1999 CART Grand Prix of Nazareth (Round 4)

Every championship whether it be Formula 1, NASCAR or WRC has its own list of racing legends and historic figures, but there comes a time when those large names need to be left behind for a new generation to come through.
Over the years, CART has had a wonderful roster of stars that were able to combine supreme racing skills with a dynamic personality; however by the early-to-mid 1990's, many of those old figures had left or were on their way out. Suddenly the familiar rings of AJ Foyt, Emerson Fittipaldi, Mario Andretti, Rick Mears and numerous others had departed, but these incredible figures were replaced by the likes of Jimmy Vasser, Alex Zanardi, Helio Castroneves, Dario Franchitti, Paul Tracy, Michael Andretti - the list goes on... and then there was Juan-Pablo Montoya.

On his first visit to the one-mile oval track, the Colombian driver snatched his first pole position in the CART series, just ahead of the Hogan racing machine driven by Helio Castroneves who in turn qualified ahead of the Team Green duo of Dario Franchitti and Paul Tracy. A difficult day ahead was ensured however for Nazareth native, Michael Andretti who slots in on the outside of row 7, but his weekend is nowhere near as bad as Shigeaki Hattori and Dennis Vitolo - both of whom damaged their cars beyond repair with crashes during practice.
The two big changes for the weekend involve the "cornerisation" of turn 1, as the once flat out kink had been substituted with a sharper inclination resulting in lower speeds through the apex. The second change was the enforcement of the smaller "speedway" wings, ensuring that the race is not a pure throttle-pedal event - the ruling may also ensure that a driver needs to work that little bit harder in the cockpit.
Nazareth was also the scene of Al Unser Jr's return to racing following his accident at Miami, but unfortunately for L'il Al, a poorly handling Penske means that he started 23rd out of 24 cars.

At 225 laps at approximately 20/21 seconds per lap, this event can at times work out to be a very short race despite its relative distance.
When the green flag eventually falls, Montoya makes a good start and pulls away from the Hogan machine of Helio Castroneves, while behind them PJ Jones challenges hard from 8th place as those in front settle into the opening stint. By the fifth lap, Montoya already has a five second lead over Castroneves; however his teammate (and 1996 CART Champion) Jimmy Vasser is having a harder time of it, trailing in 11th place.
It's only the 10th lap of the race by the time the leading pair catch the back of the field as the lagging Robbie Gordan and Unser Jr fall into the jaws of the Colombian, but before Montoya can get around Unser Jr, Tracy manages to spin his car through turn 3 and brings out the first yellow flag as a result. There's some good luck there for both Tracy and Unser Jr, as the Canadian escapes undamaged and Unser Jr escapes going a lap down - less fortunate was Gordan, who now sits behind the two young drivers at the top of the pile. Meanwhile the pits open up and although there is very little activity this early, Bryan Herta is one of the few that does stop - unfortunately for the Rahal-Letterman driver, it appears that his car is having problems and it is a while before he is back out on track.

With no debris to clear, the yellow is a short one and the race restarts on lap 18 and once again Montoya flies away, but not too far into the distance this time as Castroneves sits and watches intently, while Blundell and the charging PJ Jones battle for 4th place behind them. A struggling Tony Kanaan pits again with mechanical issues ensuring that a repeat of Long Beach is not on the cards.
Back on track, a frustrated Montoya gets caught behind Unser Jr and Herta, giving Castroneves the chance to jump into the lead around the outside of turn 2 as they approach the 40th lap; a brave move by the slick haired Brazilian, perfectly demonstrating his metal on the short oval - excellent stuff.
Unfortunately for Unser Jr, the race doesn't last much longer as the veteran hits the wall hard in turn 3 after locking up his front brakes. Thankfully apart from a bruised ego and a battered car, there is no other damage. Naturally the full course yellows come out and the field dives into the pits, but sadly for Castroneves all his hard work under green evaporates as Montoya beats Helio out of the box- suddenly Helio's hard work was all for nothing and once again he must chase the Colombian down.
Further down the pits though, the fired-up PJ Jones gets out ahead of Mark Blundell in his PacWest car, as Franchitti sits in third - his teammate struggling and falling backwards down the field.

Full speed racing returned on lap number 60 as Montoya pulls away from Castroneves for a third time; however behind them Max Papis began to lay some pressure on Blundell as the two ex-Formula 1 drivers battle it out for 5th place - not far down the road Moore and Andretti are fighting for minor points amongst lapped traffic. Bit by bit, Castroneves regains ground on the Ganassi driver as he struggles to get by Gil De Ferran, Patrick Carpentier and Mauricio Gugelmin.
By the time the 90th is completed, Helio is right up with the Colombian, but finds that once he's behind the rear wing of the Target car, getting passed is next to impossible. Someone that is finding overtaking less difficult is the American PJ Jones, who is having the race of his life in the Visteon machine - he manages to squeeze by Franchitti on lap 101 and slot into an excellent third place and within 20 laps the gap from Jones to the race leader is only 1.2 seconds. One thing is for certain - there's not a whole lot of passing going on during this race, but it is definitely a very frantic event indeed.

At nearly 80 laps since the last stops and Jourdain Jr is the first to blink and pit under green flag conditions and within a few laps Vasser, Gugelmin, Franchitti, Andretti, Fittipaldi and Fernandez all pit too; however whereas the other have incident free stops, Vasser has troubles getting out of his pit box and goes a full 2 laps down.
Out on track, Montoya finally laps the 16th place De Ferran, while behind Jones attempts to move down the inside of Castroneves, but has to back off as he runs out of room. As the leaders trawl through the pack, Montoya is badly blocked by Blundell which opens the door for both Castroneves to get through. With the Colombian left off balance, Jones gets passed him in a moment of high speed light wheelbanging only to throw it away seconds later as he spins exiting turn 3. The full course yellow comes out instantly as the American crawls back on track and breathes a sigh of relief, having not lost much ground. It is something that cannot be said for those that pitted only laps earlier as they find themselves a lap behind with little chance to pull it back.

As the leaders come in, Castroneves again loses out badly in the pitstops as Montoya retakes the lead while regular backmarker Alex Barron sits between them as they go back out on circuit - with 76 laps left, this may be a run right to the end. Meanwhile, a lucky PJ Jones has managed to regain 3rd place, despite the spin; however he too has lots of traffic ahead of him.
On lap 155 the green lag is waved and to the surprise of the crowd and to the dismay of Carl Hogan, Jones is instantly able to pass a faltering Castroneves who restarts badly, but once again Montoya is off into the distance - his skill on cold tyres becoming more and more apparent with every waved green. Unfortunately for Jones, Barron is next car up, but despite being nearly a lap ahead, Jones can't force his way through; however this is still gold for the American.
On the other hand, things get much worse for Castroneves as he brings out the full course caution twice in quick succession - first with a spin off of turn 3 (no surprise there then) and then he hits the wall on lap 179; destroying the right hand side of the car in the process. An eventful day for the young Brazilian driver has ended early with two clumsy errors while under increasing pressure.

It's not until the 200th lour that the carbon fibre mess is cleared up and the race gets under way - and at the seventh attempt of the day, Montoya (again) sprints away from second-placed Jones, who sits in front of Tracy, Christiano Da Matta and Adrian Fernandez with 25 laps to go. Any chance of a challenge to Montoya's lead quickly evaporates as he pulls a five second lead in just five laps - an astonishing feat on a track of this small size. Behind the leader, Da Matta is the only driver looking in any way feisty as he runs Tracy close, but most of the other positions look rather settled at this late stage. Dropping behind the lead pack are Andretti, Fittipaldi and Franchitti running 6th, 7th and 8th respectively - everyone else has been lapped.

Meanwhile Montoya just clicks off the final 20 laps and wins his first race on a one-mile oval and his second race win overall - an exemplary performance. Jones secures a best career finish with 2nd place - something that would eventually be his only podium finish - and he is followed home by Tracy, Da Matta and Fernandez. With this emphatic victory, CART rookie Juan-Pablo Montoya takes the championship lead from Greg Moore, who only manged 12th place and 1 point while the young Colombian racks up the win, pole and most laps led to garner 22 precious points.
This was a very interesting regardless of the lack of passing - at least attempts were being made. As well as that, thrilling performances from Montoya, Jones and Castroneves made this latest trip to Nazareth a joy to watch again. Next up will be the warm Rio climate as a large chunk of the CART contingent head down south for their home race.









































Race Quality: 3.5 out of 5
Source Quality: B (the picture a little dull, but good; audio is very good)
(December 2009)

Highlights of the 1999 CART Grand Prix of Nazareth (poor quality)