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

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 ...

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, officially known as the NTT IndyCar Series for sponsorship reasons, is the highest class of American open-wheel car racing in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of various sanctioning bodies sinc ...

. The team was owned by

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, 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 shortened to Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indian ...

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

. Luyendyk would run over the four lap run, with a single best lap at , both of which still stand as track records as of 2024. 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 ra ...

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 The 81st Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, on May 25–27, 1997. Rain pushed the race from Sunday, May 25, to Monday, May 26, and then halted the race after only fifteen laps had been completed. ...

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 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 Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

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 (track complex formerly known as Las Vegas Speedway Park from 1993 to 1996, Las Vegas Speedway in 1992, Las Vegas International Speedway from 1990 to 1992, as the Las Vegas International Speedrome from 1972 to 1990) is a ...

before retiring from full-time racing.

1999 racing season

Sam Schmidt Samuel Schmidt (born August 15, 1964) is a former IndyCar, Indy Racing League driver and 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, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

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 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

. 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, Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando, Florida, Orlando. It was built in 1995 by IMS Events, Inc., a subsidiary of the Indian ...

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 would take the team's seat in

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

, 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 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

Treadway's son Rick Treadway drove for the team for the first half of the season with Will Langhorne competing select events at the season's end. As teams from the CART World Series began to enter the IRL costs began to rise and squeeze out small teams such as Treadway Racing. The 2002 Chevy 500 at Texas Motor Speedway was Treadway Racing's final race in the Indy Racing League's top series.

Treadway Racing Drivers

''Full-Time Drivers'' * Felipe Giaffone (2001) * Scott Goodyear (1997) * Arie Luyendyk (1996-'98) * Robby McGehee (2000) *

(1999) * Rick Treadway (2002)
''Part-Time/Indy-Only Drivers'' * Raul Boesel (2000) * Will Langhorne (2002) * Jason Leffler (2000) * Arie Luyendyk (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 at Charlotte was cancelled after 79 laps due to spectator fatalities.''

IndyCar wins

References

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