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1991 CART PPG Indy Car World Series

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1991 CART PPG Indy Car World Series
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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.

Quick facts Season, Races ...

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.

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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.

More information Team, Chassis ...

Driver changes

Preseason

Mid-season

Team changes

1990 and preseason

  • On April 20, 1990, Truesports announced plans to build its own chassis for the 1991 season. The Truesports 91C, which began its design phase in 1989, was built in the team's shops in Hillard, Ohio. It was powered by a custom Judd engine developed in-house with American parts, with the goal of designing an 'All-American car'.[99][100]
  • On July 21, 1990, Chaparral founder and former driver Jim Hall announced his return to team ownership in Indy Car with support from engine builders VDS Racing. This led to the formation of Hall/VDS Racing, which would use Lola chassis.[101]
  • On August 6, 1990, Chevrolet announced that it would expand its engine program to supply Bettenhausen Motorsports, Dick Simon Racing and Hall/VDS Racing in 1991.[17]
  • On August 11, 1990, King Motorsports announced its return to the Indianapolis 500, as well as selected events, after missing the 1990 season. The team took over the development contract for the Buick engines that had been previously assigned to Vince Granatelli Racing, with custom-built Lola T91/00 chassis as part of the deal.[102]
  • On September 15, 1990, former team manager Roy Winkleman announced the formation of a new team with John Paul Jr. as a driver and a Lola T91/00-Cosworth combination, provided that enough sponsorship was procured. However, the effort did not materialize.[103]
  • On September 18, 1990, Porsche North America announced it would discontinue its involvement in Indy Car competition at the end of the 1990 season, in order to concentrate resources on its new Formula 1 program with Footwork Arrows.[104] Team manager Derrick Walker bought Porsche's Indy Car assets and race shop and, on November 27, 1990, announced the formation of Walker Motorsport, using a Lola chassis with Kevin Cogan as the driver.[105] However, just three days later, Walker put the program on hold due to the lack of promised funding from his partner Jim Gillespie.[106] A subsequent search for funding eventually resulted in a partial schedule for 1991.[107] The team used a Cosworth engine, except at the Indianapolis 500, where it changed to a Buick during the first week of practice for cost reasons.[73] The choice of a Lola chassis signified the end of the line for March Engineering as a chassis supplier in Indy Car racing.[108][109]
  • In October 1990, Bettenhausen Motorsports secured the use of Penske PC-19 chassis, having previously raced with Lola chassis.[110]
  • On January 10, 1991, Vince Granatelli Racing and Doug Shierson Racing, which had been bought out by Bob Tezak from team founder Doug Shierson, announced a merger for the 1991 season, with Tezak's team being integrated into the Granatelli organization. Resources and employees were transferred to Granatelli's headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona, as well as the Uno sponsorship and the Lola-Chevrolet package. Shierson's subsidiary entry, fielded by O'Donnell Racing, became an independent team under direct ownership from Tezak. It was renamed as UNO Racing and moved from Indianapolis, inheriting Shierson's former headquarters in Adrian, Michigan.[72]
  • During the off-season, a number of part-time or Indy 500-only teams closed their operations, most notably Gohr Racing, who had raced in CART since 1981. Stoops Racing sold off its equipment after their main sponsorship moved to Team Menard with Kevin Cogan,[111][112] while Greenfield Engineering and Andale Racing did not continue after extensive damage to their limited equipment during 1990. Both driver/owners Michael Greenfield and Bernard Jourdain continued their careers elsewhere.[28][113]
  • On March 4, 1991, Genoa Racing announced it would enter the Indy Car World Series as a full-time, one-car effort starting at the Long Beach Grand Prix, with a Lola T90/00-Cosworth combination and a potential second car at selected events.[43][85] At the time, Genoa also raced in the Atlantic Championship and BCRA Midgets, having previously featured in Can-Am and Formula 3000.[114]
  • On March 7, 1991, the Raynor/Cosby Racing Team closed its operations after five seasons in CART due to the lack of sponsorship.[35] The team had previously been disbanded and had hoped to find sponsorship, to no avail.[115]
  • Dale Coyne Racing and Nu-Tech Motorsports, owned by Gino Gagliano, entered into a partnership for the 1991 season, with Coyne entering a car serviced by the Nu-Tech crew on a part-time basis, either as the No. 39 or the No. 90 depending on the number of cars entered by the team. This was done in order for both teams to benefit from the purse earnings obtained by Coyne from using their second CART franchise.[24][22]

Mid-season

  • On April 19, 1991, it was reported that Todd Walther Racing had been disbanded, after just two races in their second CART season.[50]
  • From June onwards, Hemelgarn Racing partnered with Dale Coyne Racing to field a car in a variety of races for Buddy Lazier, with the same strategy employed by Nu-Tech to share franchising earnings. The partnership was known as Hemelgarn Coyne Racing.[22]
  • On June 21, 1991, Bob Tezak warned that Vince Granatelli Racing risked shutting down for the season due to a lack of sponsorship, despite Arie Luyendyk running third in the standings at the time.[116] The next week, Granatelli severed ties with Tezak, who was blamed by Luyendyk of mismanagement and failure to pay his salary, and the team scrambled to find funding to compete on a race-by-race basis.[117][118][119]
  • After the June 23, 1991, race at Portland, Genoa Racing discontinued its short-lived Indy Car program. The team had suffered from economic woes due to the crash of Guido Daccò at Phoenix, the loss of major sponsorship during the Month of May and the subsequent withdrawal from the Indianapolis 500, also skipping the following event at Milwaukee.[44]
  • In August 1991, Euromotorsport skipped the Michigan 500 entirely, due to an alleged engine testing session. The team had both their primary and spare cars damaged to various degrees during the previous Toronto event.[76]
  • On August 27, 1991, A. J. Foyt Enterprises announced they would skip the race at Vancouver due to a lack of a spare car. One week earlier, the team had not been allowed to race at Denver after Mike Groff wrote off his primary car in a practice crash, as the spare car had not been entered.[14]
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Schedule

More information Rd., Date ...

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

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

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Points standings

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