Lazier on verge of first IRL championship

Steve Bailey

Thursday, Aug. 31, 2000 | 9:39 a.m.

SPARTA, Ky. - Buddy Lazier remembers the pain.

His body hurt each time he tried to move and even when he was still.

He had shattered his sacrum, the triangular bone at the base of the spinal column that joins the hip bones to form the pelvis, and fractured dozens of surrounding vertebrae when he slammed into the wall during practice for an Indy Racing League event four years ago at Phoenix International Raceway.

"The rear wing delaminated, I did a 180 and hit the wall at about 180 mph," Lazier recalls with an involuntary wince. "The General Motors black box registered a G force of 99.6 on impact. It was the most devastating thing you can imagine.

"I remember waking up in the hospital feeling lucky to be alive but wishing I wasn't because it hurt so much. You can't even imagine the pain."

As he sat quietly for hours, forcing himself to deal with both the mental and physical anguish, an eerie calm came over him.

"Somehow, I just knew I had to get back because I could sense I had a chance to win the Indy 500," he said. "I really believed in the Indy Racing League and made up my mind to get back. I had about eight weeks before the race.

"My doctors thought I was crazy, but I just had this feeling good things were going to happen."

Battered, bruised and still broken, Lazier wound up in the winner's circle at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

"It was a huge, emotional moment for me," Lazier said. "It's a dream-come-true for any driver to win it. I can still remember crossing the finish line and thinking to myself, 'Wow. Eight weeks ago, I broke my back in 38 places and right this minute it doesn't even hurt.' "

Fast forward to the present. Lazier isn't in a hospital, and his back pain is a distant memory. Now, the 32-year-old driver from Vail, Colo., needs only a 13th-place finish in the IRL's season-ending event at Texas Motor Speedway for his first championship.

Lazier put himself in prime position with a victory Sunday at Kentucky Speedway. It was his second win this season, and the fourth of his IRL career.

The former Olympic hopeful in slalom and downhill skiing knows he'll have to perform well in the Excite 500 on Oct. 15 to earn the title.

"We don't have anything locked up yet," he said. "We have a good advantage, but by no means have it clinched. There's some days when just finishing 13th is a monumental accomplishment."

Until winning at Phoenix earlier this season, Lazier had gone nearly two years without a victory. Despite four second-place finishes in that stretch, he began to doubt his skills.

"It was extremely frustrating because, even though I had quite a few podium finishes, you start to wonder if you still know how to win," he said. "I honestly thought maybe I had lost some of what it takes."

But owner Ron Hemelgarn and the rest of the team didn't share those doubts, and worked hard to put Lazier back in the winner's circle.

"I think you're seeing the results of that this year," Lazier said. "I'm not sure I can even put that joy into words."

Hemelgarn, who has teamed with Lazier since the creation of the IRL in 1996, likes his driver's chances.

A lead of 38 points over Scott Goodyear and 41 over Eddie Cheever is substantial - unless Lazier falters badly in Texas. Hemelgarn likes the cushion, but even more the motivation to win the race.

"If we had to be conservative, we might be too conservative," Hemelgarn said. "I think this will give Buddy the freedom to go out there full throttle and try to win the race.

"The one thing about Buddy is that if you point him toward the rabbit, he'll definitely chase it down and conquer it."

Lazier, whose father, Bob, raced in the 1981 Indianapolis 500, isn't sure how he'll feel should he win the title. He already owns a series-record 23 top-10 finishes and has earnings of more than $4.3 million.

Drivers' legacies, however, are secured with series championships and victories at Indianapolis.

"I've never won a championship, but I would think the emotion would be similar to winning at Indy," he said. "You can never take a championship or a victory away from a race driver.

"But the money can disappear tomorrow. No matter what happens, I'll always be Buddy Lazier, 1996 Indianapolis 500 champion. Hopefully, we'll be able to add Indy Racing Northern Light champion to that."