Lazier starts last, finishes first in Phoenix

Mel Reisner

Monday, March 20, 2000 | 9:11 a.m.

AVONDALE, Ariz. - Even near the end, Buddy Lazier couldn't believe the unfamiliar race car rocketing around the track at Phoenix International Raceway was running so well.

"I just kept telling myself, 'You haven't won yet. Something's going to happen,"' Lazier said after his spectacular victory in the MCI WorldCom Indy 200 on Sunday.

The hard-luck driver, who won the 1996 Indianapolis 500 despite suffering a crushed pelvis and back injuries two months before, won his third Indy Racing League crown and first in three years by doing something no one had done before - starting in last place and passing everyone. And that was only half of what Lazier overcame.

He began the week with a viral infection that his doctor said was worse than the flu, and he had to drive an untested car in his dash from the back of the 13th row. His team owner made the decision less than 24 hours before to stop fiddling with Lazier's primary Riley & Scott-Aurora and set up a new car.

"I have to tell you I was frightened in the car, and I don't frighten easily," Lazier said about the handling problems he experienced while qualifying.

Owner Ron Hemelgarn speculated that an engine fire last month might have weakened a housing or motor mount. Lazier qualified 24th, with a best lap more than 11 mph off Greg Ray's 176.566 mph pole-winning lap, but actually started 26th because using the new car forced him to the back of the grid.

"Lucky for us, it turned out brilliant," Hemelgarn said. "It was a tough decision, but a good one."

Lazier easily took over the Indy Racing Northern Light Series points lead after finishing second in the opener in Florida - the two highest finishes ever by a Riley & Scott chassis.

The 32-year-old Coloradan was the race's record eighth leader. It took him 150 laps to get the lead, lost the lead to Robbie Buhl on the 156th lap and regained it on the 161st. He held off defending champion Scott Goodyear in a 40-lap dash to the flag.

Despite seven caution flags, Lazier averaged 111.957 mph, the fastest of four races in Phoenix since the IRL banished turbochargers after its split with CART. His victory margin over Goodyear was 4.191 seconds, about half a straightaway on the one-mile Phoenix International Raceway oval.

"I thought we could catch Buddy in the restarts, but we just couldn't," Goodyear said. "I hoped that traffic might help us at the end, but there wasn't enough traffic. Overall, Buddy had a better car."

Donnie Beechler was third, Eliseo Salazar fourth and 1998 Phoenix winner Scott Sharp fifth.

Billy Boat; Buhl, who won at Lake Buena Vista, Fla., on Jan. 29; Stephan Gregoire; Al Unser Jr.; and Eddie Cheever Jr., the only driver using an Infiniti engine instead of an Aurora, rounded out the top 10.

Unser might have won except for an ill-timed pit stop. The two-time Indy 500 winner led 22 laps before stopping in the 151st to take on new tires, fuel and have a wing adjustment. But as he re-entered the track, rookie Sam Hornish Jr. crashed, and Unser, no longer on the lead lap, had to drive five laps under a yellow flag before racing resumed.

"We had to pit because we needed fuel, and it was great strategy on the part of (owner) Rick Galles," Unser said. "But we don't ever know when a yellow flag is going to come out."

Ray led 18 laps before Robby McGehee passed him. But McGehee lost control and slid into the wall on the 30th lap. And Ray's race ended during the 105th lap, when his car touched that of Bobby Regester and both crashed.

Buzz Calkins, another big-name racer who crashed, had back pain and was taken to St. Joseph's Medical Center in Phoenix. Doctors said X-rays were negative.

Sharp led 59 laps in the race and Gregoire 27. Other leaders were Cheever (13) and Buhl (5).