1998 Michigan 500

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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.

Race

[edit]

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

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