1999 season finale box score
As a 24-year-old rookie in 1999, Juan Pablo Montoya claimed his first Indy car title by outdueling a future four-time Indy car champion in Dario Franchitti.
The drivers were tied on points following the finale of the 20-race season, and Montoya claimed the title on a tiebreaker with seven victories to Franchitti’s three.
Sixteen years after becoming Champ Car’s youngest champion, Montoya is in another championship battle, although in the unfamiliar position of being the points front-runner entering the finale.
Graham Rahal of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing is closest of the five other contenders for the Verizon IndyCar Series championship at 34 points back.
In ’99, Montoya was the hunter entering the season finale at California Speedway (now Auto Club Speedway) in Fontana, Calif.
After a three-race winning streak midway through the season helped the rookie build a healthy points lead, Franchitti got hot down the stretch as Montoya struggled for top results.
After winning the penultimate race of the season at Surfer’s Paradise, Franchitti entered the finale with a nine-point advantage.
But Montoya, driving in just the second 500-mile race of his Indy car career, qualified third in the No. 4 Target Reynard/Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing and finished fourth. Franchitti, who qualified eighth, finished 10th in the KOOL Reynard/Honda for Team KOOL Green after losing two laps because of a tire problem during a pit stop.
It was one of two times in Indy car history that the championship has been decided on the tiebreaker. In 2006, Sam Hornish Jr. and Dan Wheldon tied on points following the final race at Chicagoland Speedway. Hornish collected his third series title by having four wins to Wheldon’s two.
But like the Indianapolis 500, which Montoya won for the second time in May, he hopes that distance makes the appreciation of the accomplishment more rewarding.
"You're older, you're wiser, you understand where the races are won, where they're lost," he said after the 500 Mile Race win.