The 1993 PPG Indy Car World Series season was the 15th national championship season of American open wheel racing sanctioned by CART under the name "IndyCar". The season consisted of 16 races. Nigel Mansell was the national champion as well as the Rookie of the Year. The 1993 Indianapolis 500 was sanctioned by USAC, but counted towards the CART points championship. Emerson Fittipaldi won the Indy 500, his second career victory in that event.
The biggest story going into the season involved Newman/Haas Racing. Nigel Mansell, the reigning Formula One World Champion switched from Formula One to the CART IndyCar Series. Mansell joined Newman/Haas Racing as teammate to Mario Andretti, taking the seat formerly held by Michael Andretti, who departed for one year to McLaren. Mansell came to the American open wheel series with considerable fanfare and huge media attention. He won the season-opener at Surfers Paradise, the first CART "rookie" to win his first start. At Phoenix, Mansell crashed during practice and was forced to sit out the race due to a back injury. At Indianapolis, he was leading the race with 16 laps to go when he was passed on a restart by Emerson Fittipaldi and Arie Luyendyk, and wound up third. He still won the Indy 500 Rookie of the Year award. Despite having missed the race at Phoenix, Mansell won five races (four of which were on ovals) en route to the CART championship. His team Newman/Haas Racing would still manage to win the one oval race Mansell missed with Mario Andretti scoring his 52nd and final victory of his IndyCar career at Phoenix, Andretti would finish 6th in the final championship standings.
After winning his third CART championship in 1992, Bobby Rahal entered the 1993 season driving the R/H chassis (formerly the Truesports chassis). He finished second at Long Beach, but struggled to get his car up to speed, and failed to qualify at Indianapolis. He would run the remainder of the season with a 1993 Lola chassis, but with no victories. He did however finish 4th in points.
| Team | Chassis | Engine | Driver(s) | Round(s) | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Newman/Haas Racing | Lola T93/00 | FordXB | 5 |  Nigel Mansell | All | Withdrawn from Phoenix due to injury | |
| 6 | Mario Andretti | All | |||||
| A. J. Foyt Enterprises | Lola T93/00 Lola T92/00 | 14 | A. J. Foyt | 4 | Retired before Indianapolis race on pole day. | ||
| Robby Gordon | 1–3, 5–16 | Used the T92/00 chassis at S. Paradise, Phoenix, Michigan, Vancouver and Laguna Seca. | |||||
| 41 | 4 | ||||||
| 84 | John Andretti | 4 | Used the T92/00 chassis. | ||||
| Chip Ganassi Racing Teams | Lola T93/00 | FordXB | 10 |  Arie Luyendyk | All | ||
| Turley Motorsports | Penske PC-21 | Chevrolet | 69 | Eddie Cheever | 1–2 | Withdrew at Indianapolis and raced with Team Menard | |
| 99 | 3–4, 6 | ||||||
| Brian Till | 7–9, 11–12, 14–16 | ||||||
| Team Penske | Penske PC-22 | Chevrolet | 4 |  Emerson Fittipaldi | All | ||
| 12 |  Paul Tracy | All | |||||
| Galles Racing | Lola T93/00 | Chevrolet | 3 | Al Unser Jr. | All | ||
| 7 | Danny Sullivan | 1–9, 11–16 | Missed round 10 (Michigan 500) due to the flu. | ||||
 Adrián Fernández | 10 | CART did not allow Adrian to race Michigan due to lack of experience. | |||||
| 11 | 3, 5–6, 12, 16 | ||||||
| Kevin Cogan | 4, 7–9 | ||||||
| Walker Motorsport | Lola T93/00 | FordXB | 2 | Scott Goodyear | All | ||
| 15 |  Hiro Matsushita | All | |||||
| Lola T92/00 | 75 | Willy T. Ribbs | 4–16 | ||||
| Rahal/Hogan Racing | Rahal-Hogan RH-001 Lola T93/00 | Chevrolet | 1 | Bobby Rahal | All | Switched to the Lola T93/00 at Milwaukee after failing to qualify at Indianapolis. | |
| 26 | Mike Groff | 5–7, 11–12, 14 | Used the T93/00 chassis at Road America and Mid-Ohio. | ||||
| Dick Simon Racing | Lola T93/00 Lola T92/00 | FordXB Chevrolet Buick | 9 | Raul Boesel | All | ||
| 18 | Maurício Gugelmin | 15 | |||||
| 22 | Scott Brayton | All | Used the T92/00 chassis at S. Paradise, Phoenix and Detroit. | ||||
| 23 |  Didier Theys | 16 | Used the T92/00 chassis. | ||||
| 36 |  Stéphan Grégoire | 4 | Used the T92/00 chassis and Buick engine. | ||||
| 44 | John Brooks | 16 | Used the T92/00 chassis and Chevrolet engine. | ||||
| 90 |  Gary Brabham | 1 | |||||
| Lyn St. James | 2–4, 6–8, 10 | Used the T92/00 chassis at Phoenix and Long Beach | |||||
| Bertrand Gachot | 9 | ||||||
| Eddie Cheever | 12 | ||||||
| Maurício Gugelmin | 14, 16 | ||||||
| Hall/VDS Racing | Lola T93/00 | Chevrolet | 8 |  Teo Fabi | All | ||
| Dale Coyne Racing | Lola T92/00 Lola T91/00 | Chevrolet Buick | 19 | Robbie Buhl | 1–6, 8, 12, 14–16 | Used the T91/00 chassis at Milwaukee. Used the Buick engine at Indianapolis and failed to qualify at Indianapolis. | |
| Johnny Unser | 7, 9, 11, 13 | ||||||
| 32 | Éric Bachelart | 4 | Used the Buick engine at Indianapolis and both failed to qualify at Indianapolis. | ||||
| 39 | Ross Bentley | 1–10, 12–16 | |||||
| Bettenhausen Motorsports | Penske PC-22 | Chevrolet | 16 |  Stefan Johansson | All | ||
| 33 | Scott Sharp | 16 | |||||
| 76 | Tony Bettenhausen Jr. | 4 | |||||
| Arciero Racing | Penske PC-21 | Chevrolet | 25 | Mark Smith | 1–4, 6–9, 12–16 | Failed to qualify at Indianapolis. | |
| Budweiser King Racing | Lola T93/00 | Chevrolet | 40 |  Roberto Guerrero | 1–13 | ||
| Eddie Cheever | 14–16 | ||||||
| 60 | Jim Crawford | 4 | |||||
| 80 | Al Unser | 4 | |||||
| Euromotorsport | Lola T91/00 | Cosworth | 42 |  Andrea Chiesa | 1 | ||
| Jeff Wood | 2–3, 5–16 | Switched numbers with Kudrave (#50) at Michigan, New Hampshire and Nazareth. | |||||
| Lola T92/00 | Chevrolet | 50 | Andrea Montermini | 1, 6, 9, 13 | |||
| David Kudrave | 2–3, 5, 7, 10–11, 14–15 | Switched numbers with Wood (#42) at Michigan, New Hampshire and Nazareth. | |||||
| Davy Jones | 4 | ||||||
 Christian Danner | 8, 12, 16 | ||||||
| Leadercard | Lola T91/00 Lola T92/00 | Buick Chevrolet | 20 | Buddy Lazier | 1–6, 8, 10–12, 14–16 | Used the T92/00 chassis at Michigan and New Hampshire. Used the Buick engine at Indianapolis, Milwaukee and from Road America onwards. Failed to qualify at Indianapolis. | |
| 98 | Brian Bonner | 4 | |||||
| International Sport | Lola T92/00 | Chevrolet | 30 | Marco Greco | All | ||
| Lola T91/00 | Buick | 43 | Rocky Moran | 4 | Failed to qualify at Indianapolis. | ||
| Hayhoe Racing | Lola T92/00 | Chevrolet FordXB | 18 | Jimmy Vasser | 1–7, 9, 11, 13–14, 16 | Used the Ford engine at Indianapolis and from Toronto onwards. | |
| ProFormance Motorsports | Lola T91/00 | Chevrolet | 45 | Scott Pruett | 2–4, 6, 9, 14, 16 | Failed to qualify at Indianapolis. | |
| Indy Regency Racing | Lola T92/00 | Chevrolet | 29 | Olivier Grouillard | 4–16 | Failed to qualify at Indianapolis. | |
| Menard Racing | Lola T93/00 | Menard | 27 | Geoff Brabham | 4 | ||
| 51 | Gary Bettenhausen | 4 | |||||
| Lola T92/00 | Buick | 59 | Eddie Cheever | 4 | |||
| Lola T93/00 | Menard | 77 | Nelson Piquet | 4 | |||
| Hemelgarn Racing | Lola T91/00 | Buick | 91 | Stan Fox | 4 | ||
| Lola T92/00 | 92 | Didier Theys | 4 | ||||
| Burns Motor Sports | Galmer 92B | Chevrolet | 66 | Dominic Dobson | 4 | ||
| Mann Motorsports | Lola T91/00 | Buick | 93 | John Paul Jr. | 4 | Failed to qualify at Indianapolis. | |
| Pagan | Lola T92/00 | Buick | 21 | Jeff Andretti | 4 | ||
| Nu-Tech | Lola T91/00 | Chevrolet | 28 | Brian Bonner | 8 | ||
| Cosworth | 33 | Dennis Vitolo | 6 | ||||
| PacWest Racing | Galmer 92B | Chevrolet | 17 | Dominic Dobson | 13–14, 16 |
See also: List of American Championship car racing point scoring systems.
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