The 1992 PPG Indy Car World Series season was the 14th national championship season of
American open wheel racing
American open-wheel car racing, also known as Indy car racing, is a category of professional automobile racing in the United States. As of 2022, the top-level American open-wheel racing championship is sanctioned by IndyCar.
Competitive events ...
sanctioned by
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 ...
(
d.b.a "IndyCar"). The season consisted of 16 races.
Bobby Rahal
Robert Woodward Rahal (born January 10, 1953) is an American former auto racing driver and team owner. As a driver he won three championships and 24 races in the CART open-wheel series, including the 1986 Indianapolis 500. He also won the 2004 ...
was the national champion, his third and final career CART title.
Stefan Johansson
Stefan Nils Edwin Johansson (born 8 September 1956) is a Swedish racing driver who drove in Formula One for both Ferrari and McLaren, among other teams. Since leaving Formula One he has won the 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans and raced in a number o ...
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.
Alfred Unser Jr. (born April 19, 1962), nicknamed "Little Al", "Al Junior", or simply "Junior", is a retired American race car driver and two-time Indianapolis 500 winner.
History
Unser was born into a racing family in Albuquerque, New Mexic ...
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
New Hampshire Motor Speedway is a oval speedway located in Loudon, New Hampshire, which has hosted NASCAR racing annually since 1990, as well as the longest-running motorcycle race in North America, the Loudon Classic. Nicknamed "The Magic Mil ...
.
Bobby Rahal
Robert Woodward Rahal (born January 10, 1953) is an American former auto racing driver and team owner. As a driver he won three championships and 24 races in the CART open-wheel series, including the 1986 Indianapolis 500. He also won the 2004 ...
, 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
Lola may refer to:
Places
* Lolá, a or subdistrict of Panama
* Lola Township, Cherokee County, Kansas, United States
* Lola Prefecture, Guinea
* Lola, Guinea, a town in Lola Prefecture
* Lola Island, in the Solomon Islands
People
* Lola (fo ...
/
Ilmor
Ilmor is a British independent high-performance motor racing engineering company. It was founded by Mario Illien and Paul Morgan in November 1983. With manufacturing based in Brixworth, Northamptonshire, and maintenance offices in Plymouth, Mic ...
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 ...
"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
Michael Mario Andretti (born October 5, 1962) is an American semi-retired auto racing driver and current team owner. Statistically one of the most successful drivers in the history of American open-wheel car racing, Andretti won the 1991 CART P ...
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
Edward Jovy Jacinto Marcelo (April 20, 1965 – May 15, 1992), better known simply as Jovy Marcelo, was a Filipinos, Filipino race car driver from Quezon City, Philippines, who was killed in an accident during practice for the 1992 Indianapolis ...
was fatally injured in a practice crash, while
Nelson Piquet
Nelson Piquet Souto Maior (, born 17 August 1952) is a Brazilian retired racing driver and businessman. Since his retirement, Piquet, a three-time World Champion, has been ranked among the greatest Formula One (F1) drivers in various motorspo ...
suffered devastating leg injures in another practice crash.
Hiro Matsushita
, also known by , is a Japanese businessman and former racing driver. Matsushita is the first and only Japanese driver to win the Toyota Atlantic Championship (Pacific) in 1989 and also the first Japanese driver to race at the Indy 500. He is th ...
suffered a fractured leg and missed several races over the summer.
Mario Andretti
Mario Gabriele Andretti (born February 28, 1940) is an Italian-born American former racing driver. One of the most successful drivers in the history of motorsports, Andretti is one of only two drivers to have won races in Formula One, IndyCar, t ...
,
Rick Mears
Rick Ravon Mears (born December 3, 1951) is a retired American race car driver. He is one of four men to win the Indianapolis 500 four times (1979, 1984, 1988, 1991) and is the current record-holder for pole positions in the race with six (1 ...
, and
Jimmy Vasser
James Vasser Jr. (born November 20, 1965) is an American former racing driver. Vasser won the 1996 CART IndyCar championship with Chip Ganassi Racing, and scored ten victories in the series. Vasser was the last American to win the CART champio ...
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.
Season Summary
Schedule
Oval/Speedway
Dedicated road course
Temporary street circuit
NC Non-championship event
*Indianapolis was USAC-sanctioned but counted towards the PPG Indy Car title.
Race results
Final driver standings
Note:
Jovy Marcelo
Edward Jovy Jacinto Marcelo (April 20, 1965 – May 15, 1992), better known simply as Jovy Marcelo, was a Filipinos, Filipino race car driver from Quezon City, Philippines, who was killed in an accident during practice for the 1992 Indianapolis ...
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.
Chassis
A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of an artificial object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart ...
Constructor's Cup
Engine
An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy.
Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...
Manufacturer's Cup
References
*
*
*
*
*
*
See also
*
1992 Indianapolis 500
*
1992 Toyota Atlantic Championship season
*
1992 Indy Lights season The 1992 Firestone Indy Lights Championship consisted of 12 races. American Robbie Buhl captured a single victory on his way to the championship. This was the last season where all chassis were supplied by March.
Calendar
Race summaries
Phoenix ...
*
1992 Formula One season
{{Champ Car Seasons
Champ Car seasons
IndyCar
INDYCAR, LLC, is an American-based auto racing sanctioning body for Indy car racing and other disciplines of open wheel car racing. The organization sanctions five racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with its centerpiece the Indianapolis ...
IndyCar
INDYCAR, LLC, is an American-based auto racing sanctioning body for Indy car racing and other disciplines of open wheel car racing. The organization sanctions five racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with its centerpiece the Indianapolis ...