Robert Lazier (December 22, 1938 – April 18, 2020) was an American race car driver.

Biography

A native of

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

, he raced in the

CART A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by draught animals such as horses, donkeys, mules and oxen, or even smaller animals such as goats or large dogs. A handcart ...

series in 1981 and was CART's Rookie of the Year. He had fourth-place finishes at

Watkins Glen International Watkins Glen International, nicknamed "The Glen", is an automobile race track in the Northeastern United States, northeastern United States, located in Dix, New York, just southwest of the village of Watkins Glen, New York, Watkins Glen, at the ...

and Mexico. Lazier also competed in the

1981 Indianapolis 500 The 65th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, on Sunday, May 24, 1981. The race is widely considered one of the most controversial races in Indy history. Bobby Unser took the checkered flag as the wi ...

, finishing 19th after a blown engine caused him to retire the Penske PC-7 after 154 laps. He was married to wife Diane and was the father of both

1996 Indianapolis 500 The 80th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday, May 26, 1996. This was the first Indy 500 contested as part of the new Indy Racing League, under the overall sanctioning umbrella of USAC. It ...

winner

Buddy Lazier Robert Buddy Lazier (born October 31, 1967) is an American auto racing driver, best known for winning the 1996 Indianapolis 500 and the 2000 Indy Racing League season championship. Lazier began his racing career in the 1980s by competing in su ...

and

Indy Racing League IndyCar, LLC (stylized as INDYCAR), is an auto racing Governing body, sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The organization sanctions two Auto racing, racing series: the premier IndyCar Serie ...

driver

Jaques Lazier Jaques Lazier (born January 25, 1971) is an American former race car driver. He is the younger brother of 1996 Indianapolis 500 champion Buddy Lazier and son of former Indy racer Bob Lazier. Racing career The younger Lazier ran in U.S. Formula ...

and current

Indy Lights Indy NXT (pronounced "Indy Next"), previously Indy Lights, is an American developmental automobile racing series sanctioned by IndyCar, currently known as INDY NXT by Firestone for sponsorship reasons. Indy NXT is the highest step on the Roa ...

driver Flinn Lazier Lazier competed in

Formula 5000 Formula 5000 (or F5000) was an Open-wheel car, open wheel, single seater auto-racing formula that ran in different series in various regions around the world from 1968 to 1982. It was originally intended as a low-cost series aimed at open-wheel ...

in the 1970s. In 2015, Lazier won the

Indy Legends Charity Pro–Am race The Indy Legends Charity Pro–Am race is a Historic motorsport, vintage Sports car racing, sports car race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. The race takes place on the Oval track racing#Combined road course, combined r ...

with co-driver Jim Caudle. He built the Tivoli Lodge in

Vail, Colorado Vail is a Home rule in the United States, home rule municipality in Eagle County, Colorado, Eagle County, Colorado, United States. The population of the town was 4,835 in 2020. Home to Vail Ski Resort, the largest ski mountain in Colorado, the ...

, in 1968. Lazier died on April 18, 2020, in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

, from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

during the

COVID-19 pandemic in Colorado The COVID-19 pandemic reached Colorado on March 5, 2020, when the state's first two cases were confirmed. Many of the early COVID-19 cases in Colorado occurred in mountain resort towns such as Crested Butte, Aspen, and Vail, apparently brough ...

. He was 81.

Racing record

SCCA National Championship Runoffs

American Open Wheel racing results

( key)

Formula Super Vee

Complete USAC Mini-Indy Series results

CART

Indianapolis 500

References

External links

1938 births 2020 deaths Champ Car drivers Lazier family Indianapolis 500 drivers Trans-Am Series drivers Racing drivers from Minneapolis People from Vail, Colorado SCCA National Championship Runoffs winners SCCA Formula Super Vee drivers Formula Super Vee Champions IndyCar Series team owners Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Colorado {{US-autoracing-bio-stub