1983 CART PPG Indy Car World Series explained
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.
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
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 |
| 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 | | 1, 3-12 |
| 4 | 2 |
| Whittington Racing | 91 | | 2, 5, 7 |
| 94 | | 2, 4, 7 |
| Wysard Racing | 34 | | 1-2 |
| 3, 6-9, 11-13 |
| 5 | |
Schedule
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 | Phoenix International Raceway | Avondale, Arizona | N/A |
|---|
| 1 | April 17 | Kraco Dixie 200 | Atlanta Motor Speedway | Hampton, Georgia | NBC |
|---|
| 2 | May 29 | Indianapolis 500 | Indianapolis Motor Speedway | Indianapolis, Indiana | ABC |
|---|
| 3 | June 12 | Gould Rex Mays Classic | Milwaukee Mile | West Allis, Wisconsin | ESPN |
|---|
| 4 | July 3 | Budweiser Cleveland 500 | Burke Lakefront Airport | Cleveland, Ohio | ESPN |
|---|
| 5 | July 17 | Norton Michigan 500 | Michigan International Speedway | Brooklyn, Michigan | NBC |
|---|
| 6 | July 31 | Provimi Veal 200 | Road America | Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin | TNN |
|---|
| 7 | August 14 | Domino's Pizza 500 | Pocono International Raceway | Long Pond, Pennsylvania | NBC |
|---|
| 8 | August 29* | Budweiser 500K | Riverside International Raceway | Riverside, California | ESPN |
|---|
| 9 | September 11 | Escort Radar Warning 200 | Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course | Lexington, Ohio | ESPN |
|---|
| 10 | September 26 | Detroit News Grand Prix | Michigan International Speedway | Brooklyn, Michigan | ESPN |
|---|
| 11 | October 8 | Caesars Palace Grand Prix | Caesars Palace | Las Vegas, Nevada | NBC |
|---|
| 12 | October 23 | Cribari Wines 300k | Laguna Seca Raceway | Monterey, California | ESPN |
|---|
| 13 | October 29 | Miller High Life 150 | Phoenix International Raceway | Avondale, Arizona | NBC | |
|---|
Oval/Speedway
Dedicated road course
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
Race results
- Indianapolis was USAC-sanctioned but counted towards the CART title.
Final points standings
See also: List of American Championship car racing point scoring systems.
| | 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 | |
| | align=center colspan=2 | In-line notation |
|---|
| Bold | Pole position | | Italics | Ran fastest race lap | *| align=center|Led most race laps|-|style="text-align:center"| |align=center|Rookie of the Year|-|style="text-align:center"| |align=center|Rookie|}|}|}See also
References
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