Sports season
The 1998 FedEx Championship Series season was the twentieth in the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) era of American open-wheel car racing . It 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 , his second consecutive championship, 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. Fernández was uninjured.[ 1]
This was the final season with Bobby Rahal on the CART grid. Other notable events of the 1998 season include first wins for Bryan Herta and future Indycar Series and Indianapolis 500 champion Dario Franchitti . Mexican driver Adrián Fernández got his second career win at Twin Ring Motegi , the first race run there by Champ Cars.
Drivers and constructors [ edit ] 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 HRK F 1 Alex Zanardi All Target 12 Jimmy Vasser All Marlboro Team Penske Penske PC-27 Mercedes IC108E G 2 Al Unser Jr. All Marlboro 3 André Ribeiro All Walker Racing Reynard 98i Honda HRK 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 Roberto Moreno 7 Team Rahal Reynard 98i Ford XB F 7 Bobby Rahal All Miller Lite 8 Bryan Herta All Shell Hogan Racing Reynard 98i Mercedes IC108E F 9 JJ Lehto All Hogan Motor Leasing Della Penna Motorsports Swift 009.c Ford XB F 10 Richie Hearn All Budweiser 43 Hideshi Matsuda 2 BMB Mini-Juke Project CART Reynard 98i Mercedes IC108E G 15 Roberto Moreno 1–2 Hawaiian Tropic Domenico Schiattarella 3 Bettenhausen Racing Reynard 98i Mercedes IC108E G 16 Hélio Castroneves All Alumax PacWest Racing Group Reynard 98i Mercedes IC108E F 17 Maurício Gugelmin All Hollywood Cigarettes 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 Payton/Coyne Racing Gualter Salles 2–3, 5, 11, 13–14 Patrick Racing Reynard 98i Ford XB F 20 Scott Pruett All Visteon 40 Adrián Fernández All Tecate Beer Tasman Motorsports Group Reynard 98i Honda HRK F 21 Tony Kanaan All LCI Arciero-Wells Racing Reynard 98i Toyota RV8C F 24 Hiro Matsushita 1–3, 5 Panasonic Robby Gordon 4, 6–19 25 Max Papis All MCI Worldcom Team KOOL Green Reynard 98i Honda HRK F 26 Paul Tracy All KOOL 27 Dario Franchitti All Forsythe Racing Reynard 98i Mercedes IC108E F 33 Patrick Carpentier All Player's 99 Greg Moore All All American Racing Reynard Toyota RV8C G 98 P. J. Jones 1–15 Castrol 36 Alex Barron 1–12 Eagle 987 13–19 98 Vincenzo Sospiri 16–19 Davis Racing Lola T98/00 Ford XB G 77 Arnd Meier All BAAN Business Software Hasseröder
Rnd Date Race Name Circuit Location 1 March 15 Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami Presented by Toyota O Homestead Motorsports Complex Homestead, Florida 2 March 28 Budweiser 500K O Twin Ring Motegi Motegi , Japan 3 April 5 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach R Streets of Long Beach Long Beach, California 4 April 27* Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix Presented by Toyota O Nazareth Speedway Nazareth, Pennsylvania 5 May 10 Rio 400K O Autódromo de Jacarepaguá Rio de Janeiro , Brazil 6 May 23 Motorola 300 O Gateway International Raceway Madison, Illinois 7 May 31 Miller Lite 200 O Milwaukee Mile West Allis, Wisconsin 8 June 7 ITT Automotive Detroit Grand Prix R The Raceway on Belle Isle Park Detroit , Michigan 9 June 21 Texaco/Havoline Presents the Budweiser/G. I. Joe's 200 R Portland International Raceway Portland, Oregon 10 July 12 Medic Drug Grand Prix of Cleveland Presented by Star Bank R Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport Cleveland, Ohio 11 July 19 Molson Indy Toronto R Exhibition Place Toronto, Ontario 12 July 26 U.S. 500 Presented by Toyota O Michigan Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan 13 August 9 Miller Lite 200 R Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, Ohio 14 August 16 The Chicago Tribune Presents the Texaco/Havoline 200 R Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin 15 September 6 Molson Indy Vancouver R Streets of Vancouver Vancouver, British Columbia 16 September 13 Honda Grand Prix of Monterey Featuring the Texaco/Havoline 300 R Laguna Seca Raceway Monterey, California 17 October 4 Texaco Grand Prix of Houston R George R. Brown Convention Center Houston, Texas 18 October 18 Honda Indy 300 R Surfers Paradise Street Circuit Surfers Paradise , Australia 19 November 1 Marlboro 500 Presented by Toyota O California Speedway Fontana, California
– The Nazareth race was scheduled for April 26, but postponed due to rain. O Oval/Speedway R Road/Street course
Final driver standings [ edit ] Color Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green 4th–6th place Light Blue 7th–12th place Dark Blue Finished Purple Did not finish Red Did not qualify Brown Withdrawn Black Disqualified White Did not start Blank Did not Not competing
In-line notation Bold Pole position Italics Ran fastest race lap * Led most race laps RY Rookie of the Year R Rookie
Top result per race counts towards Nations' Cup. Pos Chassis Pts Wins 1 Reynard 98I 409 18 2 Swift 009.c 167 1 3 Penske PC-27 72 0 4 Lola T98/00 4 0 5 Eagle 987 1 0 Pos Chassis Pts Wins
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Alex Zanardi
Reynard
Honda
United States
Tony Kanaan
Mexico 
Finland 
Germany