1982 CART PPG Indy Car World Series

1982 CART season
PPG Indy Car World Series
Season
Races11
Start dateMarch 28
End dateNovember 6
Awards
Drivers' champion Rick Mears
Constructors' Cup March
Manufacturers' Cup Cosworth
Nations' Cup United States
Rookie of the Year Bobby Rahal
← 1981
1983 →

The 1982 CART PPG Indy Car World Series season, the fourth in the CART era of U.S. open-wheel racing, consisted of 11 races, beginning in Avondale, Arizona on March 28 and concluding at the same location on November 6. The PPG Indy Car World Series Drivers' Champion was Rick Mears. Rookie of the Year was Bobby Rahal.

Though it was not officially part of the CART calendar, most of the teams and drivers also competed at the USAC-sanctioned 66th Indianapolis 500. Gordon Johncock was victorious at Indy.

Jim Hickman was fatally injured in a practice crash for the Tony Bettenhausen 200 at Milwaukee, he was 39 years old.

Drivers and constructors

The following teams and drivers competed for the 1982 CART World Series.

Team/Car Owner No Drivers Rounds
Alex Morales Motorsports 3 Pancho Carter All
Alsup Racing 2 Bill Alsup All
27 Spike Gehlhausen 7
Arciero Racing 66 Pete Halsmer 8-9, 11
Armstrong Mould Racing Team 43 Greg Leffler 2
Bettenhausen Racing 8 Gary Bettenhausen 6, 11
Bettenhausen Racing w/ H&R Racing 6 Tony Bettenhausen Jr. 1-3, 5-11
Bignotti-Cotter Racing 7 Tom Sneva All
21 Geoff Brabham All
Brayton Racing 36 Patrick Bedard 1-2, 5
Scott Brayton 3, 7, 10
37 1, 5
BVC Racing 75 Dennis Firestone 1
Caliva Racing 38 Phil Caliva 8, 11
Chaparral Racing 5 Johnny Rutherford 1-9, 11
Circle Bar Auto Racing 39 Chet Fillip 11
Doug Shierson Racing 30 Howdy Holmes All
Fletcher Racing 35 Gordon Smiley 2
George Snider 5, 7
Forsythe Racing 32 Héctor Rebaque 2-5, 8-9
33 Danny Sullivan 2-3
Al Unser Jr. 8
Frantz Racing w/ Burger King 77 Tom Frantz 1, 5, 8
Garza Racing 55 Josele Garza All
Gilmore Racing 14 A. J. Foyt 3-5, 7, 10
Gohr Racing 56 Joe Saldana 3-4
Gary Bettenhausen 5, 7-10
Grant King Racers 65 Todd Tuttle 4
GTS Racing 86 Al Loquasto 1, 7
Hamilton Racing 17 Ken Hamilton 5
HBK Racing 72 Tom Bigelow 3-7, 10
Bill Whittington 9
Hodgson-Curb 29 Bobby Olivero 1
Hoffman Racing 69 Jerry Sneva 10
Hoffman Racing w/ Rattlesnake Racing 42 Jim Hickman 2-6
Jamieson Racing 49 Chip Mead 1, 3
Spike Gehlhausen 3, 5
Jet Engineering 64 Steve Chassey 1
Bob Frey 3
Greg Leffler 6, 8-11
Joe Hunt Magneto 89 Phil Krueger 1-2
Dick Ferguson 8
Jerry Sneva 11
Joel McCray Racing 46 Leroy van Conett 1
Jerry Karl 4-8
Kraco Enterprises 18 Dick Ferguson 1-2
Bill Vukovich II 3
Mike Mosley 5-7, 10-11
99 Vern Schuppan 4, 8-9
Leader Card Racers 22 Dick Simon 1-8, 10-11
24 Bill Vukovich II 7
Longhorn Racing 10 Al Unser 1-10
Luxury Racers 65 Bob Brutto 1
Phil Krueger 5, 7, 9-11
Machinists Union Racing 31 Roger Mears All
McElreath Racing 23 Jim McElreath 1, 7-8
Menard Racing 28 Herm Johnson 1-6, 8-9
Metametrix 47 Chris Kneifel 8-9
Jacques Villeneuve Sr. 11
Newman Freeman Racing 68 Mike Chandler 8, 11
Patrick Racing 20 Gordon Johncock All
40 Mario Andretti All
Rattlesnake Racing 11 Dick Ferguson 10-11
Ray W Lipper Racing 73 Ray Lipper 1
Rhoades Racing 12 Chip Ganassi 1-2, 4-5, 7, 10
Team Penske 1 Rick Mears All
4 Kevin Cogan All
Tempero Racing 15 Bill Tempero 1, 4, 6, 8-9, 11
Truesports 19 Bobby Rahal 1, 3-11
Whittington Racing 91 Don Whittington 5
Wysard Racing 34 Hurley Haywood 1-2
Johnny Parsons 3-5, 7-8, 10
John Paul Jr. 9
Derek Daly 11

Schedule

New to the schedule was the 4 mile permanent road course named Road America. Returning to the schedule after a one year absence (1981 was a USAC race) was Pocono Raceway, the 2.5 mile superspeedway would host a 500 mile race in 1982.

The schedule was originally set to feature a doubleheader with Formula One at Las Vegas on October 17. After the F1 Grand Prix on Saturday, the track would be converted to an oval for an Indy car race on Sunday. This was cancelled after FISA rescheduled the Grand Prix for September and instituted a rule that banned two open-wheel series with engines over two liters from competing at the same venue on the same weekend.

A race in Mexico City for October 31 was cancelled.

Rd Date Name Circuit Location TV Broadcaster
1 March 28 Kraco Car Stereo 150  O  Phoenix International Raceway Avondale, Arizona NBC
2 May 1* Stroh's 200  O  Atlanta Motor Speedway Hampton, Georgia Untelevised
NC May 30 Indianapolis 500  O  Indianapolis Motor Speedway Indianapolis, Indiana ABC
3 June 13 Gould Rex Mays Classic  O  Milwaukee Mile West Allis, Wisconsin ESPN
4 July 4 Budweiser Cleveland 500  R  Burke Lakefront Airport Cleveland, Ohio ESPN
5 July 18 Norton Michigan 500  O  Michigan International Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan NBC
6 August 1 Tony Bettenhausen 200  O  Milwaukee Mile West Allis, Wisconsin ESPN
7 August 15 Domino's Pizza Pocono 500  O  Pocono International Raceway Long Pond, Pennsylvania NBC
8 August 29 AirCal 500K  R  Riverside International Raceway Riverside, California ESPN
9 September 19 Road America 200  R  Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin Untelevised
10 September 26 Detroit News Grand Prix  O  Michigan International Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan ESPN
11 November 6 Miller High Life 150  O  Phoenix International Raceway Avondale, Arizona NBC

 O  Oval/Speedway
 R  Dedicated road course

*The Stroh's 200 was scheduled for April 25, but postponed a week due to rain. NBC planned to cover on April 25, but did not return for the May 1 running.

Season Summary

Race results

Rd Race Pole Position Winning driver Winning team Race time Report
1 Phoenix 1 Rick Mears Rick Mears Team Penske 1:15:48 Report
2 Atlanta Rick Mears Rick Mears Team Penske 1:13:10 Report
NC Indianapolis 500 Rick Mears Gordon Johncock Patrick Racing 3:05:09 Report
3 Milwaukee 1 Gordon Johncock Gordon Johncock Patrick Racing 1:10:52 Report
4 Cleveland Kevin Cogan Bobby Rahal Truesports 3:03:44 Report
5 Michigan 1 Rick Mears / Mario Andretti Gordon Johncock Patrick Racing 3:14:54 Report
6 Milwaukee 2 Rick Mears Tom Sneva Bignotti-Cotter Racing 1:49:57 Report
7 Pocono Rick Mears Rick Mears Team Penske 3:25:39 Report
8 Riverside Kevin Cogan Rick Mears Team Penske 2:42:14 Report
9 Road America Rick Mears Héctor Rebaque Forsythe Racing 1:49:56 Report
10 Michigan 2 Rick Mears Bobby Rahal Truesports 1:04:03 Report
11 Phoenix 2 Rick Mears Tom Sneva Bignotti-Cotter Racing 1:21:05 Report

Mario Andretti was credited with winning the pole position for the Michigan 500, although he started 33rd due to a pre-race practice accident. Rick Mears started on the pole and both he and Andretti were credited with pole positions.

  Non-championship event

Final points standings

Further information: List of American Championship car racing point scoring systems
Pos Driver PHX
ATL
MIL
CLE
MIC
MIL
POC
RIV
ROA
MIC
PHX
Pts
1 Rick Mears 1* 1* 3 4 15* 12* 1* 1* 5 25 2 294
2 Bobby Rahal  RY  18 20 1 3 2 3 15 3* 1* 5 242
3 Mario Andretti 2 11 9 2 2 3 14 23 14 2 3 188
4 Gordon Johncock 5 2 1* 5 1 11 6 26 22 15 23 186
5 Tom Sneva 7 17 4 20 32 1 19 2 9 19 1* 144
6 Kevin Cogan 3 18 5 10* 14 5 2 10 25 22 4 136
7 Al Unser 21 8 17 3 4 DNS 23 17 2 18 125
8 Geoff Brabham 15 15 7 6 7 10 4 28 15 3 20 110
9 Roger Mears 8 4 22 21 17 14 9 4 8 8 7 103
10 Tony Bettenhausen Jr. 12 19 12 10 20 5 18 7 4 6 80
11 Bill Alsup 11 5 16 12 13 9 13 8 16 6 8 70
12 Johnny Rutherford 4 DNS 15 23 28 17 12 3 12 DNS 21 62
13 Howdy Holmes 16 10 16 12 4 27 16 10 5 10 56
14 Josele Garza 13 16 8 14 22 8 15 13 4 9 18 56
15 Héctor Rebaque  R  13 DNS 18 25 20 1 48
16 Gary Bettenhausen 6 13 8 DNQ 20 17 9 48
17 Pancho Carter 6 10 13 19 18 6 28 19 11 12 11 47
18 Johnny Parsons 6 9 16 7 25 DNS 41
19 Mike Mosley 8 7 16 7 12 37
20 Tom Bigelow 18 DNQ 5 22 25 20 32
21 Al Unser Jr.  R  5 30
22 Danny Sullivan  R  3 21 28
23 Phil Krueger DNQ 12 DNQ 30 11 6 11 17 27
24 Greg Leffler DNQ DNQ 21 6 13 24 13 27
25 Dick Simon DNQ DNS 19 17 21 15 22 7 DNQ 13 19 26
26 Herm Johnson 19 6 23 13 34 16 22 17 24
27 Jim Hickman  R  7 DNQ 24 9 DNQ 24
28 A. J. Foyt 2 22 20 20 23 22
29 Bill Tempero DNQ 8 19 14 18 DNQ 22
30 Vern Schuppan 7 27 24 18
31 Jerry Karl 15 24 18 10 12 17
32 Mike Chandler 9 16 13
33 Scott Brayton 14 14 11 24 10 11
34 Chip Ganassi  R  22 11 31 17 16 10
35 Gordon Smiley 9 8
36 Chris Kneifel  R  11 23 6
37 Chip Mead 9 DNQ 4
38 Hurley Haywood 10 DNQ 3
39 Jim McElreath DNQ 18 DNQ 3
40 George Snider 19 21 3
41 Bill Vukovich II 11 29 2
42 Patrick Bedard 14 29 2
43 Pete Halsmer  R  24 19 24 2
44 Jerry Sneva 14 DNQ 1
45 Jacques Villeneuve Sr.  R  14 1
46 Chet Fillip  R  15 1
47 Dick Ferguson 17 21 21 22 1
48 Dennis Firestone 20 1
49 John Paul Jr.  R  21 0
50 Spike Gehlhausen DNQ 23 30 0
51 Derek Daly  R  25 0
52 Al Loquasto DNQ 26 0
53 Don Whittington 26 0
54 Ken Hamilton  R  27 0
55 Tom Frantz DNQ 33 DNQ 0
- Rich Vogler DNS 0
- Bill Whittington DNS 0
- Richard Hubbard DNQ DNQ 0
- Bob Frey DNQ DNQ 0
- Joe Saldana DNQ DNQ 0
- Rick DeLorto DNQ DNQ 0
- Phil Caliva DNQ DNQ 0
- Bob Brutto DNQ 0
- Steve Chassey DNQ 0
- Ray Lipper DNQ 0
- Bobby Olivero DNQ 0
- Leroy van Conett DNQ 0
- Tod Tuttle DNQ 0
Pos Driver PHX
ATL
MIL
CLE
MIC
MIL
POC
RIV
ROA
MIC
PHX
Pts
Color Result
Gold Winner
Silver 2nd place
Bronze 3rd place
Green 4th & 5th place
Light Blue 6th-10th place
Dark Blue Finished
(Outside Top 10)
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

See also

References

  1. ^ "CART Schedule Includes Vegas". The Indianapolis Star. November 24, 1981. p. 24. Retrieved November 11, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ Vierra, Dan (December 25, 1981). "Wrench in CART's Works". Sacramento Bee. p. 53. Retrieved November 11, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "CART Schedule Includes Vegas". The Indianapolis Star. November 24, 1981. p. 24. Retrieved November 11, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.