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
Chronology
Previous season	Next season
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
Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard 98i	Honda	Firestone	1	Alex Zanardi	All
Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard 98i	Honda	Firestone	12	Jimmy Vasser	All
Marlboro Team Penske	Penske PC27	Mercedes	Goodyear	2	Al Unser, Jr.	All
Marlboro Team Penske	Penske PC27	Mercedes	Goodyear	3	André Ribeiro	All
Walker Racing	Reynard 98i	Honda	Goodyear	5	Gil de Ferran	All
Newman-Haas Racing	Swift 009.c	Ford XB	Goodyear	6	Michael Andretti	All
				11	Christian Fittipaldi	1-6, 8-19
				11	Roberto Moreno	7
Team Rahal	Reynard 98i	Ford XB	Firestone	7	Bobby Rahal	All
Team Rahal	Reynard 98i	Ford XB	Firestone	8	Bryan Herta	All
Hogan Racing	Reynard 98i	Mercedes	Firestone	9	JJ Lehto	All
Della Penna Motorsports	Swift 009.c	Ford XB	Firestone	10	Richie Hearn	All
Della Penna Motorsports	Swift 009.c	Ford XB	Firestone	43	Hideshi Matsuda	2
Project CART	Reynard 98i	Mercedes	Goodyear	15	Roberto Moreno	1-2
Project CART	Reynard 98i	Mercedes	Goodyear	15	Domenico Schiattarella	3
Bettenhausen Racing	Reynard 98i	Mercedes	Goodyear	16	Hélio Castroneves	All
PacWest Racing Group	Reynard 98i	Mercedes	Firestone	17	Maurício Gugelmin	All
PacWest Racing Group	Reynard 98i	Mercedes	Firestone	18	Mark Blundell	All
Payton/Coyne Racing	Reynard 98i	Ford XB	Firestone	19	Michel Jourdain, Jr.	All
				34	Dennis Vitolo	1, 4, 6-10, 12, 15-19
				34	Gualter Salles	2-3, 5, 11, 13-14
Patrick Racing	Reynard 98i	Ford XB	Firestone	20	Scott Pruett	All
Patrick Racing	Reynard 98i	Ford XB	Firestone	40	Adrián Fernández	All
Tasman Motorsports Group	Reynard 98i	Honda	Firestone	21	Tony Kanaan	All
Arciero-Wells Racing	Reynard 98i	Toyota	Firestone	24	Hiro Matsushita	1-3, 5
				24	Robby Gordon	4, 6-19
				25	Max Papis	All
Team KOOL Green	Reynard 98i	Honda	Firestone	26	Paul Tracy	All
Team KOOL Green	Reynard 98i	Honda	Firestone	27	Dario Franchitti	All
Forsythe Racing	Reynard 98i	Mercedes	Firestone	33	Patrick Carpentier	All
Forsythe Racing	Reynard 98i	Mercedes	Firestone	99	Greg Moore	All
All American Racing	Reynard	Toyota	Goodyear	36	Alex Barron	1-16
				98	P. J. Jones	1-15
					Vincenzo Sospiri	16
	Eagle 987				Vincenzo Sospiri	17-19
	Eagle 987			36	Alex Barron	17-19
Davis Racing	Lola T98/00	Ford XB	Goodyear	77	Arnd Meier	All

Season Summary

Race results

Rnd	Race Name	Circuit	City/Location	Date	Pole position	Fastest lap	Winning driver	Winning team	Report
1	Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami Presented by Toyota	Homestead-Miami Speedway	Homestead, Florida	March 15	Greg Moore	Greg Moore	Michael Andretti	Newman-Haas Racing	Report
2	Budweiser 500	Twin Ring Motegi	Motegi, Japan	March 28	Jimmy Vasser	Jimmy Vasser	Adrián Fernández	Patrick Racing	Report
3	Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach	Streets of Long Beach	Long Beach, California	April 5	Bryan Herta	Bobby Rahal	Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	Report
4	Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix Presented by Toyota	Nazareth Speedway	Nazareth, Pennsylvania	April 27	Patrick Carpentier	Greg Moore	Jimmy Vasser	Chip Ganassi Racing	Report
5	Rio 400k	Autódromo de Jacarepaguá	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	May 10	Dario Franchitti	Alex Zanardi	Greg Moore	Forsythe Racing	Report
6	Motorola 300	Gateway International Raceway	Madison, Illinois	May 23	Greg Moore	Jimmy Vasser	Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	Report
7	Miller Lite 200	Milwaukee Mile	West Allis, Wisconsin	May 31	Patrick Carpentier	Scott Pruett	Jimmy Vasser	Chip Ganassi Racing	Report
8	ITT Automotive Detroit Grand Prix	The Raceway on Belle Isle Park	Detroit, Michigan	June 7	Greg Moore	Alex Zanardi	Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	Report
9	Budweiser/G. I. Joe's 200 Presented by Texaco/Havoline	Portland International Raceway	Portland, Oregon	June 21	Bryan Herta	Patrick Carpentier	Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	Report
10	Medic Drug Grand Prix of Cleveland Presented by Star Bank	Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport	Cleveland, Ohio	July 12	Jimmy Vasser	Bryan Herta	Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	Report
11	Molson Indy	Exhibition Place	Toronto, Ontario	July 19	Dario Franchitti	Christian Fittipaldi	Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	Report
12	U.S. 500 Presented by Toyota	Michigan International Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan	July 26	Adrián Fernández	Patrick Carpentier	Greg Moore	Forsythe Racing	Report
13	Miller Lite 200	Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course	Lexington, Ohio	August 9	Dario Franchitti	Greg Moore	Adrián Fernández	Patrick Racing	Report
14	The Chicago Tribune Presents Texaco/Havoline 200	Road America	Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin	August 16	Michael Andretti	Alex Zanardi	Dario Franchitti	Team KOOL Green	Report
15	Molson Indy Vancouver	Streets of Vancouver	Vancouver, British Columbia	September 6	Dario Franchitti	Hélio Castroneves	Dario Franchitti	Team KOOL Green	Report
16	Honda Grand Prix of Monterey Featuring the Texaco/Havoline 300	Laguna Seca Raceway	Monterey, California	September 13	Bryan Herta	Tony Kanaan	Bryan Herta	Team Rahal	Report
17	Texaco Grand Prix of Houston	Streets of Houston	Houston, Texas	October 4	Greg Moore	Alex Zanardi	Dario Franchitti	Team KOOL Green	Report
18	Honda Indy Carnival Australia	Surfers Paradise Street Circuit	Surfers Paradise, Australia	October 18	Dario Franchitti	Alex Zanardi	Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	Report
19	Marlboro 500 presented by Toyota	California Speedway	Fontana, California	November 1	Scott Pruett	Greg Moore	Jimmy Vasser	Chip Ganassi Racing	Report

Oval/Speedway

Road Course/Street Circuit

Final driver standings

Further information: List of American Championship car racing point scoring systems

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	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	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	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	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																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 & 5th place
Light Blue	6th-10th place
Dark Blue	Finished (Outside Top 10)
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
Rookie of the Year
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	Scotland	9	8	2	21	19	27	4	4	21	3	20	21	26	1	1	4	1	2	22	160
6	Mexico	6	1	4	12	3	17	9	2	19	5	9	18	1	5	10	7	6	6	4	158
7	England	12	10	7	20	11	10	12	22	22	10	26	17	19	7	12	25	14	11	6	36
8	Finland	14	29	18	16	10	9	19	26	25	28	24	20	15	18	8	28	10	5	21	25
9	Germany	21	15	15	24	14	21	23	27	12	16	15	14	18	10	28	15	16	27	24	4
10	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 5's	Top 10's	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.

Åberg, Andreas. "CART FedEx Champ Car World Series 1998". Driver Database. Archived from the original on 2009-05-28. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
"1998 CART FedEx Champ Car World Series". Champ Car Stats. Archived from the original on 2009-05-28. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
"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.
"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 29 June 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-20.
"Standings after California". Champ Car World Series. Archived from the original on 2009-05-28. Retrieved 2009-05-19.

American Championship car racing (IndyCar) seasons

AAA	1905 1906–1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942–1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955

NASCAR	1952 1953

USAC	1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95

CART / CCWS	1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 ~~2008~~

INDYCAR	1996 1996–97 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

Years marked in italics are not official championship years.