Amid IndyCar's Civil War split, Buddy Lazier won Indy 500. 'Yeah, I felt the divide'
30 years ago, the aftermath of the contentious IRL/CART split saw legendary names boycotting the Indy 500. Buddy Lazier came away with the victory.
INDIANAPOLIS — Raceday was overcast and dreary, delayed briefly by morning rain, setting the mood for one of the most divisive moments in IndyCar history. The solidarity at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1996 was potent. Just about anyone who had come to that Indy 500 was staunchly rooted on the side of the newly-formed Indy Racing League.
Meanwhile, 188 miles away, the opposing incumbent CART teams were trying to prove they could outshine the IRL drivers in Indy with their inaugural U. S. 500 at Michigan International Speedway on the same day.
Most of the top CART teams had boycotted the 1996 Indy 500 in protest of IRL qualifying rules that locked out non-IRL teams. Penske, Ganassi and Rahal Newman/Haas were among the big names that vacated the race. Buddy Lazier had picked his side in this polarizing CART/IRL split on that Sunday, May 26, 1996.
But it had nothing to do with either league. His father, Bob Lazier, was one of the founding members of CART, and Lazier had raced in that league for years. "I think a lot of people thought, 'Well, the split is the destruction of all of IndyCar,'" Lazier says.
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