1996 True Value 200

United States   1996 True Value 200
Race details
Race 1 of 10 in the 1996–1997 Indy Racing League season
Date August 18, 1996
Official name True Value 200
Location New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Course Permanent racing facility
1.058 mi / 1.703 km
Distance 200 laps, 211.6 mi / 340.5 km
Weather Temperatures reaching up to 82.9 °F (28.3 °C); wind speeds up to 8.9 miles per hour (14.3 km/h)[1]
Pole position
Driver United States Richie Hearn Della Penna Motorsports
Time 21.719
Fastest lap
Driver United States Tony Stewart Team Menard
Time 22.884 (on lap 179 of 200)
Podium
First United States Scott Sharp A. J. Foyt Enterprises
Second United States Buzz Calkins Bradley Motorsports
Third Italy Michele Alboreto Team Scandia

The 1996 True Value 200 was the first round of the 1996–1997 Indy Racing League season.[2] The race was held on August 18, 1996 at the 1.058-mile (1.703 km) New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire.

Report

Key Meaning
R Rookie (in 1996)
W Past winner

Qualifying

Pos No. Name Lap 1 Lap 2 Best (in mph)
1 4 United States Richie Hearn R 21.729 21.719 175.367
2 33 Italy Michele Alboreto R 21.749 21.776 175.125
3 5 Netherlands Arie Luyendyk 21.836 21.809 174.643
4 91 United States Buddy Lazier 22.059 22.402 172.664
5 3 United States Mark Dismore 22.175 22.137 172.056
6 7 Chile Eliseo Salazar 22.767 22.248 171.197
7 2 United States Tony Stewart R 22.249 22.457 171.190
8 51 United States Eddie Cheever 22.293 22.326 170.852
9 10 United States Mike Groff 22.321 22.325 170.638
10 12 United States Buzz Calkins R 22.464 22.427 169.831
11 18 United States John Paul, Jr. 22.482 22.802 169.416
12 1 United States Scott Sharp 22.654 22.555 168.867
13 54 United States Robbie Buhl 22.962 22.576 168.710
14 22 France Stephan Gregoire R 22.769 22.628 168.322
15 40 Brazil Marco Greco 22.989 22.905 166.287
16 28 United States Tyce Carlson R Waved off 22.948 165.975
17 14 United States Davey Hamilton R 22.958 23.093 165.903
18 21 Colombia Roberto Guerrero 23.184 23.157 164.477
19 27 United States Jim Guthrie R 23.629 23.220 164.031
20 30 United States Stan Wattles R 23.534 23.559 161.842
21 96 United States Joe Gosek R 24.701 24.881 154.196
22 15 United States David Kudrave 25.246 25.408 150.867
23 9 Australia Brad MurpheyR Didn't qualify No speed

Failed to qualify or withdrew

Race

This race was dominated, but not won, by Tony Stewart, who passed Arie Luyendyk on lap 15 and led most of the rest of the way. A starting-line crash eliminated contender Robbie Buhl and rookie Jim Guthrie. Buddy Lazier, who was still competing with the back injuries that he had suffered at Phoenix, crashed hard early, but fortunately did not worsen his existing injuries. Tyce Carlson had an ignition problem right off and ran most of the first 120 laps on seven cylinders, a problem that was fixed during a red-flag period.

Luyendyk, polesitter Richie Hearn, Scott Sharp, and Buzz Calkins contended for second; however, they and everyone else ran behind Stewart, who had a lap on the field by the time the race was briefly halted for rain on lap 123. The stoppage did several engines no good, among then that of Hearn, who had his engine go sour after the restart; it eventually blew on lap 170.

The shocker came eleven laps after that. Stewart had led 165 laps and had a nearly three-lap lead over second placed Sharp but, with 18 laps to go, he suffered an engine computer failure and abruptly shut off as he entered turn 3. Stewart was scheduled to make a brief fuel stop that lap, but TV Crew communication with John Menard, his team owner, revealed a "timing" problem, later diagnosed as a "crank trigger" failure.[3]

This in turn handed to race lead to Sharp, who stretched his fuel to the finish and won with nearly a one-lap advantage over Calkins and Michele Alboreto. Sharp's win was the first for him, the Lola chassis and Goodyear tires in the IRL, and the first for A.J. Foyt as a car owner since Pocono in 1981.

Pos No. Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Laps Led Points
1 1 United States Scott Sharp A. J. Foyt Enterprises 200 1:36:57.912 12 18 35
2 12 United States Buzz Calkins R Bradley Motorsports 200 + 20.480 10 0 33
3 33 Italy Michele Alboreto R Team Scandia 200 + 20.732 2 0 32
4 10 United States Mike Groff Byrd–Cunningham Racing 199 + 1 lap 9 0 31
5 14 United States Davey Hamilton R A. J. Foyt Enterprises 196 + 4 laps 17 0 30
6 21 Colombia Roberto Guerrero Pagan Racing 196 + 4 laps 18 0 29
7 40 Brazil Marco Greco Team Scandia-Arizona 196 + 4 laps 15 0 28
8 22 France Stephan Gregoire R Team Scandia 192 + 8 laps 14 0 27
9 7 Chile Eliseo Salazar Team Scandia 190 + 10 laps 6 0 26
10 18 United States John Paul Jr. PDM Racing 190 + 10 laps 11 0 25
11 28 United States Tyce Carlson R PDM Racing 187 + 13 laps 16 0 24
12 2 United States Tony Stewart R Team Menard 182 Electrical 7 165 23
13 5 Netherlands Arie Luyendyk Treadway Racing 170 + 30 laps 3 11 22
14 4 United States Richie Hearn R Della Penna Motorsports 166 Engine 1 6 21
15 51 United States Eddie Cheever Team Cheever 166 + 34 laps 8 0 20
16 30 United States Stan Wattles R McCormack Motorsports 163 Fuel pressure 20 0 19
17 15 United States Dave Kudrave Tempero/Giuffre Racing 118 Clutch 22 0 18
18 9 Australia Brad Murphey R Hemelgarn Racing 79 Handling 23 0 17
19 91 United States Buddy Lazier Hemelgarn Racing 66 Accident 4 0 16
20 3 United States Mark Dismore Team Menard 43 Clutch 5 0 15
21 96 United States Joe Gosek R ABF Motorsports 30 Accident 21 0 14
22 54 United States Robbie Buhl Beck Motorsports 0 Accident 13 0 13
23 27 United States Jim Guthrie R Blueprint Racing 0 Accident 19 0 12

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points
1 United States Scott Sharp 35
2 United States Buzz Calkins 33
3 Italy Michele Alboreto 32
4 United States Mike Groff 31
5 United States Davey Hamilton 30
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for the standings.

References

  1. "1996 True Value 200 weather information". Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved 2013-10-26.
  2. "IRL: Loudon prize money awarded". Motorsport.com. Archived from the original on 2009-07-21. Retrieved 2009-07-02.
  3. Stewart, Tony; Bourcier, Bones (2002). True Speed: My Racing Life. New York: HarperEntertainment. p. 190. ISBN 0-06-103166-6.
Previous race:
none
Indy Racing League
1996–1997 season
Next race:
1996 Las Vegas 500K

Previous race:
1995 New England 200 (CART)
True Value 200 Next race:
1997 Pennzoil 200
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