1988 CART PPG Indy Car World Series

1988 CART season
1988 CART season
PPG Indy Car World Series
Season
Races	16
Start date	April 10
End date	November 6
Awards
Drivers' champion	Danny Sullivan
Constructors' Cup	Lola
Manufacturers' Cup	Chevrolet
Nations' Cup	United States
Rookie of the Year	John Jones
Indianapolis 500 winner	Rick Mears
	← 1987 1989 →

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.

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. All cars used Goodyear tires.

Team	Chassis	Engine	No	Drivers	Rounds
Full-time
Newman/Haas Racing	Lola T8800	Chevrolet	6	Mario Andretti	All
Patrick Racing	March 88C	Chevrolet	20	Emerson Fittipaldi	1-5
Patrick Racing	Lola T8700 Lola T8800	Chevrolet	20	Emerson Fittipaldi	6-15
Galles Racing	March 88C	Chevrolet (2-8, 10-15) Cosworth (1,9)	3	Al Unser Jr.	All
Team Penske	Penske PC-17	Chevrolet	5	Rick Mears	All
			9	Danny Sullivan	All
			1	Al Unser	3
			60	Al Unser	9-10
Porsche North America	Porsche 2708	Porsche	8	Teo Fabi	All
Truesports	Lola T8800	Judd (1-7, 9-15) Cosworth (8)	1/4	Bobby Rahal	All
Kraco Racing	March 88C	Cosworth	18	Michael Andretti	1-9
Kraco Racing	Lola	Cosworth	18	Michael Andretti	10-15
Doug Shierson Racing	March	Cosworth	30	Raul Boesel	1-2, 4-5
Doug Shierson Racing	Lola	Cosworth	30	Raul Boesel	3, 6-15
Raynor Racing	Lola	Cosworth	10	Derek Daly	All
Arciero Racing	March	Cosworth	12	John Jones	All
Vince Granatelli Racing	Lola/March	Cosworth	2/4	Roberto Guerrero	All except 7-8
			2/4	Al Unser	7-8
			58/71/85	Gordon Johncock	3, 9-10
Machinists Union Racing	March	Cosworth	11	Kevin Cogan	All except 8-11
			11	Scott Pruett	8, 11
			55	Scott Atchison	All except 3, 13
			29/11	Rich Vogler	3, 9-10
		Buick	28	Pancho Carter	3
Dick Simon Racing	Lola	Cosworth	7	Arie Luyendyk	All
			22	Dick Simon	1, 3-4, 9-10, 13
				Scott Pruett	2
				Didier Theys	5-8, 11-12, 14-15
			23	Fulvio Ballabio	2, 11-12
				Tero Palmroth	3, 5
				Jean-Pierre Frey	14-15
A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Lola	Cosworth	14	A. J. Foyt	All except 9
	Lola		14	Johnny Rutherford	9
	March		48	Rocky Moran	3
	March	Chevrolet	84	Stan Fox	3
Bettenhausen Motorsports	Lola/March	Cosworth/Judd	16	Tony Bettenhausen Jr.	All except 5 and 15
Bettenhausen Motorsports	Lola/March	Cosworth/Judd	16	Dennis Vitolo	15
Alex Morales Motorsports	March	Cosworth	21	Howdy Holmes	All
Hemelgarn Racing	Lola	Judd/Cosworth/Buick	91	Scott Brayton	All except 11-12 and 14
			71	Ludwig Heimrath Jr.	2-3, 5-8, 11-12, 15
			71	Ken Johnson	14
			81/71	Tom Sneva	3, 9
Gohr Racing	March	Cosworth	56	Rocky Moran	2, 5-8, 11-12, 14-15
Gohr Racing	March	Cosworth	56	Bill Vukovich III	1, 3, 9-10
Curb Racing	Lola	Cosworth	98	John Andretti	All except 11-12 and 14-15
Leader Card Racing	Lola	Cosworth	24	Randy Lewis	All except 13
Leader Card Racing	Lola	Cosworth	16	Dominic Dobson	5
Part-time
Dobson Motorsports	Lola	Cosworth	17/92	Dominic Dobson	3, 14
Dale Coyne Racing	March	Chevrolet	19	Dale Coyne	3-11, 13-15
Dale Coyne Racing	March	Chevrolet	19	Dominic Dobson	2
Los Angeles Drywall	March	Cosworth	27	Dick Ferguson	2
Los Angeles Drywall	March	Cosworth	27	Ed Pimm	3
Bernstein Racing	Lola	Buick	15	Jim Crawford	3
Bernstein Racing	Lola	Buick	17	Johnny Rutherford	3
KargoStopper	Lola	Cosworth	88	Darin Brassfield	11, 14
BDR Racing	March	Cosworth	43	Steve Bren	14
Gary Trout Motorsports	March	Cosworth	33	Steve Chassey	3
Gary Trout Motorsports	March	Cosworth	35	Ed Pimm	11-12
Andale Racing	March	Cosworth	69	Bernard Jourdain	14-15
U.S. Engineering	March	Cosworth	77	Phil Krueger	6, 9-10
Kent Baker Racing	March	Cosworth	97	Phil Krueger	3
Scheid Tire Centers	March	Cosworth	46	Gary Bettenhausen	3
Calumet Farms	March	Chevrolet	84	George Snider	3
GF Racing	March	Cosworth	25	Giupponi Franca	11, 14
GF Racing	March	Cosworth	25	José Romano	12, 15
Indiana Carbon	March	Cosworth	87	Spike Gehlhausen	3
Mergard	March	Cosworth	36	Harry Sauce	3
Performers, Inc.	March	Cosworth	77	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	Rick Mears	Mario Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	1:38:22	Report
2	Long Beach Grand Prix	Danny Sullivan	Al Unser Jr.	Galles Racing	1:53:47	Report
3	Indianapolis 500	Rick Mears	Rick Mears	Team Penske	3:27:10	Report
4	Miller High Life 200	Michael Andretti	Rick Mears	Team Penske	1:37:42	Report
5	Budweiser/G. I. Joe's 200	Danny Sullivan	Danny Sullivan	Team Penske	1:57:17	Report
6	Budweiser Grand Prix of Cleveland	Danny Sullivan	Mario Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	1:35:46	Report
7	Molson Indy Toronto	Danny Sullivan	Al Unser Jr.	Galles Racing	1:59:34	Report
8	Meadowlands Grand Prix	Emerson Fittipaldi	Al Unser Jr.	Galles Racing	1:50:14	Report
9	Marlboro 500	Rick Mears	Danny Sullivan	Team Penske	2:46:03	Report
10	Quaker State 500	Rick Mears	Bobby Rahal	Truesports	3:44:21	Report
11	Escort Radar Warning 200	Danny Sullivan	Emerson Fittipaldi	Patrick Racing	2:14:18	Report
12	Briggs & Stratton 200	Danny Sullivan	Emerson Fittipaldi	Patrick Racing	1:38:11	Report
13	Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix	Danny Sullivan	Danny Sullivan	Team Penske	1:20:47	Report
14	Champion Spark Plug 300	Danny Sullivan	Danny Sullivan	Team Penske	1:58:35	Report
NC	Marlboro Challenge	Danny Sullivan	Michael Andretti	Kraco Racing	0:48:52	Report
15	Nissan Indy Challenge	Danny Sullivan	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	MAR	MIA	Pts
1	Danny Sullivan	23	13	23*	2	1	3*	2	4	1	18	5	4	1	1*	8	5	182
2	Al Unser Jr.	18	1*	13	20	4	4	1*	1	21	2	4	7	19	6	4	1*	149
3	Bobby Rahal	16	2	5	6	12	2	5	5	2	1	18	2	12	4	7	18	136
4	Rick Mears	22	8	1	1*	6	23	6	3	13*	23	3	12	7*	5	5	2	129
5	Mario Andretti	1*	15	20	17	5	1	25	2	12	17	2	3	3	3	6	15	126
6	Michael Andretti	3	7	4	7	11	14	3	6	3	25	26	5	2	2	1*	17	119
7	Emerson Fittipaldi	21	16	2	3	3	19	4	14*	19	21	1*	1*	8	16	2	20	105
8	Raul Boesel	5	4	7	4	26	5	8	9	11	5	6	14	5	21	3	22	89
9	Derek Daly	13	5	29	11	19	6	23	24	16	4	9	6	10	7	10	23	53
10	Teo Fabi	7	24	28	9	7	24	10	18	25	24	8	8	4	10		21	44
11	John Jones RY	20	12	DNQ	14	8	7	7	7	8	8	7	13	11	11		16	44
12	Roberto Guerrero	2	19	32	DNS	14	20			20	3	11	22	6	14		26	40
13	Kevin Cogan	8	3	11	22	20	10	24					24	15	9		4	40
14	Arie Luyendyk	9	10	10	15	2*	18	20	20	28	26	25	19	9	22		14	31
15	Didier Theys					10	9	18	21			10	23		8		3	29
16	A. J. Foyt	4	11	26	5	15	11	15	17		16	22	10	17	24		25	29
17	Tony Bettenhausen Jr.	6	DNQ	33	19		15	17	8	4	15	16	16	13	26			25
18	Howdy Holmes	10	17	12	8	16	13	11	23	23	7	14	11	14	23		8	24
19	Al Unser			3				9	19	9	13*					9		23
20	Scott Atchison R	12	9	DNQ	16	25	12	13	10	10	12	15	20	DNQ	25		9	17
21	Gordon Johncock			DNQ						6	6							16
22	Phil Krueger			8			17			5	22							15
23	Scott Brayton	15	23	31	10	9	16	14	11	26	10			18			24	12
24	Dick Simon	19		9	12					7	19			20				11
25	Rocky Moran		6	16		13	22	12	15			13	17		28		13	9
26	Bernard Jourdain R														20		6	8
27	Jim Crawford			6														8
28	Ludwig Heimrath Jr.		14	25		23	26	19	12			19	21				7	7
29	Randy Lewis	17	21	15	21	22	21	21	13	14	20	21	9		15		10	7
30	Bill Vukovich III R	11		14						17	9							6
31	John Andretti	14	20	21	18	17	8	22	25	24	14			16				5
32	Rich Vogler			17						15	11							2
33	Dennis Vitolo R																11	2
34	Dale Coyne	DNS		DNQ	13	24	25	16	22	27	DNQ	24	DNS	DNQ	27		12	1
35	Ed Pimm			DNQ								12	15					1
36	Ken Johnson R														12			1
37	Jean-Pierre Frey R														13		19	0
38	Scott Pruett R		18						16			20						0
39	Fulvio Ballabio		25									17	18					0
40	Steve Bren														17			0
41	Dominic Dobson		26	18		21									18			0
42	Tero Palmroth R			19		18												0
43	Johnny Rutherford			22						18								0
44	Darin Brassfield											23			19			0
45	Tom Sneva			27						22								0
46	Dick Ferguson		22	DNQ														0
47	Steve Chassey			24														0
48	Stan Fox			30														0
	Gary Bettenhausen			DNQ														0
	Tom Bigelow			DNQ														0
	Pancho Carter			DNQ														0
	Giupponi Franca											DNQ			DNQ			0
	Spike Gehlhausen			DNQ														0
	Johnny Parsons			DNQ														0
	José Romano												DNQ				DNQ	0
	Harry Sauce			DNQ														0
	George Snider			DNQ														0
Pos	Driver	PHX	LBH	INDY	MIL	POR	CLE	TOR	MEA	MIC	POC	MDO	ROA	NAZ	LAG	MAR	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)
Blank	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	317
2	Brazil	158
3	Italy	52
4	Canada	50
5	Ireland	45
6	Colombia	40
7	Netherlands	31
8	Belgium	29
9	Mexico	8
10	England	8
11	Switzerland	0
12	Finland	0
Pos	Country	Pts

Chassis Constructors' Cup

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

Engine Manufacturers' Cup

Pos	Engine	Pts
1	Chevrolet A	320
2	Cosworth	206
3	Judd	131
4	Porsche	44
5	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.