Fontana race breaks all the records

There were a record 72 lead changes among a record 19 drivers, smashing the old marks of 62 (Michigan 1998) and 12 (Fontana 2000).

Max Papis led the most laps (54), just one more than race winner Cristiano
da Matta. But that one extra lap ended up costing da Matta US$100,000, because had he taken the bonus point for leading the most laps, it would have moved into a tie in the championship with Helio Castroneves with 141 points.

Cristiano then would have claimed fourth place over his countryman in the championship based on CART's complicated tie-breaker system. And fourth place in the CART point standings is worth US$100,000 more than fifth place.

At the post-race press conference, da Matta was told (incorrectly, as it would later be revealed) that he had claimed the Lap Leader bonus point, and he received the news with relish.

"That's great, and now I'm going to yell at my team to prove to them that leading is important," he said. "All race long they were screaming at me, 'Don't lead! Drop back in the pack!' My car was so good that it was hard to drive it slowly."

Incidentally, da Matta's margin over Papis of 0.007sec as they crossed the line to take the yellow flag that determined the outcome of the race would have been an all-time Champ Car record for smallest margin of victory.

As it was, da Matta was in fact credited for winning by 0.123sec as the field crossed the line after 220 laps to the yellow and chequered flags.