1996 Indianapolis 500 winner and 2000 IndyCar Series champion Buddy Lazier has confirmed he will make his habitual return to the event with Hemelgarn Racing again this year.
The 41-year-old Coloradan has not contested a full season since 2003, but has continued to contest Indianapolis every year as well as occasionally substituting for other drivers for partial campaigns. Last year he returned to Hemelgarn, the team with which he spent most of his career, for Indy after four seasons elsewhere.
Lazier famously overcame pain from recent back injuries to win the first Indy 500 to be held under Indy Racing League control at the start of the American open wheel racing split in 1996.
The latest update to the Indy entry list also features cofirmation that Milka Duno's return to Dreyer & Reinbold Racing encompasses Indianapolis, as expected. Duno joins Mike Conway, Davey Hamilton and John Andretti - the latter run in association with Richard Petty – in D&R's expanded Indy lineup.