The 1998 True Value 500 was the fourth round of the 1998 Indy Racing League season. The race was held on June 6, 1998, at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas.

Report Key Meaning R Rookie W Past winner

Qualifying

Two laps qualifying. The worst lap from any of the drivers were not published, and therefore are unknown. Rain delayed qualifying from Thursday to Friday.

Pos No. Name Lap Best (in mph) 1 1 Tony Stewart 24.059 224.448 2 11 Billy Boat 24.156 223.547 3 3 Robbie Buhl 24.204 223.104 4 5 Arie Luyendyk W 24.416 221.166 5 16 Marco Greco 24.575 219.736 6 28 Mark Dismore 24.590 219.601 7 4 Scott Goodyear 24.605 219.468 8 21 Roberto Guerrero 24.625 219.289 9 8 Scott Sharp 24.684 218.765 10 12 Buzz Calkins 24.713 218.508 11 14 Kenny Bräck 24.731 218.349 12 10 John Paul Jr. 24.735 218.314 13 35 Jeff Ward 24.823 217.540 14 97 Greg Ray 24.853 217.278 15 6 Davey Hamilton 24.886 216.989 16 77 Stéphan Grégoire 24.929 216.615 17 98 Donnie Beechler R 24.944 216.485 18 15 Eliseo Salazar 24.952 216.416 19 30 Raul Boesel 25.087 215.251 20 51 Eddie Cheever 25.118 214.985 21 40 Jack Miller 25.136 214.831 22 44 J. J. Yeley R 25.138 214.814 23 91 Buddy Lazier 25.181 214.447 24 99 Sam Schmidt 25.211 214.192 25 27 Billy Roe 25.222 214.099 26 19 Stan Wattles 25.325 213.228 27 52 Robby Unser R 25.363 212.909 28 81 Tyce Carlson 25.473 211.989

Failed to qualify or withdrew Johnny Unser for Hemelgarn Racing - subbed for Buddy Lazier, who suffered from a stomach illness, in practice sessions on Thursday and was named to qualify the car before it was delayed. Jimmy Kite for Team Scandia - The team scaled back its IRL program after Indianapolis to concentrate on NASCAR, and withdrew from the event, along with his #33 entry, initially assigned to Billy Roe. Mike Groff for Byrd-Cunningham Racing - fired prior to the start of practice and replaced by John Paul Jr., who was due to drive for Team Pelfrey. Steve Kinser R for Team Pelfrey - initially named as a replacement for Paul Jr, he withdrew prior to the start of practice. Replaced by Tyce Carlson, who was due to drive for Immke Racing. Jack Hewitt R for PDM Racing - did not arrive at the track. Paul Durant for Cobb Racing - did not arrive at the track. Joe Gosek R for Liberty Racing - did not arrive at the track. The #20 Immke Racing entry was withdrawn after Carlson signed with Team Pelfrey prior to the start of practice. The #17 Chitwood Motorsports entry, which was vacant on the entry list, did not arrive at the track.

Race

The race was the first IRL event run on the newly reconfigured Texas track, which had undergone changes to the corner banking (eliminating the 8-degree portions, originally intended for Indy events) and the transitions out of the corners, plus a complete repaving and drainage work. The new configuration proved to be extremely fast; Tony Stewart broke the IRL new car qualifying record, and ran laps as fast as 228 MPH during the race, believed to be the fastest laps ever turned on a closed course by a car with a normally aspirated engine.

The start was confusing, as Sam Schmidt did not come up to speed due to an electronics problem and Billy Roe spun through the quad-oval grass at the green flag. This was cleaned up, but only a few green flag laps were registered until Roberto Guerrero spun in front of the pack coming out of turn 2. Rookie Donnie Beechler ran hard into the back of Stéphan Grégoire's car, causing a six-car accident that eliminated Eddie Cheever (fresh off of his Indy 500 victory). Beechler ended sliding upside down the length of the back stretch. No one was hurt. Stewart had to pit for a cut tire after running through debris, handing the lead to Arie Luyendyk. The Dutch lead briefly after the green before being overhauled by Boat on lap 22, while Stewart worked his way up from the rear.

By lap 34, when a caution flew for Eliseo Salazar's blown engine, Luyendyk took a gamble by not pitting, but backfired when he had to pit under green on lap 59 and lost two laps. Mark Dismore had something in the rear of the car break on lap 72 which put him hard into the turn 1 wall, suffering a concussion. Under the subsequent caution, Stewart had to make an extra pit stop for a suspected tire problem and went to the rear again. On the restart, Scott Goodyear got the jump on Boat and took the lead; the two then battled until Boat retook the lead five laps later. By halfway, Boat, Stewart, and Greg Ray were running nose-to-tail and attempting slingshots.

As a caution flew on lap 144, Boat banged wheels with J. J. Yeley. The contact left a large "doughnut" on Boat's left sidepod, but he continued with no apparent problems. Stewart jumped Boat on the restart, while Ray, Goodyear, Jeff Ward and Kenny Bräck diced for third. Unfortunately for Ward, his race ended four laps later with engine failure. Stewart had his left sidepod radiator rupture streaked down the front stretch on lap 177, spewing water all over it. His crew tried to replace the faulty radiator in the pits but they ran out of time.

Boat then begin to stretch out his lead over Ray, but on lap 196 he got caught in traffic and Ray begin to close the gap. On lap 200, the Texas native caught Boat and then made a move through the grass in the quad-oval (reminiscent of Buddy Lazier at Charlotte the previous year); as they went down the back stretch Ray split the lapped car of Buzz Calkins and swept into the lead. But on the next lap, Boat used the slingshot to retake it; Ray tried for the next six laps but could not overcome Boat's superior engine, and Billy Boat took his first IRL win. For the top three (Boat, Ray, and Bräck), it was their best IRL career finishes up to that point. Scott Sharp ran a quiet race to finish fifth and move into a tie with Stewart in the points standings. One year after apparently winning at Texas, only to have the win taken away after a scoring recount, Billy Boat won it again, and this time he got to keep the trophy.

Pos No. Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Laps Led Points 111 Billy BoatA. J. Foyt Enterprises2082:08:45.543210854 297 Greg RayKnapp Motorsports208+ 0.928 sec14140 314 Kenny BräckA. J. Foyt Enterprises208Running11035 44 Scott GoodyearPanther Racing208Running71132 58 Scott SharpKelley Racing208Running9030 63 Robbie BuhlTeam Menard207+ 1 lap3029 76 Davey HamiltonNienhouse Motorsports207+ 1 lap15026 816 Marco GrecoPhoenix Racing205+ 3 laps5024 952 Robby Unser RTeam Cheever204+ 4 laps27022 1019 Stan WattlesMetro Racing Systems198+ 10 laps26020 1191 Buddy LazierHemelgarn Racing194Wheel bearing23019 1281 Tyce CarlsonTeam Pelfrey191+ 17 laps28018 135 Arie Luyendyk WTreadway Racing178+ 30 laps42917 141 Tony StewartTeam Menard176Radiator tank15719 1512 Buzz CalkinsBradley Motorsports172+ 36 laps10015 1610 John Paul Jr.Byrd-Cunningham Racing169+ 39 laps12014 1735 Jeff WardISM Racing165Engine13213 1899 Sam SchmidtLP Racing163+ 45 laps24012 1944 J. J. Yeley RSinden Racing162+ 46 laps22011 2027 Billy RoeBlueprint Racing108+ 100 laps25010 2128 Mark DismoreKelley Racing70Accident609 2240 Jack MillerCrest Racing-SRS38Engine2108 2315 Eliseo SalazarRiley & Scott Cars32Engine1807 2421 Roberto GuerreroPagan Racing4Accident806 2577 Stéphan GrégoireChastain Motorsports4Accident1605 2651 Eddie CheeverTeam Cheever4Accident2004 2798 Donnie Beechler R   Cahill Auto Racing4Accident1703 2830 Raul BoeselMcCormack Motorsports4Accident1902

Race Statistics Lead changes: 21 among 6 drivers

Lap Leaders Laps Leader1-7 Tony Stewart8-21 Arie Luyendyk22-34 Billy Boat35-49 Arie Luyendyk50-72 Tony Stewart73 Billy Boat74 Tony Stewart75-81 Billy Boat82-86 Scott Goodyear87-120 Billy Boat121-122 Tony Stewart123-124 Jeff Ward125-140 Tony Stewart141-147 Billy Boat148-154 Tony Stewart155-157 Billy Boat158 Tony Stewart159-167 Billy Boat168-173 Scott Goodyear174-200 Billy Boat201 Greg Ray202-208 Billy Boat

Cautions: 6 for 45 laps Laps Reason1-3Billy Roe spin6-17Guerrero, Grégoire, Cheever, Beechler and Boesel crash34-44Eliseo Salazar's blown engine; oil on track72-81Mark Dismore crash; tow-in for John Paul Jr.144-148Debris177-180Tony Stewart's radiator leaks water on track

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Tony Stewart 115 2 Scott Sharp 115 3 Billy Boat 110 4 Jeff Ward 103 5 Davey Hamilton 97

Note: Only the top five positions are included for the standings.

References

External links IndyCar official website