1998 True Value 500


The 1998 True Value 500 was the fourth round of the 1998 Indy Racing League season. The race was held on June 6, 1998 at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas.

Report

Qualifying

Two laps qualifying. The worst lap from any of the drivers were not published, and therefore are unknown. Rain delayed qualifying from Thursday to Friday.
PosNo.NameLapBest
11 Tony Stewart24.059224.448
211 Billy Boat24.156223.547
33 Robbie Buhl24.204223.104
45 Arie Luyendyk W24.416221.166
516 Marco Greco24.575219.736
628 Mark Dismore24.590219.601
74 Scott Goodyear24.605219.468
821 Roberto Guerrero24.625219.289
98 Scott Sharp24.684218.765
1012 Buzz Calkins24.713218.508
1114 Kenny Bräck24.731218.349
1210 John Paul, Jr.24.735218.314
1335 Jeff Ward24.823217.540
1497 Greg Ray24.853217.278
156 Davey Hamilton24.886216.989
1677 Stéphan Grégoire24.929216.615
1798 Donnie Beechler R24.944216.485
1815 Eliseo Salazar24.952216.416
1930 Raul Boesel25.087215.251
2051 Eddie Cheever25.118214.985
2140 Jack Miller25.136214.831
2244 J. J. Yeley R25.138214.814
2391 Buddy Lazier25.181214.447
2499 Sam Schmidt25.211214.192
2527 Billy Roe25.222214.099
2619 Stan Wattles25.325213.228
2752 Robby Unser R25.363212.909
2881 Tyce Carlson25.473211.989

Failed to qualify or withdrew

The race was the first IRL event run on the newly reconfigured Texas track, which had undergone changes to the corner banking and the transitions out of the corners, plus a complete repaving and drainage work. The new configuration proved to be extremely fast; Tony Stewart broke the IRL new car qualifying record, and ran laps as fast as 228 MPH during the race, believed to be the fastest laps ever turned on a closed course by a car with a normally aspirated engine.
The start was confusing, as Sam Schmidt did not come up to speed due to an electronics problem and Billy Roe spun through the quad-oval grass at the green flag. This was cleaned up, but only a few green flag laps were registered until Roberto Guerrero spun in front of the pack coming out of turn 2. Rookie Donnie Beechler ran hard into the back of Stéphan Grégoire's car, causing a six-car accident that eliminated Eddie Cheever. Beechler ended sliding upside down the length of the back stretch. No one was hurt. Stewart had to pit for a cut tire after running through debris, handing the lead to Arie Luyendyk. The Dutch lead briefly after the green before being overhauled by Boat on lap 22, while Stewart worked his way up from the rear.
By lap 34, when a caution flew for Eliseo Salazar's blown engine, Luyendyk took a gamble by not pitting, but backfired when he had to pit under green on lap 59 and lost two laps. Mark Dismore had something in the rear of the car break on lap 72 which put him hard into the turn 1 wall, suffering a concussion. Under the subsequent caution, Stewart had to make an extra pit stop for a suspected tire problem and went to the rear again. On the restart, Scott Goodyear got the jump on Boat and took the lead; the two then battled until Boat retook the lead five laps later. By halfway, Boat, Stewart, and Greg Ray were running nose-to-tail and attempting slingshots.
As a caution flew on lap 144, Boat banged wheels with J. J. Yeley. The contact left a large "doughnut" on Boat's left sidepod, but he continued with no apparent problems. Stewart jumped Boat on the restart, while Ray, Goodyear, Jeff Ward and Kenny Bräck diced for third. Unfortunately for Ward, his race ended four laps later with engine failure. Stewart had his left sidepod radiator rupture streaked down the front stretch on lap 177, spewing water all over it. His crew tried to replace the faulty radiator in the pits but they ran out of time.
Boat then begin to stretch out his lead over Ray, but on lap 196 he got caught in traffic and Ray begin to close the gap. On lap 200, the Texas native caught Boat and then made a move through the grass in the quad-oval ; as they went down the back stretch Ray split the lapped car of Buzz Calkins and swept into the lead. But on the next lap, Boat used the slingshot to retake it; Ray tried for the next six laps but could not overcome Boat's superior engine, and Billy Boat took his first IRL win. For the top three, it was their best IRL career finishes up to that point. Scott Sharp ran a quiet race to finish fifth and move into a tie with Stewart in the points standings. One year after apparently winning at Texas, only to have the win taken away after a scoring recount, Billy Boat won it again, and this time he got to keep the trophy.
PosNo.DriverTeamLapsTime/RetiredGridLaps LedPoints
111 Billy BoatA. J. Foyt Enterprises2082:08:45.543210854
297 Greg RayKnapp Motorsports208+ 0.928 sec14140
314 Kenny BräckA. J. Foyt Enterprises208Running11035
44 Scott GoodyearPanther Racing208Running71132
58 Scott SharpKelley Racing208Running9030
63 Robbie BuhlTeam Menard207+ 1 lap3029
76 Davey HamiltonNienhouse Motorsports207+ 1 lap15026
816 Marco GrecoPhoenix Racing205+ 3 laps5024
952 Robby Unser RTeam Cheever204+ 4 laps27022
1019 Stan WattlesMetro Racing Systems198+ 10 laps26020
1191 Buddy LazierHemelgarn Racing194Wheel bearing23019
1281 Tyce CarlsonTeam Pelfrey191+ 17 laps28018
135 Arie Luyendyk WTreadway Racing178+ 30 laps42917
141 Tony StewartTeam Menard176Radiator tank15719
1512 Buzz CalkinsBradley Motorsports172+ 36 laps10015
1610 John Paul, Jr.Byrd-Cunningham Racing169+ 39 laps12014
1735 Jeff WardISM Racing165Engine13213
1899 Sam SchmidtLP Racing163+ 45 laps24012
1944 J. J. Yeley RSinden Racing162+ 46 laps22011
2027 Billy RoeBlueprint Racing108+ 100 laps25010
2128 Mark DismoreKelley Racing70Accident609
2240 Jack MillerCrest Racing-SRS38Engine2108
2315 Eliseo SalazarRiley & Scott Cars32Engine1807
2421 Roberto GuerreroPagan Racing4Accident806
2577 Stéphan GrégoireChastain Motorsports4Accident1605
2651 Eddie CheeverTeam Cheever4Accident2004
2798 Donnie Beechler R Cahill Auto Racing4Accident1703
2830 Raul BoeselMcCormack Motorsports4Accident1902

Race Statistics

;Drivers' Championship standings
PosDriverPoints
1 Tony Stewart115
2 Scott Sharp115
3 Billy Boat110
4 Jeff Ward103
5 Davey Hamilton97