The 1998 Michigan 500 was the twelfth round of the 1998 CART FedEx Champ Car World Series season, held on July 26, 1998, at the Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan. For sponsorship reasons, and in light of the continuing split in Championship Car racing, the race was branded as the 1998 U.S. 500 Presented by Toyota. The race saw a record 63 lead changes due to the draft of the new Hanford Device, and was won by Greg Moore after a thrilling battle in the last five laps with Jimmy Vasser, Alex Zanardi and Scott Pruett.
The race was marred by a crash on lap 175. Adrián Fernández slammed into the outside wall in the fourth turn. 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] A subsequent incident in the IndyCar Series' VisionAire 500K the following year resulted in both open-wheel sanctioning bodies (and NASCAR, initially for its Modified Tour series)[2] requiring tethers be installed in wheel hubs, as well as changes to catch fencing on oval tracks, to prevent such re-occurrence.
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 99 |  Greg Moore | Forsythe Racing | 250 | 3:00:48.785 | 14 | 20 | |
| 2 | 12 |  Jimmy Vasser | Chip Ganassi Racing | 250 | +0.259 | 2 | 16 | |
| 3 | 1 |  Alex Zanardi | Chip Ganassi Racing | 250 | +0.267 | 7 | 14+1 | |
| 4 | 20 | Scott Pruett | Patrick Racing | 250 | +0.518 | 6 | 12 | |
| 5 | 10 | Richie Hearn | Della Penna Motorsports | 250 | +1.356 | 3 | 10 | |
| 6 | 6 | Michael Andretti | Newman-Haas Racing | 250 | +1.567 | 8 | 8 | |
| 7 | 7 | Bobby Rahal | Team Rahal | 250 | +2.649 | 12 | 6 | |
| 8 | 33 | Patrick Carpentier | Forsythe Racing | 250 | +3.428 | 21 | 5 | |
| 9 | 26 | Paul Tracy | Team Green | 250 | +4.318 | 15 | 4 | |
| 10 | 8 | Bryan Herta | Team Rahal | 250 | +26.270 | 5 | 3 | |
| 11 | 21 |  Tony Kanaan | Tasman Motorsports Group | 249 | +1 Lap | 20 | 2 | |
| 12 | 16 | Hélio Castro-Neves | Bettenhausen Racing | 248 | +2 Laps | 24 | 1 | |
| 13 | 17 | Maurício Gugelmin | PacWest Racing Group | 248 | +2 Laps | 17 | ||
| 14 | 77 | Arnd Meier | Davis Racing | 247 | +3 Laps | 18 | ||
| 15 | 36 | Alex Barron | All American Racing | 242 | +8 Laps | 28 | ||
| 16 | 5 | Gil de Ferran | Walker Racing | 240 | Engine | 10 | ||
| 17 | 18 | Mark Blundell | PacWest Racing Group | 240 | +10 laps | 19 | ||
| 18 | 19 |  Michel Jourdain Jr. | Payton/Coyne Racing | 238 | +12 Laps | 26 | ||
| 19 | 25 | Max Papis | Arciero-Wells Racing | 237 | Electrical | 22 | ||
| 20 | 9 |  JJ Lehto | Hogan Racing | 223 | Contact | 13 | ||
| 21 | 27 | Dario Franchitti | Team Green | 213 | Engine | 16 | ||
| 22 | 2 | Al Unser Jr. | Team Penske | 194 | Oil leak | 4 | ||
| 23 | 40 | Adrián Fernández | 174 | Contact | 1 | 1 | ||
| 24 | 98 | P. J. Jones | All American Racing | 111 | Engine | 27 | ||
| 25 | 11 | Christian Fittipaldi | Newman-Haas Racing | 87 | Overheating | 9 | ||
| 26 | 34 | Dennis Vitolo | Payton/Coyne Racing | 85 | Contact | 25 | ||
| 27 | 24 | Robby Gordon | 76 | Contact | 23 | |||
| 28 | 3 | André Ribeiro | Team Penske | 75 | Oil leak | 11 |
| Laps | Cause | |
|---|---|---|
| 81-87 | Gordon (24) contact | |
| 92-100 | Vitolo (34) contact | |
| 117-123 | ||
| 176-184 | Fernández (40) contact | |
| 185-188 | Franchitti (27) spin | |
| 216-222 | Franchitti (27) engine blow-up | |
| 227-234 | Lehto (9) contact | |
| 242-245 | de Ferran (5) engine blow-up |
| Pos | Driver | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 190 | ||
| 2 | Jimmy Vasser | 122 | |
| 3 | Greg Moore | 119 | |
| 4 | Michael Andretti | 92 | |
| 5 | Adrián Fernández | 90 |