On a forgettable night of racing, Chris took fourth at the weather-fouled Indy Mile. Torrential rains overnight on Friday left the racing surface in less-than-ideal condition, crisscrossed with huge ruts and full of loose, wet dirt that caused, among other things, vision problems due to large amounts of tire roost. One rider commented that it required a tear-off per lap to keep the faceshield clear. Unseasonably cool temperatures prevented the soil from drying out, despite all the efforts of the experienced track crew.Chris transferred directly from his heat race to the main. In the main event, Bartel's H-D rider Shawn Russell ran into the rear of Mike Varnes at speed on the back straight at mid-race and crashed violently, causing a red flag and eventual stoppage of the race. Chris was instrumental in diplomatically and democratically pleading for the race director to call the race complete before dangerous conditions caused more crashes. The race was stopped and purse was paid, but no points were tallied. H-D's Rich King won the event, and Chris, who led from the start, took a safe fourth as he dropped back, slowing to stay upright on the ravaged Indy dirt.
"In the feature, the track conditions were deteriorating lap by lap, getting much worse, and in the end, I think the best decision was made to call the race at the point where we were. It's unfortunate that a red flag had to come out for Shawn Russell to precipitate that. I think in the end the best decision was made for everybody involved.
"I do feel bad for the fans that were in attendance. They certainly wanted to come and see a 25-lap main event and I feel bad that they got cheated out of that. As a racer, we want to race 25 laps, but I want to put the emphasis on the word 'race.' There weren't too many people on that racetrack that were racing. There were a lot of guys riding around basically in survival mode, and that's not the kind of racing that we want to do."