1998 Michigan 500

1998 Michigan 500
Race details
Race 12 of 19 in the 1998 CART season
	Michigan International Speedway
Date	July 26, 1998
Official name	1998 U.S. 500 Presented by Toyota
Location	Michigan International Speedway, Brooklyn, Michigan, United States
Course	Permanent racing facility; 2.000 mi / 3.219 km
Distance	250 laps; 500.000 mi / 804.672 km
Weather	Dry
Pole position
Driver	Adrián Fernández (Patrick Racing)
Time	31.370
Fastest lap
Driver	Patrick Carpentier (Forsythe Racing)
Time	31.508 (on lap 131 of 250)
Podium
First	Greg Moore (Forsythe Racing)
Second	Jimmy Vasser (Chip Ganassi Racing)
Third	Alex Zanardi (Chip Ganassi Racing)

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.

Classification

Race

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	Patrick Racing	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	Arciero-Wells Racing	76	Contact	23
28	3	André Ribeiro	Team Penske	75	Oil leak	11

Caution flags

Laps	Cause
81-87	Gordon (24) contact
92-100	Vitolo (34) contact
117-123	Jones (98) engine blow-up [ja]
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

Lap Leaders

Laps	Leader
1-2	Al Unser Jr.
3-5	Jimmy Vasser
6-11	Michael Andretti
12-13	Jimmy Vasser
14	Michael Andretti
15-17	Jimmy Vasser
18-30	Michael Andretti
31-34	Gil de Ferran
35-37	Richie Hearn
38-65	Michael Andretti
66-68	Gil de Ferran
69	Adrián Fernández
70	Gil de Ferran
71	Greg Moore
72-75	Richie Hearn
76-83	Michael Andretti
84-89	Greg Moore
90-91	Richie Hearn
92-101	Greg Moore
102	Richie Hearn
103	Greg Moore
104	Richie Hearn
105-118	Greg Moore
119-125	Paul Tracy
126-128	Gil de Ferran
129	Paul Tracy
130-132	Gil de Ferran
133	Paul Tracy
134	Michael Andretti
135-136	Paul Tracy
137-138	Michael Andretti
139-140	Gil de Ferran
141	Michael Andretti
142-145	Gil de Ferran
146	Adrián Fernández
147-150	Gil de Ferran
151-157	Adrián Fernández
158-159	Greg Moore
160-165	Paul Tracy
166-168	Alex Zanardi
169-170	Paul Tracy
171-176	Alex Zanardi
177-178	Michael Andretti
179-190	Alex Zanardi
191	Paul Tracy
192-193	Alex Zanardi
194	Al Unser Jr.
195-196	Alex Zanardi
197	Paul Tracy
198-199	Alex Zanardi
200	Paul Tracy
201-202	Gil de Ferran
203-224	Alex Zanardi
225	Jimmy Vasser
226-237	Alex Zanardi
238	Jimmy Vasser
239	Alex Zanardi
240-245	Jimmy Vasser
246	Alex Zanardi
247	Jimmy Vasser
248	Greg Moore
249	Jimmy Vasser
250	Greg Moore

Driver	Laps led
Alex Zanardi	63
Michael Andretti	62
Greg Moore	36
Gil de Ferran	26
Paul Tracy	22
Jimmy Vasser	18
Richie Hearn	11
Adrián Fernández	9
Al Unser Jr.	3

Point standings after race

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Alex Zanardi	190
2	Jimmy Vasser	122
3	Greg Moore	119
4	Michael Andretti	92
5	Adrián Fernández	90

References

^ Glick, Shav (July 27, 1998). "Three spectators die at U.S. 500". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on January 20, 2012.
^ Jewett, Larry: "Innovations in Safety", Stock Car Racing (ISSN 0734-7340), Vol. 35, No. 5 (May 2000), pp. 62–63.

[1] Glick, Shav (July 27, 1998). "Three spectators die at U.S. 500". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on January 20, 2012.

[SCR_May2000-2] Jewett, Larry: "Innovations in Safety", Stock Car Racing (ISSN 0734-7340), Vol. 35, No. 5 (May 2000), pp. 62–63.

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