The 2000 Delphi Indy 200 was an Indy Racing League (IRL) motor race held at Walt Disney World Speedway in Orlando, Florida on January 29, 2000 before 35,000 spectators. It was the first round of the 2000 Indy Racing League and the fifth running of the event. The 200-lap race was won by Robbie Buhl of Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. Hemelgarn Racing driver Buddy Lazier finished second, and Eddie Cheever came in third for his self-owned Cheever Racing team.
After qualifying was rained out, defending series champion Greg Ray earned the pole position by virtue of the previous season's entrant points standings. Ray led the first 45 laps before being mired behind other drivers who were out of sequence with the leaders' pit stop strategies. He and several other drivers were forced to retire from the race due to gearbox failures. The race eventually wound down to three competitors – Lazier, Cheever, and Buhl. While trying to maneuver around a lapped car, Lazier drifted off-line and lost the top-two positions to Cheever and Buhl on lap 192. Cheever suffered a similar misfortune seven laps later, allowing Buhl to assume the lead and achieve his second and final career win, ending a winless streak that dated back to August 1997. It was also the only win for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing in their series debut.
With eight races remaining in the season, Buhl claimed the Drivers' Championship lead over Lazier and Cheever, as did Oldsmobile Aurora in the Engine Manufacturers' Championship and G-Force in the Chassis Manufacturers' Championship. This was the last IRL race at Walt Disney World Speedway because track officials and the league were unable to agree on a race date for 2001.
Background
The 2000 Indy 200 was the first of nine rounds in the 2000 Indy Racing League season and the fifth annual edition of the event. As it had been since its inaugural running in 1996, it was held at Walt Disney World Speedway, a three-turn paved tri-oval track in Orlando, Florida on Saturday, January 29, 2000. Eddie Cheever was the defending race winner. In December 1999, Delphi was announced as the event's title sponsor, thus renaming the race to the Delphi Indy 200.
Car specifications Many changes were brought about to the cars of the Indy Racing League (IRL) ahead of the 2000 season. A new engine formula reduced the engine size from in order to reduce costs and speeds. A crankshaft was also implemented which heavily altered the sound of the engines. The engines were no longer required to be production-based, so the series' manufacturers (Oldsmobile Aurora and Nissan Infiniti) were allowed to build engines that differed from those in their showrooms.
New chassis were also constructed by Dallara (the IR-00), G-Force (the GF05), and Riley & Scott (the Mk VII) after the IRL introduced rules for driver safety. Among the notable features of the chassis were a new sequential shifting gearbox, a cockpit opening widened to , a thickened headrest, and widened sidepods.
Pre-season testing To allow the teams to acquaint themselves with the new regulations, two tests were held at Walt Disney World Speedway before the start of the season. The first test featured 14 teams and was held on December 10–11, 1999. Greg Ray, donning the 1 in honor of his 1999 championship, led both testing sessions, which IRL race director Brian Barnhart and several drivers considered a success. Ray's fastest timed lap was less than three tenths of a second away from surpassing the track record set by Scott Sharp in a 4-liter engine earlier that year.
The second test was conducted on January 5–6, 2000, with 14 teams again participating. Ray continued proving his prowess with the series' new cars by recording the fastest laps of the session on January 5 in his primary and backup cars, several hours after Conseco announced their sponsorship of Ray for the 2000 season. The session on January 6, led by Stéphan Grégoire, was marred by a severe crash involving Sam Schmidt, who spun and slammed the wall in turn two with the left side of his car after driving over a bump on the track. Schmidt suffered irreparable damage between his third and fourth vertebrae, which left him a quadripalegic for the rest of his life and forced him to quit motor racing.
Driver changes There were 26 cars entered for the Delphi Indy 200 that represented 21 different teams. Each car used Firestone tires because Goodyear had withdrawn from American open-wheel car racing after the 1999 season ended. Six drivers were set to compete in their first Indy Racing Northern Light Series race, the most notable of which was two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser Jr., who was not declared a rookie because of his long career in the CART FedEx Championship Series. Unser reunited with Galles Racing, the team which he drove for in his first Indianapolis 500 win in 1992. Sam Hornish Jr. and Airton Daré both broke away from CART's feeder series to join PDM Racing and TeamXtreme, respectively. Other series debutants include Jon Herb (Jonathan Byrd-McCormack Motorsports) and Doug Didero (Mid America Motorsports).
Practice and qualifying Three practice sessions preceded the race on Saturday, two on Thursday and one on Friday. The first practice session was to last for 150 minutes, the second for 120 minutes, and the third for 80 minutes. For all sessions, the drivers were split into two groups and received equal track time. The first session on Thursday morning was delayed by 75 minutes and shortened to a 90-minute duration because of cold track temperatures. Ray topped the speed charts with a 21.332-second lap, besting the times of Grégoire, Sharp, Scott Goodyear, and Tyce Carlson. Davey Hamilton did not participate in the session because of engine issues in his car.
In the afternoon session, Grégoire set the fastest overall time of the day at 21.266 seconds, with Buddy Lazier in second, Sharp in third, Robbie Buhl in fourth, and Jeff Ward in fifth. Although the speeds were expected to increase due to the rising temperatures, four of the fastest ten drivers of the day recorded their quick times in the morning. During the second group, John Hollansworth Jr. prompted a yellow flag because a loose oil-filter canister caused his car to spew smoke. Hollansworth was set back further when he spun at the exit of turn one and heavily damaged the right-rear corner of his car. His team managed to repair the car by Friday morning.
Grégoire again showcased fast speed by posting a lap time of 21.381 seconds in the final practice session, with Buhl (who spun while exiting pit road), Mark Dismore, Jeret Schroeder, and Buddy Lazier rounding out the top-five. Only 16 drivers completed at least one lap before the session came to a premature end due to rainfall. The rain showers persisted, and at 2:28 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (UTC−05:00), the qualifying session was cancelled. The starting grid was determined by the 1999 entrants point standings; cars that were not entered in any race of the 1999 season were placed behind the cars that did, based on their quickest practice speeds in the weekend. Ray was thus awarded the pole position, with Ward in second, Dismore third, Robby McGehee in fourth, and Buddy Lazier in fifth. Cheever, Sharp, Goodyear, Billy Boat, and Eliseo Salazar completed the top-ten positions. Because qualifying was rained out, no bonus points were awarded to the top-three starters. Brian Barnhart allowed an additional warm-up session to be held on Saturday at 10:15 a.m; the results of the session were not recorded.
Race The weather towards the start of the 200-lap, race was overcast, with air temperatures recorded at and track temperatures at . About 35,000 spectators attended the race. Pre-race festivities began with an invocation from Reverend Ted Pierce of the First Presbyterian Church of Orlando and a performance of the national anthem by musician James Hutchinson. J. T. Batternberg III, the chairman, president, and chief executive officer of Delphi, commanded the drivers to start their engines. Three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Johnny Rutherford drove the pace car to lead the drivers in their three parade laps before the race began. 20th-place Didero and 21st-place Niclas Jönsson were moved to the rear of the field due to their slow practice speeds, while one of Hollansworth's sidepods was replaced because the battery in his black box was dead.
The race began at 12:00 p.m. with a rolling start; Ray maintained his pole position advantage on the first lap. Two laps later, the first caution flag was issued for Jaques Lazier, who spun at the exit of turn two while passing Goodyear. Lazier made a pit stop to change his tires, which were worn by the spin. Green-flag racing resumed on the sixth lap, with Ray gaining a 3.4-second advantage over the rest of the field during the next twelve laps. Meanwhile, by the tenth lap, Buddy Lazier had improved from fifth to third place. The following lap, McGehee lost control of his car in turn one and slid to the apron; the incident did not result in a caution. By the 17th lap, Calkins had made his way up to fourth place, while Buddy Lazier had overtaken Ward for second place. The second caution flag was flown on lap 24 when Hamilton spun backwards into the outside wall in the first turn. Upon stepping out of his car, Hamilton complained of back pain, so he was transported by ambulance to the Sand Lake Hospital for precautionary X-rays.
During the caution period, Sharp's car came to a stop towards turn three with a broken gearbox and was towed to pit road. He rejoined the race during the lap-35 restart. Jönsson spun at the second turn two laps later, but did not necessitate a caution because he quickly drove off without further incident. Conversely, the caution was issued for the third time when debris was spotted in turn one on the 44th lap. Most of the leaders, including Ray, took advantage of the caution period to pit for fuel and new tires. Boat and a handful of other drivers elected not to make a pit stop, having already pitted earlier in the race, and led at the restart on the 49th lap. Buhl passed Boat for the lead the next lap, and by lap 60, Boat had also lost second place to Donnie Beechler and third place to Ray. Beechler was overtaken by Ray for the second position on lap 66, but both drivers were 4.3 seconds behind Buhl. That same lap, Al Unser Jr. entered pit road with engine issues, bringing an early end to his first IRL race.
The race's fourth caution was thrown on lap 67 when Herb slowed his car at the exit of turn three and slightly contacted other cars around him. It was later discovered that he had sustained damage to the left-front portion of his suspension. Boat, Beechler, and a few other drivers made stops under the caution. Stéphan Grégoire pitted three times to make adjustments to his rear wing, as he felt that his car was driving loosely. During the restart on the 75th lap, Buddy Lazier got by Ray for second place in the first turn. The running order remained unchanged, with Buhl amassing a 2.2-second lead over Lazier, until the caution was issued for the fifth time on lap 95 because Robby Unser had crashed into the wall between the second and third turns. During the leaders' pit stops, Ray briefly reclaimed the lead on lap 97, followed by Boat on the 98th and 99th laps.