1999 CART Grand Prix of Madison (Round 6)

Confidence is an interesting subject when it comes not just to motor-racing, but in any sporting discipline. In racing, every aspect of the car is a known quantity; whether it be a chassis, engine, gearbox, brakes or any other mechanical or aerodynamic piece - even the competencies of a driver can be measured to some degree.
Confidence can also play a vital role in a driver's season, however its effects cannot be measured or dictated by any exact form of science. A driver that is highly confident may be able to go that extra mile and drag more speed from a machine, whereas a driver that has lost confidence or a battered ego may enter a race more wary and less inclined to go 100 per cent - the potential for unforced errors and waning speed being the result of such a mentality.

Coming into Round 6 of the 1999 CART Championship Season at Gateway International Raceway, the plights of Juan-Pablo Montoya and Michael Andretti respectively, reflect the above condition. Montoya had, at this stage, only competed in five CART races and had earned three victories in a row and was sitting on pole for this race.
On the other hand, Andretti had four difficult races in a row and qualified down in 11th for Gateway - not only was the 1991 Series Champion adrift in the race before it had begun, he was also effectively stranded in the Championship standings. If ever Michael needed a result, it was now.

The race at this rather oddly shaped oval race ran a schedule at 236 laps, making up approximately 300 miles on the 1.27 mile track and as the cars got ready to start, it was clear that the machines of Paul Tracy, (2nd) Helio Castroneves (3rd) and Patrick Carpentier were poised close behind Montoya; ready to jump. However, in the first five events Montoya had displayed an incredible skill of getting off the line fast - sometimes too fast - and on this occasion the first green flag is waved off; Montoya had jumped ahead far too early.
Montoya gets it right next time around though and sprints off into an early lead from Tracy in the Team Kool Green machine, but behind him Carpentier takes third from Castroneves with an expertly dispatched move up the inside of turn one. Following the Brazilian driver, Moore moves into 5th place and a fast starting Andretti climbs two spots into 9th position. Andretti's Newman-Haas teammate, Christian Fittipaldi has opposing fortunes as falls backwards to 11th after losing three spots.

Unfortunately, it's not long before the first yellow is out as Robbie Gordan loses the back end on a bump in turn three and hits the wall very hard. Gordan is unharmed apart from some minor bruising, but he has been knocked around enough to give him a slight limp. It appears that luck was with the American as it appeared to be a very hard hit and with both himself and Roberto Moreno competing in the Indianapolis 500 the following day, any injury would be disastrous.
After a couple of laps, the pits open up; however with the race at such a young age, few bother to take that route choosing to get the most out of what they already have.

The green flag is waved on lap 25, but instantly rescinded, as for the second time in the event, Montoya flies far too early and the fans must once again wait an extra tour before the field can get going again.
When the race does restart, the battle up front remains rather tame and it is necessary to further down the field to see challenges for position. A charging Max Papis gets by Tony Kanaan for 11th and within moments is pressuring Fittipaldi in the hope that he can crack the top 10.
Behind them Tarso Marques, in the second Penske car, passes the Michel Jourdain Jr for 17th position, but it's all for nothing as within two laps he loses the rear end, going backward into the wall.
Naturally, the full course yellow emerges and with 34 laps in the books, most of the field are now ready to pit and one-by-one the competitors peel off down the slow lane for tyres and fuel. Sandwiched by the two Players machines of Carpentier and Greg Moore, Castroneves manages to miss his box and continues back onto the track - it is an error that could well have cost Hogan Racing heir first win. Helio was not the only driver to issues in the pits - an unusually long stop by the Ganassi crew saw Montoya fall behind Tracy and the Players duo, but that was insignificant compared to the happenings with the Walker crew as an over anxious Gil De Ferran pulls down his airjack man, Dave Stevens. Luckily for the crewman, he emerged with only a minor concussion and heavy bruises - bad enough, but it could have been so much worse.
Meanwhile on track, early stoppers Moreno leads the field ahead of Richie Hearn and Unser Jr; however they are on an odd fuel strategy - whether it works or not depends on the occurrence of further yellows later in the race.

When the safety car pulls in on lap 46, Moreno gets a good starts and makes a gap between himself and second place man Hearn as he puts a lap on the hapless backmarker Dennis Vitolo. Hearn, himself is now under pressure from 3rd place Unser Jr., while the lighter Castroneves sits behind the veteran, poised to move into the top three should the opportunity arise.
It takes 10 laps of hard charging for Unser Jr. to get a useful draft and he wastes no time in making it work as he slices through a gap approaching the tight turn 1. It takes only one lap for Castroneves to pull a similar move on Hearn and in no time, the Della-Penna Motorsports driver drops from 2nd to 4th place.
Not far behind that battle, Tracy passes Montoya for 5th with a spectacular effort that caught the Colombian somewhat unawares and Andretti gets by Carpentier for 7th place and within a few laps goes by Montoya to lift himself into the leading half-dozen.
It doesn't take much longer for things to heat up at the head of the pack either, as both Unser Jr and Castroneves catch the Pacwest machine of Roberto Moreno. The substitute pilot is holding his own with a powerful drive; however all three leaders are well aware that they may need to pit very soon.

It is just as Castroneves pulls into the slow lane to pit for fuel and tyres, that Unser Jr finally gets a draft on Moreno and squeezes through the inside at turn 1, gifting himself what will no doubt be a very short period as race leader. 1999 had thus far been an incredibly difficult season for the two-time CART champion and a victory would be just the boost that both he and team boss Roger Penske would need to lift the squad out of the doldrums.
With that, a number of drivers pile into the pits - Hearn comes and stalls, he gets going again but has lost a lap; Unser Jr and Moreno dive in soon after and Tracy, Andretti and Montoya pick up the race lead. Soon those three stop, but as they do Gugelmin grinds to a halt on circuit - his car dead and the yellow flag emerges to break up the race once again.
The track isn't the only place where drama is happening though, as Andretti jumps to the head of the pack with a stunning stop and Montoya runs out of fuel just as he enters his pitbox and needs to be restarted; something that costs him time, positions and eventually a lap. It's a disaster as the rookie rejoins the pack all the way down in 19th place. Meanwhile Unser Jr pits for a third time and Adrian Fernandez picks up a drive through penalty for a pit lane infringement.

As soon as the third caution period finishes, the fourth one instantly begins on lap 115, as a hard charging Carpentier and a lapped Brian Herta take eachother into turn 1's unforgiving walls. It appears that as Franchitti was also lapping Montoya just ahead, Herta got squeezed in the middle of the group and left a hot Carpentier with no room - four cars went into the corner, but only two came out. A silly incident indeed, but one that happens from time to time on these tight ovals. A further 16 laps of caution is necessary for the CART safety crew to make sure the drivers are fine and the debris is clear.
When the race restarts, there are no mistakes this time as Andretti pulls out a gap ahead of Tracy, but behind them in 8th place Papis is pushing Moore for position and goes deep down the inside - only Greg Moore did not read the script on this one. With possibly the best move all season, Moore hangs it around the outside of Papis all the way around turns 1 and 2 and regains the advantage - absolutely stunning stuff.
Soon we are reminded that Moore is not the only hard charger on track as Montoya gets by both Tracy and Franchitti to take their laps off of him and with his teammate balked slightly, Franchitti sees an opportunity to take 2nd place. They speed through the first turn with Tracy just a few feet ahead, but Dario with his inside wheels teetering precariously on the blend line until eventually the Scotsman runs out of road and the two Team Green cars touch. Franchitti burns rubber and spins harmlessly towards the infield; however an unfortunate Tracy goes right rear into the wall.
If anything, the blame for this accident could be laid at both drivers - Franchitti was trying a move that wasn't quite on, but Tracy on the other hand should have given Dario an awful lot more room. Regardless, the safety car is out again and Team Green are down to one car. Andretti pits giving Castroneves the lead and Montoya gets back on the lead lap, although he remains in 15th position.

On lap 160, the field starts racing again - everyone that is, except for the unfortunate Adrian Fernandez. His already frustrating day comes to an early end, as he retires with a multitude of issues including an oil leak and clutch issues.
Montoya's frustrating day nearly got worse as his attempt to take PJ Jones into turn 1 sent him out into the grey and close to the wall - it takes some truly genius maneuvers by the Colombian to keep the Target Ganassi machine from crashing hard into the barrier. Incredibly, it only takes just over a lap for Montoya to get back onto the tail of Jones and with the draft, he gets around the outside of the Patrick Racing car; a fantastic pass that had an entire grandstand holding their breath. Now in 11th place, Montoya starts catching Papis for the top 10.
It was just as Fittipaldi started closing in on Castroneves that yet another full course caution comes out - this time it's Christiano Da Matta that instigates the yellow as his engine lets go, spreading lines of oil on the circuit; indeed, a situation that is far too dangerous to continue full speed racing. It's unfortunate for the Arciero-Wells driver, who happened to be running fourth at the time. Championship leader Montoya is rolling down the pits just as the yellow comes out and it's lucky too; as the rest of the field slow down, the Ganassi driver gets in a stop and gets his lap back from the leaders.
With green flag fuel windows being a reported 60-65 laps, everyone else pits confident in the knowledge that they have enough to last the rest of the race. The resultant stops gives Andretti the race lead again ahead of Moreno, Jones, Papis and Franchitti - both Castroneves and Fittipaldi spend lengthy periods in their respective boxes and fall out of the top five.

The final stint commences on lap 194 and there is immediate action as Papis gets by Jones for 3rd place and a fired up Castroneves takes Franchitti to move up to 5th and a lap later Jones loses another position to the young Brazilian. Meanwhile Kanaan and Moore visibly catch Franchitti as he himself pulls in a struggling Jones.
Castroneves' speed does not relent as he feeds on the slipstream of Max Papis - the former-IndyLights Championship runner-up showing fierce determination in his fight back to the front and dives passed the Team Rahal driver on lap 198, but it doesn't stop there. Within four laps, Helio catches and passes Moreno for 2nd place; now his sights are solely on that of race leader Michael Andretti. With a threat developing, Andretti turns up the wick a notch, but Castroneves is still a little bit faster; although the gap is still getting smaller, it is decreasing at a more marginal rate.
There's plenty of action behind Castroneves, as Franchitti takes Jones with a huge lunge inside the first turn, thereby pushing Jones out wide onto the grey and giving Greg Moore an opportunity get higher in the points-paying positions. Coming lap 212 and Papis is under threat from Franchitti - the Team Green driver shifts from one side to the next to get by the Italian pilot and does so, just as Alex Barron parks his machine on the infield section. A slight oil fire emanates from the car's rear, but not enough to bring out the safety car - thankfully, the race is still on and this has turned into a fascinating one indeed!!
Not far ahead, Castroneves is on the race leader's tail as the gap closes to less than one second - Castroneves is still looking for his first victory and he senses it might be close, but as they both hit traffic, Helio simply can't get by the Newman-Haas driver. Dario takes third place from Pacwest's Moreno, who is starting to struggle with poor tyres and soon he joins the leading pair - only 10 laps to go and Dario could sneak this.
Packed up following them is Jones, Kanaan, Fittipaldi, a quiet Jimmy Vasser and Montoya; all of whom are battling for 7th place and within two seconds of eachother - these drivers are well aware that one or two points could be vitally important at the end of the year, especially as the current title battle is still rather close.

With 6 laps to go, the traffic looms large for Andretti as he puts one on Scott Pruett; however Helio isn't quite there and falls back towards Franchitti. It's then Andretti's turn to get blocked slightly while the 2nd and 3rd place men pass Richie Hearn with ease - the top three are together again.
Four laps left and Helio desperately tries to get a tow, but can't quite connect just as Al Unser Jr appears at the top of his frame. The veteran Penske driver pulls over on the straight and with one lap to go, he let's the top 3 fly through.
Castroneves tries to get a tow on the race leader one more time, but it's too late - Andretti picks up his 38th CART victory, only 0.329 of a second ahead of Castroneves and only 1.037 in front of third place Franchitti. A truly fantastic finish to the race with excellent drives by three of the series' top drivers in 1999.
In victory circle, an emotional Andretti talks of excellent tyres and strategy to help him to the win and one can't but feel that the ground work to a better season has just been laid. On the other hand, a normally upbeat Montoya limps home to an 11th place finish - his worst since Motegi in race 2. While the season would become somewhat more consistent from here on in for Andretti, he would not reach the top spot again in 1999; where as Montoya's season would readily hiccup from time-to-time with crashes and failures, victories would still come to him.
The 1999 Motorola 300 started slowly, but picked up in the second half. There was plenty of passing - especially into the third gear turn 1, but there were also a number of incident's that should have been avoided altogether. Indeed the final 40 laps amongst the leaders would prove to be some of the most stunning and intense of the entire season.




































Race Quality: 4 out of 5
Source Quality: B (decent picture and good sound) (January 2010)

The 1999 CART Grand Prix of Madison (Part 1, average quality)


The 1999 CART Grand Prix of Madison (Part 2, average quality)
The 1999 CART Grand Prix of Madison (Part 3, average quality)
The 1999 CART Grand Prix of Madison (Part 4, average quality)
The 1999 CART Grand Prix of Madison (Part 5, average quality)
The 1999 CART Grand Prix of Madison (Part 6, average quality)
The 1999 CART Grand Prix of Madison (Part 7, average quality)
The 1999 CART Grand Prix of Madison (Part 8, average quality)
The 1999 CART Grand Prix of Madison (Part 9, average quality)
The 1999 CART Grand Prix of Madison (Part 10, average quality)
The 1999 CART Grand Prix of Madison (Part 11, average quality)
The 1999 CART Grand Prix of Madison (Part 12, average quality)