Penske makes final CART appearance as 2001 season ends at Fontana

Cristiano da Matta won the final event of CART's longest-ever season, the 21st race of the 2001 campaign at the Fontana superspeedway. The season was marked by disputes over technology, the cancellation of a race in Texas on safety grounds, and a serious crash at the Lausitzring that almost claimed the life of Alex Zanardi.

The finale also marked the last appearance of the Penske team in CART before it defected to the rival Indy Racing League. Other engine manufacturers followed over the coming years, and CART later fell into bankruptcy. The two series reunited in 2008, and Roger Penske's organisation bought the merged IndyCar series in 2019.