INDIANAPOLIS — Former champion Buddy Lazier’s return to the Indianapolis 500 ended early.
The 1996 race winner lost fuel pressure before the first round of pit stops Sunday and never got it back, exiting the race after 44 laps ahead of only Sebastian Saavedra and J.R. Hildebrand, who both crashed.
Lazier said “it was only getting worse, and we wanted to keep it from getting expensive.”
Lazier failed to qualify for the 2009 race, and then took some time off to help with the family business. With the help of family and friends in Vail, Colo., he pooled together enough money to field a ride for this year’s Indy 500, and has said he’d like to make it an annual trip again.
