1998 True Value 500

March 2026 August 2023 USA Texas I TexasMotorSpeedway.svg June 6 1998 True Value 500 4th Indy Racing League Texas Motor Speedway Permanent racing facility 1.500 2.414 208 312.000 502.115 Tony Stewart Team Menard 24.059 USA Tony Stewart Team Menard 22.972https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/database/races/1998-texas-indycars-2/ 1998 Texas Indycars - Round 4 24 May 2022 86 USA Billy Boat A. J. Foyt Enterprises USA Greg Ray Knapp Motorsports USA Kenny Bräck A. J. Foyt Enterprises SWE The 1998 True Value 500 was the fourth round of the 1998 Indy Racing League season. The race was held on June 6, 1998, at the 1.500 mi km on Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. Report Key Meaning R Rookie W Past winner Qualifying Two laps qualifying. The worst lap from any of the drivers were not published, and therefore are unknown. Rain delayed qualifying from Thursday to Friday. Pos No. Name Lap Best (in mph) 1 1 USA Tony Stewart 24.059 224.448 2 11 USA Billy Boat 24.156 223.547 3 3 USA Robbie Buhl 24.204 223.104 4 5 NED Arie Luyendyk W 24.416 221.166 5 16 BRA Marco Greco 24.575 219.736 6 28 USA Mark Dismore 24.590 219.601 7 4 CAN Scott Goodyear 24.605 219.468 8 21 COL Roberto Guerrero 24.625 219.289 9 8 USA Scott Sharp 24.684 218.765 10 12 USA Buzz Calkins 24.713 218.508 11 14 SWE Kenny Bräck 24.731 218.349 12 10 USA John Paul Jr. 24.735 218.314 13 35 USA Jeff Ward 24.823 217.540 14 97 USA Greg Ray 24.853 217.278 15 6 USA Davey Hamilton 24.886 216.989 16 77 FRA Stéphan Grégoire 24.929 216.615 17 98 USA Donnie Beechler R 24.944 216.485 18 15 CHL Eliseo Salazar 24.952 216.416 19 30 BRA Raul Boesel 25.087 215.251 20 51 USA Eddie Cheever 25.118 214.985 21 40 USA Jack Miller 25.136 214.831 22 44 USA J. J. Yeley R 25.138 214.814 23 91 USA Buddy Lazier 25.181 214.447 24 99 USA Sam Schmidt 25.211 214.192 25 27 USA Billy Roe 25.222 214.099 26 19 USA Stan Wattles 25.325 213.228 27 52 USA Robby Unser R 25.363 212.909 28 81 USA Tyce Carlson 25.473 211.989 Failed to qualify or withdrew USA Johnny Unser for Hemelgarn Racing - subbed for USA Buddy Lazier, who suffered from a stomach illness, in practice sessions on Thursday and was named to qualify the car before it was delayed. USA Jimmy Kite for Team Scandia - The team scaled back its IRL program after Indianapolis to concentrate on NASCAR, and withdrew from the event, along with his #33 entry, initially assigned to USA Billy Roe. USA Mike Groff for Byrd-Cunningham Racing - fired prior to the start of practice and replaced by USA John Paul Jr., who was due to drive for Team Pelfrey. USA Steve Kinser R for Team Pelfrey - initially named as a replacement for Paul Jr, he withdrew prior to the start of practice. Replaced by USA Tyce Carlson, who was due to drive for Immke Racing. USA Jack Hewitt R for PDM Racing - did not arrive at the track. USA Paul Durant for Cobb Racing - did not arrive at the track. USA Joe Gosek R for Liberty Racing - did not arrive at the track. The #20 Immke Racing entry was withdrawn after Carlson signed with Team Pelfrey prior to the start of practice. The #17 Chitwood Motorsports entry, which was vacant on the entry list, did not arrive at the track. Race The race was the first IRL event run on the newly reconfigured Texas track, which had undergone changes to the corner banking (eliminating the 8-degree portions, originally intended for Indy events) and the transitions out of the corners, plus a complete repaving and drainage work. The new configuration proved to be extremely fast; Tony Stewart broke the IRL new car qualifying record, and ran laps as fast as 228 MPH during the race, believed to be the fastest laps ever turned on a closed course by a car with a normally aspirated engine. The start was confusing, as Sam Schmidt did not come up to speed due to an electronics problem and Billy Roe spun through the quad-oval grass at the green flag. This was cleaned up, but only a few green flag laps were registered until Roberto Guerrero spun in front of the pack coming out of turn 2. Rookie Donnie Beechler ran hard into the back of Stéphan Grégoire's car, causing a six-car accident that eliminated Eddie Cheever (fresh off of his Indy 500 victory). Beechler ended sliding upside down the length of the back stretch. No one was hurt. Stewart had to pit for a cut tire after running through debris, handing the lead to Arie Luyendyk. The Dutch lead briefly after the green before being overhauled by Boat on lap 22, while Stewart worked his way up from the rear. By lap 34, when a caution flew for Eliseo Salazar's blown engine, Luyendyk took a gamble by not pitting, but backfired when he had to pit under green on lap 59 and lost two laps. Mark Dismore had something in the rear of the car break on lap 72 which put him hard into the turn 1 wall, suffering a concussion. Under the subsequent caution, Stewart had to make an extra pit stop for a suspected tire problem and went to the rear again. On the restart, Scott Goodyear got the jump on Boat and took the lead; the two then battled until Boat retook the lead five laps later. By halfway, Boat, Stewart, and Greg Ray were running nose-to-tail and attempting slingshots. As a caution flew on lap 144, Boat banged wheels with J. J. Yeley. The contact left a large "doughnut" on Boat's left sidepod, but he continued with no apparent problems. Stewart jumped Boat on the restart, while Ray, Goodyear, Jeff Ward and Kenny Bräck diced for third. Unfortunately for Ward, his race ended four laps later with engine failure. Stewart had his left sidepod radiator rupture streaked down the front stretch on lap 177, spewing water all over it. His crew tried to replace the faulty radiator in the pits but they ran out of time. Boat then begin to stretch out his lead over Ray, but on lap 196 he got caught in traffic and Ray begin to close the gap. On lap 200, the Texas native caught Boat and then made a move through the grass in the quad-oval (reminiscent of Buddy Lazier at Charlotte the previous year); as they went down the back stretch Ray split the lapped car of Buzz Calkins and swept into the lead. But on the next lap, Boat used the slingshot to retake it; Ray tried for the next six laps but could not overcome Boat's superior engine, and Billy Boat took his first IRL win. For the top three (Boat, Ray, and Bräck), it was their best IRL career finishes up to that point. Scott Sharp ran a quiet race to finish fifth and move into a tie with Stewart in the points standings. One year after apparently winning at Texas, only to have the win taken away after a scoring recount, Billy Boat won it again, and this time he got to keep the trophy. Pos No. Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Laps Led Points 111USA Billy BoatA. J. Foyt Enterprises2082:08:45.543210854 297USA Greg RayKnapp Motorsports208+ 0.928 sec14140 314SWE Kenny BräckA. J. Foyt Enterprises208Running11035 44CAN Scott GoodyearPanther Racing208Running71132 58USA Scott SharpKelley Racing208Running9030 63USA Robbie BuhlTeam Menard207+ 1 lap3029 76USA Davey HamiltonNienhouse Motorsports207+ 1 lap15026 816BRA Marco GrecoPhoenix Racing205+ 3 laps5024 952USA Robby Unser RTeam Cheever204+ 4 laps27022 1019USA Stan WattlesMetro Racing Systems198+ 10 laps26020 1191USA Buddy LazierHemelgarn Racing194Wheel bearing23019 1281USA Tyce CarlsonTeam Pelfrey191+ 17 laps28018 135NED Arie Luyendyk WTreadway Racing178+ 30 laps42917 141USA Tony StewartTeam Menard176Radiator tank15719 1512USA Buzz CalkinsBradley Motorsports172+ 36 laps10015 1610USA John Paul Jr.Byrd-Cunningham Racing169+ 39 laps12014 1735USA Jeff WardISM Racing165Engine13213 1899USA Sam SchmidtLP Racing163+ 45 laps24012 1944USA J. J. Yeley RSinden Racing162+ 46 laps22011 2027USA Billy RoeBlueprint Racing108+ 100 laps25010 2128USA Mark DismoreKelley Racing70Accident609 2240USA Jack MillerCrest Racing-SRS38Engine2108 2315CHL Eliseo SalazarRiley & Scott Cars32Engine1807 2421COL Roberto GuerreroPagan Racing4Accident806 2577FRA Stéphan GrégoireChastain Motorsports4Accident1605 2651USA Eddie CheeverTeam Cheever4Accident2004 2798USA Donnie Beechler R   Cahill Auto Racing4Accident1703 2830BRA Raul BoeselMcCormack Motorsports4Accident1902 Race Statistics Lead changes: 21 among 6 drivers Lap Leaders Laps Leader1-7 Tony Stewart8-21 Arie Luyendyk22-34 Billy Boat35-49 Arie Luyendyk50-72 Tony Stewart73 Billy Boat74 Tony Stewart75-81 Billy Boat82-86 Scott Goodyear87-120 Billy Boat121-122 Tony Stewart123-124 Jeff Ward125-140 Tony Stewart141-147 Billy Boat148-154 Tony Stewart155-157 Billy Boat158 Tony Stewart159-167 Billy Boat168-173 Scott Goodyear174-200 Billy Boat201 Greg Ray202-208 Billy Boat Cautions: 6 for 45 laps Laps Reason1-3Billy Roe spin6-17Guerrero, Grégoire, Cheever, Beechler and Boesel crash34-44Eliseo Salazar's blown engine; oil on track72-81Mark Dismore crash; tow-in for John Paul Jr.144-148Debris177-180Tony Stewart's radiator leaks water on track Standings after the race Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 US Tony Stewart 115 2 USA Scott Sharp 115 3 USA Billy Boat 110 4 USA Jeff Ward 103 5 USA Davey Hamilton 97 Note: Only the top five positions are included for the standings. References External links IndyCar official website Indy Racing League True Value 500 1998 1998 Indianapolis 500 1998 New England 200 1997 True Value 500 1998 Lone Star 500 Category:1998 in IndyCar Category:Firestone 600 Category:1998 in sports in Texas Category:Motorsport in Texas Category:June 1998 sports events in the United States