2001 Indy Racing League season

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2001 Indy Racing League season
Indy Racing Northern Light Series
Season
Races	13
Start date	March 18
End date	October 6
Awards
Drivers' champion	Sam Hornish, Jr.
Indianapolis 500 winner	Hélio Castroneves
Chronology
Previous season	Next season
2000	2002

The 2001 Indy Racing Northern Light Series season saw the addition of five races and loss of one to bring the total to 13. Chip Ganassi Racing returned to the Indy 500 with four cars and were joined on the grid by Penske Racing and Team Kool Green. Many other CART teams made clear their intention to enter the IRL given their series' financial difficulties. Sam Hornish, Jr. won 3 races on his way to the championship while the less consistent Buddy Lazier won four races on his way to second place in his title defense.

2001 Indy Racing League schedule

Rnd	Date	Race Name	Track	Location	Pole position	Fastest lap	Most Laps Led	Winner
1	March 18	Pennzoil Copper World Indy 200	Phoenix International Raceway	Phoenix, Arizona	Greg Ray	Billy Boat	Sam Hornish, Jr.	Sam Hornish, Jr.
2	April 8	Infiniti Grand Prix of Miami	Homestead-Miami Speedway	Homestead, Florida	Jeff Ward	Sam Hornish, Jr.	Sam Hornish, Jr.	Sam Hornish, Jr.
3	April 29	zMax 500	Atlanta Motor Speedway	Hampton, Georgia	Greg Ray	Greg Ray	Greg Ray	Greg Ray
4	May 27	85th Indianapolis 500	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Speedway, Indiana	Scott Sharp	Sam Hornish, Jr.	Hélio Castroneves	Hélio Castroneves
5	June 9	Casino Magic 500	Texas Motor Speedway	Fort Worth, Texas	Mark Dismore	Eddie Cheever	Greg Ray	Scott Sharp
6	June 17	Radisson Indy 200	Pikes Peak International Raceway	Fountain, Colorado	Greg Ray	Billy Boat	Sam Hornish, Jr.	Buddy Lazier
7	June 30	SunTrust Indy Challenge	Richmond International Raceway	Richmond, Virginia	Jaques Lazier	Buddy Lazier	Buddy Lazier	Buddy Lazier
8	July 8	Ameristar Casino Indy 200	Kansas Speedway	Kansas City, Kansas	Scott Sharp	Mark Dismore	Eddie Cheever	Eddie Cheever
9	July 21	Harrah's 200	Nashville Superspeedway	Lebanon, Tennessee	Greg Ray	Buddy Lazier	Sam Hornish, Jr.	Buddy Lazier
10	August 12	Belterra Resort Indy 300	Kentucky Speedway	Sparta, Kentucky	Scott Sharp	Mark Dismore	Scott Sharp	Buddy Lazier
11	August 26	Gateway Indy 250	Gateway International Raceway	Madison, Illinois	Sam Hornish, Jr.	Robbie Buhl	Sam Hornish, Jr.	Al Unser, Jr.
12	September 2	Delphi Indy 200	Chicagoland Speedway	Joliet, Illinois	Jaques Lazier	Robbie Buhl	Jaques Lazier	Jaques Lazier
13	October 6	Chevy 500	Texas Motor Speedway	Fort Worth, Texas	Sam Hornish, Jr.	Felipe Giaffone	Sam Hornish, Jr.	Sam Hornish, Jr.

• All 2001 Indy Racing League races running on Oval/Speedway.

Race summaries

Pennzoil Copper World Indy 200

This race was held March 18 at Phoenix International Raceway. Greg Ray won the pole.

Top ten results

1. Sam Hornish, Jr.
2. Eliseo Salazar
3. Buddy Lazier
4. Scott Sharp
5. Billy Boat
6. Felipe Giaffone
7. Jeff Ward
8. Robby McGehee
9. Buzz Calkins
10. Airton Daré

Infiniti Grand Prix of Miami

This race was held April 8 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Jeff Ward won the pole.

Top ten results

1. Sam Hornish, Jr.
2. Sarah Fisher
3. Eliseo Salazar
4. Felipe Giaffone
5. Jeff Ward
6. Al Unser, Jr.
7. Mark Dismore
8. Scott Sharp
9. Eddie Cheever
10. Didier André

zMax 500

This race was held April 28 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Greg Ray won the pole.

Top ten results

1. Greg Ray
2. Scott Sharp
3. Buzz Calkins
4. Sam Hornish, Jr.
5. Eliseo Salazar
6. Buddy Lazier
7. Jeff Ward
8. Shigeaki Hattori
9. Airton Daré
10. Felipe Giaffone

85th Indianapolis 500

The Indy 500 was held May 27 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Scott Sharp sat on pole.

Top ten results

1. Hélio Castroneves
2. Gil de Ferran
3. Michael Andretti
4. Jimmy Vasser
5. Bruno Junqueira
6. Tony Stewart
7. Eliseo Salazar
8. Airton Daré
9. Billy Boat
10. Felipe Giaffone

Casino Magic 500

This race was held June 9 at Texas Motor Speedway. Mark Dismore won the pole.

Top ten results

1. Scott Sharp
2. Felipe Giaffone
3. Sam Hornish, Jr.
4. Buddy Lazier
5. Billy Boat
6. Donnie Beechler
7. Eliseo Salazar
8. Al Unser, Jr.
9. Jaques Lazier
10. Shigeaki Hattori

Radisson Indy 200

This race was held June 17 at Pikes Peak International Raceway. Greg Ray won the pole.

Top ten results

1. Buddy Lazier
2. Sam Hornish, Jr.
3. Robbie Buhl
4. Billy Boat
5. Airton Daré
6. Eddie Cheever
7. Felipe Giaffone
8. Scott Sharp
9. Richie Hearn
10. Sarah Fisher

SunTrust Indy Challenge

This race was held June 30 at Richmond International Raceway. Jaques Lazier won the pole.

Top ten results

1. Buddy Lazier
2. Sam Hornish, Jr.
3. Al Unser, Jr.
4. Didier Andre
5. Scott Sharp
6. Mark Dismore
7. Donnie Beechler
8. Jeff Ward
9. Robbie Buhl
10. Buzz Calkins

Ameristar Casino Indy 200

This race was held July 8 at Kansas Speedway. Scott Sharp won the pole.

Top ten results

1. Eddie Cheever
2. Sam Hornish, Jr.
3. Donnie Beechler
4. Felipe Giaffone
5. Buddy Lazier
6. Airton Daré
7. Eliseo Salazar
8. Shigeaki Hattori
9. Billy Boat
10. Robby McGehee

Harrah's 200

This race was held July 21 at Nashville Superspeedway. Greg Ray won the pole.

Top ten results

1. Buddy Lazier
2. Billy Boat
3. Jaques Lazier
4. Robby McGehee
5. Scott Sharp
6. Sam Hornish, Jr.
7. Shigeaki Hattori
8. Felipe Giaffone
9. Buzz Calkins
10. Donnie Beechler

Belterra Resort Indy 300

This race was held August 12 at Kentucky Speedway. Scott Sharp won the pole.

Top ten results

1. Buddy Lazier
2. Scott Sharp
3. Sam Hornish, Jr.
4. Al Unser, Jr.
5. Donnie Beechler
6. Billy Boat
7. Shigeaki Hattori
8. Felipe Giaffone
9. Robbie Buhl
10. Jeff Ward

Gateway Indy 250

This race was held August 26 at Gateway International Raceway. Sam Hornish, Jr. won the pole.

Top ten results

1. Al Unser, Jr.
2. Mark Dismore
3. Sam Hornish, Jr.
4. Eddie Cheever
5. Robbie Buhl
6. Billy Boat
7. Jeff Ward
8. Scott Sharp
9. Airton Daré
10. Robby McGehee

Delphi Indy 300

This race was held September 2 at Chicagoland Speedway. Jaques Lazier won the pole.

Top ten results

1. Jaques Lazier
2. Sam Hornish, Jr.
3. Eddie Cheever
4. Jeff Ward
5. Donnie Beechler
6. Richie Hearn
7. Laurent Rédon
8. Al Unser, Jr.
9. Buzz Calkins
10. Felipe Giaffone

Chevy 500

This race was held October 6 at Texas Motor Speedway. Sam Hornish, Jr. won the pole.

Top ten results

1. Sam Hornish, Jr.
2. Scott Sharp
3. Robbie Buhl
4. Eliseo Salazar
5. Rick Treadway
6. Al Unser, Jr.
7. Airton Daré
8. Greg Ray
9. Jon Herb
10. Buzz Calkins

Final point standings

Driver

For every race points were awarded to all starters: 50 points to the winner, 40 for runner up, 35 for third place, 32 for fourth place, 30 for fifth place, 28 for sixth place, 26 seventh place, 24 eighth place, 22 for ninth place, 20 for tenth place, winding down to 1 points for 29th place. Every lower placed driver also was awarded with 1 point. Additional points were awarded to the driver leading the most laps (2 point). No additional points were awarded for the qualifying.

Place	Name	Country	Team	Chassis	Engine	Total Points
1	Sam Hornish, Jr.	United States	Panther Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile Aurora	503	52	52	32	16	35	42	40	40	30	35	37	40	52
2	Buddy Lazier	United States	Hemelgarn Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile Aurora	398	35	10	28	12	32	50	52	30	50	50	17	19	13
3	Scott Sharp	United States	Kelley Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile Aurora	355	32	24	40	1	50	24	30	13	30	42	24	5	40
4	Billy Boat	United States	Beck Motorsports	Dallara	Oldsmobile Aurora	313	30	17	16	22	30	32	12	22	40	28	28	18	18
5	Eliseo Salazar	Chile	A. J. Foyt Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile Aurora	308	40	35	30	26	26	16	18	26	19	15	13	12	32
6	Felipe Giaffone	Brazil	Treadway/Hubbard Racing	G-Force	Oldsmobile Aurora	304	28	32	20	20	40	26	19	32	24	24	10	20	9
7	Al Unser, Jr.	United States	Galles Racing	G-Force	Oldsmobile Aurora	287	7	28	13	1	24	19	35	10	16	32	50	24	28
8	Eddie Cheever	United States	Cheever Racing	Dallara	Nissan Infiniti	261	11	22	6	4	18	29	17	52	15	9	32	35	12
9	Buzz Calkins	United States	Bradley Motorsports	Dallara	Oldsmobile Aurora	242	22	14	35	18	15	15	20	17	22	14	8	22	20
10	Airton Daré	Brazil	TeamXtreme Racing	G-Force	Oldsmobile Aurora	239	20	7	22	24	11	30	15	28	13	10	22	11	26
11	Jeff Ward	United States	Heritage Motorsports	G-Force	Oldsmobile Aurora	238	26	30	26	6	14	18	24	–	10	20	26	32
			Heritage Motorsports	G-Force	Nissan Infiniti														6
12	Robbie Buhl	United States	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	G-Force	Nissan Infiniti	237	19	6	10	15	9	35	22	9	17	22	30	8	35
13	Shigeaki Hattori	Japan	Vertex-Cunningham Racing	G-Force	Oldsmobile Aurora	215	17	15
			Vertex-Cunningham Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile Aurora				24	–	20	9	16	24	26	26	15	9	14
14	Mark Dismore	United States	Kelley Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile Aurora	205	5	26	4	14	10	17	28	19	14	8	40	13	7
15	Donnie Beechler	United States	A. J. Foyt Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile Aurora	204	–	–	–	5	28	14	26	35	20	30	16	30	–
16	Robby McGehee	United States	Cahill Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile Aurora	196	24	18	9	19	16	–	–	20	32	12	20	10	16
17	Jaques Lazier	United States	Byrd Motorsports	G-Force	Oldsmobile Aurora	195	–	–	–	8
			TeamXtreme Racing	G-Force	Oldsmobile Aurora						22	13	11
			Sam Schmidt Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile Aurora									12	35	18
			Team Menard	Dallara	Oldsmobile Aurora												14	52	10
18	Greg Ray	United States	Team Menard	Dallara	Oldsmobile Aurora	193	8	9	52	13	21	12	9	16	12	17	–	–
			A. J. Foyt Racing	Dallara	Nissan Infiniti														24
19	Didier André	France	Galles Racing	G-Force	Oldsmobile Aurora	188	3	20	17	–	13	11	32	14	9	19	18	17	15
	Sarah Fisher	United States	Walker Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile Aurora	188	13	40	19	1	12	20	13	18	11	11	19	6	5
21	Billy Roe	United States	Zali Racing	G-Force	Oldsmobile Aurora	101	–	–	–	–	17	10	10	8	18	18	7	7	8
22	Jeret Schroeder	United States	PDM Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile Aurora	77	4	16	11	10	7	–	14	15	–	–	–	–	–
23	Jon Herb	United States	Tri-Star Motorsorts	Dallara	Oldsmobile Aurora	70	–	5	14	3	–	–	–	11	–	–	–
			Racing Professionals	G-Force	Oldsmobile Aurora													15	22
24	Hélio Castroneves	Brazil	Penske Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile Aurora	64	12	–	–	52	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
25	Rick Treadway	United States	Treadway/Hubbard Racing	G-Force	Oldsmobile Aurora	59	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	13	–	16	30
26	Davey Hamilton	United States	Sam Schmidt Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile Aurora	54	11	12	7	6	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
27	Richie Hearn	United States	Sam Schmidt Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile Aurora	50	–	–	–	–	–	22	–	–	–	–	–	28	–
28	Gil de Ferran	Brazil	Penske Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile Aurora	46	6	–	–	40	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
29	Laurent Redon	France	Mi-Jack Conquest Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile Aurora	45	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	26	19
30	Brandon Erwin	United States	McCormack Motorsports	G-Force	Oldsmobile Aurora	40	16	13	3	–	8	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
31	Stan Wattles	United States	Hemelgarn Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile Aurora	36	14	4	18	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	Casey Mears	United States	Galles Racing	G-Force	Oldsmobile Aurora	36	10	19	7	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	Chris Menninga	United States	Hemelgarn Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile Aurora	36	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	11	14	11
34	Michael Andretti	United States	Team KOOL Green	Dallara	Oldsmobile Aurora	35	–	–	–	35	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
35	Stéphane Grégoire	France	Dick Simon Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile Aurora	34	9	8	15
			Heritage Motorsports	G-Force	Oldsmobile Aurora					2	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
36	Jimmy Vasser	United States	Ganassi Racing	G-Force	Oldsmobile Aurora	32	–	–	–	32	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
37	Bruno Junqueira	Brazil	Ganassi Racing	G-Force	Oldsmobile Aurora	30	–	–	–	30	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
38	Anthony Lazzaro	United States	Sam Schmidt Racing	G-Force	Oldsmobile Aurora	29	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	12	–	17
39	Tony Stewart	United States	Ganassi Racing	G-Force	Oldsmobile Aurora	28	–	–	–	28	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
40	Cory Witherill	United States	Indy Regency Racing	G-Force	Oldsmobile Aurora	19	–	–	8	11	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
41	Arie Luyendyk	Netherlands	Treadway/Hubbard Racing	G-Force	Oldsmobile Aurora	17	–	–	–	17	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
42	Tyce Carlson	United States	Tri-Star Motorsports	Dallara	Oldsmobile Aurora	15	15	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
43	John Hollansworth, Jr.	United States	Blueprint Racing	G-Force	Oldsmobile Aurora	12	–	12	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
44	Robby Gordon	United States	A. J. Foyt Racing/Childress	Dallara	Oldsmobile Aurora	9	–	–	–	9	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	Alex Barron	United States	Sam Schmidt Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile Aurora	9	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	9	–	–
46	Jack Miller	United States	Cahill Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile Aurora	5	–	–	5	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
47	Nicolas Minassian	France	Ganassi Racing	G-Force	Oldsmobile Aurora	1	–	–	–	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	Scott Goodyear	Canada	Cheever Racing	Dallara	Nissan Infiniti	1	–	–	–	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–

No points (did not start/did not qualify):

• Raul Boesel
• Memo Gidley
• Jimmy Kite
• Roberto Guerrero
• Jim Guthrie
• Steve Knapp
• John Paul, Jr.
• Lyn St. James

See also

• 2001 Indianapolis 500
• 2001 Indy Lights season
• 2001 CART season
• 2001 Toyota Atlantic Championship season