IndyCar
IRL: Texas Oldsmobile Qualifying Report
OLDSMOBILE MOTORSPORT REPORT: Saturday, October 16, 1999 Qualifying for Mall.com 500 at Texas Motor Speedway 10th of 10 Pep Boys Indy Racing League races RAY PADS POINTS LEAD WITH TEXAS POLE Greg Ray Races to Fourth IRL Pole at Home ...
Edited: Mar 27, 2008, 5:47 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
OLDSMOBILE MOTORSPORT REPORT: Saturday, October 16, 1999 Qualifying for Mall.com 500 at Texas Motor Speedway 10th of 10 Pep Boys Indy Racing League races
RAY PADS POINTS LEAD WITH TEXAS POLE
Greg Ray Races to Fourth IRL Pole at Home Track, Puts Oldsmobile IRL Aurora V8 on Pole for 29th Straight Race
FORT WORTH - Texan Greg Ray gave his hometown fans reason to cheer as he added three points to his championship tally today by winning the pole for Sunday's Mall.com 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, the season finale of the Pep Boys Indy Racing League. Ray increased his lead over second-ranked Kenny Brack to 16 points by claiming his fourth pole of the season in Team Menard's Glidden Oldsmobile Dallara. Ray circled the high-banked Texas track in 24.238 seconds at an average speed of 216.107 mph. It was Ray's first pole on a 1.5-mile oval; he previously captured poles on the Phoenix and Pikes Peak one-mile tracks.
"I almost spun the car on the first lap because I was pushing so hard," Ray revealed. "Winning the pole was huge. We had struggled all weekend. We put in our race engine and made some calls for qualifying, and didn't really know how the car would respond. It was a big gamble, but every point is crucial."
The top five contenders for the $1 million championship will start in the first four rows. Kenny Brack, second in the standings, qualified A.J. Foyt's Power Team Oldsmobile Dallara fifth on the grid. Fifth-ranked Scott Goodyear and third-ranked Sam Schmidt will start side-by-side in the second row. Scott Sharp, fourth in the points race, will start on the inside of row four.
Ray gave Oldsmobile a clean sweep of the pole positions under the IRL's four-liter formula, putting the IRL Aurora V8 on the pole for the tenth time this season and the 29th straight race. Oldsmobile engines powered the 19 fastest qualifiers for the Mall.com 500; the one Infiniti Indy in the field qualified 20th at a speed 3.396 mph slower than Ray's pole-winning pace.
"Tomorrow's a big day with a championship and a million dollars at stake," said Team Menard engine builder Butch Meyer. "Greg qualified with our race motor, so we feel really good about the speed we can get out of it - but we still have a 312-mile race to run."
Mark Dismore qualified Kelley Racing's MCI WorldCom Oldsmobile Dallara on the outside front row at 216.071 mph, his fourth front-row start of the season. "My first lap was excellent, and the second lap was the same line, just a little different speed," Dismore reported. "I'll gladly take second if I can win tomorrow."
Scott Goodyear posted the third fastest time in Pennzoil Panther Racing's Oldsmobile G-Force at 216.036 mph. "We had a misfire on the second lap, and I think we didn't pick up all of the fuel in the tank," Goodyear noted. "For sure the second lap was going to be a little stronger. We have a good race car for tomorrow; the horsepower is there, and this engine has over 400 miles on it, so the reliability of the engines is very good, too."
Twenty-six of the 27 qualifiers used Oldsmobile engines. The three quickest qualifiers represent three independent Oldsmobile engine builders: Team Menard (Greg Ray); Comptech Machine (Mark Dismore), and Speedway Engine Development (Scott Goodyear).
Weather forecasts call for dramatically cooler temperatures on race day, with a projected high nearly 30 degrees colder than today's mid-80s. Teams will have to make significant changes in their setups to cope with the rapidly changing conditions.
"With the temperature dropping, it will be real interesting tomorrow," Dismore predicted. "It's going to be a Texas-sized shootout," Ray added. "You better come with your six-shooter loaded."
The Mall.com 500 will start at 1:00 a.m. CDT on Sunday, October 17. The 208-lap, 312-mile race will be televised on tape delay by ABC Sports at 4:00 p.m. EDT. The event will be broadcast live on the Indy Racing Radio Network.
MALL.COM 500 TOP FIVE QUALIFIERS Driver Entrant Engine Speed 1. Greg Ray Team Menard Oldsmobile 216.107 mph 2. Mark Dismore Kelley Racing Oldsmobile 216.071 3. Scott Goodyear Panther Racing Oldsmobile 216.036 4. Sam Schmidt Treadway Racing Oldsmobile 215.662 5. Kenny Brack A.J. Foyt Ent. Oldsmobile 214.593
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
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article CHAMPCAR/CART: Gold Coast Saturday Wrapup
Next article CHAMPCAR/CART: Gold Coast Reynard Race Report
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Scott Sharp
Road America IMSA: Jarvis tops incident-packed first practice
IMSA
IMSA
Road America
Road America IMSA: Jarvis tops incident-packed first practice
ESM “working on a number of scenarios” to replace Patron
IMSA
IMSA
ESM “working on a number of scenarios” to replace Patron
Senna: “Our drive-through was not deserved. They took our race”
IMSA
IMSA
Road Atlanta
Senna: “Our drive-through was not deserved. They took our race”
More from
Panther Racing
Veteran Technical Director Kevin ‘Rocket’ Blanch retires from IndyCar, IndyCar Officiating
IndyCar
IndyCar
Veteran Technical Director Kevin ‘Rocket’ Blanch retires from IndyCar, IndyCar Officiating
Ovals ... A dying breed in IndyCar
IndyCar
IndyCar
Ovals ... A dying breed in IndyCar
Sam Hornish Jr ... Wasn't he that IndyCar driver?
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Sam Hornish Jr ... Wasn't he that IndyCar driver?
Latest news
Samantha Busch full speech as she accepts Kyle Busch's Most Popular Driver award
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup 4 h
Samantha Busch full speech as she accepts Kyle Busch's Most Popular Driver award
Kyle Busch posthumously wins NASCAR Cup Most Popular Driver Award
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
4 h
Kyle Busch posthumously wins NASCAR Cup Most Popular Driver Award
Jamie Little will not return to NASCAR broadcast booth in 2027
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup 8 h
Jamie Little will not return to NASCAR broadcast booth in 2027
Logano, Sargeant, and Muniz among Ford drivers taking part in Daytona exhibition race
General
Misc General 8 h
Logano, Sargeant, and Muniz among Ford drivers taking part in Daytona exhibition race
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
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
Subscribe