Buddy Lazier's second at Indianapolis and Dover highlighted his '98 season. He made the winning pass seven laps from the finish to capture the '96 Indy 500 after breaking his back eight weeks earlier at Phoenix. Also won inaugural race at Charlotte in '97. Won '88 American Indy Car Series.

Lazier may have finished only eighth in the 1996-97 IRL championship standings, but he drove two of the most exciting races of the year. After a strong fourth-place, lead-lap finish at Indianapolis, he ran even stronger at Texas. His race there was highlighted by the 55 laps he led and an amazing two-lap, side-by-side battle with leader Tony Stewart. Unfortunately, his engine blew, leaving him with a 17th-place finish. But he rebounded with a hard-charging victory at Charlotte, where he traded the lead thrice with Billy Boat in the last 15 laps.

Lazier started his racing career driving karts and supercross motorcycles. By 1986 he moved from two wheels to four and competed in the Formula Ford, Formula Vee and Can-Am series. The following year he competed in the Canadian American Thundercar Series and Formula Vee.

Having passed his USAC and CART rookie tests, he entered six events his rookie year. Lazier finished 13th in his CART debut at Portland. However, his one PPG point came with a 12-place finish at Vancouver.

In 1991 things picked up as he raced for Dale Coyne Racing at six events, Todd Walther Racing at one event, Hemelgarn-Byrd at one event, Walker-Hemelgarn at one event and Dale Coyne-Hemelgarn at one event. The results: qualifying 23rd at Indy, finishing 33rd after crash on lap one; finishing ninth at Denver; finishing 11th at Cleveland; yielding a 22nd ranking in PPG points.

The following year Lazier started 15 of 16 events, missing only New England. He scored points in three races, including a career-high seventh at the Marlboro 500. He finished 19th at Indianapolis in 1993 and had a fourth-place finish in the Camel Lights class at Daytona 24 Hours. In 1994 he started seven races for Leader Card Racing with a top finish of 13th at Phoenix.

The IRL was the beginning of real success for Lazier though. After a crash at Phoenix that broke his back, Lazier returned to take the checkered flag at Indianapolis in 1996.

Sources: Star/News and SpeedNet staff reports.