Six days after his Pole Day performance, Scott Brayton went back to the track to prepare for the race, running laps with the #23 back-up machine. It was a 1995 Lola chassis with a Menard engine, on which all three of his team mates had practiced previously for a total of 238 laps. At 12:17 p.m., on his 53rd lap of the day, Brayton's right-rear tyre deflated as he entered Turn 2. His car entered into a half-spin in the middle of turn, and crashed hard into the outside wall at the exit, sliding 600 feet to a stop down the backstretch. Brayton was found unconscious in the car, and was transported immediately to Methodist Hospital. He was pronounced dead at 12:50 p.m. EST. Brayton was killed instantly of basilar skull fracture.
