The 1999 CART Grand Prix of Long Beach was the event's silver anniversary. For 25 years, Long Beach hosted Formula 5000, Formula 1, CART (and later the IRL) and in doing so has created its own history and dynamic that may soon rival some of the great circuits of the world. This particular Long Beach race would also see history being made with regards to a rising star.In qualifying, it was all about youth as Tony Kanaan and Dario Franchitti headed up the front row, staying ahead of CART veteran Bryan Herta and ex-Formula 1 driver, Max Papis. Colombian rookie, Juan-Pablo Montoya starts 5th ahead Adrian Fernandez, Gil De Ferran and Greg Moore, with Michael Andretti starting a poor 13th place for the Newman-Haas team.
At the green flag, Herta makes a wonderful start and jumps both Franchitti and Kanaan to go from 3rd to 1st by turn 2; however his lead doesn't last long as the Brazilian pilot gets back past on the second lap and Franchitti passed the American driver on the third. As all of this is going on, the Forsythe car of Patrick Carpentier spins around the final hairpin and watches helplessly as the entire field passes him by, dropping the Canadian to last place.
In the midst of all the chopping and changing at the front; the back of the field represents a battle of another kind as Richie Hearn finds his car adorned with a large Toyota sponsorship banner - it appears that a failed move by Tarso Marques on Robbie Gordon dislodged the banner and the next driver through, Hearn, picked up the plastic giant.
Back up near the front, Montoya gets by Papis for 4th place on the lap 10, with the Italian now being put under pressure by the Pat Patrick car of Adrian Fernandez; however it doesn't take long for Papis to succumb to the pressure that the Mexican is exerting - the Walker Racing is now down to 6th place. As Papis begins to slow and fall back into the pack, more overtaking maneuvers are taking place with Christian Fittipaldi getting past Paul Tracy for 10th position, before making a move on Jimmy Vasser.
The first full course yellow of the day comes out when Shigeaki Hattori dive bombs nose first into the tyre barriers on lap 24 and with that, everyone dives into the pits for fuel and tyres. During the stops, Montoya gets out ahead of Herta; however Moore's front left wheel comes close to collecting Andretti in the pitlane after the Canadian is released in his path - a very near miss indeed.
As soon as the green flag is waved, another incident is afoot as the Penske of Marques tries another stupid move; this time on Scott Pruett. In front of them, Castroneves had gone wide and Pruett was attempting a move down the inside, when Marques came in to the corner far too hot. It results in Pruett having a damaged sidepod and Marques having a deranged front right wheel - Marques once again showing the CART paddock why he is no longer a Formula 1 driver; Penske must be dreaming of an Unser Jr return - the' ex-Minardi man is out on the spot and once again the full course yellow is brought out.
The race restarts on lap 32 and immediately Montoya surges past Franchitti and is now pushing Kanaan for the lead of the race. At this time though, Alex Barron throws his car sideways into the same barrier that claimed Hattori and damages the right side of his machine beyond repair. Thankfully the marshall's are able to clear the scene of the accident with a local yellow and keep the race going.
Up ahead, the three young drivers are pulling away from the field and having a tight fight all their own. Another driver having a battle is 8th place Michael Andretti - currently 4 seconds and catching behind team-mate Fittipaldi who is pressuring De Ferran.
Suddenly on lap 45, race leader Tony Kanaan misses the apex at turn 6 and pierces the barrier, instantly ending his race and bringing out another full course yellow. On closer inspection, it appears as though the track is coming apart under the extremely hot weather - something that may have contributed to Kanaan's error. Regardless of the why's and wherefore's, the young Brazilian is out of the race and Montoya takes an easy lead ahead of Franchitti, Herta and Fernandez.
Not all the action is taking place on track though as Andretti collects Paul Tracy while exiting the pits. It's been a quite race for the disappointed Team Green driver and all he can manage is a limp shoulder shrug at what was a silly incident.
The green flag comes back out again on lap 52 and once again Montoya surges ahead, but behind him Dario is passed by Herta, before the Scotsman gets back passed again. In the middle of the field PJ Jones tries a (very optimistic) move on Greg Moore, but only succeeds in spinning himself around and stalling his car on track and on lap 55; and although Jones' car is undamaged, another full course caution is brought out.
It's a further three laps before the green flag flies and Andretti dives down the inside of Gil De Ferran in what is an incredibly ballsy move by the Newman-Haas veteran, while his team-mate, Christian Fittipaldi, is ahead in fifth place. Herta, who has fallen away from the front two, now battles with Fernandez for 3rd and further back, Moore and Vasser are fighting for 9th position.
Andretti, now leads a pack consisting of De Ferran, Papis, Vasser and Moore and seems to be struggling since he passed the Walker Racing driver. On the back section, through the hairpin and onto the start/finish straight, De Ferran pushes and pressurises the veteran, but cannot get back in front of Andretti; as in the queue behind them, Moore makes a move on Vasser and takes 9th - another place, another potential point for the Homestead victor!!
If all this action seemed to good to be true, then on lap 77, it took another respite as Christiano Da Matta flings his Toyota into the barriers at turn 6, destroying his car and ending his race. The accident, although at a fairly slow speed accident, is nearly identical to that of Tony Kanaan's earlier in the event, but in this case there are momentary worries as the sidepod unit of Da Matta's car is broken off and leans perilously into the cockpit. It is quickly apparent that there are no issues and the Brazilian is able to jump out of the car unaided. However, as has become natural in this race, the safety car appears.
The race gets going again at the start of lap 82 and Dario Franchitti now only has 4 laps with which to overhaul the Ganassi driver of Juan-Pablo Montoya and although Montoya lets the back step out on the exit of turn three, he is able to maintain his lead and eventually begins to pull away once again. This race is Montoya's to lose, but he doesn't lose it and is first to take the chequered flag at the end of the 85th lap ahead of Franchitti, Herta, Fernandez and Fittipaldi - the Colombian driver taking a race win in only his third event ahead of some relatively experienced drivers. The only pass on the final sprint was by Gil De Ferran, as he finally retook 6th place from Michael Andretti at the very end.
Although while some of the on track action was very good, the race was unfortunately broken up by far too many and frankly unnecessary safety car situations. As such, the race never got into a position where it was able to flow, which in turn appeared to break the concentration of some of the field.
Race Quality: 3 out of 5
Source Quality: C (Not a great bitrate, but watchable all the same)
(November 2009)
Highlights of the 1999 CART Grand Prix of Long Beach (Part 2, poor quality)
Highlights of the 1999 CART Grand Prix of Long Beach (Part 3, poor quality)
Highlights of the 1999 CART Grand Prix of Long Beach (Part 4, poor quality)
Highlights of the 1999 CART Grand Prix of Long Beach (Part 5, poor quality)
At the green flag, Herta makes a wonderful start and jumps both Franchitti and Kanaan to go from 3rd to 1st by turn 2; however his lead doesn't last long as the Brazilian pilot gets back past on the second lap and Franchitti passed the American driver on the third. As all of this is going on, the Forsythe car of Patrick Carpentier spins around the final hairpin and watches helplessly as the entire field passes him by, dropping the Canadian to last place.
In the midst of all the chopping and changing at the front; the back of the field represents a battle of another kind as Richie Hearn finds his car adorned with a large Toyota sponsorship banner - it appears that a failed move by Tarso Marques on Robbie Gordon dislodged the banner and the next driver through, Hearn, picked up the plastic giant.
Back up near the front, Montoya gets by Papis for 4th place on the lap 10, with the Italian now being put under pressure by the Pat Patrick car of Adrian Fernandez; however it doesn't take long for Papis to succumb to the pressure that the Mexican is exerting - the Walker Racing is now down to 6th place. As Papis begins to slow and fall back into the pack, more overtaking maneuvers are taking place with Christian Fittipaldi getting past Paul Tracy for 10th position, before making a move on Jimmy Vasser.
The first full course yellow of the day comes out when Shigeaki Hattori dive bombs nose first into the tyre barriers on lap 24 and with that, everyone dives into the pits for fuel and tyres. During the stops, Montoya gets out ahead of Herta; however Moore's front left wheel comes close to collecting Andretti in the pitlane after the Canadian is released in his path - a very near miss indeed.
As soon as the green flag is waved, another incident is afoot as the Penske of Marques tries another stupid move; this time on Scott Pruett. In front of them, Castroneves had gone wide and Pruett was attempting a move down the inside, when Marques came in to the corner far too hot. It results in Pruett having a damaged sidepod and Marques having a deranged front right wheel - Marques once again showing the CART paddock why he is no longer a Formula 1 driver; Penske must be dreaming of an Unser Jr return - the' ex-Minardi man is out on the spot and once again the full course yellow is brought out.The race restarts on lap 32 and immediately Montoya surges past Franchitti and is now pushing Kanaan for the lead of the race. At this time though, Alex Barron throws his car sideways into the same barrier that claimed Hattori and damages the right side of his machine beyond repair. Thankfully the marshall's are able to clear the scene of the accident with a local yellow and keep the race going.
Up ahead, the three young drivers are pulling away from the field and having a tight fight all their own. Another driver having a battle is 8th place Michael Andretti - currently 4 seconds and catching behind team-mate Fittipaldi who is pressuring De Ferran.
Suddenly on lap 45, race leader Tony Kanaan misses the apex at turn 6 and pierces the barrier, instantly ending his race and bringing out another full course yellow. On closer inspection, it appears as though the track is coming apart under the extremely hot weather - something that may have contributed to Kanaan's error. Regardless of the why's and wherefore's, the young Brazilian is out of the race and Montoya takes an easy lead ahead of Franchitti, Herta and Fernandez.Not all the action is taking place on track though as Andretti collects Paul Tracy while exiting the pits. It's been a quite race for the disappointed Team Green driver and all he can manage is a limp shoulder shrug at what was a silly incident.
The green flag comes back out again on lap 52 and once again Montoya surges ahead, but behind him Dario is passed by Herta, before the Scotsman gets back passed again. In the middle of the field PJ Jones tries a (very optimistic) move on Greg Moore, but only succeeds in spinning himself around and stalling his car on track and on lap 55; and although Jones' car is undamaged, another full course caution is brought out.
It's a further three laps before the green flag flies and Andretti dives down the inside of Gil De Ferran in what is an incredibly ballsy move by the Newman-Haas veteran, while his team-mate, Christian Fittipaldi, is ahead in fifth place. Herta, who has fallen away from the front two, now battles with Fernandez for 3rd and further back, Moore and Vasser are fighting for 9th position.
Andretti, now leads a pack consisting of De Ferran, Papis, Vasser and Moore and seems to be struggling since he passed the Walker Racing driver. On the back section, through the hairpin and onto the start/finish straight, De Ferran pushes and pressurises the veteran, but cannot get back in front of Andretti; as in the queue behind them, Moore makes a move on Vasser and takes 9th - another place, another potential point for the Homestead victor!!
If all this action seemed to good to be true, then on lap 77, it took another respite as Christiano Da Matta flings his Toyota into the barriers at turn 6, destroying his car and ending his race. The accident, although at a fairly slow speed accident, is nearly identical to that of Tony Kanaan's earlier in the event, but in this case there are momentary worries as the sidepod unit of Da Matta's car is broken off and leans perilously into the cockpit. It is quickly apparent that there are no issues and the Brazilian is able to jump out of the car unaided. However, as has become natural in this race, the safety car appears.The race gets going again at the start of lap 82 and Dario Franchitti now only has 4 laps with which to overhaul the Ganassi driver of Juan-Pablo Montoya and although Montoya lets the back step out on the exit of turn three, he is able to maintain his lead and eventually begins to pull away once again. This race is Montoya's to lose, but he doesn't lose it and is first to take the chequered flag at the end of the 85th lap ahead of Franchitti, Herta, Fernandez and Fittipaldi - the Colombian driver taking a race win in only his third event ahead of some relatively experienced drivers. The only pass on the final sprint was by Gil De Ferran, as he finally retook 6th place from Michael Andretti at the very end.
Although while some of the on track action was very good, the race was unfortunately broken up by far too many and frankly unnecessary safety car situations. As such, the race never got into a position where it was able to flow, which in turn appeared to break the concentration of some of the field.
Race Quality: 3 out of 5
Source Quality: C (Not a great bitrate, but watchable all the same)
(November 2009)
Highlights of the 1999 CART Grand Prix of Long Beach (Part 1, poor quality)
Highlights of the 1999 CART Grand Prix of Long Beach (Part 2, poor quality)
Highlights of the 1999 CART Grand Prix of Long Beach (Part 3, poor quality)
Highlights of the 1999 CART Grand Prix of Long Beach (Part 4, poor quality)
Highlights of the 1999 CART Grand Prix of Long Beach (Part 5, poor quality)
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