The 2001 Pennzoil Copper World Indy 200 was an Indy Racing Northern Light Series motor race held on March 18, 2001, in Avondale, Arizona at Phoenix International Raceway. It was the first round of the 2001 Indy Racing Northern Light Series. Panther Racing driver Sam Hornish Jr. won the 200-lap race. Eliseo Salazar of A. J. Foyt Racing finished second and Buddy Lazier finished third for Hemelgarn Racing.
Greg Ray won the pole position by posting the fastest lap of qualifying. Second-place qualifier Hornish Jr. quickly passed him and held the first position until Ray reclaimed the lead on lap 68. Ray made a pit stop on lap 74 and relinquished the lead to Gil de Ferran, who crashed while entering pit road three laps later. After Hélio Castroneves and Scott Sharp made their stops, Ray took the lead once again. By lap 119, Ray began experiencing engine issues, allowing Stéphan Grégoire to take the lead. Hornish Jr. moved into the first position by virtue of a quick pit stop, and after Grégoire crashed on lap 132, he led the remaining laps to earn the victory. There were five cautions and seven lead changes among six drivers during the race.
The victory was Hornish Jr.'s first of his career, and he became the youngest winner in Indy Racing Northern Light Series history (a record which was broken in 2006). After the race, Hornish Jr. held a twelve-point lead in the Drivers' Championship over Salazar. Oldsmobile also had the Manufacturers' Championship by four points over Nissan.
Background
The Pennzoil Copper World Indy 200 was the first of 13 scheduled open-wheel races for the 2001 Indy Racing Northern Light Series. It was held on March 18, 2001, in Avondale, Arizona, United States, at Phoenix International Raceway, a four-turn paved oval track with 11-degree banking in the first two turns and 9-degree banking in the last two turns, marking the fifty-sixth American open-wheel car race at the track dating back to 1964, and contested over 200 laps and .
To prepare for the race, the Indy Racing League (IRL) conducted a test, named the "Test of the West," for the series' entrants at Phoenix International Raceway on February 9–10. Both sessions began at 9:00 AM Mountain Standard Time (MST) and concluded at 5:00 PM. Stéphan Grégoire was fastest of the 12 drivers who took part in the incident-free session on February 9 with a top speed of . Fourteen drivers participated in the session on February 10, which also went without any accidents and was led by Greg Ray with a top speed of .
Twenty-seven cars were entered for the race, represented by two different chassis manufacturers and two different engine manufacturers. Among those who partook in the race were Team Penske drivers Gil de Ferran and Hélio Castroneves, both of whom were regulars in the rivaling CART FedEx Championship Series and used the race as a warm-up for the forthcoming Indianapolis 500. Buddy Lazier, who entered the season as the defending champion of the race and the series, aimed to win the season-opener by focusing on his late-race performance. With two rookie drivers—Casey Mears and Didier André—joining Al Unser Jr. at Galles Racing, Unser Jr. predicted that the season would be "unbelievable" for him and his team. Despite Sam Hornish Jr.'s poor finishes at the circuit, he hoped to win in his first race with Panther Racing. Eddie Cheever believed his new Infiniti Indy 35A engine would bring him success in the season so long as it "progressed" well throughout the races.
Practice and qualifying Three practice sessions preceded the race on Sunday, two on Friday and one on Saturday. The first and third sessions lasted 90 minutes and the second lasted 60 minutes. For each session, the race's entrants were split into two groups who received equal track time. Hornish Jr. led the first practice session on Friday morning with a time of 20.7551 seconds, besting Eliseo Salazar, Stan Wattles, Ray, and Sarah Fisher. Mark Dismore and Cheever both suffered mechanical issues, while debris came off of André's car. Later that day, Wattles was fastest in the second practice session with a time of 20.9074 seconds, ahead of Cheever, Lazier, Billy Boat, and Salazar. Ray lapped the quickest time of the third practice session on Saturday morning at 20.3917 seconds, with de Ferran, Lazier, Grégoire, and Hornish Jr. rounding out the top-five. Hornish Jr. caused a five-minute stoppage in the session after spinning on the blend line in turn two, although he did not receive any damage.
Qualifying began on Saturday under sunny conditions. Each driver was required to complete two timed laps, with the fastest of the two laps determining their starting position. Ray earned the tenth pole position of his career, and his third consecutive at Phoenix, with a time of 20.2631 seconds and was joined on the grid's front row by Hornish Jr., who was nearly one tenth of a second slower. Jeff Ward qualified third in his first race with the new Heritage Motorsports team and Grégoire occupied fourth place, the best qualifying effort of his career. Positions fifth through tenth were occupied by de Ferran, Lazier, Boat, Robbie Buhl, Felipe Giaffone, and Scott Sharp. Buzz Calkins experienced oversteer during his qualifying run and was the fastest driver not to qualify inside the top ten. Heavy winds during the qualifying session prevented Cheever from qualifying higher than 12th, while Salazar and Wattles, starting from 13th and 14th, used too much downforce for their liking. Mark Dismore qualified 15th after lifting off the accelerator pedal in turns three and four, with Robby McGehee in 16th and Castroneves in 17th. The final ten starting positions were claimed by Airton Daré, Tyce Carlson, Davey Hamilton, Sarah Fisher, Jeret Schroeder, Unser Jr., Shigeaki Hattori, Mears, Brandon Erwin, and André. Boat, McGehee, and Fisher were each limited to one timed lap due to failing pre-qualifying technical inspection.
Qualifying classification Driver Team 1 2 Greg Ray Team Menard 20.2631 177.6631 24 Sam Hornish Jr. Panther Racing 20.3619 176.8012 335 Jeff Ward Heritage Motorsports 20.4883 175.7103 47 Stéphan Grégoire Dick Simon Racing 20.6372 174.4424 566 Gil de Ferran Team Penske 20.6897 174.0005 691 Buddy Lazier Hemelgarn Racing 20.6966 173.9426 798 Billy Boat Curb-Agajanian-Beck Motorsports 20.7898 173.1627 824 Robbie Buhl Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 20.7955 173.1148 921 Felipe Giaffone Treadway-Hubbard Racing 20.8034 173.0499 108 Scott Sharp Kelley Racing 20.8097 172.99610 1112 Buzz Calkins Bradley Motorsports 20.8352 172.78511 1251 Eddie Cheever Cheever Indy Racing 20.8501 172.66112 1314 Eliseo Salazar A. J. Foyt Racing 20.8547 172.62313 1492 Stan Wattles Hemelgarn Racing 20.8560 172.61214 1528 Mark Dismore Kelley Racing 20.8666 172.52515 1610 Robby McGehee Cahill Racing 20.9064 172.19616 1768 Hélio Castroneves Team Penske 20.9285 172.01417 1888 Airton Daré Team Xtreme Racing 21.2188 169.66118 196 Tyce Carlson TriStar Motorsports 21.2304 169.56819 2099 Davey Hamilton Sam Schmidt Motorsports 21.2618 169.31820 2115 Sarah Fisher Walker Racing 21.3209 168.84821 229 Jeret Schroeder PDM Racing 21.3531 168.59422 233 Al Unser Jr. Galles Racing 21.6883 165.98823 2455 Shigeaki Hattori Vertex-Cunningham Racing 21.7637 165.41324 2531 Casey Mears Galles Racing 21.8585 164.69625 2630 Brandon Erwin McCormack Motorsports 22.3791 160.86426 2732 Didier André Galles Racing 22.8211 157.74927 Sources:
Warm-up The drivers took to the track on Sunday at 10:00 AM MST for a thirty-minute warm-up session. Lazier posted the fastest lap of the session at , beating Grégoire, Sharp, Hornish Jr., and Salazar. Wattles spun in the first turn eleven minutes into the session but did not receive any damage.
Race Live television coverage of the race began at 2:00 PM MST on ABC in the United States. Commentary was provided by Bob Jenkins, Larry Rice, and Jason Priestley. Around the start of the race, weather conditions were sunny, with air temperatures at and track temperatures at . Mark Wingler of the IRL Ministry began prerace ceremonies with an invocation. The national anthem was performed by trumpeter Jesse McGuire and actor Verne Troyer commanded the drivers to start their engines. Ward initially struggled to fire his engine, but joined the track after his team fixed his issue.
The green flag was waved by Bob Bove, president of the Arizonian division of Jiffy Lube, to signify the start of the race. Hornish Jr. pulled ahead of Ray in the first turn to take the lead on the first lap. Carlson slowed on the front stretch that same lap but eventually managed to pick up his pace. On lap 20, the first caution flag was issued when Erwin spun in turn two. Several drivers made pit stops during the caution. Hornish Jr. remained on the track and led on the lap-24 restart, followed by Ray and Grégoire. On lap 30, Grégoire had gotten by Ray for second place. Hornish Jr. opened up a 5.8-second lead by the 42nd lap, but his gap had shortened to 1.9 seconds three laps later as he maneuvered around lapped drivers. Ray overtook Grégoire for second on lap 59.
Green-flag pit stops began on the 62nd lap. On lap 68, Hornish Jr. was passed for the lead by Ray and made a pit stop for new tires and fuel. Lazier nearly collided into Hornish Jr. as he entered his pit stall. Ray made his stop six laps later, giving the first position to de Ferran. On the 77th lap, Schroeder hit the rear end of de Ferran's car as de Ferran slowed into pit road; the two drivers spun into the turn-four wall, collecting Dismore in the process, and triggered the second caution. Castroneves and Sharp assumed the top two positions before making their stops on lap 82, allowing Ray to lead the field back up to speed at the lap-90 restart, with Grégoire in second and Castroneves third.
On the 102nd lap, Lazier passed teammate Wattles for sixth place. By lap 115, Hornish Jr. moved into the fourth position. Three laps later, Ray's 1.2-second lead had diminished as he and Grégoire drove alongside each other in turn two while passing a lapped driver. The battle ended as Grégoire drove to the left of Ray and took the lead in the first turn. Two laps later, a cloud of smoke trailed from Ray's engine and he drove into pit road, retiring from the race. The third caution was necessitated to clean the oil that spilled from Ray's engine onto the track. All the leaders, including Grégoire, elected to make pit stops. As a result of a quick pit stop, Hornish Jr. moved into the lead for the restart on lap 131. The fourth caution was issued shortly thereafter when Lazier struggled to shift his gears and Grégoire, who slowed to avoid colliding into Lazier, was hit from behind by Buhl and spun into the turn-two wall. Cheever came into pit road under the caution with a blown engine.
None of the leaders made stops during the caution and Hornish Jr. led the field at the restart on lap 138, ahead of Castroneves and Lazier. Salazar took third place from Lazier on lap 140, and moved into the second position a lap later as Castroneves suffered an engine failure. Fisher experienced catastrophic engine troubles as her car caught on fire on the 148th lap; she parked the car at the exit of pit road and no caution was issued. Salazar, meanwhile, closed Hornish Jr.'s gap to a measly 0.1 seconds by lap 150, although Hornish Jr. opened a 2.4-second gap over Salazar two laps later. The fifth caution was prompted on the 159th lap when Wattles spun at the exit of turn two and slammed the inside back stretch retaining wall with such force that it cracked open.