2000 Indianapolis 500

84th running of the Indianapolis 500

The 84th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday, May 28, 2000. The race was sanctioned by the Indy Racing League, and was part of the 2000 Indy Racing Northern Lights Series season. After four years of an ongoing organizational dispute and "split" in Indy car racing, The Ganassi team of Jimmy Vasser and Juan Pablo Montoya competed as a one off entry, and were well received by fans and fellow competitors. who had switched full time to the IRL in 2000. During qualifying, defending IRL champion Greg Ray took the pole position. However, on race day, reigning CART champion Juan Pablo Montoya dominated the race. It was the first of two Indy victories for Montoya (2000, 2015). Buddy Lazier, the 1996 winner, and eventual season champion, finished second, his second runner up finish at Indy, and fifth consecutive top ten. The 2000 race was the first to feature two female starters in the field, Lyn St. James and Sarah Fisher. The start of the race was delayed over three hours due to rain. The green flag dropped at 2:10 p. m. EST, and the race was completed shortly after 5 p. m. Seven minutes after the checkered flag, the rain returned, and doused the victory lane celebration. The first 65 laps of the race were run caution free, a new Indy 500 record at the time. Montoya became only the fourth winner to complete the race in under three hours, and at 167.607 mph, it was the fastest Indy 500 since 1991. At the end of the season, Montoya promptly departed Indy car racing for Formula One, then went to NASCAR. He would not return for his second Indy start until 2014.

During a yellow flag caution period, when the field is one lap away from going back to green flag conditions, the pace car would now drop off the track in turn one, and the race leader would pace the field back to the green flag and the ensuing restart. This was an effort to prevent any chance of the leader(s) accidentally passing the pace car on a restart (which happened to Scott Goodyear in the 1995 race). A year later, this would be combined with the "wave around" rule.

Time trials were scheduled for two days in 2000, May 20–21. During practice, IRL regulars generally topped the speed charts, with different names leading nearly each day. Jimmy Vasser and Juan Pablo Montoya were quickly up to speed in the IRL machines, and each managed to lead one day of practice. Both were considered contenders for the front row. Greg Ray (223.948 mph) set the fastest lap of the week on "Fast Friday".

Pole qualifying began at 11 a. m. The weather was cool and cloudy. Al Unser Jr. (220.293 mph) was the first car in the field. At 12:07 p. m., Eliseo Salazar took over the top spot with a run of 223.231 mph. Salazar remained on top for over an hour, as most cars waved off, awaiting better conditions. At 1:19 p. m., Juan Pablo Montoya took to the track. His run of 223.372 mph took over the provisional pole position. Greg Ray pulled his car out of line due to handling issues, and Team Menard announced they would go out later. Jimmy Vasser went out next, and at 221.976 mph, he was not able to join his Ganassi teammate on the front row. Later in the day, conditions improved slightly, and several cars returned to the track. At 3:49 p. m., Greg Ray completed his run at 223.471 mph, and secured the pole position. The front row of Ray, Montoya, and Salazar was separated by only 0.173 second, the closest such margin in Indy history. The front row shaped up such that the reigning champions of IRL (Ray) and CART (Montoya) would line up 1st 2nd. A total of 23 cars qualified for the field. Lyn St. James wrecked on her first attempt, flipping the car up on its side in the south chute. Also into the wall were Jimmy Kite, Scott Harrington, rookie Memo Gidley and veteran Hideshi Matsuda. None of the drivers were injured. Sarah Fisher (220.237 mph) qualified 19th, becoming the third female driver in Indy history.

The second and final day of time trials opened with ten spots remaining. Raul Boesel was the first car out, and at 222.113 mph, he would be the fastest driver of the afternoon. After two wave offs on Saturday, Billy Boat wrecked on his first attempt on Sunday. He would be forced to find a backup car. The field was filled to 33 cars by 5:30 p. m Among the drivers who completed attempts were Jimmy Kite, Davey Hamilton, and popular hometown rookie Andy Hillenburg. Independent driver and co owner Hillenburg was fielding a "throwback" entry named the Sumar Special, a gesture to the car driven by Pat O'Connor which won the pole position in 1957. Billy Boat secured a backup car with the Foyt team, but the car (#41, previously driven by Roberto Guerrero) only had one attempt left. After stalling three times trying to pull away, Boat's first two laps were fair. The car stalled on the third lap, and his speed dropped to 150 mph. It picked up for the final lap, and he ran it at 198 mph. His four lap average was 192.105 mph, by far the slowest car in the field, and he was the first car on the bubble. Lyn St. James and Dick Simon Racing reorganized after Saturday's crash, and she qualified comfortably. She bumped Boat with 25 minutes left in the day. With less than a minute until the 6 o'clock gun, Billy Boat climbed into another Foyt backup, (#11) a car that had not been driven all week. Boat managed a run of 218.872 mph out of the unproven machine. He shockingly bumped his way into the field as time expired. Davy Jones attempted a comeback after breaking his neck in 1997, but he was bumped. Instead, Roger Penske and Tim Cindric lent support to Jason Leffler's car at Treadway Racing. The following year additional teams (namely Penske and Team Green) returned to Indianapolis with competitive efforts. By 2004, nearly all of the major teams from CART/Champ Car had either entered singly at Indy, or defected completely to the Indy Racing League. Despite these moves, a formal unification would not take place until 2008. CART based Walker Racing also "crossed picket lines" to enter the 2000 race, but received little publicity for doing so. Noticeably neither of the team's full time CART drivers (Bryan Herta and Shinji Nakano), were part of the effort. The attention for Walker was instead focused on their new driver, rookie Sarah Fisher, and difficulties in traffic, thwarted any chance of victory. It was Lazier's second runner up finish in three years, and fifth straight finish in the top 7. Lazier, however, would go on to win the 2000 IRL championship. Greg Ray (67 laps) fell just seven laps short of breaking Bill Homeier's record of 74 laps for the last place finisher. With Goodyear announcing in October 1999 that it was leaving the sport of open wheel racing indefinitely, the Speedway lost one of its fixtures in 2000. The Goodyear Blimp had flown over the Indy 500 in most years from 1925 to 1999, but was absent in 2000, in what was believed to be the first time in decades.