The 1998 race ushered in a compacted, two-week schedule for the Indy 500, omitting an entire week of practice, and trimming qualifying from four days down to two.

In the second year utilizing the 4.0 L, normally aspirated, 32-valve production-based engines (Aurora L47 and Infiniti VH), qualifying speeds climbed, topping out nearly six miles per hour faster than 1997.

* Includes days where trackactivity was significantlylimited due to rain ROP — denotes RookieOrientation Program The ongoing IRL/CART split continued into its third year.

Two cars had driver changes before the start of practice due to budgetary issues: Chitwood Motorsports signed Andy Michner in the #17 car the day before ROP in place of Brian Tyler, both passing their tests with the team, and PDM Racing replaced John Paul Jr. on May 5 with rookie Jack Hewitt, who had passed all but one of his rookie test phases in Jack Miller's Sinden Racing entry on April.

At the release of the entry list, Lyn St. James confirmed her programme as a driver/owner, while LP Racing entered a second car for Scott Harrington.

In the final week leading to practice, Joe Gosek was signed by new outfit Liberty Racing, and veteran Danny Ongais received a call-up before Opening Day to drive for yet another new team, Pelfrey, which had been denied a request to field Shawn Bayliff due to a lack of experience.

Arie Luyendyk, Mike Groff, Raul Boesel and Tony Stewart all suffered mechanical problems, and required tows back to the garage area.

Billy Boat's unexpected speed in qualifying drew the attention of competitors, given that it occurred in the heat of the day, and it was 2+1⁄2 miles per hour faster than he had run all week.

Claude Bourbonnais, Dan Drinan, and Lyn St. James all fell short of Johnny Unser's speed, and failed to bump him out.

The top three race qualifiers and their respective pit crews were automatically eligible: Billy Boat, Greg Ray, and Kenny Bräck.

Five additional spots would be earned by teams that won the Pit Performance Award at the seven IRL races held since the previous year's Indy 500.

The drivers that earned berths were as follows: Arie Luyendyk (Texas), Tony Stewart (PPIR), Eddie Cheever (Charlotte), Robbie Buhl (Loudon), and Scott Goodyear (Las Vegas, Phoenix).

At the start, Eddie Cheever got loose in turn one, and pinched J. J. Yeley down to the inside, which resulted in a half-spin for both of them, and an early caution for three laps.

Yeley managed to stop the car and not hit the wall, but his engine stalled, and lost a lap before being restarted by safety crews.

At the front of the field, Billy Boat led the first dozen laps, while Kenny Bräck dropped on the restart from third to tenth after missing a shift.

After being serviced, Ward damaged his front wing when he collided with the left rear tyre of Grégoire, who was entering his pit box.

As other cars briefly slowed down, Robbie Buhl took advantage and passed Hamilton for second place behind new race leader Kenny Bräck.

At the last minute, he just took his line, which is his right, and I just stood on the brakes, and then just all hell broke loose after that" Buzz Calkins and Buddy Lazier, both out of sequence, led the restart as the green came out on Lap 49, while Billy Boat's gearbox finally seized as it got stuck in second gear.

Sam Schmidt, who tried an inside pass on Davey Hamilton for second place, got into the grass, lost control, and spun backwards into the turn three wall.

After a long yellow flag, and a series of pit stops, Kenny Bräck and Eddie Cheever were leading the race over Scott Sharp.

Owing to good restarts and the high attrition, Arie Luyendyk was up to fourth place over the improving John Paul Jr. and Davey Hamilton, who had minor repairs during his pit stop.

Arie Luyendyk had to be pushed out due to his clutch issues, and a miscalculation by Foyt's crew caused Kenny Bräck to run out of fuel, costing him two laps.

Paul Jr. offered more resistance until Lap 163, as he lifted off briefly due to a malfunction in the yellow flag indicator of his steering wheel.

Cheever set off on a blistering pace and almost brushed the wall a lap later at the exit of Turn 3, but stretched out to a 3.19-second margin to grab the victory.

Steve Knapp, the only other driver to finish on the lead lap in third place, won rookie of the year honours in his first Indy car race, a feat last accomplished by Lyn St. James in 1992.

Kenny Bräck salvaged a sixth place finish, and Andy Michner kept his nose clean while battling an electrical problem to cross the line eighth over J. J. Yeley.

Mike Groff suffered from engine misfires during the whole race in route to a 15th place finish, in what would be his final Indy car start.

WTHR sports director and Speedway public address announcer Dave Calabro joined the crew as a pit reporter, his lone radio network appearance.

Longtime color commentator Bobby Unser left ABC, while Danny Sullivan was reassigned to cover CART races exclusively and would no longer be with the broadcast.

At the track itself, the Speedway broadcast the race live on a special targeted signal, intended to be picked up by television sets within the radius of the grounds.