Lazier

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Heading into the second race of the seventh Indy Racing League season, Buddy Lazier and Ron Hemelgarn comprise the only remaining driver-owner combination from the birth of the circuit.

"It's not just Buddy and me," Hemelgarn said Saturday in the garage area at Phoenix International Raceway. "It's the crew, too. We have most of the same guys."

Hemelgarn, an entrepreneur in the fitness and financial industries, is proud of both the team's longevity and its performance.

"Last year, we got into a pretty deep hole early in the year and we bounced back with four wins in five races," the owner said. "We were able to do that because Buddy believes in the crew, and the crew believes in Buddy.

"Another thing is that we are friends. We have our good days and our bad days, but we can rebound because we stick together."

All of Lazier's eight victories, including the 1996 Indianapolis 500, have been with Hemelgarn Racing. He won the IRL championship in 2000, and was second to Sam Hornish Jr. last year.

Driver change
Shigeaki Hattori has stepped into the ride left vacant when Buzz Calkins retired before the 2002 season to concentrate on running the IRL team owned by his family.

The team took its time finding a replacement for Calkins, who shared the first IRL championship with Scott Sharp in 1996. In fact, it skipped the season-opening race two weeks ago in Homestead, Fla.

Hattori, who has made 17 IRL starts since 2000, will be in the Bradley Motorsports car for Sunday's race. His best previous finishes have been a trio of sevenths.

He is driving a Chevrolet-powered Dallara here, but the team will switch to Infiniti engines beginning with next Sunday's race in Fontana, Calif.

"The Infiniti Indy engine has proven to be very powerful, and I believe it will be the dominant engine in the IRL soon," the Japanese driver said. "I think this will be my best opportunity for success in the IRL."

Foyt 500
A.J. Foyt, still the winningest driver in open-wheel racing almost a decade after his retirement, will celebrate his 500th Indy-car start Sunday as either an owner, driver or owner-driver.

Foyt, who won 67 Indy-car races, including four Indianapolis 500s, also won in stock cars and sports cars, including the Daytona 500 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Eliseo Salazar and Airton Dare will drive Foyt cars here Sunday, while Stacy Compton will race for Super Tex in the Winston Cup race in Darlington, S.C.

Little cars, big bucks
Short-track stalwarts Bob East and Steve Lewis announced Saturday they will promote the Indianapolis Twin 25 U.S. Midget on Sept. 27 at Indianapolis Raceway Park.

The U.S. Auto Club Midget race show will have two 25-lap features on the 5/8-mile asphalt oval, with the second starting in reverse order of the finish of the first event. If a driver wins both races, he will collect a $50,000 bonus.

The event will be held on the same weekend as the U.S. Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, less than 10 miles from IRP.

"Every driver I've talked to plans to enter," said Dave Darland, the 2001 National USAC Midget champion. "With a total potential purse of over $70,000 to win, it's already one of the biggest races of the year."

Remembering Gary
Marlboro Team Penske crewmen are wearing a patch with "GB" on their sleeves this weekend in memory of teammate Gary Buckner, who died of a heart attack on March 8 in Reading, Pa., where the Penske team is based.

Buckner, 43, was the fabrication manager for Penske's open-wheel team, as well as the tire man and rear tire changer for Gil de Ferran.

Buckner worked for Reynard Racing, Vince Granatelli and Hall-VDS Racing, before coming to the Penske team in 1993.

Spark plugs