1999 Indianapolis 500

The 1999 Indianapolis 500 was held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday, May 30, 1999.

Recap

Robby Gordon and Team Menard take a major gamble late in the race, and try to stretch their fuel for the win. Gordon had last pit on lap 164, and attempted to run the final 36 laps on one tank. As the rest of the leaders pit under caution on laps 169-171, Gordon shuffled to the lead at the restart.

Charging in the last 20 laps, Kenny Bräck passes Jeff Ward for second place on lap 188, and sets his sights on Gordon. Bräck begins narrowing the deficit. With 2 laps to go, Gordon led by only 1.5 seconds.

On the 199th lap, Gordon led Bräck in turn three, but the car ran out of fuel as he exited turn four. Gordon veered into the pit area, and Bräck took the lead on the mainstrech. He took the white flag as the leader, and completed the final lap to win for car owner A.J. Foyt.

Brack's victory marked the fifth overall Indy 500 victory for A.J. Foyt. Four as a driver (1961, 1964, 1967, 1977) and one as an owner (1999). Brack led the final two laps, which equalled the official record for the latest lead change. However, unofficially, it was in fact the latest lead change in Indy history (until 2006), with Brack assuming the lead approximately 2.8 miles to the stripe.

Robby McGehee's crew chief, Steve Fried, was seriously injured in an accident on pit road. He was in a coma for several weeks.

The chilean driver Eliseo Salazar was awarded with the Scott Brayton's trophy

Results

Finish Start No Name Qual Rank C E T Laps Led Status Entrant
1 8 14 Kenny Brack 222.659 8 D O G 200 66 Running A.J. Foyt Enterprises
2 14 21 Jeff Ward 221.363 14 D O G 200 3 Running Pagan Racing
3 3 11 Billy Boat 223.469 3 D O G 200 0 Running A.J. Foyt Enterprises
4 4 32 Robby Gordon 223.066 4 G O F 200 28 Running Team Menard
5 27 55 Robby McGehee (R) 220.139 29 D O F 199 0 Running Conti Racing
6 32 84 Robbie Buhl 220.115 30 D O G 199 0 Running A.J. Foyt Enterprises
7 22 91 Buddy Lazier (W) 220.721 23 D O G 198 0 Running Hemelgarn Racing
8 17 81 Robby Unser 221.304 17 D O F 197 0 Running Team Pelfrey
9 24 22 Tony Stewart 220.653 25 D O G 196 0 Running Tri-Star Motorsports
10 10 54 Hideshi Matsuda 222.064 10 D O F 196 0 Running Beck Motorsports
11 11 9 Davey Hamilton 221.866 11 D O G 196 0 Running Galles Racing
12 33 3 Raul Boesel 220.101 31 R O G 195 0 Running Brant Racing
13 12 42 John Hollansworth, Jr. (R) 221.698 12 D O F 192 0 Running TeamXtreme
14 15 20 Tyce Carlson 221.322 15 D O F 190 0 Running Blueprint/Immke Racing
15 21 96 Jeret Schroeder (R) 220.747 22 D I F 175 0 Engine Cobb Racing
16 5 28 Mark Dismore 222.962 5 D O G 168 0 Accident T2 Kelley Racing
17 20 19 Stan Wattles 220.833 21 D O G 147 0 Running Metro Racing
18 16 51 Eddie Cheever (W) 221.315 D I G 16 139 4 Engine Team Cheever
19 26 12 Buzz Calkins 220.297 27 G O F 133 0 Running Bradley Motorsports
20 23 33 Roberto Moreno 220.705 24 G O G 122 0 Transmission Truscelli Team Racing
21 2 2 Greg Ray 225.073 2 D O F 120 32 Accident Pits Team Menard
22 1 5 Arie Luyendyk (W) 225.179 1 G O F 117 63 Accident T3 Treadway Racing
23 29 52 Wim Eyckmans (R) 220.092 33 D O G 113 0 Timing Chain Team Cheever
24 28 30 Jimmy Kite 220.097 32 G O F 110 0 Engine McCormack Motorsports
25 25 50 Roberto Guerrero 220.479 26 G I F 105 0 Engine Cobb Racing
26 13 35 Steve Knapp 221.502 13 G O G 104 0 Handling ISM Racing
27 9 4 Scott Goodyear 222.387 9 G O G 101 0 Engine Panther Racing
28 6 8 Scott Sharp 222.771 6 D O G 83 0 Transmission Kelley Racing
29 19 98 Donnie Beechler 221.228 19 D O F 74 0 Engine Cahill Racing
30 7 99 Sam Schmidt 222.734 7 G O F 62 4 Accident T1 Treadway Racing
31 31 17 Dr. Jack Miller 220.277 28 D O G 29 0 Clutch Tri-Star Motorsports
32 30 92 Johnny Unser 221.197 20 D O G 10 0 Brakes Hemelgarn Racing
33 18 6 Eliseo Salazar 221.265 18 G O F 7 0 Accident T2 Nienhouse Motorsports

(W) = former Indianapolis 500 winner; (R) = Indianapolis 500 rookie

*C Chassis: D=Dallara, G=G-Force, R=Riley & Scott

*E Engine: I=Infiniti, O=Oldsmobile

*T Tire: F=Firestone, G=Goodyear

Failed to Qualify:
#15 Jaques Lazier
#90 Lyn St. James
#46 Mike Groff
#07 Stephan Gregoire
#66 Scott Harrington
#31 Nick Firestone
#10 Andy Michner

1998 Indianapolis 500
Eddie Cheever, Jr.
1999 Indianapolis 500
Kenny Bräck
2000 Indianapolis 500
Juan Pablo Montoya