2000 Indianapolis 500

84th Indianapolis 500

Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Indianapolis 500
Sanctioning body	Indy Racing League
Season	2000 IRL season
Date	May 28, 2000
Winner	Juan Pablo Montoya
Winning team	Chip Ganassi Racing
Average speed	167.607 mph (269.737 km/h)
Pole position	Greg Ray
Pole speed	223.471 mph (359.642 km/h)
Fastest qualifier	Greg Ray
Rookie of the Year	Juan Pablo Montoya
Most laps led	Juan Pablo Montoya (167)
Pre-race ceremonies
National anthem	Jessica Andrews
"Back Home Again in Indiana"	Jim Nabors
Starting command	Mari George
Pace car	Oldsmobile Aurora
Pace car driver	Anthony Edwards
Starter	Bryan Howard
Honorary starter	Howard Katz (ABC Sports)
Estimated attendance	250,000 (estimated)
TV in the United States
Network	ABC
Announcers	Bob Jenkins, Tom Sneva, Arie Luyendyk
Nielsen ratings	5.5 / 15
Chronology
Previous Next 1999 2001

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, ^[1] Chip Ganassi Racing became the first major CART-based team to compete at the race since 1995. ^[2] 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. ^[1] Both drivers were quickly up to speed with the IRL regulars, and were expected to be favorites in both qualifying and on race day. Also making a heralded return to Indianapolis was two-time winner Al Unser Jr. ^[1] 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. ^[2] Montoya led 167 laps, and cruised to victory, becoming the first rookie winner since Graham Hill in 1966. ^{[3] [4]} 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. ^[5]

Race schedule

Race schedule — April 2000 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 2   3   4   5   6   7 ROP 8 ROP 9 ROP/Testing 10 ROP/Testing 11 ROP/Testing 12 ROP/Testing 13   14   15   Race schedule — May 2000 7   8   9   10   11   12   13 Practice 14 Practice 15 Practice 16 Practice 17 Practice 18 Practice 19 Practice 20 Pole Day 21 Bump Day 22   23   24   25 Carb Day 26   27 Parade 28 Indy 500 29 Memorial Day 30   31

Color Notes Green Practice Dark Blue Time trials Silver Race day Red Rained out* Blank No track activity *Includes days where track activity was significantly limited due to rain ROP — denotes Rookie Orientation Program

Rule changes

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

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 day - Saturday May 20

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.

Bump day - Sunday May 21

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, ^[6] 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. ^[6]

Starting grid

Fila	Inside	Middle	Outside
1	1 - Greg Ray Team Conseco/Quaker State/Menards Team Menard Dallara-Oldsmobile Aurora 223.471 mph	9 - Juan Pablo Montoya  R  Target Chip Ganassi Racing G-Force-Oldsmobile Aurora 223.372 mph	11 - Eliseo Salazar Rio A. J. Foyt Racing G-Force-Oldsmobile Aurora 223.231 mph
2	32 - Robby Gordon Turtle Wax/Burger King/Moen/Johns Manville/Menards Team Menard Dallara-Oldsmobile Aurora 222.885 mph	8 - Scott Sharp Delphi Automotive Systems/MCI Worldcom Kelley Racing Dallara-Oldsmobile Aurora 222.810 mph	14 - Jeff Ward Harrah's A. J. Foyt Racing G-Force-Oldsmobile Aurora 222.639 mph
3	10 - Jimmy Vasser Target Chip Ganassi Racing G-Force-Oldsmobile Aurora 221.976 mph	92 - Stan Wattles Metro Racing Hemelgarn Racing Dallara-Oldsmobile Aurora 221.508 mph	24 - Robbie Buhl Team Purex Dreyer & Reinbold Racing G-Force-Oldsmobile Aurora 221.357 mph
4	51 - Eddie Cheever Jr.  W  #51 Excite@Home Indy Race Car Team Cheever Dallara-Infiniti 221.270 mph	28 - Mark Dismore On Star/GM BuyPower/Bryant Heating & Cooling Kelley Racing Dallara-Oldsmobile Aurora 220.970 mph	5 - Robby McGehee Meijer / Energizer Advanced Formula Treadway Racing G-Force-Oldsmobile Aurora 220.611 mph
5	4 - Scott Goodyear Pennzoil Panther Racing Dallara-Oldsmobile Aurora 220.496 mph	18 - Sam Hornish Jr.  R  Hornish Trucking / Advantage Powder Coating PDM Racing Dallara-Oldsmobile Aurora 220.496 mph	98 - Donnie Beechler Cahill Racing Dallara-Oldsmobile Aurora 220.482 mph
6	91 - Buddy Lazier  W  Delta Faucet/Coors Light/Tae -Bo Hemelgarn Racing Dallara-Oldsmobile Aurora 220.482 mph	50 - Jason Leffler  R  United Auto Group Special Treadway Racing G-Force Oldsmobile 220.417 mph	3 - Al Unser Jr.  W  ECR / RacingTickets.com Galles Racing G-Force Oldsmobile Aurora 220.293 mph
7	15 - Sarah Fisher  R  Cummins Walker Racing Dallara-Oldsmobile Aurora 220.237 mph	7 - Stéphan Grégoire Mexmil/Tokheim/Viking Air Tools Dick Simon Racing G-Force Oldsmobile Aurora 219.970 mph	88 - Airton Daré  R  USACredit.com Team Xtreme G-Force-Oldsmobile Aurora 219.970 mph
8	12 - Buzz Calkins Bradley Motorsports / Team CAN Bradley Motorsports Dallara-Oldsmobile Aurora 219.862 mph	75 - Richie Hearn NetZero Pagan Racing Dallara-Oldsmobile Aurora 219.816 mph	55 - Raul Boesel EPSON Treadway Racing G-Force-Oldsmobile Aurora 222.113 mph
9	27 - Jimmy Kite Big Daddy's BBQ/Founders Bank Blueprint Racing G-Force-Oldsmobile Aurora 220.718 mph	33 - Jaques Lazier  R  Miles of Hope Truscelli Team Racing G-Force-Oldsmobile Aurora 220.675 mph	23 - Steve Knapp Dreyer & Reinbold Racing G-Force-Nissan Infiniti 220.290 mph
10	16 - Davey Hamilton FreeInternet.com Team Xtreme G-Force-Oldsmobile Aurora 219.878 mph	6 - Jeret Schroeder Kroger Tri Star Motorsports Dallara-Oldsmobile Aurora 219.322 mph	22 - Johnny Unser Delco-Remy/Microdigicom/Homier Tools Indy Regency Racing G-Force-Oldsmobile Aurora 219.066 mph
11	41 - Billy Boat Harrah's A. J. Foyt Racing G-Force-Oldsmobile Aurora 218.872 mph	90 - Lyn St. James Yellow Freight System Dick Simon Racing G-Force-Oldsmobile Aurora 218.826 mph	48 - Andy Hillenburg  R  The Sumar Special By Irwindale Speedway Fast Track Racing Dallara-Oldsmobile Aurora 218.285 mph

Alternates

• First alternate: Dr. Jack Miller (#21) - Bumped
• Second alternate: Scott Harrington (#17) - Bumped

Failed to qualify

• Davy Jones (#40) - Bumped
• Robby Unser (#30) - Bumped
• Dan Drinan  R  (#48) - Waved off
• Roberto Guerrero (#41/20T) - Waved off
• Doug Didero  R  (#43) - Wrecked qualifying
• Memo Gidley  R  (#82) - Wrecked qualifying
• Hideshi Matsuda (#20) - Wrecked qualifying & practice
• Ross Cheever  R  (#52) - Entered and tested but did not attempt a qualifying lap

Race recap

Pre-race and rain delay

On Saturday May 27, the day before the Indy 500, Juan Pablo Montoya and Jimmy Vasser participated in the CART Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix at Nazareth Speedway. The race had been scheduled for April 11, but snow postponed it until the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. Montoya finished 4th, and Vasser 7th.

Jason Leffler, who qualified 17th at Indy, traveled to Charlotte on Saturday to participate in the NASCAR Busch Series Carquest Auto Parts 300. Leffler finished 21st at Charlotte. Also in Charlotte for part of the week was Robby Gordon, who was preparing to attempt the Indy 500/Coca-Cola 600 "Double Duty". Gordon required a provisional starting position for Charlotte, and he would line up 42nd. P. J. Jones was scheduled to stand by for Gordon at Charlotte if he could not make it in time for the start.

On race day, Sunday May 28, the morning dawned warm and sunny, but rain was in the forecast. At 10:07 a.m., rain started to fall, and the start of the race was delayed. After three brief periods of showers, at approximately 12:40 p.m., the rain stopped and held off just long enough to complete the race. Track-drying efforts began, and at 2:01 p.m. EST, Mari Hulman George gave the command to start engines, and the field pulled away.

First half

At the start, polesitter Greg Ray took the lead. Juan Pablo Montoya settled into second, and Robby Gordon third. A fast pace over the first 20 laps saw Ray dominate, with Montoya aggressively dicing through traffic, holding a close second place.

On lap 27, the leaders went four-wide through traffic, and Montoya took the lead for the first time. There would only be 6 laps that he would not be in front for the rest of the race. A few laps later, all the leaders were into the pits for the first round of green flag pit stops. On lap 33 Montoya emerged with the lead, and began to flex some strength. His lead grew from 11.9 seconds on lap 34 to over 21 seconds on lap 55.

A blistering pace over the first 60 laps saw thus far zero yellow flags. The average speed at lap 60 (150 miles) was an all-time record 207.101 mph. Montoya held a 30-second lead over second place Jimmy Vasser. On lap 66, however, Greg Ray became caught up in a wind gust, and his car pushed into the outside wall exiting turn two. This resulted in the first caution of the day, setting a new modern era Indy record (66 laps) before the first yellow. Al Unser Jr. hit a piece of debris from Ray's crash and punctured his car's radiator, causing him to drop out 22 laps later.

Montoya now led Robby Gordon and Buddy Lazier. After the restart, however, Lyn St. James crashed into the outside wall in turn 1. Sarah Fisher was collected in the incident, and also crashed.

At the halfway point, Montoya still led. Vasser was second, about 5 seconds behind.

Second half

In the second half Juan Pablo Montoya continued to dominate. His teammate Jimmy Vasser, however, started to drop down the top ten. Buddy Lazier and Jeff Ward were now in the top three, all chasing Montoya.

On lap 143, Greg Ray returned to the track after lengthy repairs. His return did not last long, as he smacked the outside wall in turn two - close to the same place he crashed earlier - and he was finally out of the race. Ray became the fourth polesitter (Woodbury, Carter, and Guerrero) to finish last.

The green came back out on lap 150, with Montoya first and Lazier close behind in second. Rookie Sam Hornish Jr. crashed on lap 158, but most of the leaders did not pit. On the restart on lap 162, Lazier made a run for the lead in turn one, but Montoya held him off.

Finish

Stan Wattles brought out the final yellow flag on lap 174 for a blown engine. Montoya and Lazier pitted, which allowed Jimmy Vasser to take over the lead. The green came out with 23 laps to go.

Vasser's lead did not last long, as Montoya got by him on lap 180. Lazier caught up to Vasser and passed him for second. Lazier set the fastest lap of the race (218.494 mph) on lap 198, but Montoya was too far ahead. Montoya pulled away and won the Indianapolis 500 in his first start by 7.1839 seconds over 1996 winner Buddy Lazier.

Box score

Finish	Start	No	Name	Qual	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Status	Entrant
1	2	9	Juan Pablo Montoya  R	223.372	G-Force	Oldsmobile	200	Running	Chip Ganassi Racing
2	16	91	Buddy Lazier  W	220.480	Dallara	Oldsmobile	200	Running	Hemelgarn Racing
3	3	11	Eliseo Salazar	223.231	G-Force	Oldsmobile	200	Running	A. J. Foyt Enterprises
4	6	14	Jeff Ward	222.639	G-Force	Oldsmobile	200	Running	A. J. Foyt Enterprises
5	10	51	Eddie Cheever  W	221.269	Dallara	Infiniti	200	Running	Team Cheever
6	4	32	Robby Gordon	222.885	Dallara	Oldsmobile	200	Running	Team Menard
7	7	10	Jimmy Vasser	221.974	G-Force	Oldsmobile	199	Running	Chip Ganassi Racing
8	20	7	Stéphan Grégoire	219.969	G-Force	Oldsmobile	199	Running	Dick Simon Racing
9	13	4	Scott Goodyear	220.631	Dallara	Oldsmobile	199	Running	Panther Racing
10	5	8	Scott Sharp	222.808	Dallara	Oldsmobile	198	Running	Kelley Racing
11	11	28	Mark Dismore	220.968	Dallara	Oldsmobile	198	Running	Kelley Racing
12	15	98	Donnie Beechler	220.483	Dallara	Oldsmobile	198	Running	Cahill Racing
13	26	33	Jaques Lazier  R	220.673	G-Force	Oldsmobile	198	Running	Truscelli Racing Team
14	29	6	Jeret Schroeder	219.322	Dallara	Oldsmobile	198	Running	Tri-Star Motorsports
15	31	41	Billy Boat	218.872	G-Force	Oldsmobile	198	Running	A. J. Foyt Enterprises
16	24	55	Raul Boesel	222.112	G-Force	Oldsmobile	197	Running	Treadway-Vertex Cunningham Racing
17	17	50	Jason Leffler  R	220.417	G-Force	Oldsmobile	197	Running	Treadway Racing
18	22	12	Buzz Calkins	219.862	Dallara	Oldsmobile	194	Running	Bradley Motorsports
19	27	23	Steve Knapp	220.290	G-Force	Infiniti	193	Running	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
20	28	16	Davey Hamilton	219.879	G-Force	Oldsmobile	188	Running	TeamXtreme
21	12	5	Robby McGehee	220.660	G-Force	Oldsmobile	187	Running	Treadway Racing
22	30	22	Johnny Unser	219.068	G-Force	Oldsmobile	186	Running	Indy Regency Racing
23	8	92	Stan Wattles	221.510	Dallara	Oldsmobile	172	Engine	Hemelgarn Racing
24	14	18	Sam Hornish Jr.  R	220.495	Dallara	Oldsmobile	153	Accident	PDM Racing
25	21	88	Airton Daré  R	219.969	G-Force	Oldsmobile	126	Engine	TeamXtreme
26	9	24	Robbie Buhl	221.357	G-Force	Oldsmobile	99	Engine	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
27	23	75	Richie Hearn	219.815	Dallara	Oldsmobile	97	Electrical	Pagan Racing
28	33	48	Andy Hillenburg  R	218.286	Dallara	Oldsmobile	91	Wheel Bearing	Fast Track Racing Enterprises
29	18	3	Al Unser Jr.  W	220.292	G-Force	Oldsmobile	89	Over Heating	Galles Racing
30	25	27	Jimmy Kite	220.717	G-Force	Oldsmobile	74	Engine	Blueprint Racing
31	19	15	Sarah Fisher  R	220.237	Dallara	Oldsmobile	71	Accident	Walker Racing
32	32	90	Lyn St. James	218.826	G-Force	Oldsmobile	69	Accident	Dick Simon Racing
33	1	1	Greg Ray	223.471	Dallara	Oldsmobile	67	Accident	Team Menard

 W  Former Indianapolis 500 winner

 R  Indianapolis 500 Rookie

All entrants utilized Firestone tires.

Race statistics

Lap Leaders Laps Leader 1–26 Greg Ray 27–29 Juan Pablo Montoya 30 Jimmy Vasser 31–32 Robby McGehee 33–175 Juan Pablo Montoya 176–179 Jimmy Vasser 180–200 Juan Pablo Montoya

Total laps led Driver Laps Juan Pablo Montoya 167 Greg Ray 26 Jimmy Vasser 5 Robby McGehee 2

Cautions: 7 for 39 laps Laps Reason 66–70 Greg Ray crash in turn 2 74–84 Lyn St. James, Sarah Fisher crash in turn 1 99–102 Robbie Buhl blown engine 127–130 Airton Daré blown engine 144–150 Greg Ray crash in turn 2 158–161 Sam Hornish Jr. crash in turn 2 174–177 Stan Wattles blown engine

Legacy

After the 2000 CART season, Juan Pablo Montoya signed with the Williams Formula One team, and thus did not return to defend his Indianapolis 500 championship in 2001. Later, Montoya switched to the NASCAR Cup Series, and did not race again in the Indianapolis 500 until 2014. He has also raced in the U.S. Grand Prix, Brickyard 400, and Brickyard Grand Prix, all held at IMS. He won the 99th edition of the Indianapolis 500 in 2015.

The 2000 Indy 500 marked a turning point in the ongoing, five-year "split" between IRL and CART. While neither side was prepared to make concessions towards a unification or buyout, it became evident that sponsors in the CART series desired to have their teams participate in the Indianapolis 500 to benefit from the increased exposure. Ganassi's arrival, and subsequent domination of the event led other CART-based teams to follow suit. Penske Racing considered an entry for 2000, but decided against it due to lack of preparation time. Furthermore, at the time, they only owned Riley & Scott chassis, which were deemed uncompetitive. ^[7] 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, ^[1] who would become a popular fixture in the IRL in the years to come.

Statistics

Juan Pablo Montoya won the race from the 2nd starting position. It was the first time a driver had won from the middle of the front row since Mario Andretti in 1969. From 1911 to 1969, the second starting position statistically produced the most race winners (ten total), more so than even the pole position (which had produced only seven winners at that time), a reflection of the Andretti curse. Montoya broke a thirty-year streak of losses by the second starting position, including many years where the no. 2 starter failed to even finish the race. As of 2022 the second starting position has not produced any additional race winners, a win–loss record of 1–52.

Second place finisher Buddy Lazier (the 1996 winner) was the only car towards the end of the race that was in striking distance of Montoya, but a combination of slower pit stops ^{[2] [8]} and difficulties in traffic, ^[2] 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.

Broadcasting

Radio

The race was carried live on the Indy Racing Radio Network. Mike King served as chief announcer. The broadcast was moved into a brand new studio on the 9th floor of the newly completed Pagoda control tower. The race was heard on 549 affiliates. Due to the rain delay, the broadcast came on-air for one hour, then signed off to wait out the delay. Hourly updates were aired, then the broadcast came back to cover the pre-race ceremonies and race in its entirety.

Several minor changes were made to the crew. Ken Double worked his final 500 on the network. Mark Jaynes moved from the pits to take over the turn three location vacated by one-year member Kevin O'Neal. Larry Rice and Mike Lewis joined the crew as pit reporters. This would be Rice's only year on the network. Vince Welch, formerly a pit reporter, left the crew and eventually would join ABC television. This was the last year of the Statistician position. Starting on 2001 there were no more full field rundowns every 25 laps.

Bob Lamey who joined the crew in 1988, and had become a fixture in turn 4, would be on the crew for the final time in 2000. Guests interviewed in the broadcast booth included Secretary of Defense William Cohen, John F. Fielder (BorgWarner), David Seuss (Northern Light), Kevin Forbes (IMS), Mark Miller (Nokia), and Ira Kisver (Pennzoil).

Indy Racing Radio Network
Booth Announcers	Turn Reporters	Pit/garage reporters
Chief Announcer: Mike King Driver expert: Johnny Rutherford Statistician: Howdy Bell Historian: Donald Davidson Commentary: Chris Economaki	Turn 1: Jerry Baker Turn 2: Ken Double Turn 3: Mark Jaynes Turn 4: Bob Lamey	Mike Lewis (north pits) Chris Denari (center pits) Larry Rice (south pits) Chuck Marlowe (garages)

Television

The race was carried live flag-to-flag coverage in the United States on ABC Sports. Al Michaels returned as host, with Bob Jenkins as announcer. Arie Luyendyk, who had announced his first retirement, joined the broadcast as analyst, alongside Tom Sneva.

After a one-year absence, Jack Arute returned as a pit reporter, and Leslie Gudel was added as a fourth pit reporter. Back in the ABC studios, Robin Roberts had a small role as Wide World of Sports studio host.

ABC Television
Booth Announcers	Pit/garage reporters
Host: Al Michaels Announcer: Bob Jenkins Color: Tom Sneva Color: Arie Luyendyk	Jack Arute Dr. Jerry Punch Vince Welch Leslie Gudel

Notes

References

1. "Shot in the arm: Ganassi, Unser providing old excitement at Indy". Sports Illustrated . 2000-05-28. Retrieved 2012-03-05.
2. "CART's revenge: Montoya pulls away from Lazier for Indy 500 win". Sports Illustrated . 2000-05-29. Retrieved 2012-03-05.
3. Robbins, Liz (2000-05-29). "AUTO RACING; Montoya's Got Milk And Victory In Indy 500". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
4. Harris, Mike (2000-05-30). "Montoya makes it look easy". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 2022-05-01. Retrieved 2009-10-19.^{[ dead link ]}
5. "Juan Pablo Montoya joins Penske". ESPN. 2013-09-17. Retrieved 2013-09-17.
6. Glick, Shav (2000-05-22). "Qualifying Turns Into a Boat Race". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 2012-03-05.
7. Pruett, Marshall (August 22, 2020). "The most important Indy 500 Penske missed wasn't in 1995". Racer.com . Retrieved August 26, 2020.
8. Callahan, Terry (2000-05-30). "Quick work in the pits pivotal in Montoya's victory". The Auto Channel. Retrieved 2012-04-06.

Works cited

• 2000 Indianapolis 500 Daily Trackside Report for the Media
• Indianapolis 500 History: Race & All-Time Stats - Official Site
• 2000 Indianapolis 500 Radio Broadcast, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network

1999 Indianapolis 500 Kenny Bräck

2000 Indianapolis 500 Juan Pablo Montoya

2001 Indianapolis 500 Hélio Castroneves