1990 CART season
PPG Indy Car World Series


Al Unser Jr.
Season
Races17
Start dateApril 8
End dateOctober 21
Awards
Drivers' championUnited States Al Unser Jr.
Constructors' CupUnited Kingdom Lola
Manufacturers' CupUnited States Chevrolet
Nations' CupUnited States United States
Rookie of the YearUnited States Eddie Cheever
Indianapolis 500 winnerNetherlands Arie Luyendyk

The 1990 CART PPG Indy Car World Series season was the 12th national championship season of American open wheel racing sanctioned by CART. The season consisted of 16 races, and one non-points exhibition event. Al Unser Jr. was the national champion, and the rookie of the year was Eddie Cheever. The 1990 Indianapolis 500 was sanctioned by USAC, but counted towards the CART points championship. Arie Luyendyk won the Indy 500, his first-ever victory in championship-level competition, and the fastest 500 until the 2013 Indianapolis 500.

Al Unser Jr. won a total of six races, one pole position, and had a total of ten podium finishes en route to the championship. He finished 4th at Indy, and won his first career oval race a week later at Milwaukee. He also tied a series record by winning four consecutive races during a stretch in July–August. Unser's victory at the Michigan 500 was his first superspeedway win. Michael Andretti was Unser's nearest competitor, winning five races and four poles. Andretti narrowed Unser's points lead to 37 points with two key victories late in the season. In the second-to-last race of the season at Nazareth, Unser crashed out, giving Andretti a huge opportunity to close the gap. Andretti managed only a 6th-place finish, and could not capitalize on Unser's misfortune. Unser left Nazareth with a 27-point lead, enough to clinch the championship regardless of the results at the season finale at Laguna Seca.

For 1990, Bobby Rahal's team owned by Maurice Kranes merged with Rick Galles's and it became a two-car effort known as Galles-KRACO Racing. Al Unser Jr. and Rahal became teammates, and Rahal got use of the Chevy Ilmor V-8 engine for the first time. Despite the upgrade in equipment, Rahal suffered a snake bitten season in 1990, finishing second five times, including runner-up finishes at both the Indy 500 and the Michigan 500. Despite finishing in the points in 14 races, it was the first season of his Indy car career he failed to win any races, and he managed only a 4th-place ranking in the final championship standings. Other team and driver shifts for 1990 included shake-ups at Penske and Patrick. Emerson Fittipaldi left Patrick Racing to join the Penske, and the original Patrick Racing Team transferred ownership to Chip Ganassi to become Chip Ganassi Racing. Pat Patrick returned with a new team, taking over the Alfa Romeo Indy car effort.

This was the final year in which March Engineering chassis were run.

Drivers and constructors

The following teams and drivers competed for the 1990 Indy Car World Series.

Team Chassis Engine Tires No Drivers Notes
United States Newman/Haas Racing Lola Chevrolet Goodyear 3 United States Michael Andretti All
6 United States Mario Andretti All
United States Doug Shierson Racing Lola Judd Goodyear 11/28 Canada Scott Goodyear All
Chevrolet 30 Netherlands Arie Luyendyk All
United States Patrick Racing March/ Lola Alfa Romeo Goodyear 20 Colombia Roberto Guerrero All except 9
40 United States Al Unser 3, 10
United States Porsche North America March Porsche Goodyear 4 Italy Teo Fabi All
41 United States John Andretti All
United States Team Penske Penske Chevrolet Goodyear 1 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi All
2 United States Rick Mears All
7 United States Danny Sullivan All
United States Galles-Kraco Racing Lola Chevrolet Goodyear 5 United States Al Unser Jr. All
18 United States Bobby Rahal All
United States Truesports Lola Judd Goodyear 8/19 Brazil Raul Boesel All
21 Australia Geoff Brabham 3
United States Chip Ganassi Racing Penske/Lola Chevrolet Goodyear 15/25 United States Eddie Cheever All
United States Leader Card Racing Lola Cosworth Goodyear 29 United States Pancho Carter 1, 3-10
United States Wally Dallenbach Jr. 11, 13, 16
United States U.S. Engineering Lola Cosworth Goodyear 44 United States Jeff Wood 1, 3, 5, 7-11, 13-14, 16
United States Bettenhausen Motorsports Lola Cosworth/Buick Goodyear 16 United States Tony Bettenhausen Jr. All except 1, 12, and 16
Italy Guido Daccò 2
Italy Euromotorsport Lola Cosworth Goodyear 50 Italy Guido Daccò 1
United States Mike Groff 3, 5-16
United States Greenfield Engineering Lola Cosworth Goodyear 42 United States Michael Greenfield 4, 7-9, 11, 13-15
United States Team Menard Lola Buick Goodyear 51/15 United Kingdom Jim Crawford 1, 3
51 United States Gary Bettenhausen 3
United States Arciero Racing Penske Buick/Cosworth Goodyear 12 United States Randy Lewis All
24 United States Steve Bren 2
United States Buddy Lazier 10
8 United States Rich Vogler 3
United States Dick Simon Racing Lola Cosworth Goodyear 10 Japan Hiro Matsushita 2, 5-6, 8, 11-16
22 United States Scott Brayton All
23/10 Finland Tero Palmroth 3, 6, 8, 10
23 United States Joe Sposato 16
United States Dale Coyne Racing Lola Cosworth Goodyear 19/39 United States Dean Hall All except 15
United States Gohr Racing Lola Cosworth Goodyear 56 United States Rocky Moran 3
United States Jon Beekhuis 10
United States John Morton 6
Italy Fulvio Ballabio 16
United States A. J. Foyt Enterprises Lola Chevrolet Goodyear 14 United States A. J. Foyt All except 15-16
Belgium Didier Theys 16
United States Vince Granatelli Racing Lola/Penske Buick Goodyear 9/70 Belgium Didier Theys 1-3, 5-9, 11-13
11 United States Kevin Cogan 3
9 United States Tom Sneva 3
United States Bayside Motorsports Lola Cosworth Goodyear 86 United States Dominic Dobson 1-3, 5-6, 8-9, 11-12, 14, 16
United States P. I. G. Racing Lola Judd Goodyear 31 United States Jon Beekhuis 2, 5, 9, 11-14, 16
United States Raynor Racing Lola Judd Goodyear 25 United States Willy T. Ribbs 2, 5, 8-9, 11-13, 16
United States Mann Motorsports Lola Buick Goodyear 93 United States John Paul Jr. 3
United States Hemelgarn Racing Lola Buick Goodyear 71/81 United States Bill Vukovich III 3, 10
71/91 United States Buddy Lazier 3, 5-7, 9, 11-15
United States Kent Baker Racing Lola Buick Goodyear 97 United States Stan Fox 3
United States Andale Racing Lola Buick Goodyear 69 Mexico Bernard Jourdain 3
United States Burns Racing Team Lola Judd Goodyear 66 Italy Guido Daccò 3
United States TEAMKAR International Lola Cosworth Goodyear 27/98 United States Jeff Andretti 3-4
98 Japan Kenji Momota 3
United States Conseco Racing Lola Cosworth Goodyear 17 United States Kevin Cogan 10
United States Johnny Rutherford 3
United States Walther Motorsports Penske Cosworth Goodyear 77 United States Salt Walther 3, 10
United States Nu-Tech Motorsports Lola Cosworth Goodyear 33 Italy Guido Daccò 5, 9, 14-16
Canada Spirit of Vancouver Lola Cosworth Goodyear 27 Canada Ross Bentley 12

Season Summary

Schedule

Two new races were added to the schedule in the form of street courses at Denver and Vancouver. Pocono was dropped from the schedule with the series citing safety concerns.

Rd Date Race Name Track City
1 April 8 Autoworks 200 Presented by Phoenix International Raceway and the Fiesta Bowl  O  Phoenix International Raceway Phoenix, Arizona
2 April 22 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach  R  Long Beach Street Circuit Long Beach, California
3 May 27 Indianapolis 500  O  Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway, Indiana
4 June 3 Miller Genuine Draft 200, in Honor of Rex Mays  O  Milwaukee Mile West Allis, Wisconsin
5 June 17 Valvoline Detroit Grand Prix  R  Streets of Detroit Detroit, Michigan
6 June 24 Budweiser/G. I. Joe's 200  R  Portland International Raceway Portland, Oregon
7 July 8 Budweiser Cleveland Grand Prix  R  Burke Lakefront Airport Cleveland, Ohio
8 July 15 Marlboro Grand Prix  R  Meadowlands Street Circuit East Rutherford, New Jersey
9 July 22 Molson Indy Toronto  R  Exhibition Place Toronto, Ontario
10 August 5 Marlboro 500  O  Michigan International Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan
11 August 26 Texaco/Havoline Grand Prix of Denver  R  Streets of Denver Denver, Colorado
12 September 2 Molson Indy Vancouver  R  Streets of Vancouver Vancouver, British Columbia
13 September 16 Red Roof Inns 200 Presented by Budweiser  R  Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, Ohio
14 September 23 Texaco/Havoline 200  R  Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
NC October 6 Marlboro Challenge  O  Pennsylvania International Raceway Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania
15 October 7 Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix  O  Pennsylvania International Raceway Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania
16 October 21 Toyota Monterey Grand Prix Featuring the Champion Spark Plug 300  R  Laguna Seca Raceway Monterey, California

- The Toronto race was supposed to run 183 miles, but was shortened by rain.
 O  Oval/Speedway
 R  Road/Street course
  Non-championship event

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

Race results

Rnd Race Name Pole position Winning driver Winning team Race time
1 Autoworks 200 United States Rick Mears United States Rick Mears Team Penske 1:35:01
2 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach United States Al Unser Jr. United States Al Unser Jr. Galles-Kraco Racing 1:53:00
3 Indianapolis 500 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi Netherlands Arie Luyendyk Doug Shierson Racing 2:41:48
4 Miller Genuine Draft 200 United States Rick Mears United States Al Unser Jr. Galles-Kraco Racing 1:29:46
5 Valvoline Detroit Grand Prix United States Michael Andretti United States Michael Andretti Newman/Haas Racing 1:49:32
6 Budweiser/G.I.Joe's 200 United States Danny Sullivan United States Michael Andretti Newman/Haas Racing 1:48:22
7 Budweiser Cleveland Grand Prix United States Rick Mears United States Danny Sullivan Team Penske 1:47:24
8 Marlboro Grand Prix United States Michael Andretti United States Michael Andretti Newman/Haas Racing 1:52:34
9 Molson Indy Toronto United States Danny Sullivan United States Al Unser Jr. Galles-Kraco Racing 2:13:26
10 Marlboro 500 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi United States Al Unser Jr. Galles-Kraco Racing 2:38:07
11 Texaco/Havoline Grand Prix of Denver Italy Teo Fabi United States Al Unser Jr. Galles-Kraco Racing 2:08:00
12 Molson Indy Vancouver United States Michael Andretti United States Al Unser Jr. Galles-Kraco Racing 2:08:13
13 Red Roof Inns 200 United States Michael Andretti United States Michael Andretti Newman/Haas Racing 2:19:27
14 Texaco/Havoline 200 United States Danny Sullivan United States Michael Andretti Newman/Haas Racing 1:53:00
NC Marlboro Challenge United States Michael Andretti United States Rick Mears Team Penske 0:39:06
15 Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix United States Bobby Rahal Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi Team Penske 1:46:28
16 Champion Spark Plug 300K United States Danny Sullivan United States Danny Sullivan Team Penske 1:47:45

Final driver standings

Pos Driver PHX
LBH
INDY
MIL
DET
POR
CLE
MEA
TOR
MIC
DEN
VAN
MDO
ROA
NAZ
LAG
Pts
1 United States Al Unser Jr. 3 1* 4 1 27 3 15* 11 1* 1 1* 1* 3 4 16 2 210
2 United States Michael Andretti 20 4 20 5* 1* 1* 25 1* 2 15 5 20 1* 1 5 3 181
3 United States Rick Mears 1* 6 5 2 4 5 8 2 12 14 7 4 7 3 2 4 168
4 United States Bobby Rahal 2 12 2 4 2 11 2 25 22 2 3 8 6 7 3 5 153
5 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi 5 2 3* 3 7 9 3 6 20 17* 18 6 12 2 1* 6 144
6 United States Danny Sullivan 6 3 32 8 14 4 1 14 4 21 2 2 5 16* 18 1* 139
7 United States Mario Andretti 4 5 27 21 25 2 4 24 6 3 4 3 2 5 4 26 136
8 Netherlands Arie Luyendyk 9 7 1 19 5 6 6 4 5 19 13 26 21 6 17 9 90
9 United States Eddie Cheever  RY  7 13 8 11 3 19 16 21 3 4 20 14 4 9 6 10 80
10 United States John Andretti 17 21 21 7 22 21 5 7 13 7 6 5 13 22 19 8 51
11 United States A. J. Foyt 22 24 6 9 17 10 7 5 16 6 10 13 15 20 42
12 Brazil Raul Boesel 18 8 28 6 6 18 20 13 10 9 28 19 9 10 8 11 42
13 Canada Scott Goodyear 10 17 10 10 8 22 18 17 9 10 8 7 22 12 10 14 36
14 Italy Teo Fabi 24 10 18 12 24 7 13 3 15 24 27 16 19 25 11 7 33
15 United States Scott Brayton 13 9 7 20 10 25 22 9 14 16 12 9 8 13 12 24 28
16 Colombia Roberto Guerrero 16 14 23 18 21 8 19 15 5 17 24 26 8 9 18 24
17 United States Mike Groff  R  DNQ 15 23 9 26 11 11 14 22 10 17 7 15 17
18 Belgium Didier Theys 14 11 11 13 20 23 28 7 9 25 16 12 15
19 United States Dominic Dobson 23 15 22 26 24 8 8 25 11 19 20 12
20 United States Pancho Carter 8 29 15 9 15 14 18 18 18 9
21 United States Jon Beekhuis 16 18 25 8 22 21 24 11 27 7
22 United States Jeff Wood 11 DNQ 11 10 20 24 25 19 14 23 19 7
23 United States Kevin Cogan 9 20 4
24 United States Tony Bettenhausen Jr. DNQ 26 13 16 17 12 10 26 22 24 20 DNS 22 4
25 United States Dean Hall  R  15 18 17 16 23 14 11 19 19 23 23 15 11 15 21 4
26 United States Willy T. Ribbs  R  20 20 23 27 26 10 27 13 3
27 United States Wally Dallenbach Jr. 11 18 25 2
28 United States Randy Lewis 21 22 14 14 12 16 21 22 17 12 16 17 28 21 20 22 2
29 Italy Guido Daccò 12 23 DNQ DNQ 23 14 13 16 1
30 United States Buddy Lazier  R  DNQ DNQ 13 24 DNS 26 DNQ 12 23 DNS 14 1
31 Japan Hiro Matsushita  R  19 DNQ 19 12 16 15 23 17 18 21 23 1
32 United States Michael Greenfield  R  DNS 17 12 21 21 25 24 15 1
33 Finland Tero Palmroth 12 28 27 DNS 1
34 United States Bill Vukovich III 24 13 0
35 United States Al Unser 13 Wth 0
36 United Kingdom Jim Crawford 19 15 0
37 United States John Paul Jr. 16 0
38 United States Jeff Andretti  R  DNQ 17 0
39 United States Joe Sposato  R  17 0
40 Canada Ross Bentley  R  18 0
41 Australia Geoff Brabham 19 0
42 United States Steve Bren 25 0
43 United States Rocky Moran 25 0
44 United States Tom Sneva 30 0
45 United States Gary Bettenhausen 31 0
46 United States Stan Fox 33 0
- Italy Fulvio Ballabio DNQ 0
- United States Steve Barclay DNQ 0
- United States Steve Chassey DNQ 0
- Mexico Bernard Jourdain DNQ 0
- Japan Kenji Momota DNQ 0
- United States John Morton DNQ 0
- United States Johnny Rutherford DNQ 0
- United States George Snider DNQ 0
- United States Rich Vogler DNQ 0
- United States Salt Walther DNQ DNS 0
Pos Driver PHX LBH INDY MIL DET POR CLE MEA TOR MIC DEN VAN MDO ROA 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)
Not competing
In-line notation
Bold Pole position
Italics Ran fastest race lap
* Led most race laps
 RY  Rookie of the Year
 R  Rookie

Nations' Cup

  • Top result per race counts towards Nations' Cup.
Pos Country PHX LBH INDY MIL DET POR CLE MEA TOR MIC DEN VAN MDO ROA NAZ LAG Pts
1  United States 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 312
2  Brazil 5 2 3 3 6 9 3 6 10 9 18 6 9 2 1 6 151
3  Netherlands 9 7 1 19 5 6 6 4 5 19 13 26 21 6 17 9 90
4  Canada 10 16 10 10 8 22 18 17 9 10 8 7 22 12 10 14 39
5  Italy 12 10 18 12 24 7 13 3 15 24 27 16 19 14 11 7 33
6  Colombia 16 14 23 18 21 8 19 15 5 17 24 26 8 9 18 24
7  Belgium 14 11 11 13 20 23 28 7 9 25 16 12 15
8  Japan 19 DNQ 19 12 16 15 23 17 18 21 23 1
9  Finland 12 28 27 DNS 1
10  Scotland 19 15 0
11  Australia 19 0
 Mexico DNQ 0
Pos Country PHX United States LBH United States INDY United States MIL United States DET United States POR United States CLE United States MEA United States TOR Canada MIC United States DEN United States VAN Canada MDO United States ROA United States NAZ United States LAG United States Pts

Chassis Constructors' Cup

Pos Chassis Pts
1 United Kingdom Lola T9000/T8900/T8800/T8700 318
2 United States Penske PC-19/PC-18/PC-17 264
3 United Kingdom March 90P/90CA/89P 75
Pos Chassis Pts

Engine Manufacturers' Cup

Pos Engine Pts
1 United States Chevrolet A 351
2 Germany Porsche 72
3 United Kingdom Cosworth DFS/TC/DFX 72
3 United Kingdom Judd 59
4 Italy Alfa Romeo 24
5 United States Buick 22
Pos Engine Pts

References

  • "1990 CART PPG IndyCar World Series standings". race-database.com. Retrieved 2010-12-06.
  • Åberg, Andreas. "PPG Indy Car World Series 1990". Driver Database. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
  • "1990 PPG Indy Car World Series". Champ Car Stats. Archived from the original on 11 May 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
  • "Official Box Score: 74th Indianapolis 500-Mile Race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway". Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Archived from the original on 2008-05-14. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
  • "Standings after Laguna Seca". Champ Car World Series. Archived from the original on April 5, 2008. Retrieved 2009-05-19.

See also

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