1999 CART season explained

The 1999 FedEx Championship Series season was the twenty-first in the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) era of American open-wheel car racing. It consisted of 20 races, beginning in Homestead, Florida on March 21 and concluding in Fontana, California on October 31. The season was marred by the fatal accidents of Gonzalo Rodríguez during practice for the Laguna Seca round and Greg 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 in International 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, after Nigel Mansell in 1993. The season ended in a tie, with Montoya and Dario Franchitti both having 212 championship points, though Montoya broke the tie-breaker due to having seven wins, over Franchitti's three.

With Al 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 without Bobby 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.

Constructors

The following teams and drivers competed in the 1999 CART Championship Series season.^[1] ^[2] ^[3]

Team	Chassis	Engine	Tyre	No	Drivers	Races	Primary Sponsors
Marlboro Team Penske	Penske PC-27B	Mercedes IC 108E3		2	Al Unser Jr.	1, 4–5, 12, 18–20	Marlboro
	Lola B99/00				Al Unser Jr.	6–11, 13–17
	Penske PC-27B				Tarso Marques	2–3
	Penske PC-27B			3		5–6, 8
	Lola B99/00					9
	Lola B99/00				Gonzalo Rodríguez	13, 17
	Penske PC-27B				Alex Barron	12, 20
Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard 99i	Honda HRS		4	Juan Pablo Montoya	All	Target
Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard 99i	Honda HRS	12	Jimmy Vasser	All		Target
Walker Racing	Reynard 99i	Honda HRS		5	Gil de Ferran	All	Valvoline
				15	Naoki Hattori	1, 13–14, 16–20	Alpine
				15	Memo Gidley	8–11	Alpine
Newman/Haas Racing	Swift 010.c	Ford-Cosworth XD		6	Michael Andretti	All	Texaco-Havoline
			11		1–12, 18–20	Big Kmart
			11	Roberto Moreno	13–17	Big Kmart
Team Rahal	Reynard 99i	Ford-Cosworth XD		7	Max Papis	All	Miller Lite
Team Rahal	Reynard 99i	Ford-Cosworth XD	8	Bryan Herta	All	Shell
Hogan Racing	Lola B99/00	Mercedes IC 108E3		9	Hélio Castroneves	All	Hogan Motor Leasing
Hogan Racing	Lola B99/00	Mercedes IC 108E3		21	Luiz Garcia Jr.	14, 16–17	Tang
Della Penna Motorsports	Swift 010.c	Toyota RV8D		10	Richie Hearn	1–5	Budweiser
Della Penna Motorsports	Reynard 99i	Toyota RV8D	6–20	10	Richie Hearn		Budweiser
Bettenhausen Racing	Reynard 99i	Mercedes IC 108E3		16	Shigeaki Hattori	2–3, 6–8, 11, 15, 17	Epson
Bettenhausen Racing	Reynard 99i	Mercedes IC 108E3		16	Gualter Salles	5, 19	Epson
PacWest Racing	Reynard 99i	Mercedes IC 108E3		17	Maurício Gugelmin	All	Hollywood Cigarettes
			18	Mark Blundell	1–4, 13–20	Motorola
			18	Roberto Moreno	5–12	Motorola
Payton/Coyne Racing	Lola B99/00	Ford-Cosworth XD		19	Michel Jourdain Jr.	All	Herdez
	Reynard 99i		34	Dennis Vitolo	1, 6–7, 12, 15, 20	NicoDerm
			34	Gualter Salles	3	Refrigicent
			71	Luiz Garcia Jr.	1–3, 5, 8–10	Tang
				Dennis Vitolo	11	Tang
				Memo Gidley	13–14, 16–19	Herdez
Patrick Racing	Reynard 99i	Ford-Cosworth XD		40	Adrian Fernández	1–12, 17–20	Tecate Beer
			P. J. Jones	40	14–16		Tecate Beer
				20	1–2	Visteon
	Swift 010.c				3–12, 20
	Swift 010.c		Jan Magnussen		13
	Reynard 99i		Jan Magnussen		14–19
Team Gordon	Swift 010.c	Toyota RV8D		22	Robby Gordon	1–14, 19	Johns Manville
Team Gordon	Eagle 997	Toyota RV8D	15–18, 20	22	Robby Gordon		Johns Manville
Arciero-Wells Racing	Reynard 99i	Toyota RV8D		24	Scott Pruett	All	Pioneer
Arciero-Wells Racing	Reynard 99i	Toyota RV8D	25	Cristiano da Matta	All	MCI WorldCom
Team KOOL Green	Reynard 99i	Honda HRS		26	Raul Boesel	1	KOOL
				26	2–20
			27	Dario Franchitti	All
Forsythe Racing	Reynard 99i	Mercedes IC 108E3		33	Patrick Carpentier	All	Player's
Forsythe Racing		Mercedes IC 108E3		99	Greg Moore	All	Player's
Forsythe Championship Racing		Honda HRS		44	Tony Kanaan	All	McDonald's
All American Racing	Eagle 997	Toyota RV8D		36	Alex Barron	1–7	Castrol
			Gualter Salles		8–14
			Raul Boesel		15, 20
			Andrea Montermini		16–19

Season summary

Schedule

Rnd	Date	Race Name	Circuit	Location
1	March 21	Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami Presented by Toyota	Homestead Motorsports Complex	Homestead, Florida
2	April 10	Firestone Firehawk 500K	Twin Ring Motegi	Motegi, Japan
3	April 18	Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach	Streets of Long Beach	Long Beach, California
4	May 2	Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix Presented by Toyota	Nazareth Speedway	Nazareth, Pennsylvania
5	May 15	Telemar Rio 200	Autódromo de Jacarepaguá	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
6	May 29	Motorola 300	Gateway International Raceway	Madison, Illinois
7	June 6	Miller Lite 225 Presented by Kmart	Milwaukee Mile	West Allis, Wisconsin
8	June 20	Texaco/Havoline Presents the Budweiser/G. I. Joe's 200	Portland International Raceway	Portland, Oregon
9	June 27	Medic Drug Grand Prix of Cleveland Presented by Firstar	Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport	Cleveland, Ohio
10	July 11	The Chicago Tribune Presents the Texaco/Havoline 200	Road America	Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
11	July 18	Molson Indy Toronto	Exhibition Place	Toronto, Ontario
12	July 25	U.S. 500 Presented by Toyota	Michigan Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan
13	August 8	Tenneco Automotive Grand Prix of Detroit	The Raceway on Belle Isle Park	Detroit, Michigan
14	August 15	Miller Lite 200	Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course	Lexington, Ohio
15	August 22	Target Grand Prix of Chicago Presented by Energizer	Chicago Motor Speedway	Cicero, Illinois
16	September 5	Molson Indy Vancouver	Concord Pacific Place	Vancouver, British Columbia
17	September 12	Honda Grand Prix of Monterey Featuring the Shell 300	Laguna Seca Raceway	Monterey, California
18	September 26	Texaco/Havoline Grand Prix of Houston	George R. Brown Convention Center	Houston, Texas
19	October 17	Honda Indy 300	Surfers Paradise Street Circuit	Surfers Paradise, Australia
20	October 31	Marlboro 500 Presented by Toyota	California Speedway	Fontana, California

– Cleveland was scheduled for 211 miles, but was shortened due to the 2-hour time limit.
– Detroit was scheduled for 176 miles, but was shortened due to the 2-hour time limit.
– Vancouver was scheduled for 160 miles, but was shortened due to the 2-hour time limit.
Oval/Speedway
Road/Street course

Race results

Round	Race	Pole position	Fastest lap	Race Winner				Race Time	Report
Round	Race	Pole position	Fastest lap	Driver	Team	Chassis	Engine	Race Time	Report
1	Homestead	Greg Moore	Dario Franchitti	Greg Moore		Reynard	Mercedes	1:38:54	Report
2	Motegi	Gil de Ferran	Hélio Castroneves	Adrián Fernández	Patrick Racing	Reynard	Ford	1:46:01	Report
3	Long Beach	Tony Kanaan	Juan Pablo Montoya	Juan Pablo Montoya	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	1:45:48	Report
4	Nazareth	Juan Pablo Montoya	Hélio Castroneves	Juan Pablo Montoya	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	1:46:13	Report
5	Rio	Christian Fittipaldi			Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	1:36:32	Report
6			Hélio Castroneves	Michael Andretti		Swift 010.c	Ford	2:25:35	Report
7	Milwaukee	Hélio Castroneves	Hélio Castroneves	Paul Tracy	Team KOOL Green	Reynard	Honda	1:48:49	Report
8	Portland	Juan Pablo Montoya	Michael Andretti	Gil de Ferran	Walker Racing	Reynard	Honda	1:47:44	Report
9		Juan Pablo Montoya	Gil de Ferran	Juan Pablo Montoya	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	2:01:04	Report
10	Road America	Michael Andretti	Hélio Castroneves	Christian Fittipaldi	Newman/Haas Racing	Swift 010.c	Ford	1:37:00	Report
11	Toronto	Gil de Ferran	Dario Franchitti	Dario Franchitti	Team KOOL Green	Reynard	Honda	1:56:27	Report
12	U.S. 500	Jimmy Vasser	Jimmy Vasser	Tony Kanaan	Forsythe Racing	Reynard	Honda	2:41:42	Report
13	Belle Isle	Juan Pablo Montoya	Juan Pablo Montoya	Dario Franchitti	Team KOOL Green	Reynard	Honda	2:02:24	Report
14	Mid-Ohio	Dario Franchitti	Juan Pablo Montoya	Juan Pablo Montoya	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	1:42:08	Report
15	Chicago	Max Papis	Roberto Moreno	Juan Pablo Montoya	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	1:53:38	Report
16	Vancouver	Juan Pablo Montoya	Juan Pablo Montoya	Juan Pablo Montoya	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	2:01:08	Report
17		Bryan Herta	Tony Kanaan	Bryan Herta	Team Rahal	Reynard	Ford	1:49:20	Report
18	Houston	Juan Pablo Montoya	Juan Pablo Montoya	Paul Tracy	Team KOOL Green	Reynard	Honda	1:55:31	Report
19	Surfers Paradise	Dario Franchitti	Max Papis	Dario Franchitti	Team KOOL Green	Reynard	Honda	1:58:40	Report
20	Fontana	Scott Pruett	Christian Fittipaldi	Adrián Fernández	Patrick Racing	Reynard	Ford	2:57:17	Report
NC	Hawaiian Super Prix	Event cancelled

Final driver standings

Pos	Driver	MIA	MOT	LBH	NAZ	RIO	GAT	MIL	POR	CLE	ROA	TOR	MCH	DET	MDO	CHI	VAN	LAG	HOU	SUR	FON	Pts
1		10	13	1	1*	1*	11	10*	2	1*	13*	22	2	17*	1	1*	1*	8	25	16	4	212
2	Dario Franchitti	3	22	2	8	2	3	7	3	25	18	1*	5	1	3*	2	10	25	2	1*	10	212
3	Paul Tracy		11	21	3	15	19	1	5	4	11	2	3	2	2	23	18	4	1*	7	18	161
4	Michael Andretti	2	5	7	6	26	1*	15	10	3	2	26	4	4	8	22	14	10	3	5	21	151
5	Max Papis	5	16	9	13	4	5	13	8	16	5	5	7*	26	5	4	23	3	4	2	2*	150
6	Adrián Fernández	20	1*	4	5	20	21	5	4	19	3	6	6	Wth				5	12	3	1	140
7	Christian Fittipaldi	9	3	5	7	3	9	6	14	12	1	3	8						7	25	3	121
8	Gil de Ferran	6	2	6	15	10	25	3	1*	2	14	19	24	22	6	13	26	6	17	27	9	108
9	Jimmy Vasser	4	12	10	11	27	10	4	12	23	23	8	9	5	4	3	3	18	20	18	5	104
10	Greg Moore †	1*	4	8	12	8	6	2	13	18	4	20	23	3	11	26	20	23	16	17	26	97
11	Tony Kanaan	21	6	22*	23	5	7	18	15	22	6	17	1	6	23	11	9	21	9	6	8	85
12	Bryan Herta	12	23	3	22	13	23	25	6	6	15	15	20	9	21	8	24	1*	5	4	14	84
13	Patrick Carpentier	7	26	17	14	6	22	9	9	7	22	11	10	23		6	2	9	19	24	25	61
14	Roberto Moreno					11	4	12	7	8	19	4	19	14	16	9	15	2				58
15	Hélio Castroneves	17	9	19	21	25	2	26	26	26	16	27	25	7	7	5	8	26	26	21	20	48
16	Maurício Gugelmin	11	7	14	18	22	18	8	25	21	12	14	22	24	20	19	4	11	6	26	6	44
17	P. J. Jones	13	15	12	2	7	8	20	21	15	17	10	16		15	7	21				12	38
18		14	25	20	4	21	17	11	11	20	21	24	17	19	9	14	5	22	11	13	23	32
19	Scott Pruett	22	21	15	10	24	14	17	24	17	25	7	14	8	17	20	13	7	10	9	22	28
20	Robby Gordon	19	8	16	19	14	27	24	17	9	8	13	26	25	10	10	22	19	21	8	11	27
21	Al Unser Jr.	26			24	12	12	19	16	5	9	9	13	15	25	25	25	DNS	15	22	7	26
22	Richie Hearn	23	10	11	20	19	13	21	22	10	10	16	12	13	12	16	6	16	8	23	27	26
23	Mark Blundell	8	24	13	17									10	13	21	19	12	24	19	16	9
24	Jan Magnussen													18	14	24	7	17	13	11		8
25	Michel Jourdain Jr.	18	18	18	16	16	20	16	20	27	7	21	21	21	26	18	17	20	18	12	13	7
26	Gualter Salles			27		17			27	13	20	25	15	11	18					10		5
27	Alex Barron	15	17	23	9	23	16	14					18								24	4
28			14	25		9	26		18	24												4
29									19	11	26	12		20	22		12	13	14	14		4
30	Dennis Vitolo	16			DNS		24	22				18	11			15					15	2
31	Andrea Montermini																11	24	23	15		2
32	Raul Boesel	27														12					17	1
33	Gonzalo Rodríguez †													12				DNS				1
34		24	19	24		18			23	14	24				24	DNS	16	15				0
35		25												16	19		27	14	22	20	19	0
36		Wth	20	26	Wth		15	23	28			23				17		DNS				0
Pos	Driver	MIA	MOT	LBH	NAZ	RIO	GAT	MIL	POR	CLE	ROA	TOR	MIC	DET	MDO	CHI	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)
Blank	Not competing

align=center colspan=2

In-line notation

Bold

Pole position

Italics

Ran fastest race lap

*| align=center|Led most race laps|-| align=center| | align=center|Rookie of the Year|-| align=center| | align=center|Rookie|}|}|}

Note:

Gonzalo Rodríguez died in qualifying at Laguna 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.
Greg Moore died in the season finale at California 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. Greg suffered fatal head and internal injuries from the violent accident. He was 24 years old.

Nations' Cup

Top result per race counts towards Nations' Cup.

Pos	Country	MIA	MOT	LBH	NAZ	RIO	GAT	MIL	POR	CLE	ROA	TOR	MIC	DET	MDO	CHI	VAN	LAG	HOU	SUR	FON	Pts
1	Brazil	6	2	5	4	3	2	3	1	2	1	3	1	6	6	5	4	2	6	6	3	264
2	United States	2	5	3	2	7	1	4	6	3	2	7	4	4	4	3	3	1	3	4	5	258
3	Canada	1	4	8	3	6	6	1	5	4	4	2	3	2	2	6	2	4	1	7	18	245
4	Scotland	3	22	2	8	2	3	7	3	25	18	1	5	1	3	2	10	25	2	1	10	207
5	Colombia	10	13	1	1	1	11	10	2	1	13	22	2	17	1	1	1	8	25	16	4	197
6	Italy	5	16	9	13	4	5	13	8	16	5	5	7	26	5	4	11	3	4	2	2	149
7	Mexico	18	1	4	5	16	20	5	4	19	3	6	6	21	26	18	17	5	12	3	1	139
8	England	8	24	13	17									10	13	21	19	12	24	19	16	9
9	Denmark													18	14	24	7	17	13	11		8
10	Uruguay													12				Wth				1
11	Japan	25	20	26	Wth		15	23	28			23		16	19	17	27	14	22	20	19	0
Pos	Country	MIA	MOT	LBH	NAZ	RIO	GAT	MIL	POR	CLE	ROA	TOR	MIC	DET	MDO	CHI	VAN	LAG	HOU	SUR	FON	Pts

Chassis Constructors' Cup

Pos	Chassis	Pts	Wins
1	Reynard 99I/98I	424	18
2	Swift 010.c	241	2
3	Lola T9900	69	0
4	Eagle 997	13	0
5	Penske PC-27B-99	10	0

Engine Manufacturers' Cup

Pos	Engine	Pts	Wins
1	Honda	383	14
2	Ford XB	301	5
3	Mercedes	193	1
4	Toyota	80	0

Driver Breakdown

Pos	Driver	Team	Entries	Wins	Podiums	Top 5s	Top 10s	Poles	Points
1	Montoya	Chip Ganassi Racing	20	7	9	10	13	7	212
2	Franchitti	Team KOOL Green	20	3	11	12	16	2	212
3	Tracy	Team KOOL Green	20	2	7	10	11	0	161
4	Andretti	Newman-Haas Racing	20	1	5	9	14	1	151
5	Papis	Team Rahal	20	0	3	11	14	1	150
6	Fernandez	Patrick Racing	16	2	4	9	11	0	140
7	Fittipaldi	Newman-Haas Racing	15	1	5	6	12	0	121
8	de Ferran	Walker Racing	20	1	4	4	10	2	108
9	Vasser	Chip Ganassi Racing	20	0	2	7	11	1	104
10	Moore	Forsythe Racing	20	1	3	5	8	1	97
11	Kanaan	Forsythe Racing Team Rahal	20	1	1	2	10	1	85
12	Herta	Team Rahal	20	1	2	4	8	1	84
13	Carpentier	Forsythe Racing	19	0	1	1	9	0	61
14	Moreno	Newman-Haas Racing Patrick Racing PacWest Racing	13	0	1	3	6	0	58
15	Castroneves	Bettenhausen Racing	20	0	1	2	6	1	48
16	Gugelmin	PacWest Racing	20	0	0	1	5	0	44
17	Jones	All American Racing Patrick Racing	16	0	1	4	5	0	38
18	da Matta	Newman-Haas Racing Arciero-Wells Racing PPI Motorsports	20	0	0	2	3	0	32
19	Pruett	Arciero-Wells Racing PPI Motorsports	20	0	0	0	6	1	28
20	Gordon	Team Gordon	20	0	0	0	6	0	27
21	Hearn	Della Penna Motorsports	20	0	0	0	5	0	26
21	Unser Jr.	Marlboro Team Penske	17	0	0	1	4	0	26
23	Blundell	PacWest Racing	12	0	0	0	2	0	9
24	Magnussen	Patrick Racing	7	0	0	0	1	0	8
25	Jourdain Jr.	Dale Coyne Racing	20	0	0	0	1	0	7
26	Salles	All American Racing Bettenhausen Racing	10	0	0	0	1	0	5
27	Barron	All American Racing Marlboro Team Penske	9	0	0	0	1	0	4
27	Marques	Marlboro Team Penske	6	0	0	0	1	0	4
27	Gidley	Dale Coyne Racing Bettenhausen Racing Walker Racing	10	0	0	0	0	0	4
30	Vitolo	Dale Coyne Racing	7	0	0	0	0	0	2
30	Montermini	All American Racing	4	0	0	0	0	0	2
32	Boesel	All American Racing	3	0	0	0	0	0	1
32	Rodríguez	Marlboro Team Penske	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
34	Garcia Jr.	Dale Coyne Racing Hogan Racing	9	0	0	0	0	0	0
34	N. Hattori	Walker Racing	8	0	0	0	0	0	0
34	S. Hattori	Bettenhausen Racing	7	0	0	0	0	0	0

Media

In the United States, CART continued its coverage on ESPN, but the broadcast booth changed voices. Paul Page handled lap-by-lap commentary, taking over for Bob Varsha, who had departed for Speed Channel. Newly-retired racer Parker Johnstone joined him with color commentary. During his suspension from the first race of the season, Paul Tracy joined Page and Johnstone in the booth. Jon Beekhuis and Gary Gerould were pit reporters.

References

Web site: CART FedEx Champ Car World Series 1999 . Åberg, Andreas . Driver Database . 2009-05-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090204082735/http://www.driverdb.com/standings/5-1999/ . 2009-02-04 . live .
Web site: 1999 CART FedEx Champ Car World Series . Champ Car Stats . 2009-05-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120224074956/http://www.champcarstats.com/year/1999.htm . 2012-02-24 . live .
Web site: Standings after California . Champ Car World Series . 2009-05-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090630004652/http://www.champcar.ws/Results/Standings.asp?Year=1999 . 2009-06-30 . dead .

]

Notes and References

Web site: Honda Championship Auto Racing Highlights. April 2002.
Web site: CHAMPCAR/CART: Mercedes-Benz to Run IC108E 'Phase III' Engine.
Web site: CHAMPCAR/CART: Mercedes-Benz Engines Submerged for Success.