1983 CART PPG Indy Car World Series

The 1983 CART PPG Indy Car World Series season was the 5th national championship season of American open wheel racing sanctioned by CART. The season consisted of 13 races. Al Unser was the national champion, and the rookie of the year was Teo Fabi. The 1983 Indianapolis 500 was sanctioned by USAC, but an arrangement was made such that it counted towards the CART points championship. Tom Sneva won the Indy 500, after three previous runner-up finishes.

1983 CART season
PPG Indy Car World Series
Season
Races13
Start dateApril 17
End dateOctober 29
Awards
Drivers' championUnited States Al Unser
Constructors' CupUnited Kingdom March
Manufacturers' CupUnited Kingdom Cosworth
Nations' CupUnited States United States
Rookie of the YearItaly Teo Fabi
Indianapolis 500 winnerUnited States Tom Sneva
← 1982
1984 →

Al Unser jumped out to the early points lead, with second-place finishes in the first three races of the season. Unser finished second at Indianapolis to Tom Sneva, but not without some controversy. Rookie Al Unser Jr. was accused of blocking for his father, but Sneva prevailed, making the winning pass with ten laps to go. Unser won at Cleveland, finished second at the Michigan 500, and third at Road America. After 6 of 13 races, Unser had a 35-point lead over Tom Sneva in the standings.

Rookie Teo Fabi made headlines at Indianapolis, becoming the first rookie to win the pole since 1950. His car dropped out, however, with a failed fuel o-ring. After a mixed start to the year, Fabi's season came alive in July, winning his first career race at the Pocono 500. Fabi jumped from 8th in points to as high as second following his win at Mid-Ohio. Fabi began to whittle away at Unser's point lead. Unser was running consistently, and had no finish worse than 11th.

In the next-to-last race of the season at Laguna Seca, Fabi dominated. He won the pole position and led 95 of 98 laps, winning his third race of the season. With only one race to go, Unser's point lead was down to 15 points. At the season finale in Phoenix, Fabi put in another dominating performance. He won the pole and led 138 of 150 laps. Fabi's championship hopes, however, fell just short as Al Unser came home 4th. Al Unser won the title by a mere 5 points over Fabi.

Other top stories from 1983 included Newman/Haas Racing joining the series with driver Mario Andretti plus a new chassis from Lola, and the rookie debut of Al Unser Jr. Though Unser Jr. did not win any races, he had ten top-10 finishes en route to 7th in points.

Drivers and constructors

edit

The following teams and drivers competed for the 1983 CART World Series. All competitors utilized Goodyear tires.

Team/Car Owner No Drivers Rounds
Alex Morales Motorsports 21   Pancho Carter All
All American Racers 98   Jeff Wood 11-12
Alsup Racing 11   Bill Alsup 1, 3-5, 7, 9-10, 12-13
Arciero Racing 66   Pete Halsmer 1, 3-13
  Johnny Parsons 2
Armstrong Mould Racing Team 43   Steve Krisiloff 2
BC Pace Racing 36   Chuck Ciprich 7
Bettenhausen Racing 10   Tony Bettenhausen Jr. All
82   Gary Bettenhausen 13
90   Derek Daly 6, 9, 11-13
Bignotti-Cotter Racing 5   Tom Sneva All
6   Kevin Cogan 1, 3-13
16 2
Bob Ward Racing 47   Bob Ward 8
Brayton Racing 35   Patrick Bedard 2, 5, 7
37   Scott Brayton 2, 4-5, 7, 10-11
Circle Bar Auto Racing 38   Chet Fillip 1-2, 10
Circle Bar Auto Racing w/ Caliva Racing   Phil Caliva 8
Dick Simon Racing 32   Dick Simon 6
22 1-3, 5, 8-11, 13
  Jorge Koechlin 12
Doug Shierson Racing 30   Howdy Holmes All
Douglas Schulz 48   Tom Klausler 6, 8
Forsythe Racing 33   Teo Fabi All
Galles Racing 17   Al Unser Jr. 1, 3-13
19 2
Gilmore Racing 1   George Snider 2
14   A. J. Foyt 2
Gohr Racing 56   Steve Chassey 1-8, 11-13
GTS Racing 86   Drake Olson 6
  Al Loquasto 7
H&R Racing 28   Gary Bettenhausen 3, 7, 9
  Herm Johnson 9
HBK Racing 70   Tom Bigelow 3
78 5
Herm Johnson Racing 42   Herm Johnson 4-5
Hoffman Racing 86   Dick Ferguson 5
Intercomp Racing 92   John Mahler 2
Interscope Racing 25   Danny Ongais 2
Jet Engineering 64   Greg Leffler 6, 8-9
  Tom Bigelow 12
Joel McCray Racing 46   Phil Krueger 1, 3-4, 9
Kraco Enterprises 18   Mike Mosley 1-8, 10, 13
  Geoff Brabham 11-12
99 8, 10
  Michael Andretti 11-13
Leader Card Racers 8   Johnny Parsons 5
  Tom Bagley 7
  Randy Lewis 12
24   Chip Mead 9-10
Machinists Union Racing 9   Roger Mears 1-4, 6-13
55   Josele Garza 2, 4-12
McElreath Racing 23   Jim McElreath 1, 5, 7
Newman/Haas Racing 3   Mario Andretti All
Patrick Racing 40   Johnny Rutherford 1, 7, 10-11, 13
  Danny Ongais 4-6
60 3
20 7-9
60   Chip Ganassi 2, 4-5, 7, 9-13
20 6
  Gordon Johncock 1-5
Primus Racing 72   Chris Kneifel 2, 4-13
Racing Team VDS 12   John Paul Jr. 1, 4-13
  Geoff Brabham 2
Rattlesnake Racing w/ Agajanian Curb 29   Mike Chandler 2
19 5
  Dick Ferguson 7
Rhoades Racing 41   Doug Heveron 1
46   Jerry Karl 7-8
61 3, 5
Simpson Sports 90   Dennis Firestone 2
Team Penske 1   Rick Mears 1, 3-13
2 2
7   Al Unser All
Tempero Racing 15   Bill Tempero 4, 9
Truesports 2   Bobby Rahal 1, 3-12
4 2
Whittington Racing 91   Don Whittington 2, 5, 7
94   Bill Whittington 2, 4, 7
Wysard Racing 34   Derek Daly 1-2
  Desiré Wilson 3, 6-9, 11-13
  Geoff Brabham 5

Schedule

edit
 
Logo of the series for this year

Of the notable changes to the schedule, there were the additions of the Caesars Palace Grand Prix, which was formerly a Formula One championship event, and Laguna Seca Raceway. The Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio returned to the schedule after a 2 year hiatus, and finally starting this season there would only be one race per season at the Milwaukee Mile.

Rd Date Name Circuit Location TV Broadcaster
- March 20   Kraco Car Stereo 150  O  Phoenix International Raceway Avondale, Arizona N/A
1 April 17   Kraco Dixie 200  O  Atlanta Motor Speedway Hampton, Georgia NBC
2 May 29   Indianapolis 500  O  Indianapolis Motor Speedway Indianapolis, Indiana ABC
3 June 12   Gould Rex Mays Classic  O  Milwaukee Mile West Allis, Wisconsin ESPN
4 July 3   Budweiser Cleveland 500  s  Burke Lakefront Airport Cleveland, Ohio ESPN
5 July 17   Norton Michigan 500  O  Michigan International Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan NBC
6 July 31   Provimi Veal 200  R  Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin TNN
7 August 14   Domino's Pizza 500  O  Pocono International Raceway Long Pond, Pennsylvania NBC
8 August 29*   Budweiser 500K  R  Riverside International Raceway Riverside, California ESPN
9 September 11   Escort Radar Warning 200  R  Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, Ohio ESPN
10 September 26   Detroit News Grand Prix  O  Michigan International Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan ESPN
11 October 8   Caesars Palace Grand Prix  R  Caesars Palace Las Vegas, Nevada NBC
12 October 23   Cribari Wines 300k  R  Laguna Seca Raceway Monterey, California ESPN
13 October 29   Miller High Life 150  O  Phoenix International Raceway Avondale, Arizona NBC

 O  Oval/Speedway
 R  Dedicated road course
 S  Street circuit

  • The season-opening Phoenix race was cancelled due to flooding.
  • The Riverside race was scheduled for August 28, but pushed a day due to rain.

Season Summary

edit

Race results

edit
Rd Race Name Pole Position Fastest Lap Winning driver Winning team Race time Report
1 Kraco Dixie 200   Rick Mears 26.730   Gordon Johncock Patrick Racing 1:22:29 Report
2 Indianapolis 500   Teo Fabi 2:53.582   Tom Sneva Bignotti-Cotter Racing 3:05:03 Report
3 Gould Rex Mays Classic   Teo Fabi 26.259   Tom Sneva Bignotti-Cotter Racing 1:17:42 Report
4 Budweiser Cleveland 500   Mario Andretti 1:13.516   Al Unser Penske Racing 2:51:54 Report
5 Norton Michigan 500   Teo Fabi 35.621   John Paul Jr. VDS Racing 3:42:27 Report
6 Provimi Veal 200   Mario Andretti 1:58.898   Mario Andretti Newman/Haas Racing 2:00:42 Report
7 Domino's Pizza 500   Tom Sneva 46.912   Teo Fabi Forsythe Racing 3:42:28 Report
8 Budweiser 500K   Teo Fabi 1:30.887   Bobby Rahal Truesports 2:45:28 Report
9 Escort Radar Warning 200   Bobby Rahal 1:21.364   Teo Fabi Forsythe Racing 2:01:49 Report
10 Detroit News Grand Prix   Bobby Rahal 35.075   Rick Mears Penske Racing 1:05:49 Report
11 Caesars Palace Grand Prix   John Paul Jr. 34.888   Mario Andretti Newman/Haas Racing 2:17:48 Report
12 Cribari Wines 300k   Teo Fabi 56.920   Teo Fabi Forsythe Racing 1:44:28 Report
13 Miller High Life 150   Teo Fabi 24.947   Teo Fabi Forsythe Racing 1:11:03 Report
  • Indianapolis was USAC-sanctioned but counted towards the CART title.

Final points standings

edit
Pos Driver ATL
 
INDY
 
MIL
 
CLE
 
MIC
 
ROA
 
POC
 
RIV
 
MDO
 
MIC
 
CPL
 
LAG
 
PHX
 
Pts
1   Al Unser 2 2 2 1* 2 3 11 11 4 5 4 11 4 151
2   Teo Fabi  RY  20 26 4 3 15 15 1* 2 1* 3 25 1* 1* 146
3   Mario Andretti 5 23 18 15 3 1 7 16 2 4 1* 2 2 133
4   Tom Sneva 14 1* 1* 5 25 4 12 5 7 21 15 18 3 96
5   Bobby Rahal 21 20 6 19 5 10* 5 1 3 2 9 7 DNS 94
6   Rick Mears 8* 3 3 7 4 17 3 19 9 1* 13 21 17 92
7   Al Unser Jr.  R  6 10 13 9 7 2 2 4* 18 10 10 4 8 89
8   John Paul Jr.  R  3 DNQ 21 1* 5 29 3 20 7 2 26 11 84
9   Chip Ganassi 8 13 8 21 26 25 6 3 3 5 56
10   Pancho Carter 16 7 14 8 6 7 6 7 10 15 6 25 10 53
11   Pete Halsmer 4 DNQ 9 2 33 14 14 27 24 14 5 20 7 48
12   Roger Mears 7 28 8 6 DNQ 8 16 9 12 16 7 6 16 43
13   Howdy Holmes 9 6 7 12 32 16 13 13 8 8 17 5 21 39
14   Mike Mosley 13 13 5 4 17 25 4 24 DNQ 11 24 36
15   Kevin Cogan 15 5 20 25 27 19 15 21 6 20 16 22 6 26
16   Gordon Johncock 1 14 23 26 26 20
17   Chris Kneifel  R  12 27 9 26 8 22 13 24 8 9 15 19
18   Tony Bettenhausen Jr. 10 17 10 18 18 12 10 8 14 9 21 14 18 19
19   Steve Chassey 17 11 19 22 10 6 25 17 12 10 19 17
20   Danny Ongais 21 12 28 23 18 24 10 5 14
21   Geoff Brabham 4 22 18 12 20 16 13
22   Josele Garza 25 17 19 11 9 20 23 17 11 12 9
23   Tom Klausler  R  22 6 DNQ 8
24   Jeff Wood  R  22 8 5
25   Scott Brayton 9 24 12 28 13 26 5
26   Derek Daly  R  22 19 DNS 9 22 18 23 22 4
27   Michael Andretti  R  19 24 9 4
28   Desiré Wilson  R  DNQ 10 20 31 14 16 23 19 13 3
29   Dick Simon DNQ 15 11 14 13 25 15 19 14 23 2
30   Jim McElreath 11 13 23 2
31   Greg Leffler DNQ DNQ 24 15 11 2
32   Phil Krueger DNQ DNQ 17 11 27 2
33   Dick Ferguson DNQ 11 22 2
34   Jerry Karl DNQ 16 DNQ 21 32 12 1
35   Gary Bettenhausen DNQ 22 27 DNS 12 1
36   Doug Heveron  R  12 DNQ 1
37   Randy Lewis  R  13 0
38   Bill Alsup DNS DNQ 21 20 16 20 19 22 27 14 0
39   Tom Bigelow DNQ 15 DNQ 29 17 DNQ 0
40   Bill Whittington  R  18 15 19 0
41   Jorge Koechlin  R  15 0
42   Herm Johnson DNQ 16 24 DNQ 17 0
43   Mike Chandler 16 31 0
44   Patrick Bedard  R  30 28 17 0
45   Chet Fillip  R  19 33 DNQ 18 0
46   Johnny Rutherford 18 Wth 21 23 24 20 0
47   Al Loquasto DNQ 18 0
48   Don Whittington 27 20 33 0
49   Bill Tempero DNQ 23 DNQ 21 0
50   Johnny Parsons 22 30 0
51   Phil Caliva DNQ 23 0
52   Drake Olson  R  DNQ 23 0
53   Dennis Firestone 24 0
54   Chip Mead 26 25 0
55   Bob Ward  R  26 DNQ DNS 0
56   Steve Krisiloff 29 DNQ 0
57   Chuck Ciprich  R  DNQ 30 0
58   A. J. Foyt 31 0
59   George Snider 32 0
60   Tom Bagley DNQ 34 0
-   Richard Hubbard DNQ DNQ DNQ 0
-   Barry Ruble DNQ DNQ 0
-   Teddy Pilette DNQ DNS 0
-   Harry MacDonald DNQ 0
-   Mark Alderson DNQ 0
-   Jim Buick DNQ 0
-   Larry Cannon DNQ 0
-   Bob Frey DNQ 0
-   Amber Furst DNQ 0
-   Spike Gehlhausen DNQ 0
-   Bob Harkey DNQ 0
-   Sheldon Kinser DNQ 0
-   Bob Lazier DNQ 0
-   John Mahler DNQ 0
-   Mack McClellan DNQ 0
-   Graham McRae DNQ 0
-   Dave Peperak DNQ 0
-   Roger Rager DNQ 0
-   Ken Schrader DNQ 0
-   Jerry Sneva DNQ 0
-   Rich Vogler DNQ 0
-   Bill Vukovich II DNQ 0
-   John Morton DNQ 0
-   Lee Kunzman DNP 0
-   Dave McMillan DNP 0
-   Bobby Olivero DNP 0
-   Bill Puterbaugh DNP 0
-   Larry Rice DNP 0
-   Dale Whittington DNP 0
Pos Driver ATL
 
INDY
 
MIL
 
CLE
 
MIC
 
ROA
 
POC
 
RIV
 
MDO
 
MIC
 
CPL
 
LAG
 
PHX
 
Pts
Color Result
Gold Winner
Silver 2nd place
Bronze 3rd place
Green 4th-6th place
Light Blue 7th-12th place
Dark Blue Finished
(Outside Top 12)
Purple Did not finish
Red Did not qualify
(DNQ)
Brown Withdrawn
(Wth)
Black Disqualified
(DSQ)
White Did not start
(DNS)
Blank Did not
participate
(DNP)
Not competing
In-line notation
Bold Pole position
Italics Ran fastest race lap
* Led most race laps
 RY  Rookie of the Year
 R  Rookie

See also

edit

References

edit
  • Åberg, Andreas. "PPG Indy Car World Series 1983". Driver Database. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
  • "1983 PPG Indy Car World Series". Champ Car Stats. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
  • "Official Box Score: 67th Indianapolis 500-Mile Race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway". Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Archived from the original on 2008-05-14. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
  • "Standings after Phoenix". Champ Car World Series. Archived from the original on 22 October 2008. Retrieved 2009-05-19.