IndyCar

IRL: Texas Oldmobile Qualifying Report

OLDS POLE NOTES: 18 STRAIGHT FOR IRL AURORA V8 Fort Worth, Texas; September 18, 1998 - Oldsmobile's IRL Aurora V8 kept its perfect pole qualifying record intact at Texas Motor Speedway today as the Pep Boys Indy Racing League prepared to ...

Edited: Mar 27, 2008, 5:47 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

OLDS POLE NOTES: 18 STRAIGHT FOR IRL AURORA V8

Fort Worth, Texas; September 18, 1998 - Oldsmobile's IRL Aurora V8 kept its perfect pole qualifying record intact at Texas Motor Speedway today as the Pep Boys Indy Racing League prepared to stage its first daytime race on the high-banked 1.5-mile oval. Billy Boat sailed to his third straight pole, his fifth of the season, and the sixth of his career in A.J. Foyt's Oldsmobile-powered Dallara.

Boat, the polewinner at Indianapolis, Loudon, Pikes Peak, and Atlanta, set the TMS track qualifying record at 225.979 mph, eclipsing the 224.448 mph qualifying mark set by Tony Stewart in June. Boat's pole-winning speed was the fastest qualifying lap since the IRL introduced its new-generation Indy cars in January 1997. Boat became the first driver in IRL history to win three consecutive poles, and posted the 18th straight pole for the IRL Aurora V8. Boat won the pole with only one qualifying lap after a broken gearbox prevented him from completing his second circuit. Tony Stewart, the polewinner at the two previous Texas races, will start Team Menard's Olds-powered Dallara on the outside of the front row after qualifying at 224.869 mph. Boat, Stewart, and No. 3 qualifier Scott Sharp all bettered the previous qualifying record. Less than one second separated the 24 fastest qualifiers.

OLDSMOBILE DOMINATES. Oldsmobile's IRL Aurora V8 dominated qualifying for the Lone Star 500 as the 17 fastest drivers relied on Oldsmobile power. Twenty-six of the 28 qualifiers (93% of the field) for the Lone Star 500 are using Oldsmobile engines. The fastest Nissan driver qualified 18th with a speed 5.49 mph slower than Boat's pole-winning lap.

OLDSMOBILE QUALIFYING QUOTES: Billy Boat, polewinner: "On the second lap we had a transmission failure, and I didn't think my first lap was fast enough to keep the pole. I would have been more comfortable with something quicker. I had a streak of 10 or 12 fast times in sprint cars, so I've got the art of qualifying down when I need to. We were out-to-lunch this morning in the first practice and changed everything on the car. On the next time out we ran 226 mph. I'm amazed by the depth of A.J.'s knowledge."

A.J. Foyt, car owner: "The car was running 5 mph faster in the speed trap on Billy's second lap before the transmission broke. A lot of cars ran after us, and they were all taking shots at us. Billy qualified with our back-up race motor. It' probably got 15 horsepower less than the qualifying engine in Kenny Brack's car. There's really not that much difference between the qualifying and race engines; we just abuse the qualifying motors a little more and use more radical cams. It's stuff that would probably run all day, but we don't want take a chance on it. I think we've got a pretty good handle on our motors." Tony Stewart, outside front row: " We qualify with the same engines we race with, so if I qualify near the front of the field, I'm pretty pumped up. We've got a lot of guys in the engine department who are probably looking for cots and pillows right now because they've put in a lot of 18-hour days recently. Qualifying on the front row is a good reward for them after the problems we had in Atlanta. "We picked up two points in qualifying; there are 11 guys with a chance to win the championship, and a lot can happen in two races. You've got to get every point you can."

ENGINE BUILDER SCORE CARD. The four fastest qualifiers represent three different Oldsmobile engine builders: Katech, Inc. (polewinner Billy Boat); Team Menard (Tony Stewart, outside front row); and Comptech Machine (Scott Sharp, inside second row and Mark Dismore, outside second row).

TV TIME. The Lone Star 500 will be televised on ABC on Sunday, September 20, at 4:00 p.m. EDT.

LONE STAR 500 TOP FIVE QUALIFIERS

Driver             Entrant           Engine        Speed
1. Billy Boat      A.J. Foyt Ent.    Oldsmobile    225.979 mph
2. Tony Stewart    Team Menard       Oldsmobile    224.869
3. Scott Sharp     Kelley Racing     Oldsmobile    224.551
4. Mark Dismore    Kelley Racing     Oldsmobile    224.299
5. Jeff Ward       ISM Racing        Oldsmobile    224.076

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article IRL: Texas Adds Speedway CVlub Seats

Next article CHAMPCAR/CART: Fontana Test 98-09-18

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Liam Lawson’s remarkable form is giving Red Bull a headache for 2027

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Mexican GP

8 h

Liam Lawson’s remarkable form is giving Red Bull a headache for 2027

Hanley Motorsports announces multi-class IMSA arrival with BMW support and DXDT deal

IMSA

IMSA IMSA 9 h

Hanley Motorsports announces multi-class IMSA arrival with BMW support and DXDT deal

Why Ferrari must act now after its own 'Papaya Rules' moment

Formula 1

Mexican GP

Why Ferrari must act now after its own 'Papaya Rules' moment

Ryan Preece will switch to No. 6 for 2027 NASCAR Cup season

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Martinsville II

10 h

Ryan Preece will switch to No. 6 for 2027 NASCAR Cup season

Feature

Discover prime content

How Spanish engineering and Alex Palou brought IndyCar to Barcelona

Feature

IndyCar

Feature

IndyCar

By Joey Barnes

How Spanish engineering and Alex Palou brought IndyCar to Barcelona

Inside AJ Foyt Racing’s transition: Hauger’s arrival, Ferrucci’s future, and the Pierson waiting game

Feature

IndyCar

Feature

IndyCar

By Joey Barnes

Inside AJ Foyt Racing’s transition: Hauger’s arrival, Ferrucci’s future, and the Pierson waiting game

You Ask The Questions: David Malukas

IndyCar

By Joey Barnes

You Ask The Questions: David Malukas

Top 10 Ganassi IndyCar drivers of all time

IndyCar

By John Oreovicz

Top 10 Ganassi IndyCar drivers of all time

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts