Lazier wants perfection after title

Stephen Hawkins

Thursday, Oct. 19, 2000 | 9:47 a.m.

FORT WORTH, Texas - Now that Buddy Lazier has won the Indy Racing League title, perfection is his next goal.

He says that can be achieved only by winning the championship and the Indianapolis 500 in the same year. It hasn't been done since Indy became an IRL race in 1996.

"It is almost mission impossible," Lazier said. "But next year we are going to focus on the mission impossible and have the perfect season."

Lazier won the IRL championship by finishing fourth Sunday in the season-ending Excite 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. That came nearly five months after he was second at Indy.

Lazier has won at Indy. But that was four years ago, in the IRL's inaugural season, when he finished 14th in points.

"Winning the Indy 500 is a very hard thing, and it's huge," Lazier said. "I would have to say that the championship is just below it. I can't think of anything that's even close to either one.

"It starts to justify this crazy passion that becomes a career."

Only Lazier, one of 12 drivers who have raced since the establishment of the circuit, won more than once his year. He went from last to first in Avondale, Ariz., and took the inaugural IRL race in Sparta, Ky.

Four other top-five finishes helped the 32-year-old driver from Vail, Colo., win his first championship of any kind. Now the real challenge comes in 2001.

The Indy 500-IRL title combo isn't the only elusive prize. No one has won two season titles on the circuit, much less successfully defended the championship.

Greg Ray, the 1999 IRL champion, didn't come close, finishing 13th in 2000. Even though he won a series-high five poles, Ray had just one victory and was 15th or worse six times.

"It seems like the Team Menard ship has been sailing through the Bermuda Triangle all season," Ray said. "We had the potential to go out and do a bunch of great things, but things didn't go our way."

Last week in Texas, where he clinched the 1999 title, Ray was the polesitter, but a bad cylinder put him out after just 18 of 208 laps.

Ray also won the pole at the Indy 500, but he hit the wall twice early in the race and finished last in the 33-car field. There also were gearbox failures and several team changes throughout the year.

For Ray and everyone else who fell short of the championship, there is always next season, one most drivers anxiously await.

The IRL will hold 13 races, the most ever, between March 18 and Sept. 16. Gone will be long layoffs, such as two of at least six weeks apiece in this year's nine-race schedule that ran from late January to the middle of October.

"It helps drivers stay sharper," said Mark Dismore, like Lazier a regular since the IRL's inception. "You get away from a car that runs 220 mph for a month, and jump back in, it takes awhile to get comfortable.

"It will also make the crew better. Crews will be on the cars all of the time. These big layoffs are just not a good thing for anybody."

Besides Lazier's championship, Ray's struggles and pending changes, there were other IRL headlines in 2000:

---

On the net:

Buddy Lazier: http://www.hemelgarnracing.com