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1998 Texaco Grand Prix of Houston

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
United States 1998 Houston
Race details
Race 17 of 19 in the 1998 CART season
Original track layout of the Houston Grand Prix.
DateOctober 4, 1998
Official name1998 Texaco Grand Prix of Houston
LocationGeorge R. Brown Convention Center
Houston, Texas, United States
CourseTemporary street course
1.527 mi / 2.457 km
Distance70 laps
106.89 mi / 171.99 km
WeatherHeavy rain
Pole position
DriverGreg Moore (Forsythe Racing)
Time59.508
Fastest lap
DriverAlex Zanardi (Chip Ganassi Racing)
Time1:02.797 (on lap 59 of 70)
Podium
FirstDario Franchitti (Team KOOL Green)
SecondAlex Zanardi (Chip Ganassi Racing)
ThirdTony Kanaan (Tasman Motorsports Group)

The 1998 Texaco Grand Prix of Houston was the seventeenth round of the 1998 CART FedEx Champ Car World Series season, held on October 4, 1998, at a street adjacent to the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas. The race was a rain-interrupted race, with the start being delayed 30 minutes due to heavy rain.[1] Another heavy rainshower after 70 laps out of the scheduled 100 forced the race to be stopped, with the win handed to Dario Franchitti, who was leading at the time.

The race was the scene of an infamous Lap 48 collision between winner Franchitti and his Team KOOL Green teammate, Paul Tracy. While running second, Tracy attempted to pass Franchitti on the inside going into the left-handed Turn 6; however, Franchitti was already making the turn, leading to the teammates touching, and Tracy spinning, brushing the inside wall enough to bend his left front suspension, ending his race.[2] This led to a terse conversation over the radio between Tracy and team owner Barry Green.[3] When Tracy returned to pit road, he and Green nearly came to blows in plain view of television cameras and the crowd on the start-finish straight.[3] Ironically, within days of their near fistfight, Tracy and Green agreed to a four-year contract extension.[4]

Classification

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Race

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Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 27 United Kingdom Dario Franchitti Team Green 70 1:36:30.979 2 20+1
2 1 Italy Alex Zanardi Chip Ganassi Racing 70 +0.646 8 16
3 21 Brazil Tony Kanaan Tasman Motorsports Group 70 +5.792 11 14
4 12 United States Jimmy Vasser Chip Ganassi Racing 70 +8.342 3 12
5 25 Italy Max Papis Arciero-Wells Racing 70 +11.170 14 10
6 40 Mexico Adrián Fernández Patrick Racing 70 +13.425 12 8
7 2 United States Al Unser Jr. Team Penske 70 +17.725 16 6
8 8 United States Bryan Herta Team Rahal 70 +26.906 6 5
9 10 United States Richie Hearn Della Penna Motorsports 70 +27.812 18 4
10 9 Finland JJ Lehto Hogan Racing 70 +35.089 21 3
11 20 United States Scott Pruett Patrick Racing 69 +1 Lap 19 2
12 36 United States Alex Barron All American Racing 69 +1 Lap 20 1
13 24 United States Robby Gordon Arciero-Wells Racing 69 +1 Lap 24
14 18 United Kingdom Mark Blundell PacWest Racing Group 68 +2 Laps 22
15 98 Italy Vincenzo Sospiri All American Racing 68 +2 Laps 28
16 77 West Germany Arnd Meier Davis Racing 68 +2 Laps 26
17 3 Brazil André Ribeiro Team Penske 66 +4 Laps 10
18 17 Brazil Maurício Gugelmin PacWest Racing Group 52 Electrical 16
19 34 United States Dennis Vitolo Payton/Coyne Racing 49 Electrical 27
20 26 Canada Paul Tracy Team Green 48 Contact 4
21 5 Brazil Gil de Ferran Walker Racing 38 Spun off 7
22 33 Canada Patrick Carpentier Forsythe Racing 36 Contact 25
23 7 United States Bobby Rahal Team Rahal 35 Suspension 9
24 16 Brazil Hélio Castro-Neves Bettenhausen Racing 35 Suspension 17
25 19 Mexico Michel Jourdain Jr. Payton/Coyne Racing 13 Contact 23
26 99 Canada Greg Moore Forsythe Racing 3 Contact 1 1
27 11 Brazil Christian Fittipaldi Newman-Haas Racing 3 Contact 5
28 6 United States Michael Andretti Newman-Haas Racing 2 Steering 13

Caution flags

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Laps Cause
1-3 Multiple cars spinning due to rain
5-9 Moore (99), Fittipaldi (11) contact
14-16 Jourdain Jr. (19), Gordon (24) contact, road block. Later red-flagged.
39-43 Carpentier (33) contact
46 Vitolo (34) contact
68-70 Heavy rain

Lap Leaders

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Laps Leader
1-70 Dario Franchitti
 
Driver Laps led
Dario Franchitti 70

Point standings after race

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Pos Driver Points
1 Italy Alex Zanardi 250
2 United States Jimmy Vasser 148
3 United Kingdom Dario Franchitti 143
4 Mexico Adrián Fernández 134
5 Canada Greg Moore 120

References

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  1. ^ "CHAMPCAR/CART: Max Papis Claim Toyota's First Top Five". Archived from the original on 2018-08-10. Retrieved 2018-08-09.
  2. ^ 1998 Texaco Grand Prix of Houston Part 8 (Collision occurs at 4:02 mark)
  3. ^ a b 1998 Thrills And Spills (Part 2 - Featuring CART and USAC) (Audio of conversation at 2:49 mark)
  4. ^ "Tracy, Green shake hands, come out smiling". Houston Chronicle. 7 October 1998. Retrieved 25 October 2012.