1993 PPG Indy Car World Series


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 [Desert Diamond West Valley Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix|Phoenix Grand Prix|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 en route to the CART championship, becoming the first driver to win the CART Series in his rookie season. He also became the first driver in history to be the Formula One champion and the CART IndyCar champion at the same time. 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. 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.
The 1993 schedule originally included plans for the Meadowlands Grand Prix to move to a street circuit in Manhattan on the roads surrounding the World Trade Center and West Street. The race was planned to be held on July 13, 1993. However, the race was cancelled in September 1992 due to cost and conflicts between sponsor Marlboro and Mayor David Dinkins' anti-tobacco advertising policies.

Drivers and constructors

  • All teams competed with Goodyear tires.
TeamChassisEngineDriverStatusRoundRef
Arciero RacingPenske PC-21Chevrolet V8/B25color box|orange|R|border=silverrefn|Used by Robby Gordon at rounds 1–2, 10, 13 and 16|name=Foyt92|group=N

Driver changes

Preseason

Team changes

Preseason

  • On August 14, 1992, Truesports announced it would cease operations at the end of their eleventh season in the series, due to the declining interest of team owner Barbara Trueman. Truesports also announced a deal to sell its facilities at Columbus, Ohio facilities to Rahal-Hogan Racing, which would move from Indianapolis. On October 7, 1992, Rahal-Hogan Racing announced it would continue the development of the Truesports 92C chassis, which was renamed as the Rahal-Hogan RH-001 in February 1993.
  • On September 29, 1992, the Buick Motor Division announced it would discontinue its Indy Car program after nine seasons, stopping further development on its stock-block engines, which had been largely confined to the Indianapolis 500 due to the more restrictive CART rules regarding turbocharger boost. Chevrolet responded to this development in early October 1992 by making their V8/A engines available for Indy-only teams or partial programs.
  • On October 17, 1992, Frank Arciero announced that Arciero Racing would return as an independent team, reverting the gradual ownership transfer over the 1992 season to McCormack Motorsports, which would continue on its own. Arciero signed a deal with Penske Racing to use its 1992 package, consisting of a Penske PC-21 chassis and Chevrolet V8/B engines, as part of a technical alliance that included joint testing.
  • On November 23, 1992, A. J. Foyt Enterprises announced that the team would switch engine suppliers, from Chevrolet to the Ford XB engine, which went along with the signing of Ford factory driver Robby Gordon. He would compete in the first two races of the season with a Lola T92/00 bought from Chip Ganassi Racing, the same package Gordon had driven before. Two days later, on November 25, 1992, Walker Motorsports announced the same switch of engines with returning driver Scott Goodyear.
  • On November 24, 1992, King Racing announced it would compete with the new Chevrolet V8/C engines for its first full-time season, ditching the discontinued Buick powerplant.

Schedule

RndDateRace NameCircuitLocation
1March 21Australian FAI IndyCar Grand Prix Surfers Paradise Street CircuitSurfers Paradise, Australia
2April 4Valvoline 200 Phoenix International RacewayPhoenix, Arizona
3April 18Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Streets of Long BeachLong Beach, California
4May 30Indianapolis 500 Indianapolis Motor SpeedwaySpeedway, Indiana
5June 6Miller Genuine Draft 200 Milwaukee MileWest Allis, Wisconsin
6June 13ITT Automotive Detroit Grand Prix The Raceway on Belle Isle ParkDetroit, Michigan
7June 27Budweiser/G. I. Joe's 200 Portland International RacewayPortland, Oregon
8July 11Budweiser Grand Prix of Cleveland Cleveland Burke Lakefront AirportCleveland, Ohio
9July 18Molson Indy Toronto Exhibition PlaceToronto, Ontario
10August 1Marlboro 500 Michigan International SpeedwayBrooklyn, Michigan
11August 8New England 200 New Hampshire International SpeedwayLoudon, New Hampshire
12August 22Texaco/Havoline 200 Road AmericaElkhart Lake, Wisconsin
13August 29Molson Indy Vancouver Streets of VancouverVancouver, British Columbia
14September 12Pioneer Electronics 200 Mid-Ohio Sports Car CourseLexington, Ohio
15September 19Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix Nazareth SpeedwayNazareth, Pennsylvania
16October 3Toyota Monterey Grand Prix Laguna Seca RacewayMonterey, California

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

Points standings

Drivers standings


[Chassis] Constructors' Cup

PosChassisPts
1

[Engine] Manufacturers' Cup

PosEnginePts
1