The 83rd Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, on Sunday, May 30, 1999. The race was sanctioned by the Indy Racing League, and was part of the 1999 Pep Boys Indy Racing League season. Defending IRL champion Kenny Bräck started 8th and became the first Swedish driver to win the Indy 500.
Indy car veteran Robby Gordon, driving for Team Menard, pitted during a caution on lap 164, looking to stretch his fuel over the final 36 laps. Gordon shuffled to front on lap 174, and pulled out to a comfortable lead. In the waning laps however, Gordon's lead began to dwindle, as he was forced to slow down and save fuel. With two laps to go, he led second place Kenny Bräck by just under two seconds. Coming out of turn four to receive the white flag (the signal for one lap to go), Gordon's car sputtered and he ran out fuel. Kenny Bräck took the lead with just over one lap to go and won for car owner A. J. Foyt. The race victory represented the long-awaited "fifth" Indy 500 win for A. J. Foyt, who had previously won a record four times as a driver (1961, 1964, 1967, 1977). It was also one of the most-successful races for A. J. Foyt Enterprises, with Bräck the winner, and team cars Billy Boat third, and Robbie Buhl sixth.
Popular veteran and two-time Indy 500 winner Arie Luyendyk announced his plans to retire at the end of the event. He won the pole position and was a factor most of the first half. After leading 63 laps, however, he crashed while leading after he tangled with a backmarker. Luyendyk would later retract his retirement plans, and made a brief return to Indy in 2001–2003.
As of 2026, this stands as the 29th and final Indy victory for Goodyear tires and stands as the oldest Indianapolis 500 with all 33 starters still living. Tony Stewart, who had switched full-time to NASCAR, raced Double Duty, becoming the first driver to finish in the top ten at both Indianapolis and Charlotte on the same day.
Background
Continuing split from CART The ongoing IRL/CART split continued into its fourth year. For the third year in a row, no major teams from the CART series entered at Indianapolis. The CART series raced on Saturday of Memorial Day weekend at the Motorola 300 at Gateway near St. Louis. However, the 1999 race would end up being the final year that the CART teams stayed away. In 2000, Ganassi would return, and in subsequent years other would as well.
Two regular CART drivers attempted to race at both Gateway and Indy in the same weekend. Robby Gordon, who was running his own team full-time in CART, entered in both the Saturday CART event at Gateway and at Sunday's Indianapolis 500. Gordon's association to full-time IRL team John Menard was a critical piece in having a competitive Indy 500 attempt. Also attempting the open wheel "double duty" was veteran Roberto Moreno. Moreno had been racing regularly in CART since 1996, and had competed at Indy previously in 1986. After missing the IRL opener at Walt Disney World, Moreno ran IRL races in 1999 at Phoenix, Charlotte (canceled), and the Indy 500 with Truscelli Racing. At the same time, Moreno was picked up in early May by PacWest Racing in CART to fill in for the injured Mark Blundell and raced for them for eight rounds. As such, Moreno became slated for an unexpected double duty weekend. Then Moreno was hired for the next six CART races at Newman-Haas racing to fill in for the injured Christian Fittipaldi. Neither driver raced again in the IRL during the 1999 season.
Double Duty For the third time, a driver attempted the Indy/Charlotte "Double Duty". Tony Stewart, who switched full-time to NASCAR for 1999, also entered a car at Indy. With backing from his regular sponsor The Home Depot and support from his car owner Joe Gibbs, Stewart was attempting to become the first driver to complete the entire 1,100 in one day. Previous attempts by John Andretti (1994) and Robby Gordon (1997) did not see either driver complete the full distance. He succeeded in completing both races, finishing ninth in this race and fourth at Charlotte.
Team and driver changes Team Menard saw the biggest offseason changes, with 1997 season champion Tony Stewart departing for NASCAR. Greg Ray was hired to fill the vacancy. Robbie Buhl also left Menard and joined Foyt Racing for Indy.
At Treadway Racing, Arie Luyendyk returned for what was planned to be his final race.
Rule changes Chassis and engine rules remained the same from 1998. All entries utilized 4.0 L normally aspirated engines, with a rev limit of 10,300 rpm. This was the last year for use of the first generation IRL chassis, which were introduced in 1997. For 1999, the pit road speed limit was reduced to 80 mph.1999 Indianapolis 500 Daily Trackside Report; pg. 149 From 1992 to 1998, the speed limit had been 100 mph. Wheel tethers were required in time for the race to prevent tires from flying off cars during crashes and potentially injuring spectators and drivers. This came in direct response to the tragic crash on May 1 at Charlotte where a wheel assembly was punted into the grandstands, killing three spectators and injuring eight. All car numbers decals were required to be a standard black font on a white box. The number locations were standardized; one on the nose, one on the left side above the fuel buckeye, and one on the right. The number panel on the right side was larger than the one on the left, and more centered vertically.
Race schedule Race schedule — April 1999SunMonTueWedThuFriSat 4 5 6 7 8ROP 9ROP10Testing11ROP/Testing12Testing13Testing14 15 16 17 Race schedule — May 1999 9 10 11 12 13 14 15Practice16Practice17Practice18Practice19Practice20Practice21Practice22Pole Day23Bump Day24 25 26 27Carb Day28 29Parade30Indy 50031Memorial Day Color Notes Green Practice Dark Blue Time trials Silver Race day Red Rained out* Blank No track activity * Includes days where trackactivity was significantlylimited due to rain
ROP — denotes RookieOrientation Program
Practice
Rookie Orientation & Open Testing For the second year in a row, practice and qualifying during the month of May was trimmed down to a compressed "two week" schedule. In addition, for the second time, an open test was conducted in early April, which also included the annual rookie orientation program.
Rookie orientation was scheduled for April 8–9, while open testing was scheduled for April 10–13. Ten drivers took laps during rookie orientation, with nine passing all four phases. Jeret Schroeder (216.596 mph) turned the fastest lap of the session on Saturday April 10. All track activity on Friday April 9 was rained out.
During the veteran's open test, Greg Ray turned the fastest lap of the week at 227.072 mph. Tyce Carlson was second at 225.683 mph.
Opening Day – Saturday May 15 Opening day for the month of May was held Saturday May 15 under sunny skies and temperatures in the high 70s. Stéphan Grégoire, in a car owned by Dick Simon was the first car out of the garage, and the first car on the track, continuing a tradition held by Simon-owned entries.
Greg Ray (225.887 mph) ran the fastest lap of the day. No serious incidents were reported, but Ray, Mike Groff, Robby Unser, Donnie Beechler, and Scott Harrington all brought out yellow flags for blown engines or mechanical failures.
Sunday May 16 About a half-hour into the session, Billy Boat spun and crashed in turn 1. He was uninjured, and returned to the track in a back-up car later in the afternoon.
After racing at Richmond the previous night, Tony Stewart arrived at the Speedway and took his first laps of the month on Sunday. He was 7th-best lap of the day at 222.091 mph.
Greg Ray once again led the speed chart at 225.124 mph.
Monday May 17 The day started with Robby Gordon on the track for the first time during the month. A few minutes later, Mike Borkowski crashed heavily in turn 2 at 11:57 a.m. He climbed from the car uninjured.
Scott Harrington crashed in turn three, and Billy Boat had his second crash in two days. Both drivers were cleared to drive.
At 3:46 p.m., rain began to fall, closing the track early for the day. Greg Ray once more led the speed chart (224.843 mph).
Tuesday May 18 Overnight rain and moisture kept the track closed until 2:00 p.m. Another shower closed it again until almost 4 o'clock. A brief practice session still saw 37 drivers take to the track, and over 1,400 laps completed. Scott Goodyear (223.842 mph) finally bumped Greg Ray off the top of the speed chart.
Wednesday May 19 Rookie Dave Steele crashed hard into the outside wall in turn 1 at 11:33 a.m., suffering a concussion, and was forced to sit out the remainder of the month. About an hour later, Greg Ray blew an engine, and Tyce Carlson who was behind him, slid in the oil laid down by Ray's engine. Carlson spun and tapped the outside wall in the south chute, but the car only suffered minor damage.
The third crash of the day involved Mark Dismore. He hit the wall twice between turns 1 and 2, but was not injured.
With just 30 minutes left in the day, Tony Stewart completed a lap of 226.683 mph, the fastest lap thus far for the month.
Thursday May 20 Crashes were suffered by Johnny Unser and Tony Stewart. Both drivers were uninjured. Greg Ray was back on top of the speed chart at 227.192 mph, fastest of the month.
"Fast" Friday May 21 The final full day of practice saw Greg Ray (227.175 mph) once again top the speed chart. However, Arie Luyendyk (226.131 mph) was close behind in second.
John Paul Jr. was injured in a crash around 1:30 p.m., and he was sidelined for the month with a severe back contusion. Also crashing was Mike Borkowski, his second wreck of the week.
Time trials
Pole Day – Saturday May 22 Time trials opened at 12:00 p.m., with overcast skies and temperatures in the mid-60s. The early attention focused on Tony Stewart, and his busy qualifying schedule. Stewart's attempt at "Double Duty" meant that he was due in Charlotte later that afternoon for The Winston all-star race, and had a tight window in which to qualify at Indy. Stewart was the second car in line to make a qualifying attempt, but settled for a disappointing 220.653 mph run. Minutes later, Stewart was escorted to the airport and departed for Concord, North Carolina. The slow qualifying speed put Stewart in a somewhat precarious situation that left him vulnerable to possibly being bumped before day's end.
At 12:50 p.m., Billy Boat crashed for the third time of the month. On his warmup lap, he spun on cold tires in turn 2, and hit the wall on the backstretch. Minutes later, Robbie Buhl crashed on his warmup lap as well.
At 1:17 p.m., Kenny Brack (222.650 mph) took over the provisional pole position with eight cars in the field. At 1:30 p.m., Arie Luyendyk took to the track, attempting to qualify for what was to be his final Indy 500. His four-lap average of 225.179 mph secured him the pole position, and was a track record for normally-aspirated engines.
The next two hours saw heavy activity, and by 3:30 p.m., the field was filled to 25 cars. The last car with a likely shot at the pole was Greg Ray. After a lap of 225.643 mph (which tied Luyendyk's fastest single lap), Ray ended up second with a four-lap average of 225.073 mph, just 0.075 seconds behind Luyendyk's time.
After a brief down period, activity picked up in the final hour. After crashing earlier in the day, Billy Boat put his car on the outside of the front row. His four-lap average of 223.469 mph was third-fastest. One car, later, Robby Gordon qualified 4th at 223.066 mph.
As time trials closed for the day at 6 o'clock, Scott Harrington completed his run, filling the field to a full 33 cars. It was the first time since 1983 that the field had been completely filled in one afternoon, and was accomplished despite a one-hour rain delay. Tony Stewart's early run held on to put him in 24th starting position.