The 1999 U.S. 500 was the twelfth round of the 1999 CART FedEx Champ Car World Series season, held on July 25, 1999 at the Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan.
Report
Race The qualifying saw Jimmy Vasser take the pole with Adrián Fernández alongside, but at the second attempt to start (the first was called off due to field alignment issues), it was the second-row starters Juan Pablo Montoya and Michael Andretti who raced away into the first two spots. In the early stages, the duo exchanged the lead many times (most unofficial, though) before Andretti was able to build a lead. He led until the second round of pit stops when a caution due to Gil de Ferran's crash bunched the field up, allowing second-placed Montoya to close and pass him on the restart. The duo again battled for the lead, but then Max Papis surged bast both of them and began to pull away. Papis led comfortably until a crash for P. J. Jones erased a nine-second lead and allowed Andretti to jump him in the pit stops. The restart saw Papis battle with Andretti and Dario Franchitti for a few laps before breaking away again, only for another caution caused by Scott Pruett's crash to again bring the field closer to him. Once again Papis was able to pull away from his pursuers when the race went green, as an epic battle for second commenced between the Team Green duo of Franchitti and Paul Tracy, and the Newman-Haas duo of Andretti and Christian Fittipaldi, which was later joined by Montoya and Tony Kanaan as well. After the final round of pit stops, Papis continued to lead, though Kanaan, on an alternate strategy was able to run 5-7 laps longer than other frontrunners and thus had a shorter stop and was up to second, only three seconds behind Papis, and well ahead of a battle between Andretti, Franchitti, and Tracy for third. Kanaan initially closed up on Papis, but Papis was able to pull away again, and, behind them, the Ganassi drivers, Montoya and Jimmy Vasser started to set a searing pace. Both passed Andretti, Franchitti, and Tracy and set off after Kanaan, lapping much quicker than anyone else. However, Vasser had to pit for more fuel after a problem with the fuel rig, and this also made Montoya's task harder as he now had to chase Kanaan on his own without his teammate's help. Papis continued to lead and was well set to take his first career win only for his car to run out of fuel midway through the last lap. Kanaan went by but Montoya was right with him and attempted to pass him at the line. Kanaan however, held on to beat Montoya by 0.032 seconds, with Tracy taking the final step of the podium after passing Andretti at the line.
Classification
Race Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 44 Tony Kanaan Forsythe Racing 250 2:41:12.632 11 20 2 4 Juan Pablo Montoya Chip Ganassi Racing 250 +0.032 3 16 3 26 Paul Tracy Team Green 250 +8.453 8 14 4 6 Michael Andretti Newman-Haas Racing 250 +8.506 4 12 5 27 Dario Franchitti Team Green 250 +9.137 9 10 6 40 Adrián Fernández Patrick Racing 250 +9.521 2 8 7 7 Max Papis Team Rahal 250 +10.343 6 6+1 8 11 Christian Fittipaldi Newman-Haas Racing 250 +15.410 16 5 9 12 Jimmy Vasser Chip Ganassi Racing 249 +1 Lap 1 4+1 10 33 Patrick Carpentier Forsythe Racing 248 +2 Laps 12 3 11 34 Dennis Vitolo Payton/Coyne Racing 232 +18 Laps 23 2 12 10 Richie Hearn Della Penna Motorsports 207 Electrical 20 1 13 2 Al Unser Jr. Team Penske 206 Engine 13 14 24 Scott Pruett Arciero-Wells Racing 183 Contact 5 15 36 Gualter Salles All American Racing 146 Engine 24 16 20 P. J. Jones Patrick Racing 132 Contact 22 17 25 Cristiano da Matta Arciero-Wells Racing 126 Electrical 10 18 3 Alex Barron Team Penske 120 Engine 18 19 18 Roberto Moreno PacWest Racing 113 Handling 13 20 8 Bryan Herta Team Rahal 92 Suspension 7 21 19 Michel Jourdain Jr. Payton/Coyne Racing 80 Driveshaft 26 22 17 Maurício Gugelmin PacWest Racing 64 Radiator 14 23 99 Greg Moore Forsythe Racing 63 Transmission 21 24 5 Gil de Ferran Walker Racing 59 Contact 15 25 9 Hélio Castro-Neves Hogan Racing 47 Electrical 19 26 22 Robby Gordon Team Gordon 33 Handling 25
Caution flags Laps Cause1 Field not aligned61-71 de Ferran (5) contact137-144 Jones (20) contact185-193 Pruett (24) contact
Lap Leaders
Laps Leader1 Jimmy Vasser 2-7 Juan Pablo Montoya 8 Michael Andretti 9-18 Juan Pablo Montoya 19-36 Michael Andretti 37-38 Paul Tracy 39-70 Michael Andretti 71-72 Juan Pablo Montoya 73 Michael Andretti 74 Juan Pablo Montoya 75 Michael Andretti 76-83 Juan Pablo Montoya 84-105 Max Papis 106-107 Michael Andretti 108-139 Max Papis 140-144 Michael Andretti 145-147 Max Papis 148 Dario Franchitti149-151 Max Papis 152 Dario Franchitti153 Michael Andretti 154-177 Max Papis 178 Dario Franchitti179-182 Michael Andretti 183-220 Max Papis 221 Juan Pablo Montoya 222 Dario Franchitti223-228 Tony Kanaan 229-249 Max Papis 250 Tony Kanaan Driver Laps ledMax Papis 143Michael Andretti 65Juan Pablo Montoya 28Tony Kanaan 7Dario Franchitti 4Paul Tracy 2Jimmy Vasser 1
Point standings after race PosDriverPoints 1 Juan Pablo Montoya 129 2 Dario Franchitti 116 3 Michael Andretti 107 4 Christian Fittipaldi 101 5 Adrián Fernández 95
References