The 1999 Vegas.com 500 was a Pep Boys Indy Racing League (IRL) motor race held on September 26, 1999 in Las Vegas, Nevada at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Contested over 208 laps, it was the ninth round of the 1999 Pep Boys Indy Racing League and the fourth running of the event. Sam Schmidt of Treadway Racing won the race; A. J. Foyt Racing driver Kenny Bräck finished second and TriStar Motorsports' Robbie Buhl came in third.
Schmidt was awarded the pole position after posting the quickest lap in qualifications. Early in the race, he was challenged for the lead by Mark Dismore and Eddie Cheever, although both drivers would later fall out of the race. Bräck first assumed the lead on the 50th lap and became the race's most dominant driver, leading 118 laps. However, with the benefit of a late-race caution, Schmidt overtook Bräck for the lead with three laps remaining and earned his first career IRL victory; it ended up being his only win before crashing in January 2000 and becoming a quadriplegic, keeping him out of IRL competition. The race featured 11 lead changes between 5 drivers and 11 cautions, the most for an IRL-sanctioned race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
The race result significantly trimmed Greg Ray's lead in the Drivers' Championship as Bräck moved to second and Schmidt was boosted from 12th to third with one race left in the season.
Background
The Vegas.com 500 was the ninth of 10 scheduled open-wheel races for the 1999 Pep Boys Indy Racing League and the fourth annual edition of the event dating back to 1996. It was held on September 26, 1999, in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, a four-turn paved oval track with 12-degree banking in the turns, 3-degree banking in the back stretch, and 9-degree banking in the front stretch, and contested over 208 laps and . Heading into the race, Greg Ray held the lead in the Drivers' Championship with 246 points, followed by Scott Goodyear with 202. Kenny Bräck was third on 199 points, 14 more than Buddy Lazier in fourth and 19 more than Davey Hamilton in fifth. Ray had a chance to clinch the title if he finished the race at least 56 points ahead of second place.
There were 26 cars entered for the race, which were represented by 2 different engine manufacturers, 2 chassis manufacturers, and 2 tire suppliers. Among those entered was former European Formula 3 driver Niclas Jönsson, who passed a rookie orientation test on September 1 and was permitted to compete in his first Pep Boys Indy Racing League race with Blueprint Racing. Midget car racing driver Sarah Fisher also completed the orientation, but opted to skip the race in order to gain more track experience for the succeeding Mall.com 500. Robbie Buhl joined TriStar Motorsports in his first start since that year's Indianapolis 500. Open-wheel veteran Willy T. Ribbs, who had not competed in an American open-wheel racing event since the 1994 Toyota Grand Prix of Monterey, signed with McCormack Motorsports to become the first African-American driver to race in the series.
Several testing sessions were conducted in August at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to prepare for the Vegas.com 500. On August 10, Buzz Calkins topped the speed charts with laps at over , while Ray crashed in turn four and again in turn two. Six teams participated in the testing sessions on August 11–12; Scott Sharp was the fastest driver on August 11 with a speed of , and Sharp's Kelley Racing teammate Mark Dismore posted the fastest lap speed at .
Practice and qualifying Four practice sessions preceded the race on Sunday, two on Friday and two on Saturday. The first three sessions lasted 90 minutes and were divided into two groups which each received equal track time, while the last session lasted 30 minutes and was open to all participants. Sam Schmidt led the first practice session on Friday morning with a lap of 25.856 seconds, besting Ray by three hundredths of a second; Stéphan Grégoire took third, Dismore was in fourth, and Goodyear came in fifth. Although the session went without incident, it was briefly paused to inspect the track surface after multiple teams reported tire failures. During the second practice session later that day, Schmidt again lapped the fastest time at 25.977 seconds, quicker than Ray, Grégoire, Buddy Lazier, and Scott Harrington. Ray's lap of 25.729 seconds was the quickest of the third practice session on Saturday morning, with Sharp in second, Dismore in third, Schmidt in fourth, and Harrington in fifth.
The qualifying session was held at noon on Saturday under humid conditions. Each driver was required to complete up to two timed laps, with the fastest of the two determining their starting position. Schmidt earned his first career pole position with a time of 25.780 seconds. He was joined on the grid's front row by Dismore, who qualified on the front row for the fourth time in the season with a lap that was 0.045 seconds slower than Schmidt's. Bräck drove a G-Force chassis for the first time since 1997 and took third, ahead of Ray in fourth and Goodyear in fifth. Sharp, Tyce Carlson, John Hollansworth Jr., Billy Boat, and Buddy Lazier occupied the remaining top-10 positions, while Grégoire, Harrington, Robby Unser, Johnny Unser, and Donnie Beechler started 11th through 15th. Calkins only completed one lap, which left him in 16th, because he thought the checkered flag was flown at the end of his first lap. While Jeff Ward qualified 17th, Eddie Cheever took 18th after spinning in turn three during his second timed lap. The final eight positions on the grid were taken by Robby McGehee, Jaques Lazier, Buhl, Eliseo Salazar, Hamilton, Ronnie Johncox, and series debutants Ribbs and Jönsson. On Saturday afternoon, Buddy Lazier lapped quickest in the final practice session with a time of 25.977 seconds. Robby Unser, Ray, Jerry Unser, and Hollansworth Jr. rounded out the top-five.
Qualifying classification Driver Team Time 1 99 Sam SchmidtTreadway Racing25.780209.465 12 28 Mark DismoreKelley Racing25.825209.100 23 14 Kenny BräckA. J. Foyt Racing25.889208.583 34 2 Greg RayTeam Menard25.916208.365 45 4 Scott GoodyearPanther Racing25.921208.325 56 8 Scott SharpKelley Racing25.967207.956 67 20 Tyce CarlsonBlueprint-Immke Racing26.045207.333 78 42 John Hollansworth Jr.Team Xtreme26.108206.833 89 11 Billy BoatA. J. Foyt Racing26.116206.770 910 91 Buddy LazierHemelgarn Racing26.117206.762 1011 7 Stéphan GrégoireDick Simon Racing26.118206.754 1112 66 Scott HarringtonHarrington Motorsports26.166206.375 1213 81 Robby UnserTeam Pelfrey26.183206.241 1314 92 Johnny UnserHemelgarn Racing26.189206.193 1415 98 Donnie BeechlerCahill Racing26.285205.440 1516 12 Buzz CalkinsBradley Motorsports26.311205.237 1617 21 Jeff WardPagan Racing26.325205.128 1718 51 Eddie CheeverTeam Cheever26.357204.879 1819 55 Robby McGeheeConti Racing26.364204.825 1920 33 Jaques LazierTruscelli Team Racing26.451204.151 2021 22 Robbie BuhlTriStar Motorsports26.463204.058 2122 6 Eliseo SalazarNienhouse Racing26.466204.035 2223 9 Davey HamiltonGalles Racing26.710202.171 2624 17 Ronnie JohncoxTriStar Motorsports26.735201.982 2325 30 Willy T. RibbsMcCormack Motorsports26.840201.192 2426 27 Niclas JönssonBlueprint-Immke Racing27.138198.983 25Sources:
Notes — Davey Hamilton switched to a backup car before the race and was forced to start at the rear.
Race Weather conditions towards the start of the race were dry and muggy; air temperatures were at and track temperatures were recorded as high as . Approximately 32,000 people attended the event. Singer Serena Henry performed the national anthem and judge William D. Jansen commanded the drivers to start their engines. The race began at 11:42 AM PDT (UTC−07:00) with Vegas.com president Danny Greenspun waving the green flag. In the United States, it was broadcast live on television by ESPN2, with Bob Jenkins and Arie Luyendyk serving as commentators and Jack Arute and Vince Welch taking the roles of pit reporters. Hamilton was required to fall to the rear of the field during the pace laps for resorting to a backup car prior to the race.
On the first lap, Dismore accelerated faster than Schmidt and briefly took the lead before the first caution flag of the race was flown for Beechler spinning in turn two. As Schmidt took back the lead at the end of the lap, Hamilton spun into the third-turn wall and collided with Grégoire. Beechler relayed to his team that he suspected oil was spilled on the track and drove into pit road for tires and fuel under the caution period. Dismore led the field back up to speed at the restart on lap 6. Bräck made a failed attempt to pass Schmidt for second place in turn one. Johnny Unser spun in turn four two laps later because of his cold tires, bringing out the second caution. Green-flag racing continued on the ninth lap, with Dismore leading ahead of Schmidt and Bräck. Schmidt caught on to Dismore's slipstream and charged past him in turn one on lap 13 to take the lead. By this lap, Hamilton improved to 16th, while Cheever climbed to third by the 17th lap. One lap later, the third caution was necessitated when Ribbs spun and made heavy contact with the wall in the fourth turn, with flames briefly shooting from his car upon impact. During the caution, McGehee made a pit stop to clean any debris he sustained from Ribbs' accident. Beechler's team made adjustments to his car to alleviate the understeer he had been experiencing.
Racing resumed on the 27th lap. Dismore drove to Schmidt's left-hand side in turn four to take the lead on lap 28. The two drivers raced alongside each other before Cheever took the second position from Schmidt on the 29th lap and overtook Dismore for the lead two laps later. Schmidt, meanwhile, fell to sixth place as the drivers passing him took air away from the nose of his car, although he managed to get by Goodyear for fifth on the 33rd lap. Ward made a stop six laps later as he believed one of his tires was flattening. Robby Unser took second place from Bräck on lap 41, only for Unser to lose second and third to Bräck and Schmidt, respectively, by the 45th lap. Buddy Lazier struggled with handling and dove into pit road that same lap for his crew to replace his car's CPU. On lap 49, the fourth caution was issued after Goodyear made a 180-degree spin into the wall in turn four. Most of the leaders made pit stops under the caution. Ray and Schmidt's engines stalled but were quickly refired, while Boat was forced to pit twice after an issue with a fuel hose hindered his first stop.
Grégoire elected not to make a stop and led at the lap-58 restart, followed by Jönsson, Cheever, Bräck, and Dismore. Cheever promptly passed Jönsson for second and took the lead from Grégoire on the 60th lap, by which point Bräck had moved into third place. Grégoire lost the second position to Bräck on lap 64, and by the 70th lap, he fell to fourth behind Dismore. Three laps later, Bräck overtook Cheever for the lead exiting turn two. As Grégoire was relegated further down the running order, Jaques Lazier passed Dismore for third place on lap 76. Meanwhile, Bräck garnered a 2.7-second lead over Cheever by lap 82. On the 85th lap, Jönsson was forced into an early retirement after a fuel leak burned into his engine's wiring, sparking a fire within his car. Boat and Grégoire made stops for tires and fuel before Johnny Unser slammed the outside wall in turn four, necessitating the fifth caution. During pit stops, Cheever made slight contact with Buddy Lazier, though neither driver sustained damage. Bräck maintained the lead for the lap-102 restart; the sixth caution was flown three laps later as Ray hit the right-rear tire of Dismore's car and slid up into the marbles in turn one. The ensuing restart on lap 110 was cut short when Hollansworth Jr. and Boat collided, spinning both drivers into the turn-one wall along with Dismore, bringing out the seventh caution.