1998 CART FedEx Championship Series

1998 CART season
1998 CART season
FedEx Championship Series
Season
Races	19
Start date	March 15
End date	November 1
Awards
Drivers' champion	Alex Zanardi
Constructors' Cup	Reynard
Manufacturers' Cup	Honda
Nations' Cup	United States
Rookie of the Year	Tony Kanaan
	← 1997 1999 →

The 1998 FedEx Championship Series season, the twentieth in the CART era of U.S. open-wheel racing, consisted of 19 races, beginning in Homestead, Florida on March 15 and concluding in Fontana, California on November 1. The FedEx Championship Series Drivers' Champion was Alex Zanardi, while the series' Rookie of the Year was Tony Kanaan. This was the first of five years of sponsorship by FDX Corporation, who became FedEx Corporation in 2000.

The season was marred by a deadly crash on lap 175 of the U.S. 500. Adrián Fernández slammed into the outside wall in the fourth turn of Michigan International Speedway. His right front wheel was torn off and hurled over the fence into the stands, killing three spectators (Kenneth Fox, Sheryl Laster, and Michael Tautkus) and injuring six others.^[1]

Drivers and constructors

The following teams and drivers competed in the 1998 CART Championship Series season.

Team	Chassis	Engine	Tires	No	Drivers	Rounds	Primary Sponsors
Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard 98i	Honda	F	1	Alex Zanardi	All	Target
Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard 98i	Honda	F	12	Jimmy Vasser	All	Target
Marlboro Team Penske	Penske PC-27	Mercedes	G	2	Al Unser, Jr.	All	Marlboro
Marlboro Team Penske	Penske PC-27	Mercedes	G	3	André Ribeiro	All	Marlboro
Walker Racing	Reynard 98i	Honda	G	5	Gil de Ferran	All	Valvoline
Newman-Haas Racing	Swift 009.c	Ford XB	G	6	Michael Andretti	All	Texaco-Havoline
				11	Christian Fittipaldi	1-6, 8-19	Kmart
				11	Roberto Moreno	7	Kmart
Team Rahal	Reynard 98i	Ford XB	F	7	Bobby Rahal	All	Miller Lite
Team Rahal	Reynard 98i	Ford XB	F	8	Bryan Herta	All	Shell
Hogan Racing	Reynard 98i	Mercedes	F	9	JJ Lehto	All	Hogan Motor Leasing
Della Penna Motorsports	Swift 009.c	Ford XB	F	10	Richie Hearn	All	Budweiser
Bettenhausen Racing	Reynard 98i	Mercedes	G	16	Hélio Castroneves	All	Alumax
PacWest Racing Group	Reynard 98i	Mercedes	F	17	Maurício Gugelmin	All	Hollywood Cigarettes
PacWest Racing Group	Reynard 98i	Mercedes	F	18	Mark Blundell	All	Motorola
Payton/Coyne Racing	Reynard 98i	Ford XB	F	19	Michel Jourdain, Jr.	All	Herdez
				34	Dennis Vitolo	1, 4, 6-10, 12, 15-19	SmithKline Beecham 15 Payton/Coyne Racing 3 Banco Cacique 1
				34	Gualter Salles	2-3, 5, 11, 13-14	SmithKline Beecham 15 Payton/Coyne Racing 3 Banco Cacique 1
Patrick Racing	Reynard 98i	Ford XB	F	20	Scott Pruett	All	Visteon
Patrick Racing	Reynard 98i	Ford XB	F	40	Adrián Fernández	All	Tecate Beer
Tasman Motorsports Group	Reynard 98i	Honda	F	21	Tony Kanaan	All	LCI
Arciero-Wells Racing	Reynard 98i	Toyota	F	24	Hiro Matsushita	1-3, 5	Panasonic
				24	Robby Gordon	4, 6-19	Panasonic
				25	Max Papis	All	MCI
Team KOOL Green	Reynard 98i	Honda	F	26	Paul Tracy	All	KOOL
Team KOOL Green	Reynard 98i	Honda	F	27	Dario Franchitti	All	KOOL
Forsythe Racing	Reynard 98i	Mercedes	F	33	Patrick Carpentier	All	Player's
Forsythe Racing	Reynard 98i	Mercedes	F	99	Greg Moore	All	Player's
All American Racing	Reynard	Toyota	G	98	P. J. Jones	1-15	Castrol
	Reynard			36	Alex Barron	1-12
	Eagle 987			36	Alex Barron	13-19
	Eagle 987			98	Vincenzo Sospiri	16-19
Davis Racing	Lola T98/00	Ford XB	G	77	Arnd Meier	All	BAAN Business Software 8 Hasseröder 11
Part Time Entries
Project CART	Reynard 98i	Mercedes	G	15	Roberto Moreno	1-2	Hawaiian Tropic
Project CART	Reynard 98i	Mercedes	G	15	Domenico Schiattarella	3	Hawaiian Tropic
Della Penna Motorsports	Swift 009.c	Ford XB	F	43	Hideshi Matsuda	2	BMB Mini-Juke

Season Summary

Schedule

Rnd	Date	Race Name	Circuit	Location
1	March 15	Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami	Homestead-Miami Speedway (O)	Homestead, Florida
2	March 28	Budweiser 500K	Twin Ring Motegi (O)	Motegi, Japan
3	April 5	Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach	Streets of Long Beach (S)	Long Beach, California
4	April 27*	Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix	Nazareth Speedway (O)	Nazareth, Pennsylvania
5	May 10	Rio 400K	Autódromo de Jacarepaguá (O)	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
6	May 23	Motorola 300	Gateway International Raceway (O)	Madison, Illinois
7	May 31	Miller Lite 200	Milwaukee Mile (O)	West Allis, Wisconsin
8	June 7	ITT Automotive Detroit Grand Prix	The Raceway on Belle Isle Park (S)	Detroit, Michigan
9	June 21	Budweiser/G. I. Joe's 200	Portland International Raceway (R)	Portland, Oregon
10	July 12	Medic Drug Grand Prix of Cleveland	Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport (S)	Cleveland, Ohio
11	July 19	Molson Indy Toronto	Exhibition Place (S)	Toronto, Ontario
12	July 26	U.S 500	Michigan International Speedway (O)	Brooklyn, Michigan
13	August 9	Miller Lite 200	Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (R)	Lexington, Ohio
14	August 16	Texaco/Havoline 200	Road America (R)	Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
15	September 6	Molson Indy Vancouver	Streets of Vancouver (S)	Vancouver, British Columbia
16	September 13	Honda Grand Prix of Monterey	Laguna Seca Raceway (R)	Monterey, California
17	October 4	Texaco Grand Prix of Houston	Streets of Houston (S)	Houston, Texas
18	October 18	Honda Indy Carnival	Surfers Paradise Street Circuit (S)	Surfers Paradise, Australia
19	November 1	Marlboro 500	California Speedway (O)	Fontana, California

- The Nazareth race was scheduled for April 26, but postponed due to rain.

- The Houston race was scheduled for 153 miles, but was shortened due to poor visibility.

Race results

Rnd	Race Name	Pole position	Fastest lap	Winning driver	Winning team	Race time	Report
1	Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami	Greg Moore	Greg Moore	Michael Andretti	Newman-Haas Racing	1:33:39	Report
2	Budweiser 500	Jimmy Vasser	Jimmy Vasser	Adrián Fernández	Patrick Racing	1:57:12	Report
3	Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach	Bryan Herta	Bobby Rahal	Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	1:51:29	Report
4	Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix	Patrick Carpentier	Greg Moore	Jimmy Vasser	Chip Ganassi Racing	1:57:20	Report
5	Rio 400k	Dario Franchitti	Alex Zanardi	Greg Moore	Forsythe Racing	1:52:14	Report
6	Motorola 300	Greg Moore	Jimmy Vasser	Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	2:23:02	Report
7	Miller Lite 200	Patrick Carpentier	Scott Pruett	Jimmy Vasser	Chip Ganassi Racing	1:34:17	Report
8	ITT Automotive Detroit Grand Prix	Greg Moore	Alex Zanardi	Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	1:41:17	Report
9	Budweiser/G. I. Joe's 200	Bryan Herta	Patrick Carpentier	Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	1:54:06	Report
10	Medic Drug Grand Prix of Cleveland	Jimmy Vasser	Bryan Herta	Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	1:52:22	Report
11	Molson Indy	Dario Franchitti	Christian Fittipaldi	Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	1:52:24	Report
12	U.S. 500	Adrián Fernández	Patrick Carpentier	Greg Moore	Forsythe Racing	3:00:48	Report
13	Miller Lite 200	Dario Franchitti	Greg Moore	Adrián Fernández	Patrick Racing	1:53:39	Report
14	Texaco/Havoline 200	Michael Andretti	Alex Zanardi	Dario Franchitti	Team KOOL Green	1:35:30	Report
15	Molson Indy Vancouver	Dario Franchitti	Hélio Castroneves	Dario Franchitti	Team KOOL Green	2:00:37	Report
16	Honda Grand Prix of Monterey	Bryan Herta	Tony Kanaan	Bryan Herta	Team Rahal	1:55:13	Report
17	Texaco Grand Prix of Houston	Greg Moore	Alex Zanardi	Dario Franchitti	Team KOOL Green	1:36:30	Report
18	Honda Indy Carnival Australia	Dario Franchitti	Alex Zanardi	Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	2:01:51	Report
19	Marlboro 500	Scott Pruett	Greg Moore	Jimmy Vasser	Chip Ganassi Racing	3:17:54	Report

(R) Dedicated road course, (O) Oval/Speedway, (S) Temporary street circuit

Final driver standings

Pos	Driver	MIA	MOT	LBH	NAZ	RIO	GAT	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	TOR	MIC	MDO	ROA	VAN	LAG	HOU	SUR	FON	Pts
1	Alex Zanardi	3	23	1	2	2*	1	8	1*	1*	1*	1	3*	12	2	4	2	2	1*	3	285
2	Jimmy Vasser	16	7	8	1	6	4	1*	6	8	7	3	2	27	9	26	5	4	24	1*	169
3	Dario Franchitti	9	8	2	21	19	27	4	4	21	3	20*	21	26	1*	1*	4	1*	2	22	160
4	Adrián Fernández	6	1*	4	26	3	18	9	2	24	5	9	23	1	5	15	7	6	6	4	154
5	Greg Moore	2	4	6	3	1	3	13	5	27	25	11	1	22	21	20	21	26	8	2	141
6	Scott Pruett	5	21	12	22	18	5	10	9	2	4	6	4	2	20	3	18	11	4	20	121
7	Michael Andretti	1*	14	21	18*	5	2*	26	10	17	2	2	6	21	15	2	10	28	20	18	112
8	Bryan Herta	8	28	3	8	4	23	11	21	3	13	5	10	25	23	22	1*	8	10	15	97
9	Tony Kanaan RY	18	6	5	9	27	24	17	8	4	14	22	11	8	4	18	3	3	7	19	92
10	Bobby Rahal	19	17	17	6	8	8	5	11	6	8	4	7	3	8	25	16	23	25	11	82
11	Al Unser, Jr.	22	2	29	15	16	19	3	24	5	17	17	22	6	27	5	6	7	22	27	72
12	Gil de Ferran	7	3	20*	4	26	6	22	3	20	6	27	16	9	16	13	19	21	14	17	67
13	Paul Tracy	27	5	25	5	25	26	7	7	28	19	14	9	5	6	11	8	20	23	14	61
14	Christian Fittipaldi	4	25	26	11	21	11	DNS	17	26	11	16	25	13	3	14	9	27	3	7	56
15	Maurício Gugelmin	10	20	10	17	9	16	21	19	7	20	12	13	4*	19	6	27	18	12	5	49
16	Richie Hearn	13	27	23	10	7	28	6	23	10	18	7	5	24	13	16	11	9	18	8	47
17	Hélio Castroneves R	24	11	9	23	23	7	2	12	13	27	10	12	17	26	24	23	24	21	10	36
18	Mark Blundell	12	10	7	20	11	10	12	22	22	10	26	17	19	7	12	25	14	11	6	36
19	Patrick Carpentier	11	19	28	13	17	15	25	15	9	9	25	8	7	28	27	17	22	9	26	27
20	JJ Lehto R	14	29	18	16	10	9	19	26	25	28	24	20	15	18	8	28	10	5	21	25
21	Max Papis	26	13	24	14	28	22	16	18	11	12	8	19	14	11	9	12	5	17	16	25
22	André Ribeiro	17	9	22	DNS	22	20	18	16	15	22	23	28	10	25	7	14	17	13	28	13
23	Robby Gordon				7		13	20	14	23	23	13	27	11	12	23	13	13	16	9	13
24	Michel Jourdain, Jr.	28	22	27	12	24	17	15	13	19	26	18	18	28	14	10	24	25	26	12	5
25	Arnd Meier	21	15	15	24	14	21	23	27	12	16	15	14	18	10	28	15	16	27	24	4
26	P. J. Jones	20	30	11	19	13	12	14	25	16	21	19	24	20	22	21					3
27	Alex Barron R	18	24	14	DNS	12	14	DNS	20	14	15	28	15	16	24	19	20	12	19	13	2
28	Gualter Salles		12	13		20						21		23	17						1
29	Vincenzo Sospiri R																22	15	15	23	0
30	Hiro Matsushita	23	16	19		15															0
31	Roberto Moreno	15	26					24													0
32	Domenico Schiattarella			16																	0
33	Dennis Vitolo	25			25		25	DNS	28	18	24		26			17	26	19	DNS	25	0
34	Hideshi Matsuda		18																		0
Pos	Driver	MIA	MOT	LBH	NAZ	RIO	GAT	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	TOR	MIC	MDO	ROA	VAN	LAG	HOU	SUR	FON	Pts

Color	Result
Gold	Winner
Silver	2nd place
Bronze	3rd place
Green	4th-6th place
Light Blue	7th-12th place
Dark Blue	Finished (Outside Top 12)
Purple	Did not finish
Red	Did not qualify (DNQ)
Brown	Withdrawn (Wth)
Black	Disqualified (DSQ)
White	Did not start (DNS)
Blank	Did not participate (DNP)
Blank	Not competing

In-line notation
Bold	Pole position
Italics	Ran fastest race lap
*	Led most race laps
RY	Rookie of the Year
R	Rookie

Nation's Cup

Top result per race counts towards Nation's Cup.

Pos	Country	MIA	MOT	LBH	NAZ	RIO	GAT	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	TOR	MIC	MDO	ROA	VAN	LAG	HOU	SUR	FON	Pts
1	United States	1	2	3	1	4	2	1	6	2	2	2	2	2	8	2	1	4	4	1	303
2	Italy	3	13	1	2	2	1	8	1	1	1	1	3	12	2	4	2	2	1	3	286
3	Brazil	4	3	5	4	9	6	2	3	4	6	10	11	4	3	6	3	3	3	5	203
4	Canada	2	4	6	3	1	3	7	5	9	9	11	1	5	6	11	8	20	8	2	182
5	United Kingdom	9	8	2	20	11	10	4	4	21	3	20	17	19	1	1	4	1	2	6	168
6	Mexico	6	1	4	12	3	17	9	2	19	5	9	18	1	5	10	7	6	6	4	158
7	Finland	14	29	18	16	10	9	19	26	25	28	24	20	15	18	8	28	10	5	21	25
8	Germany	21	15	15	24	14	21	23	27	12	16	15	14	18	10	28	15	16	27	24	4
9	Japan	23	16	19		15															0
Pos	Country	MIA	MOT	LBH	NAZ	RIO	GAT	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	TOR	MIC	MDO	ROA	VAN	LAG	HOU	SUR	FON	Pts

Chassis Constructor's Cup

Pos	Chassis	Pts
1	Reynard 98I	409
2	Swift 009.c	167
3	Penske PC-27	72
4	Lola T9800	4
5	Eagle 987	1
Pos	Chassis	Pts

Engine Manufacturer's Cup

Pos	Engine	Pts
1	Honda	365
2	Ford XB	293
3	Mercedes	226
4	Toyota	41
Pos	Engine	Pts

Driver breakdown

Pos	Driver	Team	Entries	Wins	Podiums	Top 5s	Top 10s	Poles	Points
1	Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	19	7	15	16	17	0	285
2	Vasser	Chip Ganassi Racing	19	3	5	8	15	2	169
3	Franchitti	Team KOOL Green	19	3	6	9	11	5	160
4	Fernandez	Patrick Racing	19	2	4	8	14	1	154
5	Moore	Forsythe Racing	19	2	6	8	10	4	141
6	Pruett	Patrick Racing	19	0	3	8	11	1	121
7	Andretti	Newman-Haas Racing	19	1	5	6	9	1	112
8	Herta	Team Rahal	19	1	3	5	10	3	97
9	Kanaan	Tasman Racing	19	0	2	5	10	0	92
10	Rahal	Team Rahal	19	0	1	3	10	0	82
11	Unser, Jr.	Marlboro Team Penske	19	0	2	4	7	0	72
12	de Ferran	Walker Racing	19	0	2	3	7	0	67
13	Tracy	Team KOOL Green	19	0	0	3	8	0	61
14	Fittipaldi	Newman-Haas Racing	18	0	2	3	5	0	56
15	Gugelmin	PacWest Racing	19	0	0	2	7	0	49
16	Hearn	Della Penna Motorsports	19	0	0	1	8	0	47
17	Castroneves	Bettenhausen Racing	19	0	1	1	5	0	36
17	Blundell	PacWest Racing	19	0	0	0	6	0	36
19	Carpentier	Forsythe Racing	19	0	0	0	5	2	27
20	Lehto	Hogan Racing	19	0	0	1	5	0	25
20	Papis	Arciero-Wells Racing	19	0	0	1	3	0	25
22	Ribeiro	Marlboro Team Penske	18	0	0	0	3	0	13
22	Gordon	Arciero-Wells Racing	15	0	0	0	2	0	13
24	Jourdain Jr.	Dale Coyne Racing	19	0	0	0	1	0	5
25	Meier	Davis Racing	19	0	0	0	1	0	4
26	Jones	All American Racing	15	0	0	0	0	0	3
27	Barron	All American Racing	17	0	0	0	0	0	2
28	Salles	Dale Coyne Racing	6	0	0	0	0	0	1
29	Vitolo	Dale Coyne Racing	11	0	0	0	0	0	0
29	Sospiri	All American Racing	4	0	0	0	0	0	0
29	Matsushita	Arciero-Wells Racing	4	0	0	0	0	0	0
29	Moreno	Newman-Haas Racing Project CART	3	0	0	0	0	0	0
29	Schiattarella	Project CART	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
29	Matsuda	Beck Motorsports	1	0	0	0	0	0	0

References

^ Glick, Shav (July 27, 1998). "Three spectators die at U.S. 500". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on January 20, 2012. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

Åberg, Andreas. "CART FedEx Champ Car World Series 1998". Driver Database. Archived from the original on 2009-05-28. Retrieved 2009-05-19. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
"1998 CART FedEx Champ Car World Series". Champ Car Stats. Archived from the original on 2009-05-28. Retrieved 2009-05-19. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
"Federal Express Signs Title Sponsorship Agreement with Championship Auto Racing Teams" (Press release). FDX Corporation. 1997-12-09. Archived from the original on 2009-05-28. Retrieved 2009-05-20. {{cite press release}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
"FedEx Renews Title Sponsorship Agreement with Championship Auto Racing Teams; FedEx Championship Series Roars into 2002" (Press release). FedEx Corporation. 2001-11-07. Archived from the original on 2009-06-29. Retrieved 2009-05-20. {{cite press release}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
"Standings after California". Champ Car World Series. Archived from the original on 2009-05-28. Retrieved 2009-05-19. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

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