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.
Dick Simon replaces Sheldon Kinser at Leader Card Racing, leaving Kinser without a ride. Simon's old team, Vollstedt Enterprises, does not compete.
Mario Andretti returns to running the majority of the races after a stint in Formula One, driving for Patrick Racing. He replaces Tom Bagley, who is left without a ride.
Rookie driver Scott Brayton runs a full schedule with family owned team Brayton Racing.
Tempero Racing switches from an Eagle to McLaren chassis.
Menard Racing switches from an Offenhauser to Chevrolet engine. With this shift the Cannon Racing team is the only full-time team that still uses Offenhauser engines.
Scheduleedit
Of note is 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.
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
Åberg, Andreas. "PPG Indy Car World Series 1981". Driver Database. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
"1981 PPG Indy Car World Series". Champ Car Stats. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
. Champ Car World Series. Archived from the original on 22 October 2008. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
January 01, 1970
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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 1981 CART seasonPPG Indy Car World SeriesSeasonRaces11Start dateMarch 22End dateNovember 8AwardsDrivers championRick MearsConstructors CupPenskeManufacturers CupCosworthNations CupUnited StatesRookie of the YearBob Lazier 19801982 Contents 1 Drivers and constructors 1 1 Notable team and driver changes 1 2 Notable Equipment Changes 2 Schedule 3 Season Summary 3 1 Race Results 3 2 Final driver standings 4 See also 5 ReferencesDrivers and constructors editThe following teams and drivers competed for the 1981 CART World Series Team Car Owner Chassis Engine Drivers Rounds nbsp Chaparral Cars Chaparral Cosworth 1 nbsp Johnny Rutherford All nbsp Jerry O Connell Racing Phoenix Cosworth 2 nbsp Tom Sneva 1 32 nbsp Kevin Cogan 2 3 5 7 nbsp Bignotti Cotter Racing March 5 11 Phoenix 2 Cosworth 2 nbsp Tom Sneva All except 1 and 3 4 Phoenix 21 nbsp Salt Walther 5 nbsp Team Penske Penske Cosworth 3 nbsp Bobby Unser All 6 nbsp Rick Mears All except 2 7 nbsp Bill Alsup All except 1 and 8 9 nbsp Alex Morales Motorsports Penske all except 2 9 Lightning 2 9 Cosworth 5 nbsp Pancho Carter All Lightning 75 nbsp Steve Chassey 4 nbsp Longhorn Racing Longhorn All except 8 Eagle 8 Cosworth 8 nbsp Al Unser All nbsp Rhoades Competition Wildcat Cosworth 12 nbsp Dennis Firestone 3 nbsp Gary Bettenhausen 5 7 nbsp Gordon Smiley 6 10 11 nbsp Gilmore Racing Coyote Cosworth 14 nbsp A J Foyt 5 nbsp Tempero Racing McLaren Chevrolet 15 nbsp Bill Tempero All except 2 nbsp Bettenhausen Racing McLaren 1 6 Longhorn 7 Phoenix 8 11 Cosworth 16 nbsp Tony Bettenhausen Jr All except 1 nbsp Leader Card Racing Watson Cosworth All except 7 8 Offenhauser 7 8 22 nbsp Dick Simon All except 3 4 nbsp Spike Gehlhausen 3 4 nbsp Patrick Racing Wildcat Cosworth 20 nbsp Gordon Johncock All 40 nbsp Mario Andretti 1 4 8 9 11 nbsp Steve Krisiloff 5 7 nbsp Brayton Racing Penske Cosworth 21 nbsp Mike Mosley 11 nbsp Chip Ganassi 12 37 nbsp Scott Brayton All nbsp McElreath Racing Eagle Offenhauser 1 9 11 Chevrolet 8 23 nbsp Jim McElreath 1 8 11 nbsp Luxury Racers Kingfish Chevrolet 24 nbsp Wally Pankratz 6 65 nbsp Wally Pankratz 11 nbsp Buick Racing Eagle Chevrolet 26 nbsp Jim Buick 1 86 nbsp Jim Buick 2 5 nbsp Menard Racing Lightning 1 8 Eagle 9 11 Chevrolet 28 nbsp Herm Johnson All except 1 2 4 and 8 nbsp Beaudoin Racing McLaren Cosworth 29 nbsp Billy Engelhart 2 5 7 nbsp Machinists Union Racing Penske Cosworth 31 nbsp Larry Dickson All except 1 nbsp Theodore Racing McLaren 5 10 11 March 6 Cosworth 33 nbsp Vern Schuppan 5 6 10 11 nbsp Wysard Racing Eagle Cosworth 34 nbsp Hurley Haywood 6 9 10 nbsp Johnny Parsons 11 nbsp Bob Fletcher Racing Penske 1 6 March 7 11 Cosworth 35 nbsp Bob Lazier All nbsp Karl Racing McLaren 1 Karl 2 7 9 10 Chevrolet 38 nbsp Jerry Karl All except 8 and 11 nbsp Alsup Racing Penske Cosworth 41 nbsp Bill Alsup 1 8 9 McLaren Chevrolet 47 nbsp Phil Caliva 3 7 11 nbsp Frey Racing Eagle Offenhauser 42 nbsp Bob Frey 1 71 nbsp Bob Frey 2 5 nbsp Rattlesnake Racing Watson Offenhauser 42 nbsp Bill Vukovich II 5 6 8 10 nbsp AMI Racing Armstrong Cosworth 43 nbsp Greg Leffler 11 Lola 45 nbsp Harry MacDonald 5 nbsp Rager Racing Wildcat Chevrolet 44 nbsp Roger Rager 11 66 nbsp Roger Rager 5 9 nbsp Orio Trice 10 nbsp All American Racers Eagle Chevrolet 48 nbsp Mike Mosley 2 3 5 7 8 11 nbsp Geoff Brabham 6 10 nbsp Rocky Moran 9 nbsp Space Racing Eagle Cosworth 49 nbsp Chip Mead 5 11 nbsp Garza Racing Penske Cosworth 54 nbsp Geoff Brabham 1 nbsp Josele Garza 2 55 nbsp Josele Garza All except 2 nbsp Gohr Racing Penske Chevrolet 56 nbsp Tom Bigelow 3 5 7 8 11 nbsp Metro Racing McLaren Offenhauser 57 nbsp Cliff Hucul 2 5 8 nbsp Hamilton Racing Riley Chevrolet 63 nbsp Ken Hamilton 6 11 nbsp Jet Engineering Eagle Chevrolet 64 nbsp Steve Chassey All except 4 and 10 nbsp Mergard Racing McLaren 2 9 IAM 10 Chevrolet 2 9 Donovan 10 67 nbsp Phil Threshie 2 nbsp Teddy Pilette 9 10 nbsp Hodgdon Racing Penske Cosworth 72 nbsp Mike Chandler 5 74 nbsp Mike Chandler 6 10 11 nbsp Davis Racing Wildcat Offenhauser 3 4 7 9 11 Chevrolet 6 77 nbsp Ross Davis 3 4 6 9 11 nbsp Joe Hunt Magneto Eagle Chevrolet 1 6 10 Offenhauser 11 89 nbsp Phil Krueger 1 6 10 11 nbsp Intercomp Penske Offenhauser 2 6 7 Chevrolet 11 92 nbsp John Mahler 2 6 7 11 nbsp Grupo Acypsa Penske Offenhauser 93 nbsp Michel Jourdain Sr 10 nbsp Whittington Bros Racing March Cosworth 94 nbsp Bill Whittington 5 nbsp Cannon Racing Wildcat Offenhauser 95 nbsp Larry Cannon 1 nbsp Herm Johnson 4 96 nbsp Tom Frantz 1 nbsp Dick Ferguson 5 99 nbsp Larry Cannon 2 5 nbsp Dick Ferguson 6 7 10 11 nbsp Vetrock Racing Eagle Chevrolet X nbsp Dean Vetrock 2 nbsp Ohio Racing Associates Longhorn Cosworth 49 nbsp Steve Krisiloff 8 Notable team and driver changes edit Tom Sneva leaves Jerry O Connell Racing for new team Bignotti Cotter Racing The team scales back to part time for 1981 Team Penske expands to a three car operation with Bill Alsup joining His owner driver team Alsup Racing only runs part time in 1981 After racing limited schedule beforehand Tony Bettenhausen Jr runs his first full time season with new owner driver team Bettenhausen Racing Dick Simon replaces Sheldon Kinser at Leader Card Racing leaving Kinser without a ride Simon s old team Vollstedt Enterprises does not compete Mario Andretti returns to running the majority of the races after a stint in Formula One driving for Patrick Racing He replaces Tom Bagley who is left without a ride Rookie driver Scott Brayton runs a full schedule with family owned team Brayton Racing After running part time in 1980 Machinists Union Racing runs a full schedule with driver Larry Dickson Spike Gehlhausen is replaced at Bob Fletcher Racing by rookie driver Bob Lazier Josele Garza runs his first season with family owned team Garza Racing Steve Chassey runs his first full time season for the Jet Engineering team AMI Racing only runs two races in 1981 after running full time in 1980 Gary Bettenhausen is left without a full time ride Interscope Racing also stops running full time along with driver Danny Ongais At Cannon Racing Larry Cannon only runs the first few races with most of the rest driven by Dick Ferguson This is Bobby Unser s final season of IndyCar racing See the 1981 Indianapolis 500 for more information Notable Equipment Changes edit Tempero Racing switches from an Eagle to McLaren chassis Menard Racing switches from an Offenhauser to Chevrolet engine With this shift the Cannon Racing team is the only full time team that still uses Offenhauser engines Schedule editOf note is 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 Rd Date Name Circuit Location TV Broadcaster 1 March 22 nbsp Kraco Car Stereo 150 O Phoenix International Raceway Avondale Arizona NBC NC May 24 nbsp Indianapolis 500 O Indianapolis Motor Speedway Indianapolis Indiana ABC 2 June 8 nbsp Gould Rex Mays Classic O Milwaukee Mile West Allis Wisconsin ESPN 3 June 28 nbsp Kraco Twin 125 O Atlanta Motor Speedway Hampton Georgia NBC ESPN 4 5 July 25 nbsp Norton Michigan 500 O Michigan International Speedway Brooklyn Michigan NBC 6 August 30 nbsp Los Angeles Times 500 R Riverside International Raceway Riverside California ESPN 7 September 5 nbsp Tony Bettenhausen 200 O Milwaukee Mile West Allis Wisconsin NBC 8 September 20 nbsp Detroit News Grand Prix O Michigan International Speedway Brooklyn Michigan Untelevised 9 October 4 nbsp Watkins Glen 200 R Watkins Glen International Watkins Glen New York Untelevised 10 October 18 nbsp I Copa Mexico 150 R Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez Mexico City Mexico Untelevised 11 November 8 nbsp Miller High Life 150 O Phoenix International Raceway Avondale Arizona NBC The Detroit News Grand Prix was supposed to run for 150 miles but was shortened due to a scoring error O Oval Speedway R Dedicated road courseSeason Summary editRace Results edit Rd Race Pole Position Winning driver Winning team Race time 1 nbsp Kraco Car Stereo 150 nbsp Bobby Unser nbsp Johnny Rutherford Chaparral 1 17 08 NC nbsp Indianapolis 500 nbsp Bobby Unser nbsp Bobby Unser Team Penske 3 35 42 2 nbsp Gould Rex Mays Classic nbsp Gordon Johncock nbsp Mike Mosley All American Racers 1 19 03 3 nbsp Kraco Twin 125 nbsp Johnny Rutherford nbsp Rick Mears Team Penske 0 51 29 4 nbsp Rick Mears nbsp Rick Mears Team Penske 0 45 20 5 nbsp Norton Michigan 500 nbsp Tom Sneva nbsp Pancho Carter Alex Foods 3 45 45 6 nbsp Los Angeles Times 500 nbsp Geoff Brabham nbsp Rick Mears Team Penske 2 43 40 7 nbsp Tony Bettenhausen 200 nbsp Johnny Rutherford nbsp Tom Sneva Bignotti Cotter 1 41 41 8 nbsp Detroit News Grand Prix nbsp Rick Mears nbsp Rick Mears Team Penske 1 10 30 9 nbsp Watkins Glen 200 nbsp Mario Andretti nbsp Rick Mears Team Penske 1 52 17 10 nbsp I Copa Mexico 150 nbsp Bobby Unser nbsp Rick Mears Team Penske 1 24 48 11 nbsp Miller High Life 150 nbsp Bobby Unser nbsp Tom Sneva Bignotti Cotter 1 20 10 Non championship event 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 edit Further information List of American Championship car racing point scoring systems Pos Driver PHX1 nbsp MIL1 nbsp ATL1 nbsp ATL2 nbsp MIC1 nbsp RIR nbsp MIL2 nbsp MIC2 nbsp WTG nbsp MXC nbsp PHX2 nbsp Pts 1 nbsp Rick Mears 4 1 1 3 1 2 1 1 1 8 304 2 nbsp Bill Alsup 5 8 8 4 3 11 4 3 5 17 175 3 nbsp Pancho Carter 7 20 5 5 1 10 10 18 15 6 5 166 4 nbsp Gordon Johncock 6 16 4 4 36 2 6 5 10 3 3 142 5 nbsp Johnny Rutherford 1 6 2 3 22 21 4 20 2 26 21 120 6 nbsp Tony Bettenhausen Jr 12 7 11 2 DNS 14 10 8 11 19 107 7 nbsp Bobby Unser 2 21 13 6 16 9 3 7 17 15 2 99 8 nbsp Tom Sneva 3 4 23 24 1 19 21 20 1 96 9 nbsp Bob Lazier RY 12 13 17 9 10 5 16 13 4 4 13 92 10 nbsp Al Unser 17 5 6 7 11 14 5 3 14 2 22 90 11 nbsp Mario Andretti 11 3 3 2 2 16 4 81 12 nbsp Tom Bigelow 9 5 24 9 11 60 13 nbsp Scott Brayton R 15 11 9 10 7 8 21 24 20 23 DNQ 57 14 nbsp Larry Dickson 10 10 12 9 16 12 8 7 22 DNQ 49 15 nbsp Gary Bettenhausen 6 19 42 16 nbsp Dick Simon 10 7 31 6 22 25 11 25 20 38 17 nbsp Herm Johnson 22 22 17 33 7 13 9 8 9 38 18 nbsp Mike Chandler 27 4 16 DNQ 37 19 nbsp Mike Mosley 1 DNS 18 DNS 26 7 24 32 20 nbsp Steve Chassey DNQ 24 23 22 20 15 15 12 5 DNQ 31 21 nbsp Josele Garza 21 14 12 18 19 12 8 23 24 18 6 30 22 nbsp Phil Caliva 19 15 8 DNS DNS DNQ 27 23 nbsp Kevin Cogan 2 16 28 11 23 23 24 nbsp Dick Ferguson 30 18 6 10 7 20 25 nbsp Steve Krisiloff 17 7 17 18 26 nbsp Rocky Moran R 6 16 27 nbsp Geoff Brabham R 9 19 9 14 28 nbsp Jerry Karl 8 23 21 21 14 22 25 19 19 13 29 nbsp Billy Engelhart 8 35 9 11 30 nbsp Larry Cannon 20 15 11 20 12 10 30 nbsp Roger Rager 13 13 18 21 DNQ DNQ 10 32 nbsp Bill Tempero 18 15 14 34 28 17 15 23 12 DNQ 7 33 nbsp Phil Krueger R 14 20 14 16 6 33 nbsp Bill Vukovich II 15 DNQ 14 27 6 35 nbsp Gordon Smiley 25 18 10 5 36 nbsp Jim McElreath 19 11 DNQ 13 DNQ 4 36 nbsp Ross Davis DNQ 19 DNQ DNS 16 13 DNQ 4 36 nbsp Vern Schuppan 24 17 21 15 4 36 nbsp Jim Buick R 16 19 20 16 DNS 4 40 nbsp Hurley Haywood 26 12 17 3 41 nbsp Spike Gehlhausen 14 13 2 41 nbsp Bob Frey 13 17 DNQ 2 41 nbsp John Mahler 25 27 20 DNQ 2 44 nbsp Jerry Sneva DNS 12 1 44 nbsp Chip Mead 29 14 1 44 nbsp Phil Threshie 18 1 44 nbsp Dennis Firestone 18 1 44 nbsp Johnny Parsons 18 1 nbsp Harry MacDonald 21 0 nbsp Cliff Hucul 26 25 22 0 nbsp Tom Frantz 22 0 nbsp Teddy Pilette 22 0 nbsp Ken Hamilton 23 0 nbsp Greg Leffler 23 0 nbsp Michel Jourdain Sr 24 0 nbsp A J Foyt 26 0 nbsp Salt Walther 32 0 nbsp Bill Whittington 37 0 nbsp Chip Ganassi DNQ 0 nbsp Wally Pankratz DNQ DNQ 0 nbsp Orio Trice DNQ 0 nbsp Dean Vetrock DNQ 0 Pos Driver PHX1 nbsp MIL1 nbsp ATL1 nbsp ATL2 nbsp MIC1 nbsp RIR nbsp MIL2 nbsp MIC2 nbsp WTG nbsp MXC nbsp PHX2 nbsp Pts Color Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green 4th amp 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 notparticipate DNP Not competing In line notation Bold Pole position Italics Ran fastest race lap Led most race laps RY Rookie of the Year R RookieSee also edit1981 Indianapolis 500 1981 82 USAC Championship Car seasonReferences editAberg Andreas PPG Indy Car World Series 1981 Driver Database Retrieved 2009 05 19 1981 PPG Indy Car World Series Champ Car Stats Retrieved 2009 05 19 Standings after Phoenix Champ Car World Series Archived from the original on 22 October 2008 Retrieved 2009 05 19 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title 1981 CART PPG Indy Car World Series amp oldid 1214363169, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
