The IndyCar Rookie of the Year Award is presented to the first-year driver that has the best season in a IndyCar Series season. The following lists compiling all the winners of the Rookie of the Year Award in

open wheel An open-wheel single-seater (often known as formula car) is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have thei ...

American Championship Car 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 ...

from 1946 season to the present day. Before the creation of

Championship Auto Racing Teams Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) was a Governing body, sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing that operated from 1979 to 2003. It sanctioned the PPG Indy Car World Series from 1979 until dissolving after the 2003 CART season, ...

the prize is not officially awarded. So all of the

AAA AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to: Airports * Anaa Airport in French Polynesia (IATA airport code AAA) * Logan County Airport (Illinois) (FAA airport code AAA) Arts, entertainment, and me ...

and USAC winners of the Rookie of the Year award is not officially recognized. As of 2022 IndyCar Season a driver is a Rookie Driver in the IndyCar Series if the driver has:
A) not participated in more than four (4) IndyCar Series races in a Racing Season or
B) participated in less than eight (8) IndyCar Series races in his/her career. The list of "Indy car", "Champ car" or "IndyCar" rookies under the following auspices: *

American Automobile Association American Automobile Association (AAA – commonly pronounced as "Triple A") is a federation of motor clubs throughout North America. AAA is a privately held not-for-profit national member association and service organization with over 60 m ...

Contest Board (1946–1955) *

United States Automobile Club The United States Auto Club (USAC) is one of the sanctioning bodies of auto racing in the United States. From 1956 to 1979, USAC sanctioned the United States National Championship, and from 1956 to 1997 the organization sanctioned the Indianapol ...

(1956–1980) *

(1979–2007) *

Indy Racing League The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of ...

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of ...

(1997–present)

Sanctioning bodies

The

Contest Board began sanctioning races as early as 1904. In the early years of the sport, only two seasons (

1905 As the second year of the massive Russo-Japanese War begins, more than 100,000 die in the largest world battles of that era, and the war chaos leads to the 1905 Russian Revolution against Nicholas II of Russia (Shostakovich's 11th Symphony i ...

and

1916 Events Below, the events of the First World War have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 1 – The British Royal Army Medical Corps carries out the first successful blood transfusion, using blood that had been stored and cooled. * ...

) an official national championship was recognized and awarded. The 1946 season is a source of a statistical anomaly. The

AAA Contest Board AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to: Airports * Anaa Airport in French Polynesia (IATA airport code AAA) * Logan County Airport (Illinois) (FAA airport code AAA) Arts, entertainment, and me ...

included a substantial number of "Big Car" races in the national championship for 1946, swelling the season to 77 events (6 Champ Car races and 71 Big Car races). Some later texts chose to dismiss the 71 Big Car races from record, but reliable records and historians contend that the season should be regarded as the full 77-race schedule.
Officially,

Jim Trueman James R. Trueman (May 25, 1935 – June 11, 1986) was an American businessman and automobile racing team owner. His most successful business ventures were Red Roof Inn motels and the Truesports racing team. Bobby Rahal won the 1986 Indianapolis 5 ...

Rookie of the Year Award named after the late founder of the two-time champion TrueSports Racing Team, it was presented from 1979 Season to 2007 Season to the rookie who accumulates the most Champ Car Championship Series points among first year drivers.

Rookie of the Year winners

AAA and USAC Rookie of the Year winners

CART Jim Trueman Rookie of the Year winners

The Rookie of the Year award in CART was named in the honor of

IndyCar Series Rookie of the Year winners

As of

2018 IndyCar Series season The 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series was the 23rd season of the Verizon IndyCar Series and the 107th official championship season of American open wheel racing. The premier event was the 102nd Indianapolis 500, with Takuma Sato entering as the defe ...

The Rookie of the Year Award is presented to the top-finishing rookie in the IndyCar Series Drivers point standings. Winner also receives a $50,000 bonus. The Rookie of the Year Award is based on points for the IndyCar Series Drivers' Championship earned at each event.https://www.indycar.com/Fan-Info/INDYCAR-101/Procedures-and-Rules/Sunoco-Rookie-Award

Notes

*Due to sanctioning body splits in the sport of American Open Wheel racing from 1979 to 2007, several years saw two separate Rookie of the Year Award winners for separately sanctioned championship circuits. *Because of the sanctioning body split, Indy Racing League officials in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

did not consider

Scott Dixon Scott Ronald Dixon (born 22 July 1980) is a professional racing driver from New Zealand, who competes in the NTT IndyCar Series for Chip Ganassi Racing. Dixon has won the IndyCar championship six times: in 2003, 2008, 2013, 2015, 2018 and 202 ...

(

Champion A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and world championships, an ...

Tony Kanaan Antoine Rizkallah "Tony" Kanaan Filho (born 31 December 1974), nicknamed TK, is a Brazilian racing driver. He currently competes full-time in the Brazilian Stock Car Pro Series, driving the No. 6 Toyota Corolla E210 for Full Time Bassani a ...

(4th), or

Toranosuke Takagi Toranosuke "Tora" Takagi (高木虎之介; born 12 February 1974) is a Japanese former racing driver. Early career Takagi was heavily influenced by his father, a touring car driver. In the early 1980s he began racing karts, competing in his f ...

(10th) as rookies. However, by 2007, with a new Champ Car formula and elimination of ovals, League officials declared subsequent 2006 and 2007 rookie candidates rookies because they lacked oval experience. *In

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

IndyCar Season

Will Power William "Will" Steven Power (born 1 March 1981) is an Australian motorsports driver who currently competes in the IndyCar Series, driving for Team Penske. He is the 2014 and 2022 IndyCar Series champion and the 2018 Indianapolis 500 champion. ...

was considered a rookie. That year he won the

Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach The Grand Prix of Long Beach (known as Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach since 2019 for naming rights reasons) is an IndyCar Series race held on a street circuit in downtown Long Beach, California. Christopher Pook is the founder of the event. It wa ...

, but that race was run under Champ Car rules and he become the last ever winner of a Champ Car-style race. Power`s rookie year in Champ Car was

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

as he won the Rookie of the Year award that season, so in 2008 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Power did not have a rookie status for that race.

Sanctioning bodies

Rookie of the Year winners

AAA and USAC Rookie of the Year winners

CART Jim Trueman Rookie of the Year winners

IndyCar Series Rookie of the Year winners

Notes

IndyCar Rookie winners

Drivers Who Won Their First Race With a New Team

References

External links

See also