Battle to resume for Lazier/Hemelgarn at Chicago.

Last Sunday's Gateway Indy 250 saw Buddy Lazier and Hemelgarn Racing receive a major blow in their quest for back-to-back Indy Racing Northern Light Series titles and with only two races remaining on the 2001 schedule the defending Champion's fate does not lie solely in his hands with Panther Racing's Sam Hornish Jr now holding a commanding 45 point advantage over Lazier.

A capacity crowd of 75,000 fans is expected to be in attendance to witness the intense battle for the Northern Light Cup and $1 million bonus as defending series champions Buddy Lazier and Hemelgarn Racing take on Sam Hornish and Panther Racing at the Delphi Indy 300 on September 2. With two races remaining and the run for the championship going down to the wire, Lazier is looking for a big win at the state-of-the-art 1.5-mile Chicagoland Speedway in hopes of keeping his chance for a back-to-back title alive.

Lazier, driver of the No. 91 TaeBo/Coors Light/LifeFitness/Delta Faucet Dallara-Aurora chassis, has spent much of the second-half of the season closing up the gap between points leader Hornish before his recent hiccup at Gateway, winning races at Pikes Peak, Richmond, Nashville, and Kentucky. This hard-charging effort by Lazier marks the first time in Indy Racing history that a driver has won four events in one season.

Lazier appeared to be gaining the necessary momentum required to overtake Hornish but his Hemelgarn entry suffered mechanical difficulties right from the green flag during last week's Gateway Indy 250 and it was all Lazier could do but to coax the ailing machine to the finish, a task he achieved admirably in 13th position. Now, Hornish has a 45-point lead over Lazier and needs a 53-point lead to secure the championship heading into the final round of the series at Texas.

"We've got to win some races," said Ron Hemelgarn, team owner. "Hornish and Panther Racing has got to have a mechanical problem like we've had."

"I think we can win the races ahead of us," added the veteran team-owner. Let's take it one at a time. But there is still a possibility that even if we win two races in a row, and they finish second two races in a row, we aren't going to win the championship."

For the second consecutive race, rookie Chris Menninga has been entered to run the No. 92 Hemelgarn/Metro Racing/Oldsmobile/Dallara chassis. Team-mates Menninga and Lazier participated in a successful open test at the Superspeedway in early August. When the field takes to the track for the first practice session Friday morning, look for the Hemelgarn cars to be at the front of the pack.