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To start the 1999 FedEx CART Championship Michael Andretti has 37 career CART victories (in 230 races) to place him at the top of the list as leading active CART driver. To bolster his total victories Andretti has 31 career poles and was Champion in 1991. Also of note, Andretti has won the season-opening events for the past two years and has the honor of sending two different first-time chassis to victory circle in their first race (Reynard and Swift). For the 1999 FedEx CART Championship Andretti will be teamed again with Christian Fittipaldi in Swift chassised Fords for Newman/Haas Racing. New for 1999 is the addition of Firestone tires (who have destroyed Goodyear's success in recent years). Goodyears may possibly have been the teams weak link in 1998. Runner-up in the leading active driver category is Al Unser, Jr. (bottom inset photo). Little Al, as he is widely known, has 31 career CART wins and seven pole positions from 256 races. Team Penske has been stagnant in recent years and Unser, Jr. has failed to score a victory in three consecutive seasons. Unser, Jr. has failed to score in the final top ten standings twice in his glorious 17 year CART career. 1998 was the most recent of those two years when he finished 11th in the final tally and over 200 points behind season champ Alex Zanardi. Unser, Jr. has two CART championships to his credit (1990 and 1994) and has won at Indianapolis twice (1992 and 1994). New to Team Penske in 1999 will be the potency of a one car team. Unser, Jr.'s 1998 teammate, Andre Ribeiro, has been sidelined until more sponsorship can be found. Goodyear tires still roll on the Mercedes-powered Penske cars. |