Greg Ray wins post Mall.com 500

Saturday, Oct. 16, 1999 | 2:54 a.m.

FORT WORTH -- Greg Ray inched closer to his first Indy Racing League championship Saturday by capturing the pole for Sunday's season-ending Mall.com 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Ray posted the fastest lap of the qualifying session -- 216.107 mph -- to bump Mark Dismore off the pole by 4/1000ths of a second. Dismore will start on the outside of the front row after qualifying at 216.071 mph.

It was Ray's series-leading fourth pole of the season.

Ray, who earned three valuable bonus points for winning the pole, leads Kenny Brack by 16 points and Henderson's Sam Schmidt by 33 points going into Sunday's race. Those drivers are the only three still in contention for the championship.

Schmidt will start fourth in the field and Brack, the defending IRL champion, starts fifth in Sunday's 208-lap race.

Ray, a resident of nearby Plano, said winning the pole will help ease some of the pressure of the points battle once the race starts on Sunday.

"With the points battle, this is three points and there's no telling how the race can play itself out," Ray said. "Every single point is very crucial.

"It's going to be a Texas-sized shootout tomorrow and if you don't come with your six-shooter loaded, you're going to be out of shape pretty quick."

Ray had to overcome three blown engines this week before he made his qualifying run on the 1.5-mile superspeedway. Team Menard finally resorted to putting in their race engine prior to Saturday's qualifying session.

"We struggled all weekend long," Ray said. "We were fifth quickest in practice this morning and we had motor problems and we just never found ourselves in a rhythm.

"Even though we're not in Las Vegas, we picked up the biggest pair of dice we could find and we threw them because we really had nothing to lose."

Scott Goodyear, who ran the first of three qualifying laps at more than 216 mph midway through the session, held the provisional pole at 216.036 mph until Dismore bumped him several minutes later with a 216.071 run.

Goodyear, who won the IRL race at Texas Motor Speedway earlier this year, will start third Sunday.

Schmidt, who won the Vegas.com 500 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway three weeks ago to vault from 12th to third in points, went out to qualify right before Ray, but did not have enough (215.662 mph) to knock Dismore off the pole.

"We're in great shape," Schmidt said. "The car is running really good and we'll be in the battle for the championship. We've got a good race setup and I'm looking forward to being a major factor in the race tomorrow."

Sarah Fisher, a 19-year-old two-time World Karting Association champion from Commercial Point, Ohio, qualified 17th fastest (213.074 mph) and will start on the inside of the ninth row. Fisher will become the youngest driver and only the second female to start an IRL race.