CART: Road Course Season Begins at Portland with Budweiser/G.I. Joe's 200
19 June 1999
DETROIT - Although summer officially arrives within a week, it isn't the only change of seasons on the horizon. The FedEx Championship Series heads into the road-course portion of its campaign beginning with this weekend's Budweiser/G.I. Joe's 200 Presented by Texaco/Havoline at Portland International Raceway (4 p.m. ET, live, ABC-TV). The annual visit to Portland, Ore. begins a stretch in which 10 of the next 12 events will be contested on road or temporary street courses.This weekend also marks the commemoration of the 90th anniversary of Champ Car racing, which is acknowledged to have begun June 12, 1909 with a trio of races held on a Portland road course, won by Howard Covey, Charles Arnold and Bert Dingley, respectively. That first season included 24 events, held at venues as widespread as San Leandro, Calif. and Long Island, N.Y.
Ninety years later, Champ Car racing has global appeal, with stops in Japan, Brazil and Australia in addition to its 17 stops in North America. That global quality is also reflected in the championship standings as the series prepares for Round 8 in Portland with a Colombian in the lead, followed by a Scotsman, Canadian, American and Brazilian, respectively.
The championship race tightened following the Miller Lite 225 at The Milwaukee Mile to the point where the top five drivers are separated by a mere 12 points. Rookie Juan Montoya (Target Honda Reynard), driver for three-time defending FedEx Championship Series champion Target/Chip Ganassi Racing, continues to lead with 73 points, but Dario Franchitti (KOOL Honda Reynard) of Team KOOL Green has closed to two points with 71.
Franchitti blossomed during the road-course portion of last year's championship, scoring 138 of his 160 PPG Cup points on permanent road courses or temporary street circuits. The points binge was highlighted by the first three victories of his FedEx Championship Series career - Road America, Vancouver and Houston - that helped him to third place in the championship.
Trailing Montoya and Franchitti in the championship is Greg Moore (Player's Forsythe Racing Ltd. Mercedes Reynard), third with 69 points. Coming off a runner-up effort at Milwaukee, Moore has scored PPG Cup points in all seven starts this year, paced by a victory in the season opener at Homestead.
Rounding out the top five in the championship are the Newman/Haas Racing tandem of Michael Andretti (Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Ford Swift) and Christian Fittipaldi (Big Kmart Ford Swift), who are tied with 61 points. Andretti is a three-time winner at Portland (1990, '91 and '92), while Fittipaldi has constructed the most consistent streak of his five-year career with nine consecutive top-nine finishes dating to the Australia event last year.
Following the Budweiser/G.I. Joe's 200 Presented by Texaco/Havoline, the FedEx Championship Series does a quick turnaround toward the Midwest for its second event in as many weeks, the Medic Drug Grand Prix of Cleveland Presented by Firstar, June 25-27 at Burke Lakefront Airport. Budweiser/G.I. Joe's 200 Presented by Texaco/Havoline Advance
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