1989 CART PPG Indy Car World Series explained

The 1989 CART PPG Indy Car World Series season was the 11th national championship season of American open wheel racing sanctioned by CART. The season consisted of 15 races, and one non-points exhibition event. Emerson Fittipaldi was the national champion, and the rookie of the year was Bernard Jourdain. Fittipaldi became the second driver after Mario Andretti to win the Formula One World Championship and the CART championship.

The 1989 Indianapolis 500 was sanctioned by USAC, but counted towards the CART points championship. Emerson Fittipaldi won the Indy 500, and would later become the first driver since Bobby Rahal in 1986 to win Indy and the CART championship in the same season.

Emerson Fittipaldi won a total of five races, four pole positions, and had a total of eight podium finishes en route to the championship. Rick Mears won three races, and had a total of 14 top ten finishes, more consistent than Fittipaldi. The championship battle came down to those two drivers. In the second-to-last race of the season at Nazareth, Fittipaldi and Mears finished 1st-2nd. Fittipaldi effectively clinched the championship by virtue of a now 22-point lead over Mears. If Mears were to win the season finale at Laguna Seca, win the pole, and lead the most laps, he could tie Fittipaldi in points if Fittipaldi finished 13th or worse. However, Fittipaldi held the tiebreaker with 5 wins versus Mears with 3. Mears did all three at Laguna Seca (won the pole, won the race and led the most laps), but the tiebreaker scenario was moot as Fittipaldi managed a 5th place in the race. It was Mears' first road course victory since Riverside in 1982, and the first since he suffered serious leg injuries in 1984. It was also the last road course win of his career.

At Mid-Ohio, Teo Fabi scored the first and only win of the Porsche Indy Car team. Fabi had eleven top tens, and finished 4th in points. Cosworth unveiled a new engine, the "short-stroke" DFS to some fanfare, but little success. Bobby Rahal won one race in 1989 with the Cosworth DFS in July at the Meadowlands. It would stand as the only race victory for the DFS powerplant.

Drivers and constructors

The following teams and drivers competed for the 1989 Indy Car World Series. All entries utilized Goodyear tires.

Team	Chassis	Engine	Car #	Drivers	Rounds
Full-time
Newman/Haas Racing	Lola	Chevrolet	5	Mario Andretti	All
Newman/Haas Racing	Lola	Chevrolet	6	Michael Andretti	All
Patrick Racing	Penske	Chevrolet	20	Emerson Fittipaldi	All
Galles Racing	Lola	Chevrolet	2	Al Unser Jr.	All
Team Penske	Penske	Chevrolet	1	Danny Sullivan	All except 6-7
				Geoff Brabham	6
				Al Unser	7
			4	Rick Mears	All
			25	Al Unser	3, 10-11
Porsche North America	March	Porsche	8	Teo Fabi	All
Truesports	Lola	Judd	3	Scott Pruett	All
Kraco Racing	Lola	Cosworth	18	Bobby Rahal	All
Dick Simon Racing	Lola	Cosworth/Buick	7/9	Arie Luyendyk	All
			22	Scott Brayton	All
			28	Randy Lewis	All except 14
			17	Joe Sposato	15
Doug Shierson Racing	Lola	Judd	30	Raul Boesel	All
Raynor Racing	Lola	Judd	10	Derek Daly	All
Machinists Union Racing	March	Cosworth	11	Kevin Cogan	All except 14
	March		11	Johnny Rutherford	14
	Lola		29/24	Pancho Carter	All
Protofab Racing	Lola	Cosworth	15	James Weaver	2, 5, 7
Protofab Racing	Lola	Cosworth	65	John Jones	All except 14
A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Lola	Cosworth	14	A. J. Foyt	All except 7 and 15
	Lola		14	Rocky Moran	15
	March		29	Rich Vogler	3
Andale Racing	Lola	Cosworth	69	Bernard Jourdain	All except 13
Euromotorsport	Lola	Cosworth	50/16	Jean-Pierre Frey	1, 4-6
			50	Davy Jones	3
				Scott Atchison	6-8
				Tero Palmroth	11
				Guido Daccò	10, 12-15
Alex Morales Motorsports	March	Alfa Romeo	21	Roberto Guerrero	5-15
Arciero Racing	Penske	Cosworth	12	Didier Theys	1-4
				Fabrizio Barbazza	5-9, 12-13, 15
				Rich Vogler	10
Hemelgarn Racing	Lola	Judd/Buick	71	Ludwig Heimrath Jr.	1-4, 9-10, 12-15
			71	Tero Palmroth	5
			71/91	Didier Theys	5-8
			91	Gordon Johncock	3, 10-11
				Scott Goodyear	9, 13
				Robby Unser	15
			81	Bill Vukovich III	3
Vince Granatelli Racing	Lola/March	Buick/Cosworth	9	Didier Theys	12-15
			9/70	John Andretti	3, 9-11, 14-15
			9/7	Tom Sneva	1-8
Part-time
Bayside Motorsports	Lola	Cosworth	86	Dominic Dobson	1-3, 5-6, 8-9, 15
Dale Coyne Racing	Lola	Cosworth	19	Guido Daccò	1-8
				Dale Coyne	11
				Fulvio Ballabio	12-13
				Ken Johnson	15
				John Paul Jr.	10
ATEC Environmental	Lola	Cosworth	96	Guido Daccò	9
Bernstein Racing	Lola	Buick	15	Jim Crawford	3
Saleen	March	Cosworth	59	Steve Saleen	2-3, 5, 7, 9, 12-13, 15
Gohr Racing	Lola/March	Cosworth	56	Jeff Wood	7-10, 12-15
Gohr Racing	Lola/March	Cosworth	56	Tero Palmroth	2-3
Bettenhausen Motorsports	Lola	Cosworth	16	Jon Beekhuis	9, 13, 15
				Steve Chassey	8, 10
				Michael Greenfield	11
				Dennis Vitolo	5, 12
			15/16	John Paul Jr.	7-8
			27	Fulvio Ballabio	2
			27	Tony Bettenhausen Jr.	11
Mann Motorsports	Lola	Buick	99	Gary Bettenhausen	3
			96	John Paul Jr.	5, 15
			96	Mark Dismore	12
Stoops Freightliner	Lola	Cosworth	17	Johnny Rutherford	10-11
Stoops Freightliner	Lola	Cosworth	17	Steve Butler	3
U.S. Engineering	Lola	Cosworth	44	Scott Harrington	3, 13, 15
U.S. Engineering	Lola	Cosworth	44	Phil Krueger	10
Team Lazier	March	Cosworth	35	Buddy Lazier	3
Curb Racing	March	Cosworth	33	Rocky Moran	3

Season Summary

Schedule

Since Miami was dropped from the schedule the season finale and the Marlboro Challenge was moved to Laguna Seca. A race at Fuji Speedway in Japan was originally scheduled for March 26,^[1] but was eventually cancelled.^[2]

Rd	Date	Race Name	Track	City
1	April 9	Checker Autoworks 200 Presented by Phoenix International Raceway and the Fiesta Bowl	Phoenix International Raceway	Phoenix, Arizona
2	April 16	Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach	Long Beach Street Circuit	Long Beach, California
3	May 28	Indianapolis 500	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Speedway, Indiana
4	June 4	Miller High Life 200	Milwaukee Mile	West Allis, Wisconsin
5	June 18	Valvoline Detroit Grand Prix	Streets of Detroit	Detroit, Michigan
6	June 25	Budweiser/G.I. Joe's 200	Portland International Raceway	Portland, Oregon
7	July 2	Budweiser Cleveland Grand Prix	Burke Lakefront Airport	Cleveland, Ohio
8	July 16	Marlboro Grand Prix	Meadowlands Street Circuit	East Rutherford, New Jersey
9	July 23	Molson Indy Toronto	Exhibition Place	Toronto, Ontario
10	August 6	Marlboro 500	Michigan International Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan
11	August 20	Quaker State 500	Pocono International Raceway	Long Pond, Pennsylvania
12	September 3	Red Roof Inns 200	Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course	Lexington, Ohio
13	September 10	Texaco/Havoline 200	Road America	Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
14	September 24	Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix	Pennsylvania International Raceway	Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania
NC	October 14	Marlboro Challenge	Laguna Seca Raceway	Monterey, California
15	October 15	Toyota Monterey Grand Prix Featuring the Champion Spark Plug 300	Laguna Seca Raceway	Monterey, California

- Meadowlands was supposed to run for 183 miles (295 kilometers) but was shortened due to rain.
Oval/Speedway
Road/Street course
Non-championship event

Race results

Rnd	Race Name		Winning driver	Winning team	Race time
1	Checker Autoworks 200	Rick Mears	Rick Mears	Team Penske	1:35:09
2	Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach	Al Unser Jr.	Al Unser Jr.	Galles Racing	1:51:19
3	Indianapolis 500	Rick Mears	Emerson Fittipaldi	Patrick Racing	2:59:01
4	Miller High Life 200	Rick Mears	Rick Mears	Team Penske	1:32:11
5	Valvoline Detroit Grand Prix	Michael Andretti	Emerson Fittipaldi	Patrick Racing	2:02:11
6	Budweiser/G. I. Joe's 200	Teo Fabi	Emerson Fittipaldi	Patrick Racing	1:55:20
7	Budweiser Cleveland Grand Prix	Michael Andretti	Emerson Fittipaldi	Patrick Racing	1:32:56
8	Marlboro Grand Prix	Emerson Fittipaldi	Bobby Rahal	Kraco Racing	2:09:20
9	Molson Indy Toronto	Emerson Fittipaldi	Michael Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	2:01:00
10	Marlboro 500	Emerson Fittipaldi	Michael Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	3:07:15
11	Pocono 500	Emerson Fittipaldi	Danny Sullivan	Team Penske	2:55:43
12	Red Roof Inns 200	Teo Fabi	Teo Fabi	Porsche North America	1:54:46
13	Texaco/Havoline 200	Danny Sullivan	Danny Sullivan	Team Penske	1:37:43
14	Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix	Rick Mears	Emerson Fittipaldi	Patrick Racing	1:29:02
NC	Marlboro Challenge	Emerson Fittipaldi	Al Unser Jr.	Galles Racing	0:56:37
15	Champion Spark Plug 300K	Rick Mears	Rick Mears	Team Penske	1:58:29

Indianapolis was USAC-sanctioned but counted towards the CART title.

Final driver standings

Pos	Driver	PHX	LBH	INDY	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	MEA	TOR	MIC	POC	MDO	ROA	NAZ		MAR		LAG	Pts
1	Emerson Fittipaldi	5	3	1*	16	1	1*	1*	2	2	14	19	4	5	1*		8		5	196
2	Rick Mears	1*	5	23	1*	5	8	5	4	5	7	2*	6	3	2		9		1*	186
3	Michael Andretti	4	2	17	2	13*	6	18	18*	1	1*	3	3	6*	5		7		7	150
4	Teo Fabi	6	27	30	3	4	4	4	9	4	2	4	1*	2	16		4		19	141
5	Al Unser Jr.	2	1*	2	8	21	10	7	5	20	4	9	2	20	4		1*		3	136
6	Mario Andretti	8	18	4	7	3	25	2	20	26	3	5	7	7	8		5		2	110
7	Danny Sullivan	3	8	28	10	24			8	3*	23	1	5	1	3		2		14	107
8	Scott Pruett	11	DNS	10	5	2	5	6	3	6	17	8	19	8	6		6		4	101
9	Bobby Rahal	18	4	26	13	18	2	3	1	19	9	6	22	28	7		3		6	88
10	Arie Luyendyk	17	7	21	6	6	3	9	7	24	6	23	8	4	13		10		9	75
11	Raul Boesel	14	6	3	4	28	7	8	6	7	20	20	23	9	11				10	68
12	Derek Daly	12	9	15	21	25	11	22	25	16	5	24	9	27	9				18	25
13	Pancho Carter	7	17	22	9	10	9	14	13	27	26	12	28	19	18				24	18
14	Kevin Cogan	10	26	32	19	17	24	11	12	9	25	22	10	18					8	18
15	Scott Brayton	15	12	6	18	DNQ	13	28	10	14	11	14	15	13	10				20	17
16	Al Unser			24				10			8	7								14
17	John Jones	16	20	11	11	11	19	25	11	18	16	10	13	10					22	14
18	A. J. Foyt	22	25	5	20	26	DNS		23	17	18	21	21	22	14					10
19	Dominic Dobson	23	19	18		7	18		17	11									11	10
20		19	13	9	12	15	22	19	19	10	19	11	27		15				23	10
21	Didier Theys	20	23	20	17	9	20	12	26				11	11	21				17	9
22	Davy Jones			7																6
23	Roberto Guerrero					8	23	13	22	28	22	16	12	21	20				25	6
24	Fabrizio Barbazza					20	21	26	24	8			20	12					21	6
25	Rich Vogler			8							28									5
26	Ludwig Heimrath Jr.	9	24	13	DNS					22	DNQ		25	17	17				DNQ	4
27	Johnny Rutherford			DNQ							10	13			DNS					3
28	Tom Sneva	DNS	10	27	22	23	26	20	27											3
29		24	22	DNQ	14	12	12	21	DNQ	21	13		26	26	12				26	3
30			11			22		24												2
31			14	DNQ		14		17		12			14	25					13	1
32	Jeff Wood							15	15	DNQ	12		16	15	DNQ				DNQ	1
33	John Andretti			25						25	24	17			19				12	1
34	Bill Vukovich III			12																1
35	Randy Lewis	13	15	29	15	16	16	23	16	15	27	18	17	14					16	0
36										13				24					15	0
37	Scott Atchison						17	27	14											0
38	Rocky Moran			14															28	0
39	Geoff Brabham			Wth			14													0
40	Gordon Johncock			31							21	15								0
41	Jean-Pierre Frey	21		Wth	DNQ	DNQ	15													0
42	Phil Krueger			DNQ							15									0
43	Tero Palmroth		16	16		27						25								0
44	John Paul Jr.			DNQ		19		16	21		DNQ								DNQ	0
45				DNQ										16					DNQ	0
46	Fulvio Ballabio		21										18	DNQ						0
47	Jim Crawford			19																0
48	Scott Goodyear									23				23						0
49													24							0
50	Tony Bettenhausen Jr.			DNQ								26								0
51	Dale Coyne			DNQ								27								0
52	Ken Johnson																		27	0
53	Steve Chassey			DNQ					28		29									0
54	Gary Bettenhausen			33																0
	Tom Bigelow			DNQ																0
	Steve Butler			DNQ																0
	Dick Ferguson			DNQ																0
	Stan Fox			DNQ																0
	Michael Greenfield			DNQ								Wth								0
	Andy Hillenburg			Wth																0
	Buddy Lazier			DNQ															DNQ	0
	Bobby Olivero			DNQ																0
	Johnny Parsons			DNQ																0
	Joe Sposato																DNQ	0
	Robby Unser																DNQ	0
	Dennis Vitolo					DNQ							DNQ					0
	Kevin Whitesides			DNQ														0
Pos	Driver	PHX	LBH	INDY	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	MEA	TOR	MIC	POC	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)
Blank	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|}|}|}

Nations' Cup

Top result per race counts towards Nations' Cup.

Pos	Country	PHX	LBH	INDY	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	MEA	TOR	MIC	POC	MDO	ROA	NAZ	LAG	Pts
1	United States	1*	1*	2	1*	2*	2	2	1*	1*	1*	1	2	1*	2	1*	276
2	Brazil	5	3	1*	4	1	1*	1*	2	2	14	19	4	5	1*	5	200
3	Italy	6	22	30	3	4	4	4	9	4	2	4	1*	2	12	21	139
4	Netherlands	17	7	21	6	6	3	9	7	24	6	23	8	4	13	9	75
5	Ireland	12	9	15	21	25	11	22	25	16	5	24	9	27	9	18	25
6	Canada	10	20	11	11	11	19	25	11	13	16	10	13	10	17	15	18
7	Mexico	19	13	9	12	15	22	19	19	10	19	11	27		15	23	10
8	Belgium	20	23	20	17	9	20	12	26				11	11	21	17	9
9	Colombia					8	23	13	22	28	22	16	12	21	20	25	6
10	England		11			22		24									2
11	Australia						14										0
12	Switzerland	21		Wth	DNQ	DNQ	15										0
13	Finland		16	16		27						25					0
14	Scotland			19													0
Pos	Country	PHX	LBH	INDY	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	MEA	TOR	MIC	POC	MDO	ROA	NAZ	LAG	Pts

Chassis Constructors' Cup

Pos	Chassis	Pts
1	Penske PC-18/PC-17	283
2	Lola T8900/T8800/T8700	254
3	March 89CE/89P/88C/86C	149
Pos	Chassis	Pts

Engine Manufacturers' Cup

Pos	Engine	Pts
1	Chevrolet A	319
2	Cosworth	146
3	Porsche	141
4	Judd	138
5	Buick	16
6	Alfa Romeo	6
Pos	Engine	Pts.

References

Web site: 1989 CART PPG IndyCar World Series standings. race-database.com. 2010-12-10.
Web site: PPG Indy Car World Series 1989. Åberg, Andreas. Driver Database. 2009-05-19.
Web site: 1989 PPG Indy Car World Series. Champ Car Stats. 2009-05-19.
Web site: Official Box Score: 73rd Indianapolis 500-Mile Race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Indianapolis Motor Speedway. 2009-05-19. 2008-05-14. https://web.archive.org/web/20080514015209/http://www.indy500.com/stats/view/boxscore/year/1989. dead.
Web site: Standings after Laguna Seca . Champ Car World Series . 2015-12-07 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080405130229/http://champcar.ws/Results/Standings.asp?Year=1989 . April 5, 2008 .

Citations

Notes and References

News: 1988-11-05 . Article clipped from The Indianapolis Star . 30 . The Indianapolis Star . 2023-09-13.
Web site: 2014-07-07 . FISA v CART . 2023-09-13 . Motor Sport Magazine . en-GB.