victory and the first CART triumph for a Scottish driver since Jim Clark in the 1965 Indianapolis 500. Three weeks later, he won the Molson Indy Vancouver from his fourth pole position of the season. After finishing fourth at the Honda Grand Prix of Monterey, he led every lap of the rain-shortened Texaco Grand Prix of Houston in his third and final victory of 1998. Franchitti followed up by finishing second at the Honda Indy 300 but lost the runner-up spot to Jimmy Vasser when his engine failed at the season-ending Marlboro 500 and Vasser won the race. He was third overall and scored 160 points. Before the 1999 season, Franchitti signed a two-year contract extension with Team Green through to the conclusion of the 2000 season since he did not want to be retained indefinitely and wanted keep his options open for future years. He was advised by his manager Craig Pollock to remain in CART to gain more experience and rejected an offer to join Stewart Grand Prix in F1. Franchitti took seven top-ten finishes in the first ten races. He led all the Molson Indy Toronto to win and took the championship lead from Juan Pablo Montoya after winning the ITT Automotive Detroit Grand Prix two races later. Over the next five rounds, Franchitti took four top ten places and pole position in the Miller Lite 200. He won the season's penultimate round, the Honda Indy 300 from pole position, to enter the season-ending Marlboro 500 nine points ahead of Montoya. Franchitti had to finish third in California to win the title but would lose on count-back if he and Montoya finished with the same number of points. He finished the race in tenth and Montoya fourth but lost the championship on tiebreak to Montoya who had won seven races to Franchitti's three. 2000–2002 Prior to the 2000 season, Franchitti was hospitalised after a pre-season testing crash at Homestead–Miami Speedway in which part of the car's suspension hit his head, and he sustained displaced fractures in his left hip, pelvis and multiple minor brain contusions. The accident affected his mental concentration, balance, memory and fatigue levels. As a result, Franchitti underwent physical therapy five times a week, before he was declared fit to drive by CART's medical director Steve Olvey that March. His performance deteriorated due to a lack of testing, a pre-season switch of personnel, and