1988 CART PPG Indy Car World Series

American motorsport season February 2025 1988 CART PPG Indy Car World Series CART logo (1979-1991).svg 16 April 10 November 6 United States Danny Sullivan United Kingdom Lola United States Chevrolet Canada John Jones United States United States United States 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 to 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. TeamChassisEngineNoDriversRoundsFull-time United States Newman/Haas Racing Lola T8800 Chevrolet 6 US Mario AndrettiAll United States Patrick Racing March 88C Chevrolet 20 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi 1–5 Lola T8700Lola T8800 6–15 United States Galles Racing March 88C Chevrolet (2–8, 10–15) Cosworth (1,9) 3 US Al Unser Jr.All United States Team Penske Penske PC-17 Chevrolet 5 US Rick MearsAll 9 US Danny SullivanAll 1 US Al Unser 3 60 9–10 United States Porsche North America Porsche 2708 Porsche 8 Italy Teo FabiAll United States Truesports Lola T8800 Judd (1–7, 9–15) Cosworth (8) 1/4 US Bobby RahalAll United States Kraco Racing March 88C Cosworth 18 US Michael Andretti 1–9 Lola 10–15 United States Doug Shierson Racing March Cosworth 30 Brazil Raul Boesel 1–2, 4–5 Lola 3, 6–15 United States Raynor Racing Lola Cosworth 10 Ireland Derek DalyAll United States Arciero Racing March Cosworth 12 CAN John Jones All United States Vince Granatelli Racing Lola/March Cosworth 2/4 Colombia Roberto Guerrero All except 7–8 2/4 US Al Unser 7–8 58/71/85 US Gordon Johncock 3, 9–10 United States Machinists Union Racing March Cosworth 11 US Kevin Cogan All except 8–11 US Scott Pruett 8, 11 55 US Scott Atchison All except 3, 13 29/11 US Rich Vogler 3, 9–10 Buick 28 US Pancho Carter 3 United States Dick Simon Racing Lola Cosworth 7 Netherlands Arie LuyendykAll 22 US Dick Simon 1, 3–4, 9–10, 13 US 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 14 US A. J. Foyt All except 9 US Johnny Rutherford 9 March 48 US Rocky Moran 3 Chevrolet 84 US Stan Fox 3 United States Bettenhausen Motorsports Lola/March Cosworth/Judd 16 US Tony Bettenhausen Jr. All except 5 and 15 US Dennis Vitolo 15 United States Alex Morales Motorsports March Cosworth 21 US Howdy HolmesAll United States Hemelgarn Racing Lola Judd/Cosworth/Buick 91 US Scott Brayton All except 11-12 and 14 71 Canada Ludwig Heimrath Jr. 2–3, 5–8, 11–12, 15 US Ken Johnson 14 81/71 US Tom Sneva 3, 9 United States Gohr Racing March Cosworth 56 US Rocky Moran 2, 5–8, 11–12, 14–15 US Bill Vukovich III 1, 3, 9–10 United States Curb Racing Lola Cosworth 98 US John Andretti All except 11-12 and 14–15 United States Leader Card Racing Lola Cosworth 24 US Randy Lewis All except 13 16 USA Dominic Dobson 5Part-time USA Dobson Motorsports Lola Cosworth 17/92 USA Dominic Dobson 3, 14 United States Dale Coyne Racing March Chevrolet 19 US Dale Coyne 3–11, 13–15 USA Dominic Dobson 2 United States Los Angeles Drywall March Cosworth 27 United States Dick Ferguson 2 United States Ed Pimm 3United States Bernstein RacingLolaBuick15UK Jim Crawford317US Johnny Rutherford3 United States KargoStopper Lola Cosworth 88 US Darin Brassfield 11, 14 United States BDR Racing March Cosworth 43 United States Steve Bren 14United States Gary Trout MotorsportsMarchCosworth 33US Steve Chassey3 33US Ed Pimm11-12 United States Andale Racing March Cosworth 69 Mexico Bernard Jourdain 14–15 US U.S. Engineering March Cosworth 77 US Phil Krueger 6, 9–10 United States Kent Baker Racing March Cosworth 97 US Phil Krueger 3 US Scheid Tire Centers March Cosworth 46 US Gary Bettenhausen 3 United States Calumet Farms March Chevrolet 84 US George Snider 3 Brazil GF Racing March Cosworth 25 Brazil Giupponi Franca 11, 14 Brazil José Romano 12, 15 United States Indiana Carbon March Cosworth 87 US Spike Gehlhausen 3 United States Mergard March Cosworth 36 US Harry Sauce 3 United States Performers, Inc. March Cosworth 77 US Tom Bigelow 3 Schedule Icon Legend white O silver Oval/Speedway lightblue R silver Road course peachpuff S silver Street circuitNC Non-championship race Rd Date Race Name Track City 1 April 10 Checker 200 white O silver Phoenix International Raceway Phoenix, Arizona 2 April 17 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach peachpuff S silver Long Beach Street Circuit Long Beach, California 3 May 29 Indianapolis 500* white O silver Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway, Indiana 4 June 5 Miller High Life 200 white O silver Milwaukee Mile West Allis, Wisconsin 5 June 19 Budweiser/G.I. Joe's 200 lightblue R silver Portland International Raceway Portland, Oregon 6 July 3 Budweiser Cleveland Grand Prix peachpuff S silver Burke Lakefront Airport Cleveland, Ohio 7 July 17 Molson Indy Toronto peachpuff S silver Exhibition Place Toronto, Ontario 8 July 24 Marlboro Grand Prix peachpuff S silver Meadowlands Street Circuit East Rutherford, New Jersey 9 August 7 Marlboro 500 white O silver Michigan International Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan 10 August 21 Quaker State 500 white O silver Pocono International Raceway Long Pond, Pennsylvania 11 September 4 Escort Radar Warning 200 lightblue R silver Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, Ohio 12 September 11 Briggs & Stratton 200 lightblue R silver Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin 13 September 25 Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix white O silver Pennsylvania International Raceway Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania 14 October 16 Nissan Monterey Grand Prix lightblue R silver Laguna Seca Raceway Monterey, California NC November 5 Marlboro Challenge peachpuff S silver Tamiami Park Miami, Florida 15 November 6 Nissan Indy Challenge peachpuff S silver Tamiami Park Miami, Florida * Indianapolis was USAC-sanctioned but counted towards the CART title. Results Rnd Race Name Pole position Winning driver Winning teamRace time Report 1 Checker 200 US Rick Mears US Mario Andretti Newman/Haas Racing1:38:22 Report 2 Long Beach Grand Prix US Danny Sullivan US Al Unser Jr. Galles Racing1:53:47 Report 3 Indianapolis 500 US Rick Mears US Rick Mears Team Penske3:27:10 Report 4 Miller High Life 200 US Michael Andretti US Rick Mears Team Penske1:37:42 Report 5 Budweiser/G. I. Joe's 200 US Danny Sullivan US Danny Sullivan Team Penske1:57:17 Report 6 Budweiser Grand Prix of Cleveland US Danny Sullivan US Mario Andretti Newman/Haas Racing1:35:46 Report 7 Molson Indy Toronto US Danny Sullivan US Al Unser Jr. Galles Racing1:59:34 Report 8 Meadowlands Grand Prix Brazil 1968 Emerson Fittipaldi US Al Unser Jr. Galles Racing1:50:14 Report 9 Marlboro 500 US Rick Mears US Danny Sullivan Team Penske2:46:03 Report 10 Quaker State 500 US Rick Mears US Bobby Rahal Truesports3:44:21 Report 11 Escort Radar Warning 200 US Danny Sullivan Brazil 1968 Emerson Fittipaldi Patrick Racing2:14:18 Report 12 Briggs & Stratton 200 US Danny Sullivan Brazil 1968 Emerson Fittipaldi Patrick Racing1:38:11 Report 13 Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix US Danny Sullivan US Danny Sullivan Team Penske1:20:47 Report 14 Champion Spark Plug 300 US Danny Sullivan US Danny Sullivan Team Penske1:58:35 ReportNC Marlboro Challenge US Danny Sullivan US Michael Andretti Kraco Racing0:48:52 Report 15 Nissan Indy Challenge US Danny Sullivan US Al Unser Jr. Galles Racing1:58:08 Report Final driver standings List of American Championship car racing point scoring systems Pos Driver PHX LBH INDY MIL POR CLE TOR MEA MIS POC MOH ROA NAZ LAG MAR TAM Pts 1US Danny Sullivan 23 13 23* 2 1 3* 2 4 1 18 5 4 1 1* 8 5 182 2US Al Unser Jr. 18 1* 13 20 4 4 1* 1 21 2 4 7 19 6 4 1* 149 3US Bobby Rahal 16 2 5 6 12 2 5 5 2 1 18 2 12 4 7 18 136 4US Rick Mears 22 8 1 1* 6 23 6 3 13* 23 3 12 7* 5 5 2 129 5US Mario Andretti 1* 15 20 17 5 1 25 2 12 17 2 3 3 36 15 126 6US Michael Andretti 3 7 4 7 11 14 3 6 3 25 26 5 2 2 1* 17 119 7Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi 21 16 2 3 3 19 4 14* 19 21 1* 1* 8 16 2 20 105 8 Brazil Raul Boesel 5 4 7 4 26 5 8 9 11 5 6 14 5 21 3 22 89 9 Ireland Derek Daly 13 5 29 11 19 6 23 24 16 4 9 6 10 7 10 23 53 10Italy Teo Fabi 7 24 28 9 7 24 10 18 25 24 8 8 4 10 21 44 11CAN John Jones yellow RY silver 20 12 DNQ 14 8 7 7 7 8 8 7 13 11 11 16 44 12Colombia Roberto Guerrero 2 19 32 Wth 14 20 20 3 11 22 6 14 26 40 13US Kevin Cogan 8 3 11 22 20 10 24 24 15 9 4 40 14Netherlands Arie Luyendyk 9 10 10 15 2* 18 20 20 28 26 25 19 9 22 14 31 15Belgium Didier Theys 10 9 18 21 10 23 8 3 29 16US A. J. Foyt 4 11 26 5 15 11 15 17 16 22 10 17 24 25 29 17US Tony Bettenhausen Jr. 6 Wth 33 19 15 17 8 4 15 16 16 13 26 25 18US Howdy Holmes 10 17 12 8 16 13 11 23 23 7 14 11 14 23 8 24 19US Al Unser 3 9 19 9 13* 9 23 20US Scott Atchison orange R silver 12 9 DNQ 16 25 12 13 10 10 12 15 20 Wth 25 9 17 21US Gordon Johncock DNQ 6 6 16 22US Phil Krueger 8 17 5 22 15 23US Scott Brayton 15 23 31 10 9 16 14 11 26 10 18 24 12 24US Dick Simon 19 9 12 7 19 20 11 25US Rocky Moran 6 16 13 22 12 15 13 17 28 13 9 26Mexico Bernard Jourdain orange R silver 20 6 8 27UK Jim Crawford 6 8 28CAN Ludwig Heimrath Jr. 14 25 23 26 19 12 19 21 7 7 29US Randy Lewis 17 21 15 21 22 21 21 13 14 20 21 9 15 10 7 30US Bill Vukovich III orange R silver 11 14 17 9 6 31US John Andretti 14 20 21 18 17 8 22 25 24 14 16 5 32US Rich Vogler 17 15 11 2 33US Dennis Vitolo orange R silver 11 2 34US Dale Coyne Wth Wth 13 24 25 16 22 27 DNQ 24 DNQ DNQ 27 12 1 35US Ed Pimm DNQ 12 15 1 36US Ken Johnson orange R silver 12 1 37Switzerland Jean-Pierre Frey orange R silver 13 19 0 38US Scott Pruett orange R silver 18 16 20 0 39Italy Fulvio Ballabio 25 17 18 0 40US Steve Bren 17 0 41USA Dominic Dobson 26 18 21 18 0 42Finland Tero Palmroth orange R silver 19 18 0 43US Johnny Rutherford 22 18 0 44US Darin Brassfield 23 19 0 45US Tom Sneva 27 22 0 46US Dick Ferguson 22 0 47US Steve Chassey 24 0 48US Stan Fox 30 0Brazil Giupponi Franca DNQ DNQ 0Brazil José Romano DNQ DNQ 0 US Gary Bettenhausen DNQ 0 US Tom Bigelow DNQ 0 US Pancho Carter DNQ 0 US Spike Gehlhausen DNQ 0 US Johnny Parsons DNQ 0 US Harry Sauce Wth 0 US George Snider Wth 0 Pos Driver PHX LBH INDY MIL POR CLE TOR MEA MIS POC MOH ROA NAZ LAG MAR TAM 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 notparticipate(DNP) Not competingIn-line notationBoldPole positionItalicsRan fastest race lap*Led most race lapsyellow RY silver Rookie of the Yearorange R silver Rookie Nations' Cup Top result per race counts towards Nations' Cup. Pos Country Pts 1 USA United States 317 2 Brazil Brazil 158 3 Italy Italy 52 4 Canada Canada 50 5 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 GBR Lola T8800/T8700 248 2 USA Penske PC-17 231 3 GBR March 88C/87C/86C/85C 222 Pos Chassis Pts Engine Manufacturers' Cup Pos Engine Pts 1 USA Chevrolet A 320 2 GBR Cosworth 206 3 GBR Judd 131 4 GER Porsche 44 5 USA Buick 8 Pos Engine Pts References http://www.racing-reference.info/raceyear/1988/R/ 1988 CART Results racing-reference.info 2015-12-21 http://www.race-database.com/cc/index.php/ 1988 CART PPG IndyCar World Series standings race-database.com 2011-01-15 http://www.driverdb.com/standings/5-1988/ PPG Indy Car World Series 1988 Åberg, Andreas Driver Database 2009-05-19 http://www.champcarstats.com/year/1988.htm 1988 PPG Indy Car World Series Champ Car Stats 2009-05-19 http://www.indy500.com/stats/view/boxscore/year/1988/ Official Box Score: 72nd Indianapolis 500-Mile Race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Indianapolis Motor Speedway 2009-05-19 2008-05-14 https://web.archive.org/web/20080514015204/http://www.indy500.com/stats/view/boxscore/year/1988 dead http://www.champcar.ws/Results/Standings.asp?Year=1988 Standings after Miami Champ Car World Series 2009-05-19 https://web.archive.org/web/20081022080256/http://www.champcar.ws/Results/Standings.asp?Year=1988 22 October 2008 See also 1988 Indianapolis 500 1988 American Racing Series season Category:Champ Car seasons Indycar