Dismore captures pole for Vegas Indy 300

Friday, April 21, 2000 | 3:57 a.m.

Mark Dismore was getting tired of playing second-fiddle to Greg Ray, so winning the pole for Saturday's Indy Racing Northern Light Series Vegas Indy 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was extra special for the 43-year-old Dismore.

Dismore's lap of 208.502 mph late in Friday's qualifying session withstood Ray's run of 207.932 on the last run of the day as Dismore earned his third career Indy Racing pole.

"This guy has spoiled my day so many times on the pole deal," Dismore said of Ray. "I think it's four times he has bumped me off the pole and if you add them all together, it's about a tenth and a half (of a second).

"I told him after he won the pole in Phoenix, 'I've been so (ticked) off because you've dropped the ball on me like four times and if you add it all together, it's not even two-tenths of a second.' "

Ray's fastest lap came on his first of two trips around the 1.5-mile superspeedway, but he wasn't able to improve his speed on the second lap.

"The first lap was as quick as anybody out there but I definitely didn't get the car all hooked up on that last lap," Ray said. "I caught a big puff of wind coming out of four, it sent me to the wall and I had to back out of it."

Dismore and Ray will start on the front row and will lead the field of 28 cars to the green flag Saturday at 12:30 p.m. (PDT).

Scott Sharp will start on the inside of the second row after qualifying third at 207.437 mph and 1997 Vegas Indy 300 race winner Eliseo Salazar will start fourth.

Billy Boat and Jeff Ward will start fifth and sixth, respectively, and Eddie Cheever Jr., the only driver in the field powered by a Nissan Infiniti engine, qualified seventh.

Indy Racing rookie Jeret Schroeder qualified eighth; Tyce Carlson and Jason Leffler rounded out the top-10 qualifiers.

Sarah Fisher, the only female in the field, will start 13th after a qualifying run of 204.151 mph.

Las Vegas resident Davey Hamilton will start 18th and two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser Jr. will start 23rd.

Unser withdrew his initial qualifying run of 191.564 mph and went to a backup car for a second run. He improved his starting position five spots with a run of 201.252 mph.

"I was so uncomfortable with the car and when I went out for qualifying, the handling was horrible," Unser said. "At this point we can't explain (why the car was so loose), but we are checking everything and I am confident that by tomorrow we will find out what got us today."

Buddy Lazier, the Indy Racing Series points leader, will start 22nd.