1999 CART Grand Prix of Miami (Round 1)

One of the things I find quite difficult about the 1999 CART World Series is the reappearance of the late Greg Moore. At the time of writing, 10 years has passed since his fatal accident at Fontana and the possibility of many triumphs unfulfilled - those successes would be lived out by others in the sport.

For this race, Moore was on pole in his Players sponsored Forsythe machine. The news pre-event centred around the fact that the 1998 Series Champion, Alex Zanardi, had left for Formula 1 with Williams-Mechachrome and that Newman-Haas had changed their tyre manufacturer a few weeks before the first race. This race was also notable for being the debut for one Juan-Pablo Montoya - replacing the departed Zanardi at Target Chip Ganassi Racing. The Penske team were down to one car for this event with Al Unser Jr piloting and Paul Tracy was temporarily replaced by Raul Boesel at Team Green due to a delayed race suspension.

It must be said that while Homestead has never been known for wonderful racing, it provides an interesting test for rookies and young drivers - like Montoya - that have little or no oval experience; however it also feels a little stale and ordinary when one considers the amount of 1.5 mile "cookie-cutter" shaped ovals that inhabit the US now. The track is now shrouded in anonymity - nothing stands out and it really could be anywhere.

Eventually, all the speeches are done, the command is given and the obligatory parade laps commence and before long the cars are off racing - and get one-and-a-half corners before there are machines in the concrete. Unser Jr., Naoki Hattori, Richie Hearn, Garcia Jr and Boesel are all off after less than a mile and little Al is not happy upon extraction from his Penske machine.
Both Hattori and Unser Jr fractured their lower legs in the incident, as it would appear that Hattori (who is also making his debut in CART) got high and took Unser Jr with him. However it appears that Hearn, Garcia Jr and Boesel had a separate incident behind them and although Hearn can continue, the rest are all out through excessive car damage.

It would be some 18 laps before the green flag re-emerged and this time a charged Moore gets away from the pack and is leading Adrian Fernandez, Helio Castroneves, Michael Andretti and Forsythe team-mate Patrick Carpentier with ease. In fact it is only 30 laps before the young Canadian driver is lapping the backmarkers.
Near the rear of the field though, the biggest mover is Walker Racing pilot, Gil De Ferran, who qualified low down during to a practice crash - the Brazilian driver having already moved up from 26th to 17th and continues to make headway through the field.
Up front though, a fired-up Carpentier uses a struggling Richie Hearn's draft to get past Andretti with the Forsythe car going down the inside and the Newman-Haas machine being forced up the outside with Hearn sitting idly in between them - a wonderful move by Carpentier, who is now elevated to 4th position and has Castroneves' 3rd place in his sights.

Meanwhile, the number 6 of Michael Andretti is clearly struggling on his new tyres and is falling back into the clutches of Dario Franchitti, but while that is going on Carpentier takes both Castroneves and Fernandez - the Forsythe cars now sit in 1st and 2nd place; this is looking ominous for the rest of the field.
Not long after, Dario has Andretti in turn 3, while at the same time Carpentier closes in on Moore - the two Canadians get closer and closer as their first pitstops draw ever nearer. Both of the Forsythe's are able to drag their fuel out until lap 62 and both fill up and change tyres with few issues unlike Fernandez who has left-front problems and although the Forsythe stops were fast, the crews for both Franchitti and Andretti worked faster - giving them 1st and 2nd respectively.
However, in amongst the field, Juan-Pablo Montoya, the young Colombian, is down in 19th place inbetween Alex Barron and Robbie Gorden following a fumbled pitstop. He may not be having a stellar debut by any stretch, but he is clearly learning a lot in what is a vastly different environment from the European scene where he was champion in 1998 in Formula 3000.

Realistically all these drivers should make it through on just one more stop, whether there be cautions or not and at that, veteran Scott Pruett hits the wall on lap 80. Cue a number of pitstops - including the leaders, therefore potentially enforcing an extra stop later in the race; suddenly strategy may become dependent on another caution period later in the race. While the stops by Franchitti and Moore are swift, Andretti stalls it in his box, losing 6 to 7 seconds in the process and with it, a number of positions; however the Newman-Haas driver is not the only one to lose out as Carpentier takes a penalty for a pit-lane infringement that drops him right down the field.

100 laps in with 50 to go and at this point Castroneves has moved up to the lead and De Ferran is up to 2nd place by playing some clever strategy and it looks like it may pay off as the youngster Tony Kanaan grinds to a halt on track - out of fuel - embarrassment for the Brazilian driver in his second season in CART.
However Helio is to come in on lap 110 and with a lap to spare the engine in the car of Adrian Fernandez let's go and spills oil down the racing line, before spinning on his own oil and hitting the wall. This is looking more and more like it could play into the hands of Castroneves if he can just keep the car going until the pits re-open. With a dieing engine, it is questionable as to why Fernandez didn't bring his machine into the pits when he could; the caution may well have had to come out because of the oil, but the accident itself was just silly.

Meanwhile Castroneves, De Ferran and Franchitti all pit with the Scotsman jumping both of them and De Ferran getting ahead of Castroneves - a big loss for the young Brazilian pilot. One thing is absolutely for certain though - with 40 laps to go, the trio that have just stopped up will easily make it to the chequered flag - things are beginning to slot into place. In the midst of all this, Moore retakes the lead with apparently enough fuel to the end, with Michael Andretti back up to second place - a reversal of positions from the 1998 Homestead race, where these two fight it out; Andretti the victor on that occasion.

For the moment though, Jimmy Vasser, Max Papis, Mark Blundell and Christiano Da Matta are all in the top seven, full in the knowledge that they may need to pit for a splash and dash with 20 laps to the flag. For now this group sit inbetween a frustrated Franchitti and an embattled Andretti - rueing his earlier mistake on pitlane. As all of this happens, Castroneves begins to drop backwards with an engine that is fast losing power; eventually he pulls out altogether - a shame following a very good drive.
As the closing stages of the race approach, Franchitti passes Da Matta, Papis and Blundell - all of whom are desperately trying to make their fuel last to the end - and with 8 laps to go, Dario is one second behind third place Jimmy Vasser. Franchitti senses a podium is for the taking as Vasser is audibly lifting off through the turns and on lap 145, the Scot is through into third position with a pass into turn 1.

The final five laps pass and Moore takes a well deserve victory with a gap of 2 seconds. - add to that points for both pole and most laps led give the young Canadian a 6-point lead going into Round 2 at Motegi. Behind him, things are also tight for Andretti and he begins to fall backwards toward Franchitti as fuel becomes marginal, but he has nothing to worry about as manages to stay ahead of the Team Green car. Following the top three are Vasser, Papis, De Ferran and Carpentier with Blundell, christian Fittipaldi and the rookie Juan-Pablo Montoya finishing out the top ten.
Homestead can be a notoriously difficult oval circuit and is often dictated by a single racing line and that proved to be the case again with this race. Fuel mileage and conservatism played its part and to a degree decided the race. It's just a shame that the season couldn't open with a more exciting event.






















Race Quality: 2.5 out of 5
Source Quality: C+ (direct transfer from VHS, faded over time, but audio is still decent)
(November 2009)


Highlights of the 1999 CART Grand Prix of Miami (Part 1, poor quality)



Highlights of the 1999 CART Grand Prix of Miami (Part 2, poor quality)