Sports season
The 1981 CART PPG Indy Car World Series season, the third in the CART 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 . 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 .
Team/Car Owner Chassis Engine # Drivers Rounds Chaparral Cars Chaparral Cosworth 1 Johnny Rutherford All Jerry O'Connell Racing Phoenix Cosworth 2 Tom Sneva 1 32 Kevin Cogan 2-3, 5-7 Bignotti -Cotter RacingMarch (5-11)Phoenix (2)
Cosworth 2 Tom Sneva All except 1 and 3-4 Phoenix 21 Salt Walther 5 Team Penske Penske Cosworth 3 Bobby Unser All 6 Rick Mears All except 2 7 Bill Alsup All except 1 and 8-9 Alex Morales Motorsports Penske (all except 2, 9)Cosworth 5 Pancho Carter All Lightning 75 Steve Chassey 4 Longhorn Racing Longhorn (All except 8)Eagle (8)
Cosworth 8 Al Unser All Wildcat Cosworth 12 Dennis Firestone 3 Gary Bettenhausen 5, 7 Gordon Smiley 6, 10-11 Gilmore Racing Coyote Cosworth 14 A. J. Foyt 5 Tempero Racing McLaren Chevrolet 15 Bill Tempero All except 2 Bettenhausen Racing McLaren (1-6)Longhorn (7)
Phoenix (8-11)
Cosworth 16 Tony Bettenhausen Jr. All except 1 Leader Card Racing Vollstedt Offenhauser 17 Jerry Sneva 5, 11 Watson Cosworth (All except 7-8)Offenhauser (7-8)
22 Dick Simon All except 3-4. Spike Gehlhausen 3-4 Patrick Racing Wildcat Cosworth 20 Gordon Johncock All 40 Mario Andretti 1-4, 8-9, 11 Steve Krisiloff 5, 7 Brayton Racing Penske Cosworth 21 Mike Mosley 10 Chip Ganassi 11 37 Scott Brayton All McElreath Racing Eagle Offenhauser (1, 9-11)Chevrolet (8)
23 Jim McElreath 1, 8-11 Luxury Racers Kingfish Chevrolet 24 6 65 11 Buick Racing Eagle Chevrolet 26 Jim Buick 1 86 Jim Buick 2-5 Menard Racing Lightning (1-8)Eagle (9-11)
Chevrolet 28 Herm Johnson All except 1-2, 4, and 8 McLaren Cosworth 29 Billy Engelhart 2, 5, 7 Machinists Union Racing Penske Cosworth 31 Larry Dickson All except 1 Theodore Racing McLaren (5, 10-11)March (6)
Cosworth 33 Vern Schuppan 5-6, 10-11 Eagle Cosworth 34 Hurley Haywood 6, 9-10 Johnny Parsons 11 Penske (1-6)March (7-11)
Cosworth 35 Bob Lazier All Karl Racing McLaren (1)Karl (2-7, 9-10)
Chevrolet 38 Jerry Karl All except 8 and 11 Alsup Racing Penske Cosworth 41 Bill Alsup 1, 8-9 McLaren Chevrolet 47 Phil Caliva 3-7, 11 Frey Racing Eagle Offenhauser 42 Bob Frey 1 71 Bob Frey 2, 5 Watson Offenhauser 42 Bill Vukovich II 5-6, 8, 10 Armstrong Cosworth 43 Greg Leffler 11 Lola 45 Harry MacDonald 5 Rager Racing Wildcat Chevrolet 44 Roger Rager 11 66 Roger Rager 5-9 10 All American Racers Eagle Chevrolet 48 Mike Mosley 2-3, 5, 7-8, 11 Geoff Brabham 6, 10 Rocky Moran 9 Eagle Cosworth 49 Chip Mead 5, 11 Garza Racing Penske Cosworth 54 Geoff Brabham 1 Josele Garza 2 55 Josele Garza All except 2 Penske Chevrolet 56 Tom Bigelow 3, 5, 7-8, 11 McLaren Offenhauser 57 Cliff Hucul 2, 5, 8 Riley Chevrolet 63 6, 11 Eagle Chevrolet 64 Steve Chassey All except 4 and 10 McLaren (2, 9)IAM (10)
Chevrolet (2, 9)Donovan (10)
67 Phil Threshie 2 Teddy Pilette 9-10 Penske Cosworth 72 Mike Chandler 5 74 Mike Chandler 6, 10-11 Davis Racing Wildcat Offenhauser (3-4, 7-9, 11)Chevrolet (6)
77 Ross Davis 3-4, 6-9, 11 Eagle Chevrolet (1, 6, 10)Offenhauser (11)
89 Phil Krueger 1, 6, 10-11 Intercomp Penske Offenhauser (2, 6-7)Chevrolet (11)
92 John Mahler 2, 6-7, 11 Penske Offenhauser 93 Michel Jourdain Sr. 10 March Cosworth 94 Bill Whittington 5 Cannon Racing Wildcat Offenhauser 95 Larry Cannon 1 Herm Johnson 4 96 Tom Frantz 1 Dick Ferguson 5 99 Larry Cannon 2-5 Dick Ferguson 6-7, 10-11 Vetrock Racing Eagle Chevrolet X Dean Vetrock 2 Longhorn Cosworth 49 Steve Krisiloff 8
Notable team and driver changes Tom Sneva left Jerry O'Connell Racing for new team Bignotti -Cotter Racing. The team scaled back to part-time for 1981.Team Penske expanded to a three-car operation, with Bill Alsup joining. His owner-driver team Alsup Racing only ran part-time in 1981.After racing a limited schedule beforehand, Tony Bettenhausen Jr. ran his first full-time season with his new owner-driver team Bettenhausen Racing . Dick Simon replaced Sheldon Kinser at Leader Card Racing, leaving Kinser without a ride. Simon's old team, Vollstedt Enterprises, did not compete.Mario Andretti returned to running the majority of the races after a stint in Formula One, driving for Patrick Racing . He replaced Tom Bagley , who was left without a ride.Rookie driver Scott Brayton ran a full schedule with family-owned team Brayton Racing. After running part-time in 1980, Machinists Union Racing ran a full schedule with driver Larry Dickson . Spike Gehlhausen was replaced at Bob Fletcher Racing by rookie driver Bob Lazier .Josele Garza ran his first season with family-owned team Garza Racing.Steve Chassey ran his first full-time season for the Jet Engineering team.AMI Racing only ran two races in 1981 after running full-time in 1980. Gary Bettenhausen was left without a full-time ride. Interscope Racing also stopped running full-time, along with driver Danny Ongais .At Cannon Racing, Larry Cannon only ran the first few races, with most of the rest driven by Dick Ferguson . This was Bobby Unser 's final season of IndyCar racing. See the 1981 Indianapolis 500 for more information.
Notable equipment changes
Schedule Of note was the addition of the inaugural Michigan 500 to replace the California 500 at the now-closed Ontario Motor Speedway . The Tony Bettenhausen 200 at Milwaukee was originally scheduled for August 2, but was rained out and postponed until September 5.
Icon Legend O Oval/Speedway R Road course NC Non-championship race
Rd Date Name Circuit Location 1 March 22 Kraco Car Stereo 150 O Phoenix International Raceway Avondale, Arizona NC May 24 Indianapolis 500 O Indianapolis Motor Speedway Indianapolis, Indiana 2 June 8 Gould Rex Mays Classic O Milwaukee Mile West Allis, Wisconsin 3 June 28 Kraco Twin 125 O Atlanta Motor Speedway Hampton, Georgia 4 5 July 25 Norton Michigan 500 O Michigan International Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan 6 August 30 Los Angeles Times 500 R Riverside International Raceway Riverside, California 7 September 5 Tony Bettenhausen 200 O Milwaukee Mile West Allis, Wisconsin 8 September 20* Detroit News Grand Prix O Michigan International Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan 9 October 4 Watkins Glen 200 R Watkins Glen International Watkins Glen, New York 10 October 18 I Copa México 150 R Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez Mexico City, Mexico 11 November 8 Miller High Life 150 O Phoenix International Raceway Avondale, Arizona
* The Detroit News Grand Prix was supposed to run for 150 miles, but was shortened due to a scoring error.
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 Color Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green 4th & 5th place Light Blue 6th-10th place Dark Blue Finished Purple Did not finish Red Did not qualify Brown Withdrawn Black Disqualified White Did not start Blank Did not 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 Åberg, Andreas. "PPG Indy Car World Series 1981". Driver Database. Retrieved May 19, 2009 . "1981 PPG Indy Car World Series". Champ Car Stats. Retrieved May 19, 2009 . "Standings after Phoenix". Champ Car World Series. Archived from the original on October 22, 2008. Retrieved May 19, 2009 .
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Rick Mears
Cosworth
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Geoff Brabham