The 1998 U.S. 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. 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. 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)Jewett, Larry: "Innovations in Safety", Stock Car Racing (), Vol. 35, No. 5 (May 2000), pp. 62–63. 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 Cause81-87 Gordon (24) contact92-100 Vitolo (34) contact117-123 Jones (98) 176-184 Fernández (40) contact185-188 Franchitti (27) spin216-222 Franchitti (27) engine blow-up227-234 Lehto (9) contact242-245 de Ferran (5) engine blow-up
Lap Leaders
Laps Leader1-2 Al Unser Jr.3-5 Jimmy Vasser6-11 Michael Andretti12-13 Jimmy Vasser14 Michael Andretti15-17 Jimmy Vasser18-30 Michael Andretti31-34 Gil de Ferran35-37 Richie Hearn38-65 Michael Andretti66-68 Gil de Ferran69 Adrián Fernández70 Gil de Ferran71 Greg Moore72-75 Richie Hearn76-83 Michael Andretti84-89 Greg Moore90-91 Richie Hearn92-101 Greg Moore102 Richie Hearn103 Greg Moore104 Richie Hearn105-118 Greg Moore119-125 Paul Tracy126-128 Gil de Ferran129 Paul Tracy130-132 Gil de Ferran133 Paul Tracy134 Michael Andretti135-136 Paul Tracy137-138 Michael Andretti139-140 Gil de Ferran141 Michael Andretti142-145 Gil de Ferran146 Adrián Fernández147-150 Gil de Ferran151-157 Adrián Fernández158-159 Greg Moore160-165 Paul Tracy166-168 Alex Zanardi169-170 Paul Tracy171-176 Alex Zanardi177-178 Michael Andretti179-190 Alex Zanardi191 Paul Tracy192-193 Alex Zanardi194 Al Unser Jr.195-196 Alex Zanardi197 Paul Tracy198-199 Alex Zanardi200 Paul Tracy201-202 Gil de Ferran203-224 Alex Zanardi225 Jimmy Vasser226-237 Alex Zanardi238 Jimmy Vasser239 Alex Zanardi240-245 Jimmy Vasser246 Alex Zanardi247 Jimmy Vasser248 Greg Moore249 Jimmy Vasser250 Greg Moore Driver Laps ledAlex Zanardi 63Michael Andretti 62Greg Moore 36Gil de Ferran 26Paul Tracy 22Jimmy Vasser 18Richie Hearn 11Adrián Fernández 9Al Unser Jr. 3
Point standings after race PosDriverPoints 1 Alex Zanardi 190 2 Jimmy Vasser 122 3 Greg Moore 119 4 Michael Andretti 92 5 Adrián Fernández 90
References