Sports season
The1999 FedEx Championship Series season was the twenty-first in theChampionship Auto Racing Teams (CART) era ofAmerican open-wheel car racing . It consisted of 20 races, beginning inHomestead, Florida on March 21 and concluding inFontana, California on October 31. The season was marred by the fatal accidents ofGonzalo Rodríguez during practice for theLaguna Seca round andGreg Moore at the final round, in addition to various injuries that took several drivers out of championship contention.
Juan Pablo Montoya , in his first CART season after two successful seasons inInternational Formula 3000 , won the championship and the Rookie of the Year honors, the second and final driver to win both awards in the same season, afterNigel Mansell in1993 . The season ended in a tie, with Montoya andDario Franchitti both having 212 championship points, though Montoya broke the tie-breaker due to having seven wins, over Franchitti's three.
WithAl Unser Jr. running his final season in the series, 1999 was the last year in which the Al Unser name was on the CART grid. Also, this was the first season withoutBobby Rahal on the grid.Mercedes-Benz scored their final pole and victory with Greg Moore at the season opener before they ended their participation in American open-wheel racing at the end of 2000.
The followingteams anddrivers competed in the 1999CART Championship Series season.[ 1] [ 2] [ 3]
Team Chassis Engine Tyre No Drivers Races Primary Sponsors Marlboro Team Penske Penske PC-27BMercedes IC 108E3G 2 Al Unser Jr. 1, 4–5, 12, 18–20 Marlboro Lola B99/00 6–11, 13–17 Penske PC-27BTarso Marques 2–3 3 5–6, 8 Lola B99/00 9 Gonzalo Rodríguez 13, 17 Penske PC-27BAlex Barron 12, 20 Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard 99i Honda HRSF 4 Juan Pablo Montoya All Target 12 Jimmy Vasser All Walker Racing Reynard 99iHonda HRSG 5 Gil de Ferran All Valvoline 15 Naoki Hattori 1, 13–14, 16–20 Alpine Memo Gidley 8–11 Newman/Haas Racing Swift 010.cFord -Cosworth XDF 6 Michael Andretti All Texaco -Havoline 11 Christian Fittipaldi 1–12, 18–20 Big Kmart Roberto Moreno 13–17 Team Rahal Reynard 99iFord -Cosworth XDF 7 Max Papis All Miller Lite 8 Bryan Herta All Shell Hogan Racing Lola B99/00 Mercedes IC 108E3F 9 Hélio Castroneves All Hogan Motor Leasing 21 Luiz Garcia Jr. 14, 16–17 Tang Della Penna Motorsports Swift 010.cToyota RV8DF 10 Richie Hearn 1–5 Budweiser Reynard 99i6–20 Bettenhausen Racing Reynard 99iMercedes IC 108E3F 16 Shigeaki Hattori 2–4, 6–8, 11, 15, 17 Epson Gualter Salles 5, 19 PacWest Racing Reynard 99iMercedes IC 108E3F 17 Maurício Gugelmin All Hollywood Cigarettes 18 Mark Blundell 1–4, 13–20 Motorola Roberto Moreno 5–12 Payton/Coyne Racing Lola B99/00 Ford -Cosworth XDF 19 Michel Jourdain Jr. All Herdez Reynard 99i34 Dennis Vitolo 1, 4, 6–7, 12, 15, 20 NicoDerm Gualter Salles 3 Refrigicent 71 Luiz Garcia Jr. 1–3, 5, 8–10 Tang Dennis Vitolo 11 Memo Gidley 13–14, 16–19 Herdez Patrick Racing Reynard 99iFord -Cosworth XDF 40 Adrian Fernández 1–12, 17–20 Tecate Beer P. J. Jones 14–16 20 1–2 Visteon Swift 010.c3–12, 20 Jan Magnussen 13 Reynard 99i14–19 Team Gordon Swift 010.cToyota RV8DF 22 Robby Gordon 1–14, 19 Johns Manville Eagle 997 15–18, 20 Arciero-Wells Racing Reynard 99iToyota RV8DF 24 Scott Pruett All Pioneer 25 Cristiano da Matta All MCI WorldCom Team KOOL Green Reynard 99iHonda HRSF 26 Raul Boesel 1 KOOL Paul Tracy 2–20 27 Dario Franchitti All Forsythe Racing Reynard 99iMercedes IC 108E3F 33 Patrick Carpentier 1–13, 15–20 Player's 99 Greg Moore All Honda HRSF 44 Tony Kanaan All McDonald's All American Racing Eagle 997 Toyota RV8DG 36 Alex Barron 1–7 Castrol Gualter Salles 8–14 Raul Boesel 15, 20 Andrea Montermini 16–19
Icon Legend O Oval/Speedway R Road course S Street circuit
Rnd Date Race Name Circuit Location 1 March 21 Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami O Homestead-Miami Speedway Homestead, Florida 2 April 10 Firestone Firehawk 500K O Twin Ring Motegi Motegi ,Japan 3 April 18 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach S Streets of Long Beach Long Beach, California 4 May 2 Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix O Nazareth Speedway Nazareth, Pennsylvania 5 May 15 Telemar Rio 200 O Autódromo de Jacarepaguá Rio de Janeiro ,Brazil 6 May 29 Motorola 300 O Gateway International Raceway Madison, Illinois 7 June 6 Miller Lite 225 O Milwaukee Mile West Allis, Wisconsin 8 June 20 Budweiser/G. I. Joe's 200 R Portland International Raceway Portland, Oregon 9 June 27 Medic Drug Grand Prix of Cleveland R Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport Cleveland, Ohio 10 July 11 Texaco/Havoline 200 R Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin 11 July 18 Molson Indy Toronto S Exhibition Place Toronto, Ontario 12 July 25 U.S. 500 O Michigan Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan 13 August 8 Tenneco Automotive Grand Prix of Detroit S The Raceway on Belle Isle Park Detroit ,Michigan 14 August 15 Miller Lite 200 R Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, Ohio 15 August 22 Target Grand Prix of Chicago O Chicago Motor Speedway Cicero ,Illinois 16 September 5 Molson Indy Vancouver S Concord Pacific Place Vancouver, British Columbia 17 September 12 Honda Grand Prix of Monterey R Laguna Seca Raceway Monterey, California 18 September 26 Texaco/Havoline Grand Prix of Houston S George R. Brown Convention Center Houston, Texas 19 October 17 Honda Indy 300 S Surfers Paradise Street Circuit Surfers Paradise ,Australia 20 October 31 Marlboro 500 O California Speedway Fontana, California
– Cleveland was scheduled for 211 miles, but was shortened due to the 2-hour time limit.
Non-championship race
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 † Fatal accident RY Rookie of the Year R Rookie
Note:
1 Gonzalo Rodríguez died in qualifying atLaguna Seca Raceway after his car crashed into a barrier and flipped while trying to navigate the track's Corkscrew turn, suffering a fatal basilar skull fracture. He was 28 years old.2 Greg Moore died in the season finale atCalifornia Speedway after a crash in the early laps. His car lost control coming off Turn 2, flipped over, impacted the inside wall, and flipped several more times. Moore suffered fatal head and internal injuries from the accident. He was 24 years old.Top result per race counts towards Nations' Cup. In the United States, CART continued its coverage onESPN , but the broadcast booth changed voices.Paul Page handled lap-by-lap commentary, taking over forBob Varsha , who had departed forSpeed Channel . Newly-retired racerParker Johnstone joined him with color commentary. During his suspension from thefirst race of the season ,Paul Tracy joined Page and Johnstone in the booth.Jon Beekhuis andGary Gerould were pit reporters.
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Juan Pablo Montoya
Reynard
Honda
Brazil
Scotland
Italy
Mexico
England
Denmark
Uruguay
Mercedes