1998 Marlboro 500 Presented by Toyota

1998 Fontana
Race details
Race 19 of 19 in the 1998 CART season
	California Speedway
Date	1 November, 1998
Official name	1998 Marlboro 500 Presented by Toyota
Location	California Speedway; Fontana, California
Course	Permanent oval course; 2.029 mi / 3.265 km
Distance	250 laps; 507.25 mi / 816.25 km
Weather	Temperatures reaching up to 75.9 °F (24.4 °C); wind speeds up to 11.1 miles per hour (17.9 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Scott Pruett (Patrick Racing)
Time	31.249
Fastest lap
Driver	Greg Moore (Forsythe Racing)
Time	31.119 (on lap 78 of 250)
Podium
First	Jimmy Vasser (Chip Ganassi Racing)
Second	Greg Moore (Forsythe Racing)
Third	Alex Zanardi (Chip Ganassi Racing)

The 1998 Marlboro 500 Presented by Toyota was the nineteenth and final time of the 1998 CART FedEx Championship Series season. The race was held 1 November 1998, and was the 2nd running of the Marlboro 500 at California Speedway. It was won by Jimmy Vasser who passed Greg Moore at a final lap restart of a long race, which took well over 3 hours and also had many retirements. This marks the final Champ Car race for the 3-Time Champion Bobby Rahal and also marked the final career podium for the two-time champion Alex Zanardi.

Qualifying results

Pos	Name	Team	Chassis	Time
1	Scott Pruett	Patrick Racing	Reynard 98i Ford-Cosworth	31.249
2	Jimmy Vasser	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard 98i Honda	31.301
3	Michael Andretti	Newman-Haas Racing	Swift 009.c Ford-Cosworth	31.372
4	Richie Hearn	Della Penna Motorsports	Swift 009.c Ford-Cosworth	31.377
5	Bobby Rahal	Team Rahal	Reynard 98i Ford-Cosworth	31.394
6	Maurício Gugelmin	PacWest Racing	Reynard 98i Mercedes-Benz	31.429
7	Mark Blundell	PacWest Racing	Reynard 98i Mercedes-Benz	31.441
8	Dario Franchitti	Team Green	Reynard 98i Honda	31.514
9	Greg Moore	Forsythe Racing	Reynard 98i Mercedes-Benz	31.523
10	Gil de Ferran	Walker Racing	Reynard 98i Honda	31.619
11	Christian Fittipaldi	Newman-Haas Racing	Swift 009.c Ford-Cosworth	31.646
12	Paul Tracy	Team Green	Reynard 98i Honda	31.648
13	Al Unser Jr.	Team Penske	Penske PC27 Mercedes-Benz	31.650
14	Patrick Carpentier	Forsythe Racing	Reynard 98i Mercedes-Benz	31.688
15	Alex Barron	All American Racers	Eagle 987 Toyota	31.699
16	Hélio Castroneves	Bettenhausen Racing	Reynard 98i Mercedes-Benz	31.754
17	Bryan Herta	Team Rahal	Reynard 98i Ford-Cosworth	31.766
18	Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard 98i Honda	31.824
19	André Ribeiro	Team Penske	Penske PC27 Mercedes-Benz	31.887
20	JJ Lehto	Hogan Racing	Reynard 98i Mercedes-Benz	31.940
21	Arnd Meier	Davis Racing	Lola T98/00 Ford-Cosworth	31.973
22	Robby Gordon	Arciero-Wells Racing	Reynard 98i Toyota	32.013
23	Tony Kanaan	Tasman Motorsports	Reynard 98i Honda	32.077
24	Max Papis	Arciero-Wells Racing	Reynard 98i Toyota	32.114
25	Michel Jourdain Jr.	Payton/Coyne Racing	Reynard 98i Ford-Cosworth	32.462
26	Vincenzo Sospiri	All American Racers	Eagle Toyota	No time
27	Adrian Fernandez	Patrick Racing	Reynard 98i Ford-Cosworth	No time
28	Dennis Vitolo	Payton/Coyne Racing	Reynard 98i Ford-Cosworth	No time

Classification

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	12	Jimmy Vasser	Chip Ganassi Racing	250	3:17:54.639	2	20+1
2	99	Greg Moore	Forsythe Racing	250	+0.360	9	16
3	1	Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	250	+1.117	18	14
4	40	Adrián Fernández	Patrick Racing	250	+1.137	27	12
5	17	Maurício Gugelmin	PacWest Racing Group	250	+1.164	6	10
6	18	Mark Blundell	PacWest Racing Group	250	+1.463	7	8
7	11	Christian Fittipaldi	Newman-Haas Racing	250	+2.486	11	6
8	10	Richie Hearn	Della Penna Motorsports	250	+11.685	4	5
9	24	Robby Gordon	Arciero-Wells Racing	249	+1 Lap	22	4
10	16	Hélio Castro-Neves	Bettenhausen Racing	249	+1 Lap	16	3
11	7	Bobby Rahal	Team Rahal	249	+1 Lap	5	2
12	19	Michel Jourdain Jr.	Payton/Coyne Racing	247	+3 Laps	25	1
13	36	Alex Barron	All American Racing	246	+4 Laps	15
14	26	Paul Tracy	Team Green	245	Contact	12
15	8	Bryan Herta	Team Rahal	239	Contact	17
16	25	Max Papis	Arciero-Wells Racing	239	Contact	24
17	5	Gil de Ferran	Walker Racing	232	Engine	10
18	6	Michael Andretti	Newman-Haas Racing	210	Contact	3
19	21	Tony Kanaan	Tasman Motorsports Group	171	Wheel Bearing	23
20	20	Scott Pruett	Patrick Racing	138	Contact	1	1
21	9	JJ Lehto	Hogan Racing	124	Engine	20
22	27	Dario Franchitti	Team Green	112	Engine	8
23	98	Vincenzo Sospiri	All American Racing	94	Water leak	26
24	77	Arnd Meier	Davis Racing	85	Engine	21
25	34	Dennis Vitolo	Payton/Coyne Racing	66	Suspension	28
26	33	Patrick Carpentier	Forsythe Racing	59	Transmission	14
27	2	Al Unser Jr.	Team Penske	33	Oil leak	13
28	3	André Ribeiro	Team Penske	6	Contact	19

Caution flags

Laps	Cause
8–17	Ribeiro (3) contact
89–96	Meier (77) engine blow-up
113–121	Franchitti (27) engine blow-up
127–130	Lehto (9) engine blow-up
140–148	Pruett (20) contact
184–193	Hearn (10) spin
212–221	Andretti (6) contact
236–240	de Ferran (5) engine blow-up
241–246	Herta (8), Papis (24) contact
247–249	Tracy (26) contact

Lap Leaders

Laps	Leader
1–2	Jimmy Vasser
3	Michael Andretti
4–24	Jimmy Vasser
25–40	Michael Andretti
41–42	Greg Moore
43–44	Maurício Gugelmin
45–51	Richie Hearn
52–58	Greg Moore
59–70	Michael Andretti
71–80	Greg Moore
81	Maurício Gugelmin
82	Mark Blundell
83–84	Maurício Gugelmin
85–121	Greg Moore
122–130	Maurício Gugelmin
131–141	Paul Tracy
142–150	Michael Andretti
151–181	Jimmy Vasser
182–200	Maurício Gugelmin
201–206	Michael Andretti
207–213	Jimmy Vasser
214–220	Maurício Gugelmin
221–245	Paul Tracy
246–248	Greg Moore
249–250	Jimmy Vasser

Driver	Laps led
Jimmy Vasser	63
Greg Moore	59
Michael Andretti	44
Maurício Gugelmin	40
Paul Tracy	36
Richie Hearn	7
Mark Blundell	1

Point standings after race

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Alex Zanardi	285
2	Jimmy Vasser	169
3	Dario Franchitti	160
4	Adrián Fernández	154
5	Greg Moore	141

References

^ "1998 Marlboro 500 Presented by Toyota weather information". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved 13 July 2013.

[1] "1998 Marlboro 500 Presented by Toyota weather information". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved 13 July 2013.

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