IndyCar: Top Five Races at Phoenix International Raceway

Prepare for Indianapolis

1996 is the year most old-school IndyCar fans will tell you was the start of the “years-that-shall-not-be-mentioned”. It was the beginning of the split. The Indy Racing League was in its infancy and fans of CART didn’t know if they should switch to support the Indianapolis 500. It was tough times for open-wheel fans in America, but (thankfully), the two camps are now back together and the racing is terrific again.

In 1996, Phoenix International Raceway switched from the CART schedule to the IRL schedule and it became a major factor in that year’s May classic at Indianapolis. Phoenix was the second race of the three-race IRL schedule making it the crucial mid-point of the season. The IRL kept racing in 1996, but every race after the Indy 500 was included in the next season because the series dropped its idea of ending each season with Indianapolis.

The moment we’re picking from this Phoenix event didn’t actually happen in the race. During a practice run, Hemelgarn Racing’s Buddy Lazier crashed and ended up breaking his back. Lazier was out of the car for two months before returning to the cockpit for the Indianapolis 500. At Indy, Lazier gutted out a win despite the pain in his back. On lap 191, Lazier made a daring outside pass to take second from Alessandro Zampredi and passed Davy Jones to take the lead for good with eight laps to go.

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