The initial start resulted in a multi-car crash injuring Fernandez and Takagi.

CART officials allowed teams to repair their cars or pull out backups.

Postponing the race was not an option due to international travel logistics, as cars had to get to Fontana, California by Tuesday US time to allow for conversion to superspeedway configuration and the 500 mile oval race scheduled the following weekend, and logistics of the street course circuit, as organizers were contractually required to have the entire course cleared by the next morning.

This gave Domínguez his first career win in the slowest race in CART history.

For 2003, rules were changed to allow the race to be called prior to halfway with only half points being awarded.