1998 Marlboro 500 Presented by Toyota

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.

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)

Qualifying results

Pos	Nat	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