1998 Michigan 500

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.

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 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. 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) 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
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