# 1998 Indy 200 at Walt Disney World

The 1998 Indy 200 at Walt Disney World was the first round of the 1998 Indy Racing League season. The race was held on January 24, 1998 at the 1.000 mi (1.609 km) Walt Disney World Speedway in Bay Lake, Florida. As in 1997, rain hampered the event, this time forcing to cancel the qualifying session.

## Report

| Key | Meaning |
| R | Rookie |
| W | Past winner |

### Qualifying

For the first time in IRL history, torrential rain forced the qualifying session to be cancelled. Thus, the grid was set by 1996-1997 entrant points. The remaining new entries were sorted by practice speeds. The grid was limited to 28 cars due to concerns about safety in the pit area.
| Pos | No. | Name | 1996-1997 entrant points | Practice speed (in mph) |
| 1 | 1 | Tony Stewart | 2780 | 168.951 |
| 2 | 14 | Kenny Bräck | 2720 | 166.659 |
| 3 | 11 | Billy Boat | 2400 | 163.726 |
| 4 | 10 | Mike Groff | 2390 | 160.299 |
| 5 | 5 | Arie Luyendyk | 2230 | 161.638 |
| 6 | 21 | Roberto Guerrero | 2210 | 166.929 |
| 7 | 18 | John Paul Jr. | 2160 | 158.249 |
| 8 | 91 | Buddy Lazier | 2090 | 166.775 |
| 9 | 30 | Raul Boesel | 2080 | 162.126 |
| 10 | 12 | Buzz Calkins W | 1836 | 163.154 |
| 11 | 40 | Jack Miller | 1680 | 154.759 |
| 12 | 27 | Robbie Groff | 1674 | 157.398 |
| 13 | 17 | Brian Tyler R | 1248 | 157.446 |
| 14 | 3 | Robbie Buhl | 1141 | 165.723 |
| 15 | 77 | Stéphan Grégoire | 1092 | 156.849 |
| 16 | 97 | Greg Ray | 365 | 160.464 |
| 17 | 99 | Sam Schmidt | 114 | 155.743 |
| 18 | 19 | Stan Wattles | 27 | 155.166 |
| 19 | 6 | Davey Hamilton | 19 | 164.166 |
| 20 | 8 | Scott Sharp | New entry | 167.645 |
| 21 | 4 | Scott Goodyear | New entry | 166.574 |
| 22 | 28 | Mark Dismore | New entry | 165.358 |
| 23 | 51 | Eddie Cheever W | New entry | 165.069 |
| 24 | 35 | Jeff Ward | New entry | 163.674 |
| 25 | 16 | Marco Greco | New entry | 161.783 |
| 26 | 15 | Eliseo Salazar | New entry | 161.233 |
| 27 | 20 | Tyce Carlson | New entry | 157.604 |
| 28 | 7 | Jimmy Kite | 2360 | 165.153 |
| Didn't qualify |||||
| 29 | 24 | Billy Roe | New entry | 156.013 |
| 30 | 53 | Jim Guthrie | New entry | 148.215 |
| 31 | 41 | Affonso Giaffone | New entry | 131.401 |
* ^ Changed to a backup car for the race, following a crash in a practice session after qualifying.

#### Failed to qualify or withdrew

* John Hollansworth Jr. R for Blueprint Racing - couldn't pass his rookie test in time for the race and did not take part in official practice. Replaced by Robbie Groff.

### Race

Tony Stewart outlasted all challengers to take his second IRL victory. Starting on the pole, he was quickly passed by Roberto Guerrero who pulled away until he got collected in an accident in turn 1. Stewart then led the rest of the first half of the race, which was marked by numerous incidents taking out contenders: Scott Sharp got tangled up with a slower car and had to pit for a new nose, Scott Goodyear slid into the wall in the midstretch and suffered suspension damage, Raul Boesel collided in the pit lane with Robbie Buhl and needed a radiator replaced, and defending champion Eddie Cheever dropped out with engine failure.
Unexpected cold weather caused tire problems for the competitors; Robbie Groff wrecked at the start of the race when his rear tires broke loose under acceleration, and Billy Boat had a grinding crash on the inside wall of the front stretch when the same thing happened to him on a restart. On lap 132, Buddy Lazier took the lead and held it until he got bound up behind a slower car, spun, and hit the back stretch inside wall on lap 166. At that point, all five cars remaining in the lead lap (Stewart, Davey Hamilton, Jeff Ward, Stéphan Grégoire and Mark Dismore) were marginal on fuel mileage. Stewart, Hamilton, and Ward pitted for fuel, while Dismore and Grégoire elected to gamble and assumed the top two places.
After the restart, Dismore held off Stewart (who had moved back up to second) while Grégoire, Hamilton, and Ward all dueled for third. The gamble didn't work for Dismore, and he finally had to pit for fuel on lap 197 after Stewart had passed him two laps earlier when the engine stumbled. On the final lap, Ward passed Hamilton, and then claimed second place as Grégoire ran out of fuel and coasted across the line to a fourth-place finish.
| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Laps Led | Points |
| 1 | 1 | Tony Stewart | Team Menard | 200 | 2:06:07 | 1 | 132 | 52 |
| 2 | 35 | Jeff Ward | ISM Racing | 200 | + 8.579 sec | 24 | 0 | 40 |
| 3 | 6 | Davey Hamilton | Nienhouse Motorsports | 200 | Running | 19 | 0 | 35 |
| 4 | 77 | Stéphan Grégoire | Chastain Motorsports | 200 | Running | 15 | 0 | 32 |
| 5 | 28 | Mark Dismore | Kelley Racing | 199 | + 1 lap | 22 | 27 | 30 |
| 6 | 8 | Scott Sharp | Kelley Racing | 198 | + 2 lap | 20 | 0 | 28 |
| 7 | 10 | Mike Groff | Byrd-Cunningham Racing | 198 | + 2 lap | 4 | 0 | 26 |
| 8 | 5 | Arie Luyendyk | Treadway Racing | 197 | + 3 laps | 5 | 0 | 24 |
| 9 | 99 | Sam Schmidt | LP Racing | 195 | + 5 laps | 17 | 0 | 22 |
| 10 | 18 | John Paul Jr. | PDM Racing | 194 | + 6 laps | 7 | 0 | 20 |
| 11 | 20 | Tyce Carlson | Immke Racing | 192 | + 8 laps | 27 | 0 | 19 |
| 12 | 15 | Eliseo Salazar | Riley & Scott Cars | 187 | + 13 laps | 26 | 0 | 18 |
| 13 | 14 | Kenny Bräck | A. J. Foyt Enterprises | 174 | + 26 laps | 2 | 1 | 17 |
| 14 | 12 | Buzz Calkins W | Bradley Motorsports | 168 | + 32 laps | 10 | 0 | 16 |
| 15 | 91 | Buddy Lazier | Hemelgarn Racing | 165 | Accident | 8 | 34 | 15 |
| 16 | 7 | Jimmy Kite | Team Scandia | 149 | Half shaft | 28 | 0 | 14 |
| 17 | 4 | Scott Goodyear | Panther Racing | 132 | Suspension | 21 | 0 | 13 |
| 18 | 30 | Raul Boesel | McCormack Motorsports | 128 | + 72 laps | 9 | 0 | 12 |
| 19 | 17 | Brian Tyler R | Chitwood Motorsports | 121 | Accident | 13 | 0 | 11 |
| 20 | 3 | Robbie Buhl | Team Menard | 100 | Electrical | 14 | 0 | 10 |
| 21 | 11 | Billy Boat | A. J. Foyt Enterprises | 72 | Accident | 3 | 0 | 9 |
| 22 | 19 | Stan Wattles | Metro Racing Systems | 64 | Accident | 18 | 0 | 8 |
| 23 | 40 | Jack Miller | Crest Racing/SRS | 59 | Handling | 11 | 0 | 7 |
| 24 | 51 | Eddie Cheever W | Team Cheever | 48 | Engine fire | 23 | 0 | 6 |
| 25 | 97 | Greg Ray | Knapp Motorsports | 29 | Accident | 16 | 0 | 5 |
| 26 | 21 | Roberto Guerrero | Pagan Racing | 13 | Accident | 6 | 6 | 4 |
| 27 | 16 | Marco Greco | Phoenix Racing | 12 | Accident | 25 | 0 | 3 |
| 28 | 27 | Robbie Groff | Blueprint Racing | 0 | Accident | 12 | 0 | 2 |

## Race Statistics

* Lead changes: 8 among 5 drivers
Lap Leaders :
| Laps | Leader |
| 1-7 | Tony Stewart |
| 8-13 | Roberto Guerrero |
| 14-126 | Tony Stewart |
| 127 | Kenny Bräck |
| 128-131 | Tony Stewart |
| 132-165 | Buddy Lazier |
| 166-168 | Tony Stewart |
| 169-195 | Mark Dismore |
| 196-200 | Tony Stewart |
Cautions: 10 for 74 laps :
| Laps | Reason |
| 1-6 | Robbie Groff crash |
| 14-26 | Eliseo Salazar spin; Roberto Guerrero and Marco Greco crash |
| 34-41 | Greg Ray crash and Jack Miller spin |
| 49-53 | Fire on Eddie Cheever's engine |
| 66-71 | Stan Wattles crash |
| 72-81 | Billy Boat crash |
| 102-107 | Debris from Robbie Buhl's car |
| 124-131 | Bryan Tyler and Eliseo Salazar crash |
| 134-139 | Scott Goodyear crash |
| 166-171 | Buddy Lazier crash |

## Standings after the race
### Drivers' Championship standings

| Pos | Driver | Points |
| 1 | Tony Stewart | 52 |
| 2 | Jeff Ward | 40 |
| 3 | Davey Hamilton | 35 |
| 4 | Stéphan Grégoire | 32 |
| 5 | Mark Dismore | 30 |
* Note: Only the top five positions are included for the standings.