1981 IndyCar season
PPG Indy Car World Series
Season
Races	11
Start date	March 22
End date	October 31
Awards
Drivers' Championship	Rick Mears
Constructors' Cup	Penske
Manufacturers' Cup	Cosworth
Nations' Cup	United States
Rookie of the Year	Bob Lazier
Most Pole Positions	Bobby Unser
Chronology
Previous season	Next season
1980	1982

The 1981 IndyCar 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. 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.

Contents 1 Drivers and constructors 2 Grands Prix 3 Full Series Results 3.1 Race Results 3.2 Drivers 4 References 5 See also

[edit] Drivers and constructors

The following teams and drivers competed for the 1981 CART World Series.

Team	Chassis	Engine	Tires	No	Drivers
Chaparral Cars Inc.	Chaparral	Cosworth	Goodyear	1	Johnny Rutherford
Sugaripe Prune Bignotti-Cotter	Phoenix March	Cosworth	Goodyear	2	Tom Sneva
				21	Salt Walther
Team Penske	Penske	Cosworth	Goodyear	3	Bobby Unser
				6	Rick Mears
				7	Bill Alsup
Alex Foods	Penske Lightning	Cosworth	Goodyear	5	Pancho Carter
				75	Steve Chassey
Longhorn Racing	Longhorn	Cosworth	Goodyear	8	Al Unser
Rhoades Racing Intermedics	Wildcat	Cosworth	Goodyear	12	Dennis Firestone Gary Bettenhausen Gordon Smiley
Gilmore Racing	Coyote	Cosworth	Goodyear	14	A.J. Foyt
Zamboni Electric	McLaren	Chevrolet	Goodyear	15	Bill Tempero
Bettenhausen Racing Provimi Veal	McLaren	Cosworth	Goodyear	16	Tony Bettenhausen, Jr.
Leader Card	Watson Vollstedt	Cosworth Offy	Goodyear	17	Jerry Sneva
				22	Dick Simon Spike Gehlhausen
Patrick Racing	Wildcat	Cosworth	Goodyear	20	Gordon Johncock
				40	Mario Andretti Steve Krisiloff
Space Racing	Eagle	Cosworth	Goodyear	21/49	Chip Mead
Brayton Racing	Penske	Cosworth	Goodyear	21	Mike Mosley
				37	Scott Brayton
McElreath Racing	Eagle	Offy	Goodyear	23	Jim McElreath
Luxury Racers	King	Chevrolet	Goodyear	24	Wally Pankratz
Buick Racing	Eagle	Chevrolet	Goodyear	26/86	Jim Buick
Menard Racing	Lightning	Chevrolet	Goodyear	28	Herm Johnson
Beaudoin Racing	McLaren	Cosworth	Goodyear	29	Billy Engelhart
Machinists Union	Penske	Cosworth	Goodyear	31	Larry Dickson
O´Connell Racing	Phoenix	Cosworth	Goodyear	32	Kevin Cogan
Thomas W. Barrett III -Private Entry-	McLaren March	Cosworth	Goodyear	33	Vern Schuppan
Wysard Motor Co.	Eagle	Cosworth	Goodyear	34	Hurley Haywood Johnny Parsons
Fletcher Racing	Penske March	Cosworth	Goodyear	35	Bob Lazier
Tonco Trailer	McLaren Karl	Chevrolet	Goodyear	38	Jerry Karl
Alsup Racing	Penske	Cosworth	Goodyear	41	Bill Alsup
Crossroads Inn	Eagle	Offy	Goodyear	42/71	Bob Frey
Steve Vukovich Racing Rattlesnake Racing	Watson	Offy	Goodyear	42	Bill Vukovich II
Armstrong Mould	Lola Armstrong	Cosworth	Goodyear	43	Greg Leffler
				45	Harry MacDonald
CHC-Intersec	McLaren	Chevrolet	Goodyear	47	Phil Caliva
All American Racers	Eagle	Chevrolet	Goodyear	48	Mike Mosley Geoff Brabham Rocky Moran
Kraco Racing	Penske Wildcat	Cosworth Offy	Goodyear	54	Geoff Brabham
				95	Herm Johnson
				95/99	Larry Cannon
				96	Tom Frantz
				96/99	Dick Ferguson
				99	John Cannon
Garza Racing	Penske	Cosworth	Goodyear	54/55	Josele Garza
Genesee Beer Wagon	Penske	Chevrolet	Goodyear	56	Tom Bigelow
Global Heat Exchanger Metro Racing Systems Nyloncraft Founder´s	McLaren	Offy	Goodyear	57	Cliff Hucul
Spirit of Idaho	Riley	Chevrolet	Goodyear	63	Ken Hamilton
Jet Engineering	Eagle	Chevrolet	Goodyear	64	Steve Chassey
Seymour Enterprises McCray Plastering	Wildcat	Chevrolet	Goodyear	66	Roger Rager Orio Trice
Hamilton Racing Mergard Racing	McLaren	Chevrolet	Goodyear	67	Phil Threshie Teddy Pilette
Warner Hodgdon	Penske	Cosworth	Goodyear	72/74	Michael Chandler
Davis Racing	Wildcat	Offy	Goodyear	77	Ross Davis
Joe Hunt Magneto	Eagle	Chevrolet	Goodyear	89	Phil Krueger
Duke Racing	Penske	Offy Chevrolet	Goodyear	92	John Mahler
Grupo-Acypsa	Penske	Offy	Goodyear	93	Michel Jourdain
Whittington Brothers Racing	March	Cosworth	Goodyear	94	Bill Whittington
Vetrock Racing	Eagle	Chevrolet	Goodyear	-	Dean Vetrock
Ohio Racing Associates	Longhorn	Cosworth	Goodyear	-	Steve Krisiloff

[edit] Grands Prix

Rd	Race Name	Circuit	City/Location	Date
1	Kraco Car Stereo 200	Phoenix International Raceway	Phoenix, Arizona	March 22
2	Gould-Rex Mays 150	Milwaukee Mile	West Allis, Wisconsin	June 7
3	Kraco Twin 125 (R1)	Atlanta Motor Speedway	Hampton, Georgia	June 21
4	Kraco Twin 125 (R2)	Atlanta Motor Speedway	Hampton, Georgia	June 21
5	Norton Michigan 500	Michigan International Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan	July 25
6	Los Angeles Times 500	Riverside International Raceway	Riverside, California	August 30
7	Tony Bettenhausen 200	Milwaukee Mile	West Allis, Wisconsin	September 5
8	Detroit News Grand Prix	Michigan International Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan	September 20
9	Watkins Glen 150	Watkins Glen International	Watkins Glen, New York	October 4
10	II Copa Mexico 150	Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez	Mexico City, Mexico	October 18
11	Miller High Life 150	Phoenix International Raceway	Phoenix, Arizona	October 31

[edit] Full Series Results

[edit] Race Results

Rd	Name	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Winning driver	Winning team	Report
1	Kraco Car Stereo 200	Bobby Unser	Unknown	Johnny Rutherford	Chaparral	Report
2	Gould-Rex Mays 150	Gordon Johncock	Unknown	Mike Mosley	All American Racers	Report
3	Kraco Twin 125 (R1)	Johnny Rutherford	Unknown	Rick Mears	Penske Racing	Report
4	Kraco Twin 125 (R2)	Rick Mears	Unknown	Rick Mears	Penske Racing	Report
5	Norton Michigan 500	Tom Sneva	Unknown	Pancho Carter	Alex Foods	Report
6	Los Angeles Times 500	Geoff Brabham	Unknown	Rick Mears	Penske Racing	Report
7	Tony Bettenhausen 200	Johnny Rutherford	Unknown	Tom Sneva	Bignotti-Cotter	Report
8	Detroit News Grand Prix	Rick Mears	Unknown	Rick Mears	Penske Racing	Report
9	Watkins Glen 200	Mario Andretti	Unknown	Rick Mears	Penske Racing	Report
10	II Copa Mexico 150	Bobby Unser	Unknown	Rick Mears	Penske Racing	Report
11	Miller High Life 150	Bobby Unser	Unknown	Tom Sneva	Bignotti-Cotter	Report

[edit] Drivers

Pos Driver PHO R1 MIL R1 AMS R1 AMS R2 MIC R1 RIV INT MIL R2 MIC R2 WKG INT MEX CIT PHO R2 Pts 1 Ri. Mears 4 1 1 3 1 2 1 1 1 8 304 2 Alsup 5 8 8 4 3 11 4 3 5 18 177 3 Carter 7 20 5 5 1 10 10 18 15 6 5 168 4 Johncock 6 16 4 4 36 2 6 5 10 3 3 142 5 Rutherford 1 6 2 3 22 21 4 20 2 26 21 120 6 T. Bettenhausen Jr 107 7 B. Unser 99 8 T. Sneva 96 9 Lazier 92 10 A. Unser 90 11 Andretti 81 12 Bigelow 60 13 Brayton 57 14 Dickson 49 15 G. Bettenhausen 42 16 Simon 38 17 Johnson 38 18 Chandler 37 19 Mosley 32 20 Chassey 31 21 Garza 30 22 Caliva 27 23 Cogan 23 24 Ferguson 20 25 Krisiloff 18 26 Moran 16 27 Brabham 14 28 Engelhart 13 28 Karl 13 30 Cannon 10 30 Rager 10 32 Tempero 7 33 Krueger 6 33 Vukovich II 6 35 Smiley 5 36 Buick 4 36 Davis 4 36 McElreath 4 36 Schuppan 4 40 Haywood 3 41 Frey 2 41 Gehlhausen 2 41 Mahler 2 44 Firestone 1 44 Mead 1 44 Parsons 1 44 Je. Sneva 1 44 Threshie 1 Pos Driver PHO R1 MIL R1 AMS R1 AMS R2 MIC R1 RIV INT MIL R2 MIC R2 WKG INT MEX CIT PHO R2 Pts

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Finished, in points Blue Finished, no points Not classified (NC) Purple Did not finish (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not participate Excluded (EX)

[edit] References

• Åberg, Andreas. "PPG Indy Car World Series 1981". Driver Database. http://www.driverdb.com/standings/5-1981/. Retrieved 2009-05-19. 
• "1981 PPG Indy Car World Series". Champ Car Stats. http://www.champcarstats.com/year/1981.htm. Retrieved 2009-05-19. 
• "Standings after Phoenix". Champ Car World Series. http://www.champcar.ws/Results/Standings.asp?Year=1981. Retrieved 2009-05-19. 

[edit] See also

• 1981 Indianapolis 500
• 1981-82 USAC Championship Car season

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