| | Six drivers -- separated top to bottom by 51 points -- with one race remaining. Where else can you have such parity in auto racing than the Indy Racing League?
Give the IRL credit, where credit is due -- it knows how to keep things interesting until the end.
The end of the 1999 IRL season arrives this weekend in Texas with the Mall.com 500. Expect a nice crowd, a great race and plenty of suspense all the way to the final lap. Greg Ray enters the race with a 13-point edge over defending series champion Kenny Brack. Sam Schmidt, fresh off his first career victory in Las Vegas, sits in third place -- another 17 points behind Brack and 30 off Ray's pace.
|  | | Kenny Brack has benefited from the IRL's points system, which rewards consistency. |
The other three drivers still mathematically in the hunt are Scott Sharp, Scott Goodyear, Buddy Lazier. You can thank the IRL's points system for keeping things close after 10 races. It is by far the most fair system of any racing series today and the reason Ray can't afford to focus on just keeping Brack in his rear view mirror on Sunday.
The IRL rewards drivers for qualifying among the top three, not just for doing well in the race. But if you don't finish races, it certainly costs you in the long run. Just look at Goodyear's season.
The final points of the season will start being distributed on Saturday during qualifying. Should any of Ray's pursuers win the pole, they'd shave three points off his lead before the green flag drops. Qualifying second is worth two bonus points, while third will get you a point.
So, before we get into the particulars of the race, remember that winning a pole and the race is worth 53 points. Lazier is 51 points behind Ray in sixth place. In his hometown win three weeks ago, Schmidt won both the pole and race to vault into championship contention. So, as you can see, anything is possible.
The first thing to know about Sunday is that Texas Motor Speedway is a 1½-mile oval, which isn't exactly good news for Ray. The three-time winner this season has an average finish of 15.3 on 1½-mile ovals this season. On the other hand, the average finish for Kenny Brack in the three 1½-mile oval races this season is sixth place.
Should their averages hold true, Brack would win his second-straight IRL championship.
Ray just hasn't seemed to have the right setups for the 1½-mile tracks. All three of Ray's wins this year have come on mile ovals. He won both races at Pikes Peak in Colorado and conquered Dover's Monster Mile. Unless he's figured out that extra half-mile, Ray could be headed for trouble.
Then again, there's no where else Ray would like to win a championship more than in Texas. He's from nearby Plano, and he wears "Texas Motor Speedway" on his uniform. In fact, it was Texas Motor Speedway that bailed Ray out last year at Indy when he was looking for money.
So, if you are looking for a storybook ending involving Ray, Texas would be the perfect setting.
Ray, while he doesn't need to win the race, needs to finish the race. He didn't reach the finish line in Las Vegas, allowing the cream of the IRL to rise closer to his lead. When you run down the list of the guys still in contention for the championship, they are the guys who are expected to reach Victory Lane each week. They also happen to be the most well-financed teams with the most pressure to win.
A.J. Foyt is trying to take some of the pressure off his driver Brack, saying his team has already won a championship and its Indy 500 victory was the crowning achievement this season. Schmidt, meanwhile, says the pressure is on Ray. Schmidt is still beaming after his first IRL victory in his hometown and says he's more interested in winning two in a row and just letting the championship chips fall where they may so to speak.
But don't forget, even though this may be Ray's first year with Team Menard, and his first shot at a championship, Menard won the IRL title Tony Stewart in 1997. That experience is invaluable.
And with John Menard behind them, Ray and his team manager Tom Knapp have really come together this season. Knapp and Ray always seemed to be competitive, but were doing things on a shoestring budget the past few years. Now, with Menard's money behind them, those two have left no doubt they are championship caliber.
But when it comes to momentum, nobody comes into Texas with more than Brack. It's really hard to believe where Brack has come from again this season to be smack in the middle of the championship picture. Brack got off to another sluggish start this season, finishing 22nd and 24th in the first two races.
But just like last year, he's poured it on since winning Indy. In the past four races, he has just been on fire with two thirds and and a second to Schmidt in Las Vegas. He has five straight top-10 finishes overall.
The biggest surprise among the three has to be Schmidt. And not so much the team around Schmidt, but Schmidt himself. This is a guy who's always been with an underfinanced team, but has shown signs he can be a good driver. When he finally got that win in Las Vegas, he proved what a little extra money can do for a driver with talent.
But even before winning, Schmidt was a constant in the top five. He was fifth in both Dover and Colorado prior to winning. And before a 22nd-place finish in Atlanta, he was second in Colorado and third in Texas.
So, while six drivers remain in the hunt, I'd have to say the $1 million that comes with the IRL championship should go home with either Ray, Brack or Schmidt. And if I had to pick a guy to come into Texas, and win the race in order to win the championship, it has to be Brack.
Brack had a good test session in Texas a couple of weeks ago, and don't forget, Texas is also Foyt's home track. Ray may not need to win the race, but he may have to beat another Texan to win the championship. | |
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