CART: Zanardi, Franchitti Collect Monstrous Paydays at Molson Indy Vancouver
7 September 1998
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On a day when Franchitti earned his second consecutive victory in a FedEx Championship Series event, Zanardi drove to a fourth-place finish that allowed him to clinch his second consecutive PPG Cup and $1 million bonus from the PPG Cup points fund.
Zanardi became the first back-to-back series champion since Bobby Rahal earned consecutive crowns in 1986 and 87 and, coupled with teammate Jimmy Vasser's 1996 title, allowed Target/Chip Ganassi Racing to become only the second team in CART history to win three in a row. The only other team to accomplish the feat was Penske Racing, which wont three straight titles from 1981-'83.
Zanardi's fourth place effort gave him a 92 point lead (218-126) over Vasser, who was held scoreless, in the FedEx Championship Series standings. A maximum of 88 points is available in the final four events of the 19 race championship season, paving the way for Zanardi's ability to clinch Sunday. By clinching the title with four races remaining, Zanardi does so earlier than any driver in CART history. Rick Mears clinched the 1981 PPG Cup over Bill Alsup with three races remaining.
Meanwhile, Franchitti, the polesitter, finished 3.437 seconds ahead of Michael Andretti in the 86 lap, timed event to become the first driver in 22 events to win from the pole position. That accomplishment earned him a record rollover bonus of $330,000 from the Marlboro Pole Award, which has been accumulating at a rate of $15,000 per event since Zanardi's triumph from the pole at Cleveland in July of 1997.
Combined with the $100,000 winner's purse and the $10,000 Franchitti collected Saturday for winning the pole, his total take for Sunday's victory was $430,000. The previous Marlboro Pole Award record jackpot of $160,000 was claimed by Al Unser Jr. at Portland in 1994.
Franchitti led a race-high 28 laps, including the final seven after passing Andretti, who was conserving fuel, heading into the first turn on lap 80. He averaged 77.081 mph on the new 1.802 mile temporary street circuit while becoming only the second driver to win consecutive events this season. He recorded his first career FedEx Championship Series victory Aug 16 at Road America.
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