The 1981 CART PPG Indy Car World Series season, the third in the

CART A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by one or a pair of draught animals. A handcart is pulled or pushed by one or more people. It is different from the flatbed tr ...

era of U.S. open-wheel racing, consisted of 11 races, beginning in Avondale, Arizona on March 22 and concluding at the same location on October 31. The PPG Indy Car World Series Drivers' Champion was Rick Mears despite missing Round 2 at Milwaukee due to injuries sustained in the Indianapolis 500. Rookie of the Year was

Bob Lazier Robert Lazier (December 22, 1938 – April 18, 2020) was an American race car driver. Biography A native of Minneapolis, Minnesota, he raced in the CART series in 1981 and was CART's Rookie of the Year. He had fourth-place finishes at Watkins Gle ...

. After the disagreement with the USAC during the previous season, the 65th Indianapolis 500 was not part of the Series, however no competing race was scheduled and most CART teams and drivers did take part.

Drivers and constructors

The following teams and drivers competed for the 1981 CART World Series.

Notable team and driver changes

* Tom Sneva leaves Jerry O'Connell Racing for new team Bignotti-Cotter Racing. The team scales back to part-time for 1981. * Team Penske expands to a three-car operation, with

Bill Alsup Bill Alsup (July 15, 1938 in Honolulu – August 9, 2016) was an American race car driver. He was the first Championship Auto Racing Teams ( CART) Rookie of the Year in 1979 and competed in the 1981 Indianapolis 500, finishing 11th. He made 57 CA ...

joining. His owner-driver team Alsup Racing only runs part-time in 1981. * After racing limited schedule beforehand,

Tony Bettenhausen Jr. Tony Lee Bettenhausen Jr. (October 30, 1951 – February 14, 2000) was a Champ Car team owner and driver who died in a 2000 plane crash. He was the son of former 14-time Indianapolis 500 competitor Tony Bettenhausen and the brother of 21-time Indy ...

runs his first full-time season with new owner-driver team

Bettenhausen Racing Bettenhausen may refer to: Places Germany * Bettenhausen, Baden-Württemberg, in the Rottweil district, Baden-Württemberg * Bettenhausen, Kassel, a district of the city Kassel, Hesse * Bettenhausen, Lich, in the Lich In fantasy fiction, a li ...

. * Dick Simon replaces

Sheldon Kinser Sheldon Kinser (December 9, 1942 – August 1, 1988), was an American race car driver. Kinser, a Bloomington, Indiana native, died of cancer. He was a three-time USAC Sprint Car Series Champion (1977, 1981, 1982). He also drove in the USAC and ...

at Leader Card Racing, leaving Kinser without a ride. Simon's old team, Vollstedt Enterprises, does not compete. * Mario Andretti returns to running the majority of the races after a stint in Formula One, driving for Patrick Racing. He replaces Tom Bagley, who is left without a ride. * Rookie driver Scott Brayton runs a full schedule with family owned team Brayton Racing. * After running part-time in 1980, Machinists Union Racing runs a full schedule with driver Larry Dickson. *

Spike Gehlhausen Daniel William "Spike" Gehlhausen (born November 19, 1954, in Jasper, Indiana), is a former driver in the USAC and CART Championship Car series. He raced in 11 seasons (1975–1982 and 1984–1986), with 79 combined career starts, including the I ...

is replaced at Bob Fletcher Racing by rookie driver

. *

Josele Garza Josele GarzaBiography
(born March 15, 1962 in

runs his first season with family-owned team Garza Racing. * Steve Chassey runs his first full-time season for the Jet Engineering team. * AMI Racing only runs two races in 1981 after running full-time in 1980. Gary Bettenhausen is left without a full-time ride. *

Interscope Racing Frederick Woodruff "Ted" Field (born June 1, 1953) is an American media mogul, record executive, entrepreneur and film producer. He co-founded Interscope Records with Jimmy Iovine and founded Interscope Communications to develop and produce f ...

also stops running full-time, along with driver Danny Ongais. * At Cannon Racing, Larry Cannon only runs the first few races, with most of the rest driven by Dick Ferguson. * This is Bobby Unser's final season of IndyCar racing. See the

1981 Indianapolis 500 The 65th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday, May 24, 1981. The race is widely considered one of the most controversial races in Indy history. Bobby Unser took the checkered flag as the winne ...

for more information.

Notable Equipment Changes

* Tempero Racing switches from an

Eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

McLaren McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...

chassis. * Menard Racing switches from an

Offenhauser The Offenhauser Racing Engine, or Offy, is a racing engine design that dominated American open wheel racing for more than 50 years and is still popular among vintage sprint and midget car racers. History The Offenhauser engine, familiarly ...

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...

engine. With this shift the Cannon Racing team is the only full-time team that still uses Offenhauser engines.

Schedule

Of note is the addition of the inaugural Michigan 500 to replace the California 500 at the now closed

Ontario Motor Speedway Ontario Motor Speedway was a motorsport venue located in Ontario, California. It was the first and only automobile racing facility built to accommodate major races sanctioned by all of the four dominant racing sanctioning bodies: USAC (and now In ...

. - The Detroit News Grand Prix was supposed to run for 150 miles, but was shortened due to a scoring error.
Oval/Speedway Dedicated road course

Season Summary

Race Results

Note, the total time of the Norton Michigan 500 does not include red flag stoppage time as the race was stopped for nearly 1 hour due to a bad pit lane fire

Final driver standings

References

* * * {{Champ Car Seasons Champ Car seasons Indycar season