1998 CART FedEx Championship Series

1998 CART season
1998 CART season
FedEx Championship Series
Season
Races	19
Start date	March 15
End date	November 1
Awards
Drivers' champion	Alex Zanardi
Constructors' Cup	Reynard
Manufacturers' Cup	Honda
Nations' Cup	United States
Rookie of the Year	Tony Kanaan
	← 1997 1999 →

Last updated August 21, 2025

The 1998 FedEx Championship Series season was the twentieth in the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) era of American open-wheel car racing. It consisted of 19 races, beginning in Homestead, Florida on March 15 and concluding in Fontana, California on November 1. The FedEx Championship Series Drivers' Champion was Alex Zanardi, his second consecutive championship, while the series' Rookie of the Year was Tony Kanaan. This was the first of five years of sponsorship by FDX Corporation, who became FedEx Corporation in 2000.

The season was marred by a deadly crash on lap 175 of the U.S. 500. Adrián Fernández slammed into the outside wall in the fourth turn of Michigan International Speedway. 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. Fernández was uninjured.^[1]

This was the final season with Bobby Rahal on the CART grid. Other notable events of the 1998 season include first wins for Bryan Herta and future Indycar Series and Indianapolis 500 champion Dario Franchitti. Mexican driver Adrián Fernández got his second career win at Twin Ring Motegi, the first race run there by Champ Cars.

Drivers and constructors

The following teams and drivers competed in the 1998 CART Championship Series season.

Team	Chassis	Engine	Tires	No	Drivers	Rounds	Primary Sponsors
Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard 98i	Honda HRK	F	1	Alex Zanardi	All	Target
Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard 98i	Honda HRK	F	12	Jimmy Vasser	All	Target
Marlboro Team Penske	Penske PC-27	Mercedes IC108E	G	2	Al Unser Jr.	All	Marlboro
Marlboro Team Penske	Penske PC-27	Mercedes IC108E	G	3	André Ribeiro	All	Marlboro
Walker Racing	Reynard 98i	Honda HRK	G	5	Gil de Ferran	All	Valvoline
Newman-Haas Racing	Swift 009.c	Ford XB	G	6	Michael Andretti	All	Texaco-Havoline
				11	Christian Fittipaldi	1–6, 8–19	Kmart
				11	Roberto Moreno	7	Kmart
Team Rahal	Reynard 98i	Ford XB	F	7	Bobby Rahal	All	Miller Lite
Team Rahal	Reynard 98i	Ford XB	F	8	Bryan Herta	All	Shell
Hogan Racing	Reynard 98i	Mercedes IC108E	F	9	JJ Lehto	All	Hogan Motor Leasing
Della Penna Motorsports	Swift 009.c	Ford XB	F	10	Richie Hearn	All	Budweiser
Della Penna Motorsports	Swift 009.c	Ford XB	F	43	Hideshi Matsuda	2	BMB Mini-Juke
Project CART	Reynard 98i	Mercedes IC108E	G	15	Roberto Moreno	1–2	Hawaiian Tropic
Project CART	Reynard 98i	Mercedes IC108E	G	15	Domenico Schiattarella	3	Hawaiian Tropic
Bettenhausen Racing	Reynard 98i	Mercedes IC108E	G	16	Hélio Castroneves	All	Alumax
PacWest Racing Group	Reynard 98i	Mercedes IC108E	F	17	Maurício Gugelmin	All	Hollywood Cigarettes
PacWest Racing Group	Reynard 98i	Mercedes IC108E	F	18	Mark Blundell	All	Motorola
Payton/Coyne Racing	Reynard 98i	Ford XB	F	19	Michel Jourdain Jr.	All	Herdez
				34	Dennis Vitolo	1, 4, 6–10, 12, 15–19	SmithKline Beecham 15 Payton/Coyne Racing 3 Banco Cacique 1
				34	Gualter Salles	2–3, 5, 11, 13–14	SmithKline Beecham 15 Payton/Coyne Racing 3 Banco Cacique 1
Patrick Racing	Reynard 98i	Ford XB	F	20	Scott Pruett	All	Visteon
Patrick Racing	Reynard 98i	Ford XB	F	40	Adrián Fernández	All	Tecate Beer
Tasman Motorsports Group	Reynard 98i	Honda HRK	F	21	Tony Kanaan	All	LCI
Arciero-Wells Racing	Reynard 98i	Toyota RV8C	F	24	Hiro Matsushita	1–3, 5	Panasonic
				24	Robby Gordon	4, 6–19	Panasonic
				25	Max Papis	All	MCI Worldcom
Team KOOL Green	Reynard 98i	Honda HRK	F	26	Paul Tracy	All	KOOL
Team KOOL Green	Reynard 98i	Honda HRK	F	27	Dario Franchitti	All	KOOL
Forsythe Racing	Reynard 98i	Mercedes IC108E	F	33	Patrick Carpentier	All	Player's
Forsythe Racing	Reynard 98i	Mercedes IC108E	F	99	Greg Moore	All	Player's
All American Racing	Reynard	Toyota RV8C	G	98	P. J. Jones	1–15	Castrol
	Reynard			36	Alex Barron	1–12
	Eagle 987			36	Alex Barron	13–19
	Eagle 987			98	Vincenzo Sospiri	16–19
Davis Racing	Lola T98/00	Ford XB	G	77	Arnd Meier	All	BAAN Business Software 8 Hasseröder 11

Season summary

Schedule

Rnd	Date	Race Name	Circuit	Location
1	March 15	Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami	O Homestead-Miami Speedway	Homestead, Florida
2	March 28	Budweiser 500K	O Twin Ring Motegi	Motegi, Japan
3	April 5	Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach	S Streets of Long Beach	Long Beach, California
4	April 27*	Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix	O Nazareth Speedway	Nazareth, Pennsylvania
5	May 10	Rio 400K	O Autódromo de Jacarepaguá	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
6	May 23	Motorola 300	O Gateway International Raceway	Madison, Illinois
7	May 31	Miller Lite 200	O Milwaukee Mile	West Allis, Wisconsin
8	June 7	ITT Automotive Detroit Grand Prix	S The Raceway on Belle Isle Park	Detroit, Michigan
9	June 21	Budweiser/G. I. Joe's 200	R Portland International Raceway	Portland, Oregon
10	July 12	Medic Drug Grand Prix of Cleveland	R Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport	Cleveland, Ohio
11	July 19	Molson Indy Toronto	S Exhibition Place	Toronto, Ontario
12	July 26	U.S. 500	O Michigan Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan
13	August 9	Miller Lite 200	R Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course	Lexington, Ohio
14	August 16	Texaco/Havoline 200	R Road America	Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
15	September 6	Molson Indy Vancouver	S Streets of Vancouver	Vancouver, British Columbia
16	September 13	Honda Grand Prix of Monterey	R Laguna Seca Raceway	Monterey, California
17	October 4	Texaco Grand Prix of Houston	S George R. Brown Convention Center	Houston, Texas
18	October 18	Honda Indy 300	S Surfers Paradise Street Circuit	Surfers Paradise, Australia
19	November 1	Marlboro 500	O California Speedway	Fontana, California

– The Nazareth race was scheduled for April 26, but postponed due to rain.
– The Houston race was scheduled for 153 miles, but was shortened due to poor visibility.
O Oval/Speedway
R Road course
S Street circuit

Race results

Round	Race	Pole position	Fastest lap	Race Winner				Race Time	Report
Round	Race	Pole position	Fastest lap	Driver	Team	Chassis	Engine	Race Time	Report
1	Homestead	Greg Moore	Greg Moore	Michael Andretti	Newman-Haas Racing	Swift	Ford	1:33:39	Report
2	Motegi	Jimmy Vasser	Jimmy Vasser	Adrián Fernández	Patrick Racing	Reynard	Ford	1:57:12	Report
3	Long Beach	Bryan Herta	Bobby Rahal	Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	1:51:29	Report
4	Nazareth	Patrick Carpentier	Greg Moore	Jimmy Vasser	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	1:57:20	Report
5	Rio	Dario Franchitti	Alex Zanardi	Greg Moore	Forsythe Racing	Reynard	Mercedes	1:52:14	Report
6	Gateway	Greg Moore	Jimmy Vasser	Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	2:23:02	Report
7	Milwaukee	Patrick Carpentier	Scott Pruett	Jimmy Vasser	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	1:34:17	Report
8	Belle Isle	Greg Moore	Alex Zanardi	Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	1:41:17	Report
9	Portland	Bryan Herta	Patrick Carpentier	Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	1:54:06	Report
10	Cleveland	Jimmy Vasser	Bryan Herta	Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	1:52:22	Report
11	Toronto	Dario Franchitti	Christian Fittipaldi	Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	1:52:24	Report
12	Michigan	Adrián Fernández	Patrick Carpentier	Greg Moore	Forsythe Racing	Reynard	Mercedes	3:00:48	Report
13	Mid-Ohio	Dario Franchitti	Greg Moore	Adrián Fernández	Patrick Racing	Reynard	Ford	1:53:39	Report
14	Road America	Michael Andretti	Alex Zanardi	Dario Franchitti	Team KOOL Green	Reynard	Honda	1:35:30	Report
15	Vancouver	Dario Franchitti	Hélio Castroneves	Dario Franchitti	Team KOOL Green	Reynard	Honda	2:00:37	Report
16	Laguna Seca	Bryan Herta	Tony Kanaan	Bryan Herta	Team Rahal	Reynard	Ford	1:55:13	Report
17	Houston	Greg Moore	Alex Zanardi	Dario Franchitti	Team KOOL Green	Reynard	Honda	1:36:30	Report
18	Surfers Paradise	Dario Franchitti	Alex Zanardi	Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	2:01:51	Report
19	Fontana	Scott Pruett	Greg Moore	Jimmy Vasser	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	3:17:54	Report

Final driver standings

Pos	Driver	HOM	MOT	LBH	NAZ	RIO	GTW	MIL	BEL	POR	CLE	TOR	MIS	MOH	ROA	VAN	LAG	HOU	SUR	CAL	Pts
1	Alex Zanardi	3	23	1	2	2*	1	8	1*	1*	1*	1	3*	12	2	4	2	2	1*	3	285
2	Jimmy Vasser	16	7	8	1	6	4	1*	6	8	7	3	2	27	9	26	5	4	24	1*	169
3	Dario Franchitti	9	8	2	21	19	27	4	4	21	3	20*	21	26	1*	1*	4	1*	2	22	160
4	Adrián Fernández	6	1*	4	26	3	18	9	2	24	5	9	23	1	5	15	7	6	6	4	154
5	Greg Moore	2	4	6	3	1	3	13	5	27	25	11	1	22	21	20	21	26	8	2	141
6	Scott Pruett	5	21	12	22	18	5	10	9	2	4	6	4	2	20	3	18	11	4	20	121
7	Michael Andretti	1*	14	21	18*	5	2*	26	10	17	2	2	6	21	15	2	10	28	20	18	112
8	Bryan Herta	8	28	3	8	4	23	11	21	3	13	5	10	25	23	22	1*	8	10	15	97
9	Tony Kanaan RY	29	6	5	9	27	24	17	8	4	14	22	11	8	4	18	3	3	7	19	92
10	Bobby Rahal	19	17	17	6	8	8	5	11	6	8	4	7	3	8	25	16	23	25	11	82
11	Al Unser Jr.	22	2	29	15	16	19	3	24	5	17	17	22	6	27	5	6	7	22	27	72
12	Gil de Ferran	7	3	20*	4	26	6	22	3	20	6	27	16	9	16	13	19	21	14	17	67
13	Paul Tracy	27	5	25	5	25	26	7	7	28	19	14	9	5	6	11	8	20	23	14	61
14	Christian Fittipaldi	4	25	26	11	21	11	Wth	17	26	11	16	25	13	3	14	9	27	3	7	56
15	Maurício Gugelmin	10	20	10	17	9	16	21	19	7	20	12	13	4*	19	6	27	18	12	5	49
16	Richie Hearn	13	27	23	10	7	28	6	23	10	18	7	5	24	13	16	11	9	18	8	47
17	Hélio Castroneves R	24	11	9	23	23	7	2	12	13	27	10	12	17	26	24	23	24	21	10	36
18	Mark Blundell	12	10	7	20	11	10	12	22	22	10	26	17	19	7	12	25	14	11	6	36
19	Patrick Carpentier	11	19	28	13	17	15	25	15	9	9	25	8	7	28	27	17	22	9	26	27
20	JJ Lehto R	14	29	18	16	10	9	19	26	25	28	24	20	15	18	8	28	10	5	21	25
21	Max Papis	26	13	24	14	28	22	16	18	11	12	8	19	14	11	9	12	5	17	16	25
22	André Ribeiro	17	9	22	DNQ	22	20	18	16	15	22	23	28	10	25	7	14	17	13	28	13
23	Robby Gordon				7		13	20	14	23	23	13	27	11	12	23	13	13	16	9	13
24	Michel Jourdain Jr.	28	22	27	12	24	17	15	13	19	26	18	18	28	14	10	24	25	26	12	5
25	Arnd Meier	21	15	15	24	14	21	23	27	12	16	15	14	18	10	28	15	16	27	24	4
26	P. J. Jones	20	30	11	19	13	12	14	25	16	21	19	24	20	22	21					3
27	Alex Barron R	18	24	14	DNQ	12	14	DNQ	20	14	15	28	15	16	24	19	20	12	19	13	2
28	Gualter Salles		12	13		20						21		23	17						1
29	Vincenzo Sospiri R																22	15	15	23	0
30	Hiro Matsushita	23	16	19		15															0
31	Roberto Moreno	15	26					24													0
32	Domenico Schiattarella			16																	0
33	Dennis Vitolo	25			25		25	DNQ	28	18	24		26			17	26	19	DNQ	25	0
34	Hideshi Matsuda		18																		0
Pos	Driver	HOM	MOT	LBH	NAZ	RIO	GTW	MIL	BEL	POR	CLE	TOR	MIS	MOH	ROA	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 not participate (DNP)
Blank	Not competing

In-line notation
Bold	Pole position
Italics	Ran fastest race lap
*	Led most race laps
RY	Rookie of the Year
R	Rookie

Nations' Cup

Top result per race counts towards Nations' Cup.

Pos	Country	HOM	MOT	LBH	NAZ	RIO	GTW	MIL	BEL	POR	CLE	TOR	MIS	MOH	ROA	VAN	LAG	HOU	SUR	CAL	Pts
1	United States	1	2	3	1	4	2	1	6	2	2	2	2	2	8	2	1	4	4	1	303
2	Italy	3	13	1	2	2	1	8	1	1	1	1	3	12	2	4	2	2	1	3	286
3	Brazil	4	3	5	4	9	6	2	3	4	6	10	11	4	3	6	3	3	3	5	203
4	Canada	2	4	6	3	1	3	7	5	9	9	11	1	5	6	11	8	20	8	2	182
5	United Kingdom	9	8	2	20	11	10	4	4	21	3	20	17	19	1	1	4	1	2	6	168
6	Mexico	6	1	4	12	3	17	9	2	19	5	9	18	1	5	10	7	6	6	4	158
7	Finland	14	29	18	16	10	9	19	26	25	28	24	20	15	18	8	28	10	5	21	25
8	Germany	21	15	15	24	14	21	23	27	12	16	15	14	18	10	28	15	16	27	24	4
9	Japan	23	16	19		15															0
Pos	Country	HOM	MOT	LBH	NAZ	RIO	GTW	MIL	BEL	POR	CLE	TOR	MIS	MOH	ROA	VAN	LAG	HOU	SUR	CAL	Pts

Chassis Constructors' Cup

Pos	Chassis	Pts	Wins
1	Reynard 98I	409	18
2	Swift 009.c	167	1
3	Penske PC-27	72	0
4	Lola T98/00	4	0
5	Eagle 987	1	0
Pos	Chassis	Pts	Wins

Engine Manufacturers' Cup

Pos	Engine	Pts	Wins
1	Honda	365	13
2	Ford XB	293	4
3	Mercedes	226	2
4	Toyota	41	0
Pos	Engine	Pts	Wins

Driver breakdown

Pos	Driver	Team	Entries	Wins	Podiums	Top 5s	Top 10s	Poles	Points
1	Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	19	7	15	16	17	0	285
2	Vasser	Chip Ganassi Racing	19	3	5	8	15	2	169
3	Franchitti	Team KOOL Green	19	3	6	9	11	5	160
4	Fernandez	Patrick Racing	19	2	4	8	14	1	154
5	Moore	Forsythe Racing	19	2	6	8	10	4	141
6	Pruett	Patrick Racing	19	0	3	8	11	1	121
7	Andretti	Newman-Haas Racing	19	1	5	6	9	1	112
8	Herta	Team Rahal	19	1	3	5	10	3	97
9	Kanaan	Tasman Racing	19	0	2	5	10	0	92
10	Rahal	Team Rahal	19	0	1	3	10	0	82
11	Unser Jr.	Marlboro Team Penske	19	0	2	4	7	0	72
12	de Ferran	Walker Racing	19	0	2	3	7	0	67
13	Tracy	Team KOOL Green	19	0	0	3	8	0	61
14	Fittipaldi	Newman-Haas Racing	18	0	2	3	5	0	56
15	Gugelmin	PacWest Racing	19	0	0	2	7	0	49
16	Hearn	Della Penna Motorsports	19	0	0	1	8	0	47
17	Castroneves	Bettenhausen Racing	19	0	1	1	5	0	36
17	Blundell	PacWest Racing	19	0	0	0	6	0	36
19	Carpentier	Forsythe Racing	19	0	0	0	5	2	27
20	Lehto	Hogan Racing	19	0	0	1	5	0	25
20	Papis	Arciero-Wells Racing	19	0	0	1	3	0	25
22	Ribeiro	Marlboro Team Penske	18	0	0	0	3	0	13
22	Gordon	Arciero-Wells Racing	15	0	0	0	2	0	13
24	Jourdain Jr.	Dale Coyne Racing	19	0	0	0	1	0	5
25	Meier	Davis Racing	19	0	0	0	1	0	4
26	Jones	All American Racing	15	0	0	0	0	0	3
27	Barron	All American Racing	17	0	0	0	0	0	2
28	Salles	Dale Coyne Racing	6	0	0	0	0	0	1
29	Vitolo	Dale Coyne Racing	11	0	0	0	0	0	0
29	Sospiri	All American Racing	4	0	0	0	0	0	0
29	Matsushita	Arciero-Wells Racing	4	0	0	0	0	0	0
29	Moreno	Newman-Haas Racing Project CART	3	0	0	0	0	0	0
29	Schiattarella	Project CART	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
29	Matsuda	Beck Motorsports	1	0	0	0	0	0	0

References

↑ Glick, Shav (July 27, 1998). "Three spectators die at U.S. 500". Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on January 20, 2012.

Åberg, Andreas. "CART FedEx Champ Car World Series 1998". Driver Database. Archived from the original on June 30, 2009. Retrieved May 19, 2009.
"1998 CART FedEx Champ Car World Series". Champ Car Stats. Archived from the original on April 30, 2009. Retrieved May 19, 2009.
"Federal Express Signs Title Sponsorship Agreement with Championship Auto Racing Teams" (Press release). FDX Corporation. December 9, 1997. Archived from the original on June 29, 2009. Retrieved May 20, 2009.
"FedEx Renews Title Sponsorship Agreement with Championship Auto Racing Teams; FedEx Championship Series Roars into 2002" (Press release). FedEx Corporation. November 7, 2001. Archived from the original on June 29, 2009. Retrieved May 20, 2009.
"Standings after California". Champ Car World Series. Archived from the original on June 29, 2009. Retrieved May 19, 2009.

v t e American Championship car racing (Indy car) seasons
AAA	1905 1906–1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942–1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955
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CCWS	2004 2005 2006 2007 ~~2008~~
IRL	1996 1996–97 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002
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