1991 CART PPG Indy Car World Series

The 1991 CART PPG Indy Car World Series season was the 13th national championship season of American open wheel racing sanctioned by CART. The season consisted of 17 races, and one non-points exhibition event. Michael Andretti was the national champion, and the rookie of the year was his younger brother Jeff Andretti.

1991 CART season
PPG Indy Car World Series


Michael Andretti
Season
Races18
Start dateMarch 17
End dateOctober 20
Awards
Drivers' championUnited States Michael Andretti
Constructors' CupUnited Kingdom Lola
Manufacturers' CupUnited States Chevrolet
Nations' CupUnited States United States
Rookie of the YearUnited States Jeff Andretti
Indianapolis 500 winnerUnited States Rick Mears
← 1990
1992 →

The 1991 Indianapolis 500 was sanctioned by USAC, but counted towards the CART points championship. Rick Mears won the Indy 500, his record-tying fourth victory in the event.

Michael Andretti won a total of eight races, eight pole positions, and led more than half of the laps during the season, but the championship battle still went down to the final race of the season. Bobby Rahal won only one race, but had 11 podium finishes and 13 top tens. Rahal's consistent season put him in position to challenge Andretti for the title in the season finale at Laguna Seca. Andretti got off to a slow start to the season, dropping out of the first two races, and finished a heartbreaking second at Indianapolis. But after Indy, he shot to the top of the standings. He won four of the last five races of the season, and needed to finish 6th or better at Laguna Seca to clinch the title. When Bobby Rahal dropped out at Laguna Seca with overheating problems, Andretti cruised to the title.

Drivers and constructors

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The following teams and drivers competed for the 1991 Indy Car World Series. All entrants used Goodyear tires.

Team Chassis Engine No Drivers
  Galles-Kraco Racing Lola Chevrolet 1   Al Unser Jr.
18   Bobby Rahal
  Newman/Haas Racing Lola Chevrolet 2   Michael Andretti
6   Mario Andretti
  Marlboro Team Penske Penske Chevrolet 3   Rick Mears
5   Emerson Fittipaldi
17   Paul Tracy
  Chip Ganassi Racing Lola Chevrolet 8   Eddie Cheever
  Vince Granatelli Racing Lola Chevrolet 9   Arie Luyendyk
  Truesports Truesports Judd 11   Scott Pruett
  Patrick Racing Lola Alfa Romeo 20   Danny Sullivan
40   Roberto Guerrero
  Bettenhausen Motorsports Penske Chevrolet 16   Tony Bettenhausen Jr.
90   Cornelius Euser
  Walker Racing Lola Cosworth 10   Willy T. Ribbs
Judd 15   Scott Goodyear
  Euromotorsports Lola Cosworth 42   Franco Scapini
  Nicola Marozzo
50   Mike Groff
  Roberto Guerrero
  Dale Coyne Racing Lola Cosworth 19   Randy Lewis
  Dale Coyne
  Ross Bentley
39   Dennis Vitolo
  Jeff Wood
  Michael Greenfield
  Paul Tracy
90   Buddy Lazier
  P.I.G. Entreprises Lola Judd 31   Ted Prappas
  Hall-VDS Racing Lola Chevrolet 4   John Andretti
  Bayside Disposal Racing Lola Cosworth 86   Jeff Andretti
  Dick Simon Racing Lola Cosworth 7   Hiro Matsushita
Chevrolet 22   Scott Brayton
  Leader Card Racing Lola Cosworth 21   Dean Hall
  Didier Theys
  Johnny Parsons
  U.S. Engineering Lola Cosworth 44   Phil Krueger
  Arciero Racing Penske Buick 12   Mark Dismore
Lola   Pancho Carter
  John Jones
  Giochi/Preziosi Lola Cosworth 33   Guido Daccò
  A. J. Foyt Enterprises Lola Chevrolet 14   A. J. Foyt
  Bernard Jourdain
  Al Unser
  Hemelgarn Racing Lola Buick 71   Buddy Lazier
91   Stan Fox
Cosworth 92   Gordon Johncock
  Thom Burns Racing Lola Judd 66   Dominic Dobson
  King Racing TrueSports Judd 21   Geoff Brabham
Lola 26   Jim Crawford
  Menard Racing Lola Buick 9   Kevin Cogan
51   Gary Bettenhausen
  Paragon Racing Lola Cosworth 23   Tero Palmroth
  Mann Racing Lola Buick 93   John Paul Jr.

Season Summary

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Schedule

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Rd Date Race Name Track City
1 March 17   Gold Coast IndyCar Grand Prix  R  Surfers Paradise Street Circuit Surfers Paradise, Australia
2 April 14 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach  R  Long Beach Street Circuit Long Beach, California
3 April 21 Valvoline 200  O  Phoenix International Raceway Phoenix, Arizona
4 May 26 Indianapolis 500  O  Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway, Indiana
5 June 2 Miller Genuine Draft 200, in Honor of Rex Mays  O  Milwaukee Mile West Allis, Wisconsin
6 June 16 Valvoline Detroit Grand Prix  R  Streets of Detroit Detroit, Michigan
7 June 23 Texaco/Havoline Presents the Budweiser/G. I.Joe's 200  R  Portland International Raceway Portland, Oregon
8 July 8 Budweiser Cleveland Grand Prix  R  Burke Lakefront Airport Cleveland, Ohio
9 July 14 Marlboro Grand Prix  R  Meadowlands Street Circuit East Rutherford, New Jersey
10 July 21   Molson Indy Toronto  R  Exhibition Place Toronto, Ontario, Canada
11 August 4 Marlboro 500  O  Michigan International Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan
12 August 25 Texaco/Havoline Grand Prix of Denver  R  Streets of Denver Denver, Colorado
13 September 1   Molson Indy Vancouver  R  Streets of Vancouver Vancouver, British Columbia
14 September 15 Pioneer Electronics 200 Presented by Budweiser  R  Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, Ohio
15 September 22 The Chicago Tribune Presents the Texaco/Havoline 200  R  Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
16 October 6 Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix  O  Pennsylvania International Raceway Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania
NC October 19 Marlboro Challenge  R  Laguna Seca Raceway Monterey, California
17 October 20 Toyota Monterey Grand Prix Featuring the Champion Spark Plug 300  R  Laguna Seca Raceway Monterey, California

 O  Oval/Speedway
 R  Road/Street course
  Non-championship event

  • Indianapolis was USAC-sanctioned but counted towards the PPG Indy Car title.

Race results

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Rnd Race Name Pole position Winning driver Winning team Race time
1   Gold Coast IndyCar Grand Prix   Michael Andretti   John Andretti   Hall-VDS Racing 2:12:54
2   Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach   Michael Andretti   Al Unser Jr.   Galles-Kraco Racing 1:57:14
3   Valvoline 200   Rick Mears   Arie Luyendyk   Vince Granatelli Racing 1:32:18
4   75th Indianapolis 500   Rick Mears   Rick Mears   Marlboro Team Penske 2:50:00
5   Miller Genuine Draft 200, in Honor of Rex Mays   Rick Mears   Michael Andretti   Newman/Haas Racing 1:29:10
6   Valvoline Detroit Grand Prix   Michael Andretti   Emerson Fittipaldi   Marlboro Team Penske 1:57:19
7   Texaco/Havoline Presents the Budweiser/G. I. Joe's 200   Emerson Fittipaldi   Michael Andretti   Newman/Haas Racing 1:44:06
8   Budweiser Cleveland Grand Prix   Emerson Fittipaldi   Michael Andretti   Newman/Haas Racing 1:42:47
9   Marlboro Grand Prix   Rick Mears   Bobby Rahal   Galles-Kraco Racing 1:54:37
10   Molson Indy Toronto   Michael Andretti   Michael Andretti   Newman/Haas Racing 1:50:57
11   Marlboro 500   Rick Mears   Rick Mears   Marlboro Team Penske 2:59:23
12   Texaco/Havoline Grand Prix of Denver   Michael Andretti   Al Unser Jr.   Galles-Kraco Racing 1:57:06
13   Molson Indy Vancouver   Michael Andretti   Michael Andretti   Newman/Haas Racing 1:47:10
14   Pioneer Electronics 200 Presented by Budweiser   Michael Andretti   Michael Andretti   Newman/Haas Racing 1:59:49
15   The Chicago Tribune Presents the Texaco/Havoline 200   Bobby Rahal   Michael Andretti   Newman/Haas Racing 1:35:05
16   Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix   Rick Mears   Arie Luyendyk   Vince Granatelli Racing 1:31:23
NC   Marlboro Challenge   Michael Andretti   Michael Andretti   Newman/Haas Racing 0:56:41
17   Toyota Monterey Grand Prix Featuring the Champion Spark Plug 300   Michael Andretti   Michael Andretti   Newman/Haas Racing 1:47:42

Final driver standings

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Pos Driver SUR   LBH   PHX   INDY   MIL   DET   POR   CLE   MEA   TOR   MIC   DEN   VAN   MDO   ROA   NAZ   MAR   LAG   Pts
1   Michael Andretti 14 16 4 2* 1* 19 1* 1 16 1* 14* 3 1* 1* 1* 3* 1 1* 234
2   Bobby Rahal 2 2 2 19 4 2 3 3 1* 3 11 20 2 3 4 2 7 24 200
3   Al Unser Jr. 16* 1* 6 4 19 4 4 4 2 23 3 1* 3 5 2 4 4 2 197
4   Rick Mears 3 4 5 1 15 5 6 17 3 20 1 8 6 6 15 15 2* 5 145
5   Emerson Fittipaldi 19 17 3 11 8 1* 2 2* 7 21 20 2 17 2 6 8 3 4 140
6   Arie Luyendyk 9 5 1* 3 17 3 7 5 18 19 2 22 19 9 5 1 8 8 134
7   Mario Andretti 17 19 9 7 3 7 5 6 15 2 4 15 4 7 3 5 5 3 132
8   John Andretti 1 18 11 5 2 6 19 15 4 5 6 7 7 10 19 9 6 19 105
9   Eddie Cheever 15 3 8 31 7 12 9 8 5 17 7 4 12 8 7 6 10 6 91
10   Scott Pruett 5 24 12 12 13 17 8 23 17 4 13 5 5 4 17 18 7 67
11   Danny Sullivan 4 11 7 10 5 10 21 9 6 14 18 18 9 17 16 20 9 9 56
12   Scott Brayton 6 8 13 17 6 9 15 7 9 6 9 16 10 13 11 19 27 52
13   Scott Goodyear 23 7 21 27 9 8 10 19 8 7 15 24 8 11 9 21 11 42
14   Tony Bettenhausen Jr. 10 12 18 9 12 13 13 13 21 11 5 10 18 18 13 10 16 27
15   Jeff Andretti  RY  7 9 10 15 11 16 12 16 23 9 12 12 11 22 18 11 13 26
16   Mike Groff 8 23 16 24 18 22 11 10 11 8 DNS 20 8 15 22
17   Willy T. Ribbs 32 11 22 10 6 21 10 17 12 17
18   John Jones 21 19 10 8 11 15 21 21 13 21 10
19   Ted Prappas  R  22 6 DNQ 25 17 18 22 16 21 14 12 23 23 9
20   Gordon Johncock 6 8
21   Paul Tracy  R  22 21 7 25 6
22   Buddy Lazier 25 25 33 DNQ 18 11 22 9 24 24 22 6
23   Hiro Matsushita 21 13 14 16 10 14 14 14 12 15 19 14 16 14 12 12 20 6
24   Stan Fox 8 5
25   Didier Theys  R  10 DNQ DNQ 22 12 20 13 23 23 25 14 4
26   Pancho Carter 21 14 10 3
27   Cornelius Euser  R  10 3
28   Franco Scapini  R  11 2
29   Gary Bettenhausen 22 1
30   Randy Lewis 13 15 19 14 14 12 16 17 15 22 26 1
31   Dean Hall 12 DNQ 1
32   Jeff Wood 22 24 20 13 20 19 14 DNS 17 0
33   A. J. Foyt 28 16 23 16 20 13 17 16 0
34   Ross Bentley  R  13 0
35   Dominic Dobson 13 0
36   Guido Daccò 14 20 Wth 21 18 0
37   Dennis Vitolo 24 26 20 14 0
38   Roberto Guerrero 30 15 18 19 18 0
39   Mark Dismore  R  20 21 15 Wth 0
40   Michael Greenfield 16 20 0
41   Al Unser 17 0
42   Bernard Jourdain 20 18 0
43   Phil Krueger 18 0
44   Johnny Parsons DNQ 20 0
45   Geoff Brabham 20 0
46   Dale Coyne 21 DNQ 23 0
47   Nicola Marozzo  R  22 DNS DNQ 0
48   Tero Palmroth 23 0
49   John Paul Jr. 25 0
50   Jim Crawford 26 0
51   Kevin Cogan 29 0
  Tom Sneva DNQ 0
  Salt Walther DNQ 0
  Jon Beekhuis Wth 0
  Tony de Tommaso DNQ 0
Pos Driver SUR   LBH   PHX   INDY   MIL   DET   POR   CLE   MEA   TOR   MIC   DEN   VAN   MDO   ROA   NAZ   MAR   LAG   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

Nations' Cup

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  • Top result per race counts towards Nations' Cup.
Pos Country Pts
1   United States 328
2   Brazil 136
3   Netherlands 133
4   Canada 55
5   Japan 6
6   Belgium 4
7   Italy 2
8   Colombia 0
9   Mexico 0
10   Australia 0
11   Finland 0
12   United Kingdom 0
Pos Country Pts

Chassis Constructors' Cup

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Pos Chassis Pts
1   Lola T9100/T9000/T8900/T8800 352
2   Penske PC-20/PC-19/PC-17 229
3   Truesports 91 67
Pos Chassis Pts

Engine Manufacturers' Cup

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Pos Engine Pts
1   Chevrolet A 374
2   Judd 93
3   Cosworth DFS/DFX 57
4   Alfa Romeo 56
5   Buick 15
Pos Engine Pts

References

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  • "1991 CART PPG IndyCar World Series standings". race-database.com. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
  • Åberg, Andreas. "PPG Indy Car World Series 1991". Driver Database. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
  • "1991 PPG Indy Car World Series". Champ Car Stats. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
  • "Official Box Score: 75th 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 Laguna Seca". Champ Car World Series. Archived from the original on April 5, 2008. Retrieved 2015-12-07.

See also

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