1983 CART PPG Indy Car World Series

The1983 CART PPG Indy Car World Seriesseason was the 5th national championship season ofAmerican open wheel racingsanctioned byCART.The season consisted of 13 races.Al Unserwas the national champion, and the rookie of the year wasTeo Fabi.The1983 Indianapolis 500was sanctioned byUSAC,but an arrangement was made such that it counted towards the CART points championship.Tom Snevawon the Indy 500, after three previous runner-up finishes.

1983 CART season
PPGIndy Car World Series
Season
Races	13
Start date	April 17
End date	October 29
Awards
Drivers' champion	Al Unser
Constructors' Cup	March
Manufacturers' Cup	Cosworth
Nations' Cup	United States
Rookie of the Year	Teo Fabi
Indianapolis 500winner	Tom Sneva

Al Unserjumped out to the early points lead, with second-place finishes in the first three races of the season. Unser finished second atIndianapolistoTom Sneva,but not without some controversy. RookieAl 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 includedNewman/Haas Racingjoining the series with driverMario Andrettiplus a new chassis from Lola, and the rookie debut ofAl 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 followingteamsanddriverscompeted for the 1983CART World Series.All competitors utilizedGoodyeartires.

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 Racingw/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
Gilmore Racing	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 Racingw/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	Bobby Rahal	1, 3-12
	4		2
Whittington Racing	91	Don Whittington	2, 5, 7
	94	Bill Whittington	2, 4, 7
Wysard Racing	34	Derek Daly	1-2
		Desiré Wilson	3, 6-9, 11-13
		Geoff Brabham	5

Schedule

Logo of the series for this year

Of the notable changes to the schedule, there were the additions of theCaesars Palace Grand Prix,which was formerly aFormula Onechampionship event, andLaguna Seca Raceway.TheMid-Ohio Sports Car CourseinLe xing ton, Ohioreturned to the schedule after a 2 year hiatus, and finally starting this season there would only be one race per season at theMilwaukee Mile.

Rd	Date	Name	Circuit	Location	TV Broadcaster
-	March 20	Kraco Car Stereo 150	OPhoenix International Raceway	Avondale, Arizona	N/A
1	April 17	Kraco Dixie 200	OAtlanta Motor Speedway	Hampton, Georgia	NBC
2	May 29	Indianapolis 500	OIndianapolis Motor Speedway	Indianapolis, Indiana	ABC
3	June 12	Gould Rex Mays Classic	OMilwaukee Mile	West Allis, Wisconsin	ESPN
4	July 3	Budweiser Cleveland 500	sBurke Lakefront Airport	Cleveland, Ohio	ESPN
5	July 17	Norton Michigan 500	OMichigan International Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan	NBC
6	July 31	Provimi Veal 200	RRoad America	Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin	TNN
7	August 14	Domino's Pizza 500	OPocono International Raceway	Long Pond, Pennsylvania	NBC
8	August 29*	Budweiser 500K	RRiverside International Raceway	Riverside, California	ESPN
9	September 11	Escort Radar Warning 200	RMid-Ohio Sports Car Course	Le xing ton, Ohio	ESPN
10	September 26	Detroit News Grand Prix	OMichigan International Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan	ESPN
11	October 8	Caesars Palace Grand Prix	RCaesars Palace	Las Vegas, Nevada	NBC
12	October 23	Cribari Wines 300k	RLaguna Seca Raceway	Monterey, California	ESPN
13	October 29	Miller High Life 150	OPhoenix International Raceway	Avondale, Arizona	NBC

OOval/Speedway
RDedicated road course
SStreet 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

Rd	Race Name	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Winning driver	Winning team	Race time	Report
1	Kraco Dixie 200	Rick Mears	26.730	Gordon Johncock	Patrick Racing	1:22:29	Report
2	Indianapolis 500	Teo Fabi	2:53.582	Tom Sneva	Bignotti-Cotter Racing	3:05:03	Report
3	Gould Rex Mays Classic	Teo Fabi	26.259	Tom Sneva	Bignotti-Cotter Racing	1:17:42	Report
4	Budweiser Cleveland 500	Mario Andretti	1:13.516	Al Unser	Penske Racing	2:51:54	Report
5	Norton Michigan 500	Teo Fabi	35.621	John Paul Jr.	VDS Racing	3:42:27	Report
6	Provimi Veal 200	Mario Andretti	1:58.898	Mario Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	2:00:42	Report
7	Domino's Pizza 500	Tom Sneva	46.912	Teo Fabi	Forsythe Racing	3:42:28	Report
8	Budweiser 500K	Teo Fabi	1:30.887	Bobby Rahal	Truesports	2:45:28	Report
9	Escort Radar Warning 200	Bobby Rahal	1:21.364	Teo Fabi	Forsythe Racing	2:01:49	Report
10	Detroit News Grand Prix	Bobby Rahal	35.075	Rick Mears	Penske Racing	1:05:49	Report
11	Caesars Palace Grand Prix	John Paul Jr.	34.888	Mario Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	2:17:48	Report
12	Cribari Wines 300k	Teo Fabi	56.920	Teo Fabi	Forsythe Racing	1:44:28	Report
13	Miller High Life 150	Teo Fabi	24.947	Teo Fabi	Forsythe Racing	1:11:03	Report

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

Final points standings

Further information:List of American Championship car racing point scoring systems

Pos Driver ATL INDY MIL CLE MIC ROA POC RIV MDO MIC CPL LAG PHX Pts 1 Al Unser 2 2 2 1* 2 3 11 11 4 5 4 11 4 151 2 Teo FabiRY 20 26 4 3 15 15 1* 2 1* 3 25 1* 1* 146 3 Mario Andretti 5 23 18 15 3 1 7 16 2 4 1* 2 2 133 4 Tom Sneva 14 1* 1* 5 25 4 12 5 7 21 15 18 3 96 5 Bobby Rahal 21 20 6 19 5 10* 5 1 3 2 9 7 DNS 94 6 Rick Mears 8* 3 3 7 4 17 3 19 9 1* 13 21 17 92 7 Al Unser Jr.R 6 10 13 9 7 2 2 4* 18 10 10 4 8 89 8 John Paul Jr.R 3 DNQ 21 1* 5 29 3 20 7 2 26 11 84 9 Chip Ganassi 8 13 8 21 26 25 6 3 3 5 56 10 Pancho Carter 16 7 14 8 6 7 6 7 10 15 6 25 10 53 11 Pete Halsmer 4 DNQ 9 2 33 14 14 27 24 14 5 20 7 48 12 Roger Mears 7 28 8 6 DNQ 8 16 9 12 16 7 6 16 43 13 Howdy Holmes 9 6 7 12 32 16 13 13 8 8 17 5 21 39 14 Mike Mosley 13 13 5 4 17 25 4 24 DNQ 11 24 36 15 Kevin Cogan 15 5 20 25 27 19 15 21 6 20 16 22 6 26 16 Gordon Johncock 1 14 23 26 26 20 17 Chris KneifelR 12 27 9 26 8 22 13 24 8 9 15 19 18 Tony Bettenhausen Jr. 10 17 10 18 18 12 10 8 14 9 21 14 18 19 19 Steve Chassey 17 11 19 22 10 6 25 17 12 10 19 17 20 Danny Ongais 21 12 28 23 18 24 10 5 14 21 Geoff Brabham 4 22 18 12 20 16 13 22 Josele Garza 25 17 19 11 9 20 23 17 11 12 9 23 Tom KlauslerR 22 6 DNQ 8 24 Jeff WoodR 22 8 5 25 Scott Brayton 9 24 12 28 13 26 5 26 Derek DalyR 22 19 DNS 9 22 18 23 22 4 27 Michael AndrettiR 19 24 9 4 28 Desiré WilsonR DNQ 10 20 31 14 16 23 19 13 3 29 Dick Simon DNQ 15 11 14 13 25 15 19 14 23 2 30 Jim McElreath 11 13 23 2 31 Greg Leffler DNQ DNQ 24 15 11 2 32 Phil Krueger DNQ DNQ 17 11 27 2 33 Dick Ferguson DNQ 11 22 2 34 Jerry Karl DNQ 16 DNQ 21 32 12 1 35 Gary Bettenhausen DNQ 22 27 DNS 12 1 36 Doug HeveronR 12 DNQ 1 37 Randy LewisR 13 0 38 Bill Alsup DNS DNQ 21 20 16 20 19 22 27 14 0 39 Tom Bigelow DNQ 15 DNQ 29 17 DNQ 0 40 Bill WhittingtonR 18 15 19 0 41 Jorge KoechlinR 15 0 42 Herm Johnson DNQ 16 24 DNQ 17 0 43 Mike Chandler 16 31 0 44 Patrick BedardR 30 28 17 0 45 Chet FillipR 19 33 DNQ 18 0 46 Johnny Rutherford 18 Wth 21 23 24 20 0 47 Al Loquasto DNQ 18 0 48 Don Whittington 27 20 33 0 49 Bill Tempero DNQ 23 DNQ 21 0 50 Johnny Parsons 22 30 0 51 Phil Caliva DNQ 23 0 52 Drake OlsonR DNQ 23 0 53 Dennis Firestone 24 0 54 Chip Mead 26 25 0 55 Bob WardR 26 DNQ DNS 0 56 Steve Krisiloff 29 DNQ 0 57 Chuck CiprichR DNQ 30 0 58 A. J. Foyt 31 0 59 George Snider 32 0 60 Tom Bagley DNQ 34 0 - Richard Hubbard DNQ DNQ DNQ 0 - Barry Ruble DNQ DNQ 0 - Teddy Pilette DNQ DNS 0 - Harry MacDonald DNQ 0 - Mark Alderson DNQ 0 - Jim Buick DNQ 0 - Larry Cannon DNQ 0 - Bob Frey DNQ 0 - Amber Furst DNQ 0 - Spike Gehlhausen DNQ 0 - Bob Harkey DNQ 0 - Sheldon Kinser DNQ 0 - Bob Lazier DNQ 0 - John Mahler DNQ 0 - Mack McClellan DNQ 0 - Graham McRae DNQ 0 - Dave Peperak DNQ 0 - Roger Rager DNQ 0 - Ken Schrader DNQ 0 - Jerry Sneva DNQ 0 - Rich Vogler DNQ 0 - Bill Vukovich II DNQ 0 - John Morton DNQ 0 - Lee Kunzman DNP 0 - Dave McMillan DNP 0 - Bobby Olivero DNP 0 - Bill Puterbaugh DNP 0 - Larry Rice DNP 0 - Dale Whittington DNP 0 Pos Driver ATL INDY MIL CLE MIC ROA POC RIV MDO MIC CPL LAG PHX 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) Not competing In-line notation Bold Pole position Italics Ran fastest race lap * Led most race laps RY Rookie of the Year R Rookie

See also

• 1982–83 USAC Championship Car season
• 1983 Formula Atlantic season
• 1983 Indianapolis 500
• 1983–84 USAC Championship Car season
• http:// champcarstats /year/1983.htm
• http://media.indycar /pdf/2011/IICS_2011_Historical_Record_Book_INT6.pdfArchived2016-03-04 at theWayback Machine(p. 193–194)

References

• Åberg, Andreas."PPG Indy Car World Series 1983".Driver Database.Retrieved2009-05-19.
• "1983 PPG Indy Car World Series".Champ Car Stats.Retrieved2009-05-19.
• "Official Box Score: 67th Indianapolis 500-Mile Race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway".Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Archived fromthe originalon 2008-05-14.Retrieved2009-05-19.
• "Standings after Phoenix".Champ Car World Series. Archived fromthe originalon 22 October 2008.Retrieved2009-05-19.