1988 CART PPG Indy Car World Series

The 1988 CART PPG Indy Car World Series season was the 10th national championship season of American open wheel racing sanctioned by CART. The season consisted of 15 races, and one non-points exhibition event. Danny Sullivan was the national champion, winning for Team Penske. The rookie of the year was John Jones. The 1988 Indianapolis 500 was sanctioned by USAC, but counted towards the CART points championship. Rick Mears won the Indy 500, his third victory at Indy.

1988 CART season
PPG Indy Car World Series
Season
Races16
Start dateApril 10
End dateNovember 6
Awards
Drivers' championUnited States Danny Sullivan
Constructors' CupUnited Kingdom Lola
Manufacturers' CupUnited States Chevrolet
Nations' CupUnited States United States
Rookie of the YearCanada John Jones
Indianapolis 500 winnerUnited States Rick Mears

The 1988 season was the breakout year for the Ilmor Chevrolet Indy V-8 engine. After being introduced in 1986, and earning its first victory in 1987, the Ilmor Chevy dominated the series in 1988, and established itself as the best powerplant on the circuit. Chevy won 14 of the 15 races, and all 15 pole positions. Along the way, the Ilmor Chevy earned its first victory at Indianapolis in 1988, with Rick Mears winning from the pole.

Season recap

Danny Sullivan won four races, nine pole positions, and had 11 top five finishes en route to the championship title. Sullivan got off to a slow start, but at Indy, he and his Penske teammates (Rick Mears and Al Unser) dominated the month of May. The Penske team swept all three spots on the front row, and led 192 of the 200 laps. Sullivan himself qualified second and dominated the first half of the race. He dropped out just beyond the halfway point when a wing adjuster failed and sent his car into the wall. He rebounded over the next six races, posting two wins and no finish worse than 4th.

Sullivan's nearest competitors during the season were Al Unser Jr. and Bobby Rahal. Unser Jr. left Doug Shierson Racing after a winless 1987 campaign and returned to Galles Racing for 1988, and also got use of the coveted Chevrolet engine. Unser won at Long Beach and Toronto, then won a controversial race at the Meadowlands. Battling for the lead in the late stages of the race, he tangled with Emerson Fittipaldi, sending Fittipaldi into the tire barrier.

Back-to-back defending CART champion, and 1986 Indy winner Bobby Rahal returned for his last season at Truesports. The team dropped the Cosworth DFX and the took up development of the Judd AV engine. The engine was known to be down on horsepower, but excelled in fuel mileage and reliability, particularly in the 500-mile races. Rahal finished 4th at Indy, second at the Michigan 500, and won the Pocono 500. His ten top five finishes kept him in contention for the title, but with only one win, he was struggling to keep pace with the Chevy-powered teams.

After winning the Michigan 500, Danny Sullivan took the points lead for the first time all year. The lead was short-lived, however, as he wrecked at Pocono. Rahal and Unser Jr. finished 1-2 at Pocono, and the top three in the standings were separated by only 5 points with five races remaining.

At Mid-Ohio, Rahal crashed out, and his title hopes began to fade. Sullivan and Unser were separated by 1 point with four races to go. All three drivers finished strong at Road America, and the championship battle pushed on. The turning point of the season came at Nazareth. Al Unser Jr. blew his engine, Rahal was not a factor, but Sullivan dominated. Sullivan started from the pole, and led the final 74 laps to score a crucial victory. With only two races left, Sullivan had a commanding 25-point lead. At the second-to-last race of the season at Laguna Seca, Sullivan pulled out a hat trick by winning the pole, leading the most laps, and winning the race. With still one race left, Sullivan clinched the 1988 CART title, holding an insurmountable 35-point lead. It was Sullivan's first and only championship title and Penske's first since 1985.

With the championship decided for Sullivan, the season finale at Miami became a race to see who would finish second in points. Rahal held an 8-point lead over Al Unser Jr., with Mario Andretti and Rick Mears also lurking in 4th and 5th, respectively. Unser Jr. dominated the race, leading 82 (of 112) laps and winning for the second time at the Tamiami Park circuit. Rahal blew an engine, Mario Andretti dropped out, and Mears finished second. The results saw a shake up in the standings, with Unser Jr. finishing second in points, Rahal third, and Mears slipping ahead of Andretti by 3 points for 4th and 5th.

Other stories from 1988 included A. J. Foyt returning to a full-time schedule (from 1980-1987, he only ran a partial schedule), and the Porsche Indy car team expanding to full-time with driver Teo Fabi. Rookie John Andretti suffered a devastating crash at the Pocono 500, but would recover before the end of the season. Jim Crawford, who suffered serious leg injuries in a crash in 1987, returned to the cockpit with a notable run at Indianapolis where he led 8 laps and finished 6th, the best result to-date for the Buick V-6 engine.

Another story was the continued downward spiral of March. After Portland the Patrick Racing Team changed from the latest March to a Lola fleet which consisted of the current model and a year old Lola.

Drivers and constructors

The following teams and drivers competed for the 1988 Indy Car World Series.

Team Chassis Engine Tires No Drivers Rounds
Full-time
United States Newman/Haas Racing Lola T8800 Chevrolet G 6 United States Mario Andretti All
United States Patrick Racing March 88C Chevrolet G 20 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi 1-5
Lola T8700
Lola T8800
6-15
United States Galles Racing March 88C Chevrolet/Cosworth G 3 United States Al Unser Jr. All
United States Team Penske Penske PC-17 Chevrolet G 5 United States Rick Mears All
9 United States Danny Sullivan All
1 United States Al Unser 3
60 9-10
United States Porsche North America Porsche 2708 Porsche G 8 Italy Teo Fabi All
United States Truesports Lola T8800 Judd/Cosworth G 1/4 United States Bobby Rahal All
United States Kraco Racing March 88C Cosworth G 18 United States Michael Andretti 1-9
Lola 10-15
United States Doug Shierson Racing March Cosworth G 30 Brazil Raul Boesel 1-2, 4-5
Lola 3, 6-15
United States Raynor Racing Lola Cosworth G 10 Republic of Ireland Derek Daly All
United States Arciero Racing March Cosworth G 12 Canada John Jones All
United States Vince Granatelli Racing Lola/March Cosworth G 2/4 Colombia Roberto Guerrero All except 7-8
2/4 United States Al Unser 7-8
58/71/85 United States Gordon Johncock 3, 9-10
United States Machinists Union Racing March Cosworth G 11 United States Kevin Cogan All except 8-11
United States Scott Pruett 8, 11
55 United States Scott Atchison All except 3, 13
29/11 United States Rich Vogler 3, 9-10
Buick 28 United States Pancho Carter 3
United States Dick Simon Racing Lola Cosworth G 7 Netherlands Arie Luyendyk All
22 United States Dick Simon 1, 3-4, 9-10, 13
United States Scott Pruett 2
Belgium Didier Theys 5-8, 11-12, 14-15
23 Italy Fulvio Ballabio 2, 11-12
Finland Tero Palmroth 3, 5
Switzerland Jean-Pierre Frey 14-15
United States A. J. Foyt Enterprises Lola Cosworth G 14 United States A. J. Foyt All except 9
United States Johnny Rutherford 9
March 48 United States Rocky Moran 3
Chevrolet 84 United States Stan Fox 3
United States Bettenhausen Motorsports Lola/March Cosworth/Judd G 16 United States Tony Bettenhausen Jr. All except 5 and 15
United States Dennis Vitolo 15
United States Alex Morales Motorsports March Cosworth G 21 United States Howdy Holmes All
United States Hemelgarn Racing Lola Judd/Cosworth/Buick G 91 United States Scott Brayton All except 11-12 and 14
71 Canada Ludwig Heimrath Jr. 2-3, 5-8, 11-12, 15
United States Ken Johnson 14
81/71 United States Tom Sneva 3, 9
United States Gohr Racing March Cosworth G 56 United States Rocky Moran 2, 5-8, 11-12, 14-15
United States Bill Vukovich III 1, 3, 9-10
United States Curb Racing Lola Cosworth G 98 United States John Andretti All except 11-12 and 14-15
United States Leader Card Racing Lola Cosworth G 24 United States Randy Lewis All except 13
16 United States Dominic Dobson 5
Part-time
United States Dobson Motorsports Lola Cosworth G 17/92 United States Dominic Dobson 3, 14
United States Dale Coyne Racing March Chevrolet G 19 United States Dale Coyne 3-11, 13-15
United States Dominic Dobson 2
United States Los Angeles Drywall March Cosworth G 27 United States Dick Ferguson 2
United States Ed Pimm 3
United States Bernstein Racing Lola Buick G 15 United Kingdom Jim Crawford 3
17 United States Johnny Rutherford 3
United States KargoStopper Lola Cosworth G 88 United States Darin Brassfield 11, 14
United States BDR Racing March Cosworth G 43 United States Steve Bren 14
United States Gary Trout Motorsports March Cosworth G 33 United States Steve Chassey 3
35 United States Ed Pimm 11-12
United States Andale Racing March Cosworth G 69 Mexico Bernard Jourdain 14-15
United States U.S. Engineering March Cosworth G 77 United States Phil Krueger 6, 9-10
United States Kent Baker Racing March Cosworth G 97 United States Phil Krueger 3
United States Scheid Tire Centers March Cosworth G 46 United States Gary Bettenhausen 3
United States Calumet Farms March Chevrolet G 84 United States George Snider 3
Brazil GF Racing March Cosworth G 25 Brazil Giupponi Franca 11, 14
Spain José Romano 12, 15
United States Indiana Carbon March Cosworth G 87 United States Spike Gehlhausen 3
United States Mergard March Cosworth G 36 United States Harry Sauce 3
United States Performers, Inc. March Cosworth G 77 United States Tom Bigelow 3

Season Summary

Schedule

Rd Date Race Name Track City
1 April 10 Checker 200 Presented by Phoenix International Raceway and the Fiesta Bowl  O  Phoenix International Raceway Phoenix, Arizona
2 April 17 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach  R  Long Beach Street Circuit Long Beach, California
3 May 29 Indianapolis 500  O  Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway, Indiana
4 June 5 Miller High Life 200  O  Milwaukee Mile West Allis, Wisconsin
5 June 19 Budweiser/G.I. Joe's 200  R  Portland International Raceway Portland, Oregon
6 July 3 Budweiser Cleveland Grand Prix  R  Burke Lakefront Airport Cleveland, Ohio
7 July 17 Molson Indy Toronto  R  Exhibition Place Toronto, Ontario
8 July 24 Marlboro Grand Prix  R  Meadowlands Street Circuit East Rutherford, New Jersey
9 August 7 Marlboro 500  O  Michigan International Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan
10 August 21 Quaker State 500  O  Pocono International Raceway Long Pond, Pennsylvania
11 September 4 Escort Radar Warning 200  R  Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, Ohio
12 September 11 Briggs & Stratton 200  R  Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
13 September 25 Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix  O  Pennsylvania International Raceway Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania
14 October 16 Nissan Monterey Grand Prix Featuring the Champion Spark Plug 300  R  Laguna Seca Raceway Monterey, California
NC November 5 Marlboro Challenge  R  Tamiami Park Miami, Florida
15 November 6 Nissan Indy Challenge  R  Tamiami Park Miami, Florida

 O  Oval/Speedway
 R  Road/Street course
  Non-championship event

Race results

Rnd Race Name Pole position Winning driver Winning team Race time Report
1 Checker 200 United States Rick Mears United States Mario Andretti Newman/Haas Racing 1:38:22 Report
2 Long Beach Grand Prix United States Danny Sullivan United States Al Unser Jr. Galles Racing 1:53:47 Report
3 Indianapolis 500 United States Rick Mears United States Rick Mears Team Penske 3:27:10 Report
4 Miller High Life 200 United States Michael Andretti United States Rick Mears Team Penske 1:37:42 Report
5 Budweiser/G. I. Joe's 200 United States Danny Sullivan United States Danny Sullivan Team Penske 1:57:17 Report
6 Budweiser Grand Prix of Cleveland United States Danny Sullivan United States Mario Andretti Newman/Haas Racing 1:35:46 Report
7 Molson Indy Toronto United States Danny Sullivan United States Al Unser Jr. Galles Racing 1:59:34 Report
8 Meadowlands Grand Prix Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi United States Al Unser Jr. Galles Racing 1:50:14 Report
9 Marlboro 500 United States Rick Mears United States Danny Sullivan Team Penske 2:46:03 Report
10 Quaker State 500 United States Rick Mears United States Bobby Rahal Truesports 3:44:21 Report
11 Escort Radar Warning 200 United States Danny Sullivan Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi Patrick Racing 2:14:18 Report
12 Briggs & Stratton 200 United States Danny Sullivan Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi Patrick Racing 1:38:11 Report
13 Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix United States Danny Sullivan United States Danny Sullivan Team Penske 1:20:47 Report
14 Champion Spark Plug 300 United States Danny Sullivan United States Danny Sullivan Team Penske 1:58:35 Report
NC Marlboro Challenge United States Danny Sullivan United States Michael Andretti Kraco Racing 0:48:52 Report
15 Nissan Indy Challenge United States Danny Sullivan United States Al Unser Jr. Galles Racing 1:58:08 Report
  • Indianapolis was USAC-sanctioned but counted towards the CART title.

Final driver standings

Pos Driver PHX LBH INDY MIL POR CLE TOR MEA MIC POC MDO ROA NAZ LAG MIA Pts
1 United States Danny Sullivan 23 13 23* 2 1 3* 2 4 1 18 5 4 1 1* 5 182
2 United States Al Unser Jr. 18 1* 13 20 4 4 1* 1 21 2 4 7 19 6 1* 149
3 United States Bobby Rahal 16 2 5 6 12 2 5 5 2 1 18 2 12 4 18 136
4 United States Rick Mears 22 8 1 1* 6 23 6 3 13* 23 3 12 7* 5 2 129
5 United States Mario Andretti 1* 15 20 17 5 1 25 2 12 17 2 3 3 3 15 126
6 United States Michael Andretti 3 7 4 7 11 14 3 6 3 25 26 5 2 2 17 119
7 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi 21 16 2 3 3 19 4 14* 19 21 1* 1* 8 16 20 105
8 Brazil Raul Boesel 5 4 7 4 26 5 8 9 11 5 6 14 5 21 22 89
9 Republic of Ireland Derek Daly 13 5 29 11 19 6 23 24 16 4 9 6 10 7 23 53
10 Italy Teo Fabi 7 24 28 9 7 24 10 18 25 24 8 8 4 10 21 44
11 Canada John Jones  RY  20 12 DNQ 14 8 7 7 7 8 8 7 13 11 11 16 44
12 Colombia Roberto Guerrero 2 19 32 DNS 14 20 20 3 11 22 6 14 26 40
13 United States Kevin Cogan 8 3 11 22 20 10 24 24 15 9 4 40
14 Netherlands Arie Luyendyk 9 10 10 15 2* 18 20 20 28 26 25 19 9 22 14 31
15 Belgium Didier Theys 10 9 18 21 10 23 8 3 29
16 United States A. J. Foyt 4 11 26 5 15 11 15 17 16 22 10 17 24 25 29
17 United States Tony Bettenhausen Jr. 6 DNQ 33 19 15 17 8 4 15 16 16 13 26 25
18 United States Howdy Holmes 10 17 12 8 16 13 11 23 23 7 14 11 14 23 8 24
19 United States Al Unser 3 9 19 9 13* 23
20 United States Scott Atchison  R  12 9 DNQ 16 25 12 13 10 10 12 15 20 DNQ 25 9 17
21 United States Gordon Johncock DNQ 6 6 16
22 United States Phil Krueger 8 17 5 22 15
23 United States Scott Brayton 15 23 31 10 9 16 14 11 26 10 18 24 12
24 United States Dick Simon 19 9 12 7 19 20 11
25 United States Rocky Moran 6 16 13 22 12 15 13 17 28 13 9
26 Mexico Bernard Jourdain  R  20 6 8
27 United Kingdom Jim Crawford 6 8
28 Canada Ludwig Heimrath Jr. 14 25 23 26 19 12 19 21 7 7
29 United States Randy Lewis 17 21 15 21 22 21 21 13 14 20 21 9 15 10 7
30 United States Bill Vukovich III  R  11 14 17 9 6
31 United States John Andretti 14 20 21 18 17 8 22 25 24 14 16 5
32 United States Rich Vogler 17 15 11 2
33 United States Dennis Vitolo  R  11 2
34 United States Dale Coyne DNS DNQ 13 24 25 16 22 27 DNQ 24 DNS DNQ 27 12 1
35 United States Ed Pimm DNQ 12 15 1
36 United States Ken Johnson  R  12 1
37 Switzerland Jean-Pierre Frey  R  13 19 0
38 United States Scott Pruett  R  18 16 20 0
39 Italy Fulvio Ballabio 25 17 18 0
40 United States Steve Bren 17 0
41 United States Dominic Dobson 26 18 21 18 0
42 Finland Tero Palmroth  R  19 18 0
43 United States Johnny Rutherford 22 18 0
44 United States Darin Brassfield 23 19 0
45 United States Tom Sneva 27 22 0
46 United States Dick Ferguson 22 DNQ 0
47 United States Steve Chassey 24 0
48 United States Stan Fox 30 0
United States Gary Bettenhausen DNQ 0
United States Tom Bigelow DNQ 0
United States Pancho Carter DNQ 0
Brazil Giupponi Franca DNQ DNQ 0
United States Spike Gehlhausen DNQ 0
United States Johnny Parsons DNQ 0
Spain José Romano DNQ DNQ 0
United States Harry Sauce DNQ 0
United States George Snider DNQ 0
Pos Driver PHX LBH INDY MIL POR CLE TOR MEA MIC POC MDO ROA NAZ LAG MIA 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 Pts
1 United States United States 317
2 Brazil Brazil 158
3 Italy Italy 52
4 Canada Canada 50
5 Republic of Ireland Ireland 45
6 Colombia Colombia 40
7 Netherlands Netherlands 31
8 Belgium Belgium 29
9 Mexico Mexico 8
10 England England 8
11 Switzerland Switzerland 0
12 Finland Finland 0
Pos Country Pts

Chassis Constructors' Cup

Pos Chassis Pts
1 United Kingdom Lola T8800/T8700 248
2 United States Penske PC-17 231
3 United Kingdom March 88C/87C/86C/85C 222
Pos Chassis Pts

Engine Manufacturers' Cup

Pos Engine Pts
1 United States Chevrolet A 320
2 United Kingdom Cosworth 206
3 United Kingdom Judd 131
4 Germany Porsche 44
5 United States Buick 8
Pos Engine Pts

References

  • "1988 CART Results". racing-reference.info. Retrieved 2015-12-21.
  • "1988 CART PPG IndyCar World Series standings". race-database.com. Retrieved 2011-01-15.
  • Åberg, Andreas. "PPG Indy Car World Series 1988". Driver Database. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
  • "1988 PPG Indy Car World Series". Champ Car Stats. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
  • "Official Box Score: 72nd 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 Miami". Champ Car World Series. Archived from the original on 22 October 2008. Retrieved 2009-05-19.

See also

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