The 1999 FedEx Championship Series season was the twenty-first in the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) era of American open-wheel car racing. It consisted of 20 races, beginning in

Homestead, Florida Homestead is a city within Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in the United States, U.S. state of Florida, between Biscayne National Park to the east and Everglades National Park to the west. Homestead is primarily a Miami suburb and ...

on March 21 and concluding in Fontana, California on October 31. The season was marred by the fatal accidents of Gonzalo Rodríguez during practice for the

Laguna Seca Laguna Seca Raceway (branded as WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and previously Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for sponsorship reasons) is a paved Racing track#Motorsport, road racing track in central California used for both auto racing and Motorcyc ...

round and Greg Moore at the final round, in addition to various injuries that took several drivers out of championship contention. Juan Pablo Montoya, in his first CART season after two successful seasons in International Formula 3000, won the championship and the Rookie of the Year honors, the second and final driver to win both awards in the same season, after Nigel Mansell in

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

. The season ended in a tie, with Montoya and Dario Franchitti both having 212 championship points, though Montoya broke the tie-breaker due to having seven wins, over Franchitti's three. With Al Unser Jr. running his final season in the series, 1999 was the last year in which the Al Unser name was on the CART grid. Also, this was the first season without

Bobby Rahal Robert Woodward Rahal ( ; born January 10, 1953) is an American racing driver and motorsports executive. As a driver, he won three championships and 24 races in the CART open-wheel series, including the 1986 Indianapolis 500. As co-owner of R ...

on the grid.

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...

scored their final pole and victory with Greg Moore at the season opener before they ended their participation in American open-wheel racing at the end of 2000.

Constructors

The following

teams A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson (academic), Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interd ...

and drivers competed in the 1999 CART Championship Series season.

Season summary

Schedule

– Cleveland was scheduled for 211 miles, but was shortened due to the 2-hour time limit.
– Detroit was scheduled for 176 miles, but was shortened due to the 2-hour time limit.
– Vancouver was scheduled for 160 miles, but was shortened due to the 2-hour time limit.
Oval/Speedway
Road/Street course

Race results

Final driver standings

Note: * Gonzalo Rodríguez died in qualifying at

Laguna Seca Raceway Laguna Seca Raceway (branded as WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and previously Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for sponsorship reasons) is a paved road racing track in central California used for both auto racing and motorcycle racing, built in 1957 ...

after his car crashed into a barrier and flipped while trying to navigate the track's Corkscrew turn, suffering a fatal basilar skull fracture. He was 28 years old. * Greg Moore died in the season finale at

California Speedway Auto Club Speedway (known as California Speedway before and after the 2008–2023 corporate sponsorship by the Automobile Club of Southern California) was a , D-shaped oval superspeedway in unincorporated San Bernardino County, California, ne ...

after a crash in the early laps. His car lost control coming off Turn 2, flipped over, impacted the inside wall, and flipped several more times. Moore suffered fatal head and internal injuries from the accident. He was 24 years old.

Nations' Cup

* Top result per race counts towards Nations' Cup.

Chassis A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of a manufactured object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart ...
Constructors' Cup

Engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ge ...
Manufacturers' Cup

Driver Breakdown

Media

In the United States, CART continued its coverage on

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

, but the broadcast booth changed voices.

Paul Page Paul Page (born November 25, 1945) is an American motorsports broadcaster who is best known for serving as the play-by-play commentator for the Indianapolis 500 for a total of 50 years across radio and television. Page was the radio ''Voice of th ...

handled lap-by-lap commentary, taking over for

Bob Varsha Robert August Varsha (born April 21, 1951) is an American broadcast journalist who specializes in covering motorsports. He is best known for being the lap-by-lap commentator for Formula 1 and Champ Car, CART series races for ESPN, ABC Sports, and ...

, who had departed for

Speed Channel Speed was an American sports-oriented cable and satellite television network that was owned by the Fox Sports Media Group division of 21st Century Fox. The network was dedicated to motorsports programming, including auto racing, as well as a ...

. Newly-retired racer

Parker Johnstone Parker Johnstone III (born March 27, 1961) is a former race car driver and motorsports announcer from Redmond, Oregon. An accomplished musician, he was the principal trumpet of the International Youth Orchestra, touring Europe, playing with Herb ...

joined him with color commentary. During his suspension from the first race of the season,

Paul Tracy Paul Anthony Tracy (born December 17, 1968) is a Canadian professional auto racing driver who participated in Champ Car World Series, the IndyCar Series, and the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART). He started kart racing at age five and quick ...

joined Page and Johnstone in the booth. Jon Beekhuis and Gary Gerould were pit reporters.

References

* * * {{Champ Car Seasons Champ Car seasons

CART A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by draught animals such as horses, donkeys, mules and oxen, or even smaller animals such as goats or large dogs. A handcart ...