1998 CART FedEx Championship Series

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.

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 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

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 15 Payton/Coyne Racing 3 Banco Cacique 1
					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 8 Hasseröder 11

Season summary

Schedule

Rnd	Date	Race Name	Circuit	Location
1	March 15	Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami Presented by Toyota	O  Homestead-Miami Speedway	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.
– The Houston race was scheduled for 153 miles, but was shortened due to poor visibility.
 O  Oval/Speedway
 R  Road/Street course

Race results

Round	Race	Pole position	Fastest lap	Race Winner				Race Time	Report
				Driver	Team	Chassis	Engine
1	Homestead	Greg Moore	Greg Moore	Michael Andretti	Newman-Haas Racing	Swift	Ford	1:33:39	Report
2	Motegi	Jimmy Vasser	Jimmy Vasser	Adrián Fernández	Patrick Racing	Reynard	Ford	1:57:12	Report
3	Long Beach	Bryan Herta	Bobby Rahal	Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	1:51:29	Report
4	Nazareth	Patrick Carpentier	Greg Moore	Jimmy Vasser	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	1:57:20	Report
5	Rio	Dario Franchitti	Alex Zanardi	Greg Moore	Forsythe Racing	Reynard	Mercedes	1:52:14	Report
6	Gateway	Greg Moore	Jimmy Vasser	Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	2:23:02	Report
7	Milwaukee	Patrick Carpentier	Scott Pruett	Jimmy Vasser	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	1:34:17	Report
8	Belle Isle	Greg Moore	Alex Zanardi	Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	1:41:17	Report
9	Portland	Bryan Herta	Patrick Carpentier	Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	1:54:06	Report
10	Cleveland	Jimmy Vasser	Bryan Herta	Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	1:52:22	Report
11	Toronto	Dario Franchitti	Christian Fittipaldi	Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	1:52:24	Report
12	Michigan	Adrián Fernández	Patrick Carpentier	Greg Moore	Forsythe Racing	Reynard	Mercedes	3:00:48	Report
13	Mid-Ohio	Dario Franchitti	Greg Moore	Adrián Fernández	Patrick Racing	Reynard	Ford	1:53:39	Report
14	Road America	Michael Andretti	Alex Zanardi	Dario Franchitti	Team KOOL Green	Reynard	Honda	1:35:30	Report
15	Vancouver	Dario Franchitti	Hélio Castroneves	Dario Franchitti	Team KOOL Green	Reynard	Honda	2:00:37	Report
16	Laguna Seca	Bryan Herta	Tony Kanaan	Bryan Herta	Team Rahal	Reynard	Ford	1:55:13	Report
17	Houston	Greg Moore	Alex Zanardi	Dario Franchitti	Team KOOL Green	Reynard	Honda	1:36:30	Report
18	Surfers Paradise	Dario Franchitti	Alex Zanardi	Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	2:01:51	Report
19	Fontana	Scott Pruett	Greg Moore	Jimmy Vasser	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	3:17:54	Report

Final driver standings

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

Pos Driver MIA MOT LBH NAZ RIO GTW MIL BEL POR CLE TOR MIS MOH 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  29 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 Wth 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 DNQ 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 DNQ 12 14 DNQ 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 DNQ 28 18 24 26 17 26 19 DNQ 25 0 34 Hideshi Matsuda 18 0 Pos Driver MIA MOT LBH NAZ RIO GTW MIL BEL POR CLE TOR MIS MOH 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) Not competing In-line notation Bold Pole position Italics Ran fastest race lap * Led most race laps  RY  Rookie of the Year  R  Rookie

Nations' Cup

• Top result per race counts towards Nations' Cup.

Pos	Country	MIA	MOT	LBH	NAZ	RIO	GTW	MIL	BEL	POR	CLE	TOR	MIS	MOH	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	GTW	MIL	BEL	POR	CLE	TOR	MIS	MOH	ROA	VAN	LAG	HOU	SUR	FON	Pts

Chassis Constructors' 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

Engine Manufacturers' Cup

Pos	Engine	Pts	Wins
1	Honda	365	13
2	Ford XB	293	4
3	Mercedes	226	2
4	Toyota	41	0
Pos	Engine	Pts	Wins

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