Treadway Racing is a former auto racing team that competed in the early seasons of the

Indy Racing League The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices o ...

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices o ...

. The team was owned by

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

business man Fred Treadway. Prior to the IRL's inaugural season in 1996, Treadway was able to sign former

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...

Champion

Arie Luyendyk Arie Luijendijk (anglicised as Arie Luyendyk; born 21 September 1953), nicknamed "The Flying Dutchman," is a Dutch former auto racing driver, and winner of the 1990 and 1997 Indianapolis 500 races. He was inducted into the Indianapolis Motor Sp ...

to drive for his freshman team. Additionally, two long time backers of IndyCar teams, Bryant Heating & Cooling Systems and Jonathan Byrd's Cafeteria, were secured as sponsors.

1996 racing season

Luyendyk brought home the team's first win in their second race together, winning the Dura-Lube 200 at

Phoenix International Raceway Phoenix Raceway is a 1-mile, low-banked tri-oval race track located in Avondale, Arizona, near Phoenix. The motorsport track opened in 1964 and currently hosts two NASCAR race weekends annually including the final championship race since 2020 ...

. Later that season Luyendyk would set two qualifying records at the

. Luyendyk would run over the four lap run, during this run he also set the one-lap record of 237.498-mph. This run would not put Luyendyk on the

pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the rac ...

however, as the run was on the second day of time trials. Luyendyk's attempt on the first day of qualifications was disallowed when he failed technical inspection although it was good enough for the pole. His day two attempt was faster than his day one attempt. Ultimately Luyendyk was knocked out of the race in an accident.

1997 racing season

The following year, good fortunes would continue to the race into the race as Luyendyk would win the 1997 Indianapolis 500 for Treadway Racing from the pole; new teammate Scott Goodyear finished second, making it a 1-2 sweep for Treadway Racing. Luyendyk would follow up by winning the True Value 500 at

Texas Motor Speedway Texas Motor Speedway is a speedway located in the northernmost portion of the U.S. city of Fort Worth, Texas – the portion located in Denton County, Texas. The reconfigured track measures with banked 20° in turns 1 and 2 and banked 24 ...

a fortnight later. The race is best remembered for the scoring controversy that would lead to USAC being removed from sanctioning duties by the IRL. Goodyear's more consistent results would put him one spot ahead of Luyendyk in the final season standings for 1997 despite not collecting a win.

1998 racing season

For

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

Goodyear left Treadway Racing, leaving Luyendyk as the sole driver. Luyendyk won the final race of the season at

Las Vegas Motor Speedway Las Vegas Motor Speedway, located in Clark County, Nevada in Las Vegas, Nevada about 15 miles northeast of the Las Vegas Strip, is a complex of multiple tracks for motorsports racing. The complex is owned by Speedway Motorsports, Inc., which is ...

before retiring from full-time racing.

1999 racing season

Sam Schmidt Samuel Schmidt (born August 15, 1964) is a former Indy Racing League driver and current NTT IndyCar Series and Indy Lights series team owner. Schmidt's brief IndyCar career included a win in 1999, but an accident before the 2000 season left him ...

was signed to replace Luyendyk for 1999 season. He would deliver the team a win at

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...

as Luyendyk had the prior season. This late season win combined with finishing 5th in the final season standings gave the team high hopes for

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

. An opportunity to achieve this success would not occur as a devastating pre-season testing injurySam Schmidt injured in accident during Open Test
IRL PR via Motorsport.com, January 6, 2000 at

Walt Disney World Speedway Walt Disney World Speedway was a racing facility located on the grounds of the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando. It was built in 1995 by IMS Events, Inc., a subsidiary of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corporation, an ...

would leave Schmidt paralyzed. The accident would leave Robby McGehee who had been signed to partner Schmidt as the team's sole driver. McGehee would only last one season.

2001 racing season

Felipe Giaffone Felipe Giaffone (, born 22 January 1975) is a Brazilian racing driver. He competes full-time in the Copa Truck, driving the No. 4 Iveco Hi-Way for Usual Racing. He also works as a commentator for Rede Bandeirantes and BandSports. He competed in ...

would take the team's seat in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanist ...

, bringing with him personal sponsorship from Hollywood Cigarettes. Ross & Diana Hubbard also joined the team as partners to Fred Treadway. Giaffone and the Hubbards would also last only one season.

2002 racing season

For

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

Treadway's son

Rick Treadway Rick Treadway (born January 15, 1970 in Indianapolis, Indiana), is a former racing driver for the Indy Racing League. He raced in the 2001 and 2002 seasons with 11 career starts, including the 2002 Indianapolis 500. Rick Treadway is the son o ...

drove for the team for the first half of the season with

Will Langhorne William Langhorne (born July 29, 1974, in Washington, D.C.), is a race car driver sponsored by Porsche. He is also a former driver in the Indy Racing League. After coming up through karting and the Skip Barber Racing Schools, he drove in the Ba ...

competing select events at the season's end. As teams from the

CART World Series ''CART World Series'' is a racing video game for the PlayStation console, developed by Sony Interactive Studios America and published by Sony Computer Entertainment and released in October 1997. ''CART World Series'' is based on the Championship ...

began to enter the IRL costs began to rise and squeeze out small teams such as Treadway Racing. The 2002 Chevy 500 at

was Treadway Racing's final race in the Indy Racing League's top series.

Treadway Racing Drivers

''Full-Time Drivers'' *

(2001) * Scott Goodyear (1997) *

(1996-'98) * Robby McGehee (2000) *

(1999) *

(2002)
''Part-Time/Indy-Only Drivers'' * Raul Boesel (2000) *

(2002) *

Jason Leffler Jason Charles Leffler (September 16, 1975 – June 12, 2013) was an American professional open-wheel and stock car racing driver. Leffler began racing in the open-wheel ranks, competing in the 2000 Indianapolis 500 before moving to primaril ...

(2000) *

(1999, 2001-'02)

Complete IRL/IndyCar Series Results

( key) (Results in bold indicate pole position; results in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) : ''¹ The 1999

VisionAire 500K The VisionAire 500K was an Indy Racing League race held at Charlotte Motor Speedway from 1997 to 1999. During the 1999 event, three spectators were killed when debris from a crash on the track went into the grandstands. The race was stopped and c ...

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

was cancelled after 79 laps due to spectator fatalities.''

IndyCar wins

References

{{IndyCar Series teams IndyCar Series teams American auto racing teams