The 1999 FedEx Championship Series season was the twenty-first in the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) era of American open-wheel car racing. It consisted of 20 races, beginning in Homestead, Florida on March 21 and concluding in Fontana, California on October 31. The season was marred by the fatal accidents of Gonzalo Rodríguez during practice for the Laguna Seca round and Greg Moore at the final round, in addition to various injuries that took several drivers out of championship contention.
Juan Pablo Montoya, in his first CART season after two successful seasons in International Formula 3000, won the championship and the Rookie of the Year honors, the second and final driver to win both awards in the same season, after Nigel Mansell in 1993. The season ended in a tie, with Montoya and Dario Franchitti both having 212 championship points, though Montoya broke the tie-breaker due to having seven wins, over Franchitti's three.
With Al Unser Jr. running his final season in the series, 1999 was the last year in which the Al Unser name was on the CART grid. Also, this was the first season without Bobby Rahal on the grid. Mercedes-Benz scored their final pole and victory with Greg Moore at the season opener before they ended their participation in American open-wheel racing at the end of 2000.
Constructors The following teams and drivers competed in the 1999 CART Championship Series season. For the first time since 1987, Team Penske decided to use customer chassis, running Lola B99/00 cars alongside their own PC-27B. TeamChassisEngineTyreNoDriversRacesPrimary Sponsors Marlboro Team Penske Lola B99/00 Mercedes IC 108E32 Al Unser Jr. 6–11, 13–17MarlboroPenske PC-27B1, 4–5, 12, 18–20 Tarso Marques2–335–6, 8Lola B99/009 Gonzalo Rodríguez13, 17Penske PC-27B Alex Barron12, 20 Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard 99i Honda HRS 4 Juan Pablo Montoya All Target 12 Jimmy Vasser All Walker Racing Reynard 99i Honda HRS 5 Gil de Ferran All Valvoline15 Naoki Hattori1, 13–14, 16–20Alpine Memo Gidley8–11 Newman/Haas Racing Swift 010.c Ford-Cosworth XD 6 Michael Andretti All Texaco-Havoline 11 Christian Fittipaldi 1–12, 18–20 Big Kmart Roberto Moreno 13–17 Team Rahal Reynard 99i Ford-Cosworth XD 7 Max Papis All Miller Lite 8 Bryan Herta All Shell Hogan Racing Lola B99/00 Mercedes IC 108E3 9 Hélio Castroneves All Hogan Motor Leasing21 Luiz Garcia Jr.14, 16–17Tang Della Penna Motorsports Swift 010.c Toyota RV8D 10 Richie Hearn 1–5 Budweiser Reynard 99i 6–20 Bettenhausen RacingReynard 99iMercedes IC 108E316 Shigeaki Hattori 2–4, 6–8, 11, 15, 17Epson Gualter Salles5, 19 PacWest Racing Reynard 99i Mercedes IC 108E3 17 Maurício Gugelmin All Hollywood Cigarettes 18 Mark Blundell 1–4, 13–20 Motorola Roberto Moreno 5–12 Payton/Coyne Racing Lola B99/00 Ford-Cosworth XD 19 Michel Jourdain Jr. All Herdez Reynard 99i 34 Dennis Vitolo 1, 4, 6–7, 12, 15, 20 NicoDerm Gualter Salles 3 Refrigicent 71 Luiz Garcia Jr. 1–3, 5, 8–10 Tang Dennis Vitolo 11 Memo Gidley 13–14, 16–19 Herdez Patrick Racing Reynard 99i Ford-Cosworth XD 40 Adrian Fernández 1–12, 17–20 Tecate Beer P. J. Jones 14–16 20 1–2 Visteon Swift 010.c 3–12, 20 Jan Magnussen 13 Reynard 99i 14–19 Team Gordon Swift 010.c Toyota RV8D 22 Robby Gordon 1–14, 19 Johns Manville Eagle 997 15–18, 20 Arciero-Wells Racing Reynard 99i Toyota RV8D 24 Scott Pruett All Pioneer 25 Cristiano da Matta All MCI WorldCom Team KOOL Green Reynard 99i Honda HRS 26 Raul Boesel 1 KOOL Paul Tracy 2–20 27 Dario Franchitti All Forsythe Racing Reynard 99i Mercedes IC 108E3 33 Patrick Carpentier 1–13, 15–20 Player's 99 Greg Moore All Forsythe Championship Racing Honda HRS 44 Tony Kanaan All McDonald's All American Racing Eagle 997 Toyota RV8D 36 Alex Barron 1–7 Castrol Gualter Salles 8–14 Raul Boesel 15, 20 Andrea Montermini 16–19
Schedule Icon Legend Oval/Speedway Road course Street circuit
Rnd Date Race Name Circuit Location 1 March 21 Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami, presented by Toyota Homestead-Miami Speedway Homestead, Florida 2 April 10 Firestone Firehawk 500K Twin Ring Motegi Motegi, Japan 3 April 18 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Streets of Long Beach Long Beach, California 4 May 2 Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix Nazareth Speedway Nazareth, Pennsylvania 5 May 15 Telemar Rio 200 Autódromo de Jacarepaguá Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 6 May 29 Motorola 300 Gateway International Raceway Madison, Illinois 7 June 6 Miller Lite 225 Milwaukee Mile West Allis, Wisconsin 8 June 20 Budweiser/G. I. Joe's 200 Portland International Raceway Portland, Oregon 9 June 27 Medic Drug Grand Prix of Cleveland Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport Cleveland, Ohio 10 July 11 Texaco/Havoline 200 Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin 11 July 18 Molson Indy Toronto Exhibition Place Toronto, Ontario 12 July 25 U.S. 500 Michigan Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan 13 August 8 Tenneco Automotive Grand Prix of Detroit The Raceway on Belle Isle Park Detroit, Michigan 14 August 15 Miller Lite 200 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, Ohio 15 August 22 Target Grand Prix of Chicago Chicago Motor Speedway Cicero, Illinois 16 September 5 Molson Indy Vancouver Concord Pacific Place Vancouver, British Columbia 17 September 12 Honda Grand Prix of Monterey, featuring The Shell 300 Laguna Seca Raceway Monterey, California 18 September 26 Texaco Grand Prix of Houston George R. Brown Convention Center Houston, Texas 19 October 17 Honda Indy 300 Surfers Paradise Street Circuit Surfers Paradise, Australia 20 October 31 Marlboro 500 California Speedway Fontana, California – Cleveland was scheduled for 211 miles, but was shortened due to the 2-hour time limit. – Detroit was scheduled for 176 miles, but was shortened due to the 2-hour time limit. – Vancouver was scheduled for 160 miles, but was shortened due to the 2-hour time limit.
Results
RoundRacePole positionFastest lapRace WinnerRace TimeReportDriverTeamChassisEngine 1 Homestead Greg Moore Dario Franchitti Greg Moore Reynard Mercedes1:38:54 Report 2 Motegi Gil de Ferran Hélio Castroneves Adrián Fernández Patrick Racing Reynard Ford1:46:01 Report 3 Long Beach Tony Kanaan Juan Pablo Montoya Juan Pablo Montoya Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda1:45:48 Report 4 Nazareth Juan Pablo Montoya Hélio Castroneves Juan Pablo Montoya Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda1:46:13 Report 5 Rio Christian Fittipaldi Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda1:36:32 Report 6 Gateway Hélio Castroneves Michael Andretti Swift 010.c Ford2:25:35 Report 7 Milwaukee Hélio Castroneves Hélio Castroneves Paul Tracy Team KOOL Green Reynard Honda1:48:49 Report 8 Portland Juan Pablo Montoya Michael Andretti Gil de Ferran Walker Racing Reynard Honda1:47:44 Report 9 Cleveland Juan Pablo Montoya Gil de Ferran Juan Pablo Montoya Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda2:01:04 Report 10 Road America Michael Andretti Hélio Castroneves Christian Fittipaldi Newman/Haas Racing Swift 010.c Ford1:37:00 Report 11 Toronto Gil de Ferran Dario Franchitti Dario Franchitti Team KOOL Green Reynard Honda1:56:27 Report 12 U.S. 500 Jimmy Vasser Jimmy Vasser Tony Kanaan Forsythe Racing Reynard Honda2:41:42 Report 13 Belle Isle Juan Pablo Montoya Juan Pablo Montoya Dario Franchitti Team KOOL Green Reynard Honda2:02:24 Report 14 Mid-Ohio Dario Franchitti Juan Pablo Montoya Juan Pablo Montoya Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda1:42:08 Report 15 Chicago Max Papis Roberto Moreno Juan Pablo Montoya Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda1:53:38 Report 16 Vancouver Juan Pablo Montoya Juan Pablo Montoya Juan Pablo Montoya Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda2:01:08 Report 17 Laguna Seca Bryan Herta Tony Kanaan Bryan Herta Team Rahal Reynard Ford1:49:20 Report 18 Houston Juan Pablo Montoya Juan Pablo Montoya Paul Tracy Team KOOL Green Reynard Honda1:55:31 Report 19 Surfers Paradise Dario Franchitti Max Papis Dario Franchitti Team KOOL Green Reynard Honda1:58:40 Report 20 Fontana Scott Pruett Christian Fittipaldi Adrián Fernández Patrick Racing Reynard Ford2:57:17 ReportNC Hawaiian Super PrixEvent cancelled
Scoring system
Points were awarded to the top twelve classified drivers in every race, using the following system:
+ 1999 CART Championship points system Positions 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th Points 20 16 14 12 10 8 6 5 4 3 2 1 Source
Final driver standings
Pos Driver HOM MOT LBH NAZ RIO GTW MIL POR CLE ROA TOR MIS BEL MOH CMS VAN LAG HOU SUR CAL Pts 1 10 13 1 1* 1* 11 10* 2 1* 13* 22 2 17* 1 1* 1* 8 25 16 4 212 2 Dario Franchitti 3 22 2 8 2 3 7 3 25 18 1* 5 1 3* 2 10 25 2 1* 10 212 3 Paul Tracy 11 21 3 15 19 1 5 4 11 2 3 2 2 23 18 4 1* 7 18 161 4 Michael Andretti 2 5 7 6 26 1* 15 10 3 2 26 4 4 8 22 14 10 3 5 21 151 5 Max Papis 5 16 9 13 4 5 13 8 16 5 5 7* 26 5 4 23 3 4 2 2* 150 6 Adrián Fernández 20 1* 4 5 20 21 5 4 19 3 6 6 Wth 5 12 3 1 140 7 Christian Fittipaldi 9 3 5 7 3 9 6 14 12 1 3 8 7 25 3 121 8 Gil de Ferran 6 2 6 15 10 25 3 1* 2 14 19 24 22 6 13 26 6 17 27 9 108 9 Jimmy Vasser 4 12 10 11 27 10 4 12 23 23 8 9 5 4 3 3 18 20 18 5 104 10 Greg Moore † 1* 4 8 12 8 6 2 13 18 4 20 23 3 11 26 20 23 16 17 26 97 11 Tony Kanaan 21 6 22* 23 5 7 18 15 22 6 17 1 6 23 11 9 21 9 6 8 85 12 Bryan Herta 12 23 3 22 13 23 25 6 6 15 15 20 9 21 8 24 1* 5 4 14 84 13 Patrick Carpentier 7 26 17 14 6 22 9 9 7 22 11 10 23 6 2 9 19 24 25 61 14 Roberto Moreno 11 4 12 7 8 19 4 19 14 16 9 15 2 58 15 Hélio Castroneves 17 9 19 21 25 2 26 26 26 16 27 25 7 7 5 8 26 26 21 20 48 16 Maurício Gugelmin 11 7 14 18 22 18 8 25 21 12 14 22 24 20 19 4 11 6 26 6 44 17 P. J. Jones 13 15 12 2 7 8 20 21 15 17 10 16 15 7 21 12 38 18 Cristiano da Matta 14 25 20 4 21 17 11 11 20 21 24 17 19 9 14 5 22 11 13 23 32 19 Scott Pruett 22 21 15 10 24 14 17 24 17 25 7 14 8 17 20 13 7 10 9 22 28 20 Robby Gordon 19 8 16 19 14 27 24 17 9 8 13 26 25 10 10 22 19 21 8 11 27 21 Al Unser Jr. 26 24 12 12 19 16 5 9 9 13 15 25 25 25 DNS 15 22 7 26 22 Richie Hearn 23 10 11 20 19 13 21 22 10 10 16 12 13 12 16 6 16 8 23 27 26 23 Mark Blundell 8 24 13 17 10 13 21 19 12 24 19 16 9 24 Jan Magnussen 18 14 24 7 17 13 11 8 25 Michel Jourdain Jr. 18 18 18 16 16 20 16 20 27 7 21 21 21 26 18 17 20 18 12 13 7 26 Gualter Salles 27 17 27 13 20 25 15 11 18 10 5 27 Alex Barron 15 17 23 9 23 16 14 18 24 4 28 Tarso Marques 14 25 9 26 18 24 4 29 Memo Gidley 19 11 26 12 20 22 12 13 14 14 4 30 Dennis Vitolo 16 DNS 24 22 18 11 15 15 2 31 Andrea Montermini 11 24 23 15 2 32 Raul Boesel 27 12 17 1 33 Gonzalo Rodríguez † 12 DNS 1 34 Luiz Garcia Jr. 24 19 24 18 23 14 24 24 DNS 16 15 0 35 Naoki Hattori 25 16 19 27 14 22 20 19 0 36 Shigeaki Hattori Wth 20 26 Wth 15 23 28 23 17 DNS 0 Pos Driver HOM MOT LBH NAZ RIO GTW MIL POR CLE ROA TOR MIS BEL MOH CMS VAN LAG HOU SUR CAL Pts Color Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green 4th–6th place Light Blue 7th–12th place Dark Blue Finished(Outside Top 12) Purple Did not finish Red Did not qualify(DNQ) Brown Withdrawn(Wth) Black Disqualified(DSQ) White Did not start(DNS) Blank Did notparticipate(DNP) Not competingIn-line notationBoldPole positionItalicsRan fastest race lap*Led most race laps†Fatal accident Rookie of the Year Rookie
Note: Gonzalo Rodríguez died in qualifying at Laguna Seca Raceway after his car crashed into a barrier and flipped while trying to navigate the track's Corkscrew turn, suffering a fatal basilar skull fracture. He was 28 years old. Greg Moore died in the season finale at California Speedway after a crash in the early laps. His car lost control coming off Turn 2, flipped over, impacted the inside wall, and flipped several more times. Moore suffered fatal head and internal injuries from the accident. He was 24 years old.
Nations' Cup
Top result per race counts towards Nations' Cup.