1992 PPG Indy Car World Series

1992 CART season
1992 CART season
PPG Indy Car World Series
	; Bobby Rahal
Season
Races	17
Start date	March 22
End date	October 18
Awards
Drivers' champion	Bobby Rahal
Constructors' Cup	Lola
Manufacturers' Cup	Chevrolet
Nations' Cup	United States
Rookie of the Year	Stefan Johansson
Indianapolis 500 winner	Al Unser, Jr.
	← 1991 1993 →

The 1992 PPG Indy Car World Series season was the 14th national championship season of American open wheel racing sanctioned by CART (d.b.a "IndyCar"). The season consisted of 16 races. Bobby Rahal was the national champion, his third career CART title. Stefan Johansson was named the Rookie of the Year. The 1992 Indianapolis 500 was sanctioned by USAC, but counted towards the CART points championship. Al Unser, Jr. won the Indy 500 in the closest finish in the history of that event.

Starting in 1992, and continuing through 1996, the CART organization began operating under the name IndyCar. The term IndyCar was a registered trademark of IMS, Inc., and was licensed to CART from 1992–1996. The use of the term "CART" was curtailed in the series and in the media in favor of IndyCar during this period.

The circuit welcomed a new venue in 1992, New Hampshire International Speedway.

Bobby Rahal, who was in his first season as an owner/driver, won four races and three poles en route to the title. Rahal's three oval wins included a dominating wire-to-wire victory at Phoenix, where he led all 200 laps. Rahal fielded the "tried and true" Lola/Ilmor Chevrolet "A" combination. It was the final championship for the Ilmor Chevy A engine. Rahal managed to outperform the newer engines that joined the series in 1992, the Ford/Cosworth XB, as well as the Ilmor Chevy "B" engine, which was used by the Penske team. For the third time, Michael Andretti finished runner-up to Rahal in the points. Andretti promptly left Indy car racing the following year to race in Formula One.

A bevy of crashes, some serious, at the 1992 Indianapolis 500 injured several drivers, and shook up the driver lineup during parts of the season. Jovy Marcelo was fatally injured in a practice crash, while Nelson Piquet suffered devastating leg injures in another practice crash. Hiro Matsushita suffered a fractured leg and missed several races over the summer. Mario Andretti, Rick Mears, and Jimmy Vasser all sat out the race at Detroit while they recovered from injuries. In July, Mears dropped out of the Michigan 500 with nagging injuries, and ultimately sat out the rest of the season. Mears then unexpectedly retired from racing in December.

Drivers and constructors

The following teams and drivers competed in the 1992 Indy Car World Series season.

Team	Chassis	Engine	Tyres	No	Drivers	Rounds
Newman/Haas Racing	Lola	Ford XB	G	1	Michael Andretti	All
				2	Mario Andretti	1-4, 6-16
				2	Teo Fabi	5
Chip Ganassi Racing	Lola	Ford XB	G	6	Arie Luyendyk	4, 10
					Robby Gordon	5-7, 9, 11-13
					Didier Theys	16
				9	Eddie Cheever	All
Marlboro Team Penske	Penske	Chevrolet	G	4	Rick Mears	1-4, 6-8, 10
					Paul Tracy	5, 9, 11-13, 16
					Al Unser	15
				5	Emerson Fittipaldi	All
				7	Paul Tracy	2, 4, 10, 14-15
Galles-Kraco Racing	Galmer	Chevrolet	G	3	Al Unser, Jr.	All
Galles-Kraco Racing	Galmer	Chevrolet	G	18	Danny Sullivan	All
Walker Motorsport	Lola	Ford XB Chevrolet	G	15	Scott Goodyear	All
				17	A. J. Foyt	1
					Tero Palmroth	2
					Johnny Rutherford	4
					Jon Beekhuis	10
					Mike Groff	4-5, 12
					Dennis Vitolo	14
					Willy T. Ribbs	16
Rahal-Hogan Racing	Lola	Chevrolet	G	12	Bobby Rahal	All
Dick Simon Racing Paragon Motorsports	Lola	Chevrolet Buick	G	11	Hiro Matsushita	1-3, 11-16
				11	Raul Boesel	4-8, 10
				22	Scott Brayton	All
				23	Raul Boesel	9, 11-16
				44	Philippe Gache	4
				90	Lyn St. James	4
Hall/VDS Racing	Lola	Chevrolet	G	8	John Andretti	All
Hall/VDS Racing	Lola	Chevrolet	G	38	Didier Theys	4
Payton/Coyne Racing	Lola	Cosworth	G	19	Éric Bachelart	1-7, 9-15
				19	Dennis Vitolo	10, 15-16
				39	Ross Bentley	1, 5-6, 9-13
					Dennis Vitolo	2
					Brian Bonner	4, 7-8, 14
					Éric Bachelart	16
Bettenhausen Racing	Penske	Chevrolet	G	16	Tony Bettenhausen, Jr.	1-4, 6-7, 10
Bettenhausen Racing	Penske	Chevrolet	G	16	Stefan Johansson	5, 8-9, 11-16
Arciero Racing	Lola	Buick	G	30	Fabrizio Barbazza	1-4
					Johnny Parsons	4
					Jeff Wood	5-10
					Jacques Villeneuve, Sr.	11-12
					John Jones	13-15
					Tero Palmroth	16
				34	Jeff Wood	4
Euromotorsport	Lola	Cosworth	G	42	Nicola Marozzo	1
					Vinicio Salmi	6, 9, 12-13, 16
					Steve Chassey	7-8, 10
					Tero Palmroth	11
					Jeff Wood	14
					Guido Daccò	15
				50	Jovy Marcelo	1-4
					Christian Danner	5, 9, 11-16
					Nicola Marozzo	6
					Mike Groff	7-8
					George Snider	10
Hayhoe-Cole Racing	Lola	FordXB Chevrolet	G	17	Jimmy Vasser	6, 11, 13
Hayhoe-Cole Racing	Lola	FordXB Chevrolet	G	47	Jimmy Vasser	1-4, 9, 14, 16
Leader Card Racing	Lola	Buick	G	21	Buddy Lazier	1-7, 9-16
Hemelgarn Racing	Lola	Buick	G	81	Pancho Carter	4
Hemelgarn Racing	Lola	Buick	G	91	Stan Fox	4
P.I.G. Enterprises	Lola	Chevrolet	G	31	Ted Prappas	1, 3-9, 11-16
Truesports	Truesports	Chevrolet	G	10	Scott Pruett	All
RAL Group	Truesports	Judd	G	24	Brian Till	3, 5-6, 8-9, 11-12, 14, 16
Gilmore Racing	Lola	Chevrolet	G	14	Gregor Foitek	1, 3
					George Snider	2
					A. J. Foyt	2, 4
					Brian Bonner	5
					Ross Cheever	6-7, 11-13
					Pancho Carter	8, 10
					Jon Beekhuis	9
					Mike Groff	14-16
				48	Jeff Andretti	4
King Motorsports	Lola	Buick	G	26	Roberto Guerrero	3
				26	Jim Crawford	4
				36	Roberto Guerrero	4
Menard Racing	Lola	Buick	G	27	Al Unser	4
				51	Gary Bettenhausen	4
				59	Tom Sneva	4
D.B. Mann Development	Lola	Buick	G	93	John Paul, Jr.	4
Burns Racing	Lola	Chevrolet	G	28	Dominic Dobson	4
		Buick			Jay Hill	5
		Cosworth			Tony de Tommaso	16
Hemelgarn Racing	Lola	Buick	G	92	Gordon Johncock	4
TEAMKAR International	Lola	Chevrolet	G	88	Kenji Momota	4
Concept Motorsports	Lola	Buick	G	66	Mark Dismore	4

Season Summary

Schedule

Rnd	Date	Race Name	Circuit	City/Location
1	March 22	Daikyo IndyCar Grand Prix	S Surfers Paradise Street Circuit	Surfers Paradise, Australia
2	April 5	Valvoline 200	O Phoenix International Raceway	Phoenix, Arizona
3	April 12	Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach	S Streets of Long Beach	Long Beach, California
4	May 24	76th Indianapolis 500	O Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Speedway, Indiana
5	June 7	ITT Automotive Grand Prix of Detroit	S The Raceway on Belle Isle Park	Detroit, Michigan
6	June 21	Budweiser/G.I.Joe's 200	R Portland International Raceway	Portland, Oregon
7	June 28	Miller Genuine Draft 200	O Milwaukee Mile	West Allis, Wisconsin
8	July 5	New England 200	O New Hampshire International Speedway	Loudon, New Hampshire
9	July 19	Molson Indy Toronto	S Exhibition Place	Toronto, Ontario
10	August 2	Marlboro 500	O Michigan International Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan
11	August 9	Budweiser Grand Prix of Cleveland	S Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport	Cleveland, Ohio
12	August 23	Texaco/Havoline 200	R Road America	Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
13	August 30	Molson Indy Vancouver	S Streets of Vancouver	Vancouver, British Columbia
14	September 13	Pioneer Electronics 200	R Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course	Lexington, Ohio
NC	October 3	Marlboro Challenge	O Nazareth Speedway	Nazareth, Pennsylvania
15	October 4	Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix	O Nazareth Speedway	Nazareth, Pennsylvania
16	October 18	Kodalux Processing 300K	R Laguna Seca Raceway	Monterey, California

O Oval/Speedway
R Dedicated road course
S Temporary street circuit
NC Non-championship event

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

Race results

Round	Race	Pole position	Fastest lap	Race Winner				Race Time	Report
Round	Race	Pole position	Fastest lap	Driver	Team	Chassis	Engine	Race Time	Report
1	Surfers Paradise	Al Unser, Jr.	Emerson Fittipaldi	Emerson Fittipaldi	Marlboro Team Penske	Penske	Chevrolet	2:20:33	Report
2	Phoenix	Michael Andretti	Rick Mears	Bobby Rahal	Rahal-Hogan Racing	Lola	Chevrolet	1:31:56	Report
3	Long Beach	Michael Andretti	Unknown	Danny Sullivan	Galles-Kraco Racing	Galmer	Chevrolet	1:48:56	Report
4	Indianapolis	Roberto Guerrero	Michael Andretti	Al Unser, Jr.	Galles-Kraco Racing	Galmer	Chevrolet	3:43:04	Report
5	Belle Isle	Michael Andretti	Unknown	Bobby Rahal	Rahal-Hogan Racing	Lola	Chevrolet	1:58:20	Report
6	Portland	Emerson Fittipaldi	Unknown	Michael Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	Lola	Ford	1:53:25	Report
7	Milwaukee	Bobby Rahal	Unknown	Michael Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	Lola	Ford	1:26:56	Report
8	New Hampshire	Bobby Rahal	Michael Andretti	Bobby Rahal	Rahal-Hogan Racing	Lola	Chevrolet	1:35:00	Report
9	Toronto	Bobby Rahal	Unknown	Michael Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	Lola	Ford	1:52:21	Report
10	Michigan	Mario Andretti	Unknown	Scott Goodyear	Walker Motorsport	Lola	Chevrolet	2:48:53	Report
11	Cleveland	Emerson Fittipaldi	Unknown	Emerson Fittipaldi	Marlboro Team Penske	Penske	Chevrolet	1:30:38	Report
12	Road America	Paul Tracy	Emerson Fittipaldi	Emerson Fittipaldi	Marlboro Team Penske	Penske	Chevrolet	1:48:26	Report
13	Vancouver	Michael Andretti	Emerson Fittipaldi	Michael Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	Lola	Ford	1:41:50	Report
14	Mid-Ohio	Michael Andretti	Unknown	Emerson Fittipaldi	Marlboro Team Penske	Penske	Chevrolet	1:51:23	Report
	Marlboro Challenge	Michael Andretti	Unknown	Emerson Fittipaldi	Marlboro Team Penske	Penske	Chevrolet	0:38:26	Report
15	Nazareth	Michael Andretti	Bobby Rahal	Bobby Rahal	Rahal-Hogan Racing	Lola	Chevrolet	1:33:07	Report
16	Laguna Seca	Michael Andretti	Unknown	Michael Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	Lola	Ford	1:51:35	Report

Final driver standings

Pos	Driver	SUR	PHX	LBH	INDY	DET	POR	MIL	LOU	TOR	MIC	CLE	ROA	VAN	MDO	NAZ	LAG	Pts
1	Bobby Rahal	3	1*	2	6	1	14	2	1*	2	11	4	3	22	24	1	3	196
2	Michael Andretti	17*	10	16	13*	4*	1*	1*	2	1*	18	2	4	1*	21*	2*	1*	192
3	Al Unser, Jr.	4	5	4*	1	9	3	7	8	7	4	3	2	2	3	11	9	169
4	Emerson Fittipaldi	1	3	3	24	8	2	4	21	19	13	1*	1*	19	1	7	19	151
5	Scott Goodyear	9	18	5	2	22	8	8	3	6	1*	10	20	5	16	4	26	108
6	Mario Andretti	7	17	23	23		6	6	7	4	15	5	5	6	5	5	2	105
7	Danny Sullivan	5	12	1	5	5	12	12	9	3	8	20	7	7	8	17	7	99
8	John Andretti	6	6	20	8	21	5	9	5	5	6	12	6	15	4	18	5	94
9	Raul Boesel				7	2	9	10	18	22	3	6	8	11	7	6	6	80
10	Eddie Cheever	8	2	22	4	11	4	5	16	9	20	11	23	16	12	9	4	80
11	Scott Pruett	18	7	9	30	19	10	11	6	25	5	7	9	4	9	10	14	62
12	Paul Tracy		4		20	16				21	2	19	17	23	2	3	16	59
13	Rick Mears	2	8	6	26		7	16	4		16							47
14	Stefan Johansson RY					3			10	11		9	19	3	6	21	11	47
15	Scott Brayton	20	9	17	22	12	22	3	17	17	10	21	12	8	10	8	10	39
16	Al Unser				3											12		15
17	Ted Prappas	10		14	16	14	15	15	20	23		13	10	9	11	19	18	12
18	Éric Bachelart R	22	13	8	32	7	16	13		24	22	17	21	DNS	20	DNQ	23	11
19	Buddy Lazier	16	14	12	14	24	25	17		15	7	23	13	10	22	15	21	10
20	Robby Gordon R					17	13	21		8		8	18	17				10
21	Teo Fabi					6												8
22	Jimmy Vasser R	15	15	7	21		23			12		14		18	25	DNQ	12	8
23	Brian Till R			11		23	20		12	10		15	11		14		27	8
24	Tony Bettenhausen, Jr.	13	11	15	DNQ		21	18			9							6
25	Mike Groff				DNQ	DNS		14	13				24		15	16	8	5
26	A. J. Foyt	23	DNQ		9													4
27	Hiro Matsushita	DNQ	16	10	DNQ							24	14	13	18	14	15	3
28	Brian Bonner R				19	10		DNS	DNQ						17			3
29	John Paul, Jr.				10													3
30	Ross Bentley R	11				20	17			14	23	18	DNS	14				2
31	Pancho Carter				DNQ				11		17							2
32	Ross Cheever R						11	20				25	25	DNQ				2
33	Lyn St. James R				11													2
34	Jeff Wood				DNQ	13	19	19	15	13	12				13			1
35	Fabrizio Barbazza	12	20	21	DNQ													1
36	John Jones													12	23	22		1
37	Dominic Dobson				12													1
38	Roberto Guerrero			13	33													1
39	Christian Danner R					18				16		16	16	21	19	13	20	0
40	Didier Theys				DNQ												13	0
41	Arie Luyendyk				15						14							0
42	Dennis Vitolo		21			DNS			14						DNS	20	17	0
43	Jovy Marcelo R	14	19	19	DNQ¹													0
44	Vinicio Salmi R						18			20			15	20			24	0
45	Jay Hill R					15												0
46	Gary Bettenhausen				17													0
47	Gregor Foitek R	21		18	Wth													0
48	Jon Beekhuis									18	21							0
49	Jeff Andretti				18													0
50	Steve Chassey							22	19		19							0
51	Nicola Marozzo	19					24											0
52	Jacques Villeneuve, Sr.											22	22					0
53	George Snider		22								24							0
54	Tony de Tommaso R																22	0
55	Guido Daccò															23		0
56	Jim Crawford				25													0
57	Willy T. Ribbs																25	0
58	Tero Palmroth		DNQ	DNS								26					28	0
59	Stan Fox				27													0
60	Philippe Gache R				28													0
61	Gordon Johncock				29													0
62	Tom Sneva				31													0
	Mark Dismore				DNQ													0
	Kenji Momota				DNQ													0
	Rocky Moran				DNQ													0
	Johnny Parsons				DNQ													0
	Nelson Piquet				DNQ													0
	Johnny Rutherford				DNQ													0
Pos	Driver	SUR	PHX	LBH	INDY	DET	POR	MIL	NHA	TOR	MIC	CLE	ROA	VAN	MDO	NAZ	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

In-line notation
Bold	Pole position
Italics	Ran fastest race lap
*	Led most race laps
RY	Rookie of the Year
R	Rookie

Note: ¹ Jovy Marcelo was killed in practice for the 1992 Indianapolis 500. He was 27 years old.

Nation's Cup

Top result per race counts towards Nation's Cup.

Pos	Country	Pts
1	United States	294
2	Brazil	190
3	Canada	137
4	Sweden	47
5	Belgium	11
6	Italy	9
7	Japan	3
8	Colombia	1
9	Germany	0
10	Netherlands	0
11	Philippines	0
12	Switzerland	0
13	Scotland	0
14	Finland	0
15	France	0
Pos	Country	Pts

Chassis Constructor's Cup

Pos	Chassis	Pts
1	Lola T9200/T9100/T9000	311
2	Penske PC-21/PC-20	218
3	Galmer G92	170
4	Truesports 92C/91C	68
Pos	Chassis	Pts

Engine Manufacturer's Cup

Pos	Engine	Pts
1	Chevrolet A/B	472
2	Ford XB	232
3	Buick	24
4	Judd	8
5	Cosworth DFS	2
Pos	Engine	Pts

References

"1992 CART Results". racing-reference.info. Retrieved 2016-09-08.
"1992 CART PPG IndyCar World Series standings". race-database.com. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
Åberg, Andreas. "PPG Indy Car World Series 1992". Driver Database. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
"1992 PPG Indy Car World Series". Champ Car Stats. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
"Official Box Score: 76th Indianapolis 500-Mile Race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway". Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
"Standings after Laguna Seca". Champ Car World Series. Archived from the original on 22 October 2008. Retrieved 2009-05-19.

v t e American Championship car racing (Indy car) seasons
AAA	1905 1906–1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942–1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955
USAC	1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95
CART	1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
CCWS	2004 2005 2006 2007 ~~2008~~
IRL	1996 1996–97 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002
IndyCar	2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Years marked in italics are not official championship years or upcoming seasons.