INDIANAPOLIS -- Buddy Lazier's place in the history of the Indy Racing League is secure.

He was the pole-sitter for the inaugural IRL event at Walt Disney World Speedway in 1996 and won the Indianapolis 500 that year -- the first it was part of the IRL. In 2000, Lazier won the league title and is the IRL's all-time victory leader with eight wins.

	Buddy Lazier has driven for Ron Hemelgarn since the IRL's inception.

As Lazier prepares for the 86th Indianapolis 500 on May 26, he has another distinction: he and Hemelgarn Racing are the only driver-team combination that has been involved in the IRL since the beginning.

"I know we have been together a long time and (team owner) Ron Hemelgarn has done a great job of keeping the team together," Lazier said in preparation for his 10th Indianapolis 500. "Most of our guys have been there the whole time, too. It's not just driver and owner."

Lazier also mentioned the long-time sponsorships of Delta Faucets and Coors, who have shown their commitment.

"We believe in each other and we have had success," he said. "We're not trying to search for the greener grass on the other side of the fence. There has been a lot of loyalty on both sides of fence, from the ownership and on the race team. Loyalty has gone both ways on that race team."

Lazier's loyalty has been rewarded by Hemelgarn. The former professional bodybuilder from Toledo, Ohio who went on to open a chain of successful health and fitness stores has built a successful Indy car operation.

Hemelgarn originally was an owner in CART, but in the early 1990s he cut his racing operation to an Indy 500-only team. When the IRL was created, Hemelgarn was one of the first owners to sign up for the full season and has overseen one of the most successful teams in the series.

"I'm pretty proud that everybody is together as a group," Hemelgarn said. "That's how we've won. In any business, the more you can keep your group together, the more successful you get by the year. I'm pretty proud of that and I don't see anything changing here in the near future so hopefully that record will go on for many, many years."

The fact the two have been together for so long actually surprises Lazier, but the reasons why he has remained with the team is not surprising. The driver from Vail, Colo., feels a strong sense of loyalty to the owner and the team for giving him a chance in the early years of his career, when other owners weren't interested in him.

"Even in the bad times, when the going is rough, we don't question each other," Lazier said. "We just try to fix whatever is wrong. We don't question each other. We believe in each other.

"I have never even looked for another opportunity. As a race driver you only have so much time to make a living doing what we love to do. As long as I'm fairly competitive in terms of getting a competitive salary and I'm surrounded by the best bunch of guys you could ask for and have a great owner, you don't really go searching."

When Lazier first came to Hemelgarn late in the 1989 season, he was a struggling 19-year-old with a strong pedigree wanting a chance to prove that he could race. His father, Bob, started in the Indianapolis 500 in 1981 and finished 19th.

Lazier qualified Hemelgarn's car for the Indianapolis 500 in 1989 but was nudged from the field on Bump Day. He started 23rd in his first Indy 500 but finished 33rd and last after dropping out due to a crash after just one lap.

Lazier often was forced to drive cars that were two and even three years old in CART competition just to get a chance to experience time behind the wheel.

"We would go in and raise money with local sponsors," Lazier recalled. "We were on the biggest shoestring budget. We were racing cars that other teams pretty much gave to us because they were their show cars and they were willing to give them away because they weren't competitive anymore.

"Because I had struggled for so long with so little and with so little opportunity, when the Indy Racing League began to be formed and I heard about it, you can't measure the excitement I had knowing that would be the opportunity of a lifetime and center my racing career around."

Having a fair chance to show his ability is something Lazier craved. When the IRL was announced in 1994 and began operation in January 1996, Lazier was certain he had found the right series that would showcase his talent.

"I was convinced from the absolute minute of the announcement of the Indy Racing League that that was the future -- the absolute future," Lazier said. "History will show that this is the solution that open-wheel racing needed and for American open-wheel racing. I think there are a lot of race drivers that have benefited in the Indy Racing League.

Lazier credits the IRL for creating a foundation that allows opportunity for drivers to participate in Indy car racing, especially the Indianapolis 500. Once that opportunity is created, it is up to the individual driver and team to further it by finding sponsorship that will allow them to stay in the series.

Hemelgarn said he spends $5 million a year to fund his IRL operation and credits his long-time association with Coors and Delta for allowing him to complete his budget.

"Some years, you make money, some years you don't," Hemelgarn said. "It depends on how much more development you have to do, what extras you have to buy, how many crashes you have, engine reliability. There are years we are ahead of the game and there are years we have to take some we have ahead and put back in as far as development.

"All in all, we move along pretty steady and that is why we are here year after year. We have good sponsors that have been with us a long time."

Lazier also believes in some of the other principles the IRL was based upon.

"The foundation that the series was built on, having competitive fields and equipment parity, controlling the costs and creating opportunity for American race drivers with oval track roots is the theory the series operates under today," Lazier said. "They haven't wavered one little bit. I think everybody is catching on to how good the vision was and the theory is."

Hemelgarn is also excited about the development of the IRL as a series. As each season has passed since that first season in 1996, the teams have gotten better and the competition stronger.

"The development of the series has been fantastic," Hemelgarn said. "It has built a lot faster than I thought it would. It is much bigger at this time than I ever thought it would.

"As far as these people saying, 'Man, I've got to run Indy' well I knew that 25 years ago that you have to run Indy. When the big split came about, I knew you had to run Indy. If you have to run any race, this is the race you are going to run because this is the payday. This is the granddaddy of all. There was never a question."

Lazier won here in 1996 despite suffering a broken back just eight weeks earlier in a crash at Phoenix International Raceway. Hemelgarn set the tone for the team's long-term loyalty by sticking with his recuperating driver instead of replacing him with a healthy one.

"I never replaced and never gave thought to replacing Buddy. I left that seat open," Hemelgarn said. "Now my phone was ringing off the hook because everybody said Buddy has a broken back and there is no way he is going to drive. I kept the seat open right to the very end and allowing Buddy if he wanted that seat; it was his, no matter what.

"Now most team owners would probably never do that. They would say, 'You have a broken back. You don't have a prayer.' But I kept it open. I think Buddy was very appreciative that I did that, that I never turned my back on him when he was down."

Hemelgarn thinks that his gesture has gone a long way to building the bond felt among the entire team.

"He knows how he got here," the owner said. "He knows all the hardships we went through in the early years to get Buddy to where he is. Consequently, the whole team is the same as we were when Buddy first started running. That is the loyalty we have to both - we have been a team for such a long time and we work very closely as a team."

Six years ago, Lazier won with one of the most heroic drives in the history of the Indy 500. Despite his back injury, he passed leader Davy Jones with less than 10 laps remaining and drove to the checkered flag.

That race was held on a day when rival CART teams opted to shun the Indianapolis 500 and stage the U.S. 500 at Michigan Speedway. That does not diminish Lazier's achievement.

"Anytime you win the Indy 500, anytime in history, that driver who has won it has earned it," he said. "They don't give away that race. The prize money was spectacular and the feeling you have inside yourself when you win a race gives you a tremendous sense of accomplishment.

Winning his first Indy 500 gave Lazier a taste of what it's like to win the biggest race in the world. Having finished second twice since, he wants a mouthful now.

"It was one of the most wonderful things I have ever experienced in life, winning that race," he admitted. "I wanted to repeat that feeling so bad. They wanted to win it so much more even after they had won it. When you get a taste of Victory Lane, you want more. It makes you hungrier for it."