Who won the first Indianapolis 500?

In its first season in 1996, the IRL attracted mainly little known and inexperienced drivers, smaller teams, older cars, and widespread ridicule as "replacement players." Both pundits and fans alike predicted success for CART and failure for the IRL, but the IRL played its hole card, the "25/8" rule. George announced that 25 of the 33 starting positions at the 1996 Indianapolis 500 would be reserved for the top 25 cars in the IRL points standings, effectively leaving only eight entries for teams who had not competed in the first two IRL races. (This rule would be similar to NASCAR's exemption rules established in 2005.) CART's reaction to this move was to announce a competing race, the U.S. 500, to run on the same day as Indianapolis. Nevertheless, the showdown between the U.S. 500 and Indianapolis 500 ended unsettled. Relative unknown American Buddy Lazier, a driver who had however qualified for three previous 500's (1991, 1992, 1995), won a competitive but crash-filled Indianapolis. The CART race had to be delayed when the front-row drivers collided at the start and triggered a massive pile-up, spoiling their carefully chosen public pose as the "stars and cars." The U.S. 500 never generated much in the way of fan interest or television ratings associated with a major event. For 1997, it was moved from being directly opposite the Indianapolis 500 to July, and then eventually discontinued altogether.