entered again by ABF Motorsports and Tempero–Giuffre Racing, while Johnny Parsons and Michel Jourdain Jr. were back in their regular Team Blueprint Racing and Team Scandia rides after missing the previous round. IndyCar team Walker Racing entered a car with no driver assigned, and Lyn St. James also filed an entry without a car assigned, but she eventually withdrew it. One week before the race, Della Penna Motorsports announced it would leave the IRL in 1997 to complete its expected full-time move to the IndyCar World Series, with Richie Hearn as a driver.
Practice and qualifying report More entries were filed on race week for total of 29 drivers, a new high for a non-Indy 500 IRL race. On September 11, Walker confirmed that Robby Gordon would drive its final race with them at Las Vegas, as he was NASCAR bound in 1997. Gordon had just ended a lackluster season in the Indy Car World Series, and was considered by the media as the marquee name of the event. Scandia also entered another car, to be run as a second entry by the Arizona Motorsports crew, for Brazilian rookie Affonso Giaffone, who had finished third in the 1995 Indy Lights season. Despite their absence in the first entry list, Tyce Carlson and Brad Murphey were eventually confirmed by PDM Racing and Hemelgarn Racing to remain in their seats. Like Carbonell and Steele, Giaffone was required to pass the USAC rookie test, along with Stan Wattles, who had not run in a superspeedway-type event during a race weekend.
The track was deemed to be even dirtier than in June testing as practice opened. Buddy Lazier led the Friday morning practice with a 221.766 mph lap, followed by Richie Hearn and Eliseo Salazar. In the afternoon practice, Lazier finished third and was the first driver to beat Richie Hearn's unofficial lap record from testing. Neither of them got even close to Arie Luyendyk, whose impressive lap of 229.768 mph led Mark Dismore by almost 5 mph. Luyendyk remained as the pacesetter on Saturday morning practice with a lap of 226.757 mph, faster than anyone else by 2 mph. Roberto Guerrero finished second ahead of Mike Groff, but he crashed in Turn 2 one hour into the session. Guerrero was testing Pagan's backup car, a Reynard 94I that offered less drag and was being readied to qualify before the crash. In the closing minutes, Dave Steele also crashed between Turns 1 and 2 and wrote off his Lola T92, forcing ABF Motorsports to withdraw with no back-up car available. Steele had been allowed to qualify despite recording laps of no more than 202 mph.
In qualifying, championship leader Scott Sharp was the first driver to go over 220 mph with a 222.322 mph lap, being edged first by Mike Groff and then by Robby Gordon. Tony Stewart endured mechanical issues on Friday afternoon and had finished 12th in all practice sessions, but Team Menard found enough speed to put Stewart on the provisional pole with a 224.225 mph lap. It wouldn't be a match for Arie Luyendyk, as the Dutch was the only driver to lap under 24 seconds with two laps in 226 mph, and scored his third career pole position with a best lap of 226.491 mph. Stewart made it to the front row, with Gordon and Lazier making up the second row. Davey Hamilton and Groff qualified in fifth and sixth place, a career-best result for both, ahead of Sharp.
Among the newcomers, Affonso Giaffone qualified in 23rd place and Juan Carlos Carbonell was last with a very slow lap of 181.208 mph, six seconds off Luyendyk's time. During practice, Carbonell had not turned a lap above 194 mph. Michele Alboreto was restricted to an 18th place with pop-off valve issues; Michel Jourdain Jr., tenth fastest in morning practice, qualified in 22nd place after he waved off his first lap and lost a cylinder, and Eddie Cheever suffered an engine failure just before taking the green flag, which left him in 27th place.
That morning, Galles Racing announced it would field a team in the Indy Racing League in 1997 with Davy Jones, who finished second at the Indy 500 and had taken the place of Eddie Lawson a few months earlier, as their driver. Also, three-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond announced he would start a career in open-wheel racing in Indy Lights, although he later decided to compete in the lower U.S. F2000 Championship instead. During a Shelby Pro Series support race, held before the last IRL practice session, a 49-year-old retired Las Vegas police officer named R.C. "Rod" Mathis suffered multiple injuries in a crash at Turn 4, at 3:20 p.m. He was airlifted to University Medical Center of Southern Nevada, where he was pronounced dead at 10:49 p.m., becoming the first fatality at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Qualifying results
Pos No. Name Lap 1 Lap 2 Best (in mph) 1 5 Arie Luyendyk 23.856 23.842 226.491 2 2 Tony Stewart R 24.083 24.202 224.225 3 50 Robby Gordon 24.234 24.175 223.371 4 91 Buddy Lazier 24.355 24.222 222.938 5 14 Davey Hamilton R 24.443 24.235 222.818 6 10 Mike Groff 24.285 Waved off 222.359 7 1 Scott Sharp 24.316 24.288 222.332 8 4 Richie Hearn R 24.576 24.378 221.511 9 21 Roberto Guerrero 24.569 24.469 220.678 10 3 Mark Dismore 24.577 24.795 219.718 11 6 Johnny O'Connell R 24.860 24.585 219.646 12 18 John Paul Jr. 24.604 24.633 219.477 13 7 Eliseo Salazar 24.977 24.808 217.672 14 28 Tyce Carlson R 24.873 24.828 217.496 15 54 Robbie Buhl 25.328 24.967 216.285 16 12 Buzz Calkins R 25.230 25.001 215.991 17 16 Johnny Parsons 25.017 25.092 215.853 18 33 Michele Alboreto R 25.155 25.100 215.139 19 27 Jim Guthrie R 25.120 Waved off 214.968 20 64 Johnny Unser 25.278 25.300 213.624 21 30 Stan Wattles R 25.418 25.333 213.161 22 22 Michel Jourdain Jr. R Waved off 25.398 212.615 23 34 Affonso Giaffone R 25.802 25.563 211.243 24 40 Marco Greco 25.937 25.691 210.190 25 8 Stéphan Grégoire R 26.127 25.717 209.978 26 9 Brad Murphey R 26.388 26.219 205.958 27 51 Eddie Cheever 28.003 Waved off 192.836 28 15 Juan Carlos Carbonell R 30.204 29.800 181.208
Key Meaning R Rookie (in 1996) R Season rookie W Past winner
Failed to qualify or withdrew Dave Steele R for ABF Motorsports
Race Report An estimated crowd of 67.132 spectators made it to the yet unfinished Las Vegas Motor Speedway for its first big race, despite long traffic jams that continued throughout the race. Windy conditions during the afternoon played havoc with the track, blowing sand onto the outside line. Arie Luyendyk kept the lead at the start, as Tony Stewart conceded second place with Robby Gordon in Turn 3. Electrical issues left Davey Hamilton immediately out of contention, and John Paul Jr. took advantage of some drivers checking up, jumping from 12th to 6th before passing Mike Groff for fifth. Gordon began to reel in Luyendyk, but the lapped cars of Juan Carlos Carbonell and Brad Murphey allowed Stewart to retake second place on Lap 8. In the next lap, Johnny Parsons suffered an engine failure while running 19th. He failed to keep the control of the car and spun on his own oil, crashing in Turn 4. This was the last start of his Indy car career, which harkened all the way back to 1969.
After a long cleanup, the green flag was shown on Lap 19. Stewart's crew were unaware of the restart, which cost Stewart three spots to Gordon, Buddy Lazier and Paul Jr. Shortly after, Lazier's pace faded, dropping places with an unspecified issue that eventually left him out of the race. Michel Jourdain Jr., who had gone from 22nd to 14th at the end of Lap 2, entered the top 10, and he was eighth by Lap 28. With lapped traffic as a factor, Gordon caught Luyendyk and both drivers swapped the lead once a lap from Lap 26 to 28. After Gordon pulled ahead for the second time, Eddie Cheever, running in 18th place, was rammed from behind by Brad Murphey, who was a lap down in 26th place, and both made hard contact with the wall. Stéphan Grégoire, running 21st at the time, hit a loose tire and tried to get past between the two destroyed cars while they were still moving, but crashed with the back end of Cheever's car. Murphey had to be extricated from his car and airlifted to University Medical Center, where he underwern various surgeries for a broken right thighbone, pelvis and hip. He went on to make a successful recovery, but he would never race again in the IRL.