Ray’s title continues Texas tradition

Jaime Aron

Thursday, Oct. 21, 1999 | 7:24 a.m.

FORT WORTH, Texas - By winning his first Indy Racing League title, Greg Ray joined a Texas tradition of open-wheel champions that includes childhood heroes Johnny Rutherford and A.J. Foyt.

Although Ray has accomplished a lot in short time, he's the first to admit hasn't reached the caliber of Rutherford and Foyt - winners of a combined seven Indianapolis 500s.

"I'm a Texan and I'm an Indy-car driver, so I guess I'm in that group," Ray said. "But those are guys you aspire to be like. I'm not there yet. One championship does not make a career."

The 33-year-old Plano native wrapped up the fourth IRL championship and a $500,000 bonus by finishing third Sunday in the season-ending Mall.com 500.

Appropriately, the race was held at Texas Motor Speedway, with Rutherford driving the pace car and Foyt owning the car of Ray's top competitor.

Ray celebrated by saluting the crowd with donuts spun on each end of the frontstretch. It was almost a subconscious reaction.

"Any time you accomplish a goal or dreams come true like this, it takes a while to sink in," he said. "I'm old enough to know that things like this don't come along very often."

It's hard to tell which is more stunning: Ray's drive to the top of the standings after opening the season with three straight back-of-the-pack finishes, or his overall rise from race fan to circuit leader.

Ray began this decade as a hardworking guy with a racing dream. He secretly envisioned himself sneaking into the field in the Indianapolis 500 and winning the event as the mysterious Racer X.

He boldly put his life on hold several years ago to try making it a reality, even though he'd never raced before. Yet he already had the confidence of a champion.

At his first day of driving school, Ray told the class he planned to win the Indy 500. Everyone laughed at a statement comparable to a Little League player saying he's going to hit a home run to win the World Series.

Lots of people dream it, few make it happen.

Ray started with Formula Fords in 1991 and moved to Indy Lights in '96. The next year, he almost made Racer X a reality, going from the Indy 500 rookie orientation program to 10th in the field before a mechanical problem knocked him out after 48 laps.

No one was laughing anymore.

In 1998, Ray and his low-budget Thomas Knapp Motorsports team qualified second at Indy, putting him on the front row. He led for 18 laps before another mechanical problem wiped him out.

Ray came home to the Texas Motor Speedway for the next event and turned more heads by finishing second. Foyt was so impressed he hired Ray for two races to fill in for injured driver Billy Boat. When Boat returned, Ray missed three events because his team was low on money.

When the season ended, Ray was hired by deep-pocketed John Menard to replace 1997 IRL champ Tony Stewart, who was moving to NASCAR. Menard also hired Knapp as team manager.

Their union got off to a slow start until the fourth race, back home in Texas. Ray finished second, and the title chase was on.

Ray won three of the next four races, vaulting him to the top of the points race. He needed only a decent finish in the next-to-last race in Las Vegas, but after colliding with Mark Dismore, Ray again finished 21st.

"Between Las Vegas and now, I thought about it every morning, afternoon and evening," Ray said.

Carrying the good-luck charms his oldest son gave him before the first Texas race, a confident Ray started the finale from the pole and remained in contention as three of his four closest rivals went out.

Only defending champion Kenny Brack was left, but then his Foyt-owned car broke down. The title was all Ray's, even though Dismore won the race.

As the championship began to sink in, Ray recognized Foyt as one of his first driving inspirations.

"I remember in fifth grade, I read a book about him," Ray said. "I idolized him. He was a Texan and he raced cars.

"And he's a brash guy. A.J.'s going to tell you what he's thinking. He may not tell the camera what it wants to hear, but he's a true living legend."

He might not become that, but for now Ray is in pretty good company among Texans.