Sports season
The1996 PPG Indy Car World Series season was the eighteenth in theChampionship Auto Racing Teams (CART) era ofAmerican open-wheel car racing , consisted of 16 races, beginning inHomestead, Florida on March 3 and concluding inMonterey, California on September 8. This was the first season after the split with theIndy Racing League and the last year that CART operated under the name "IndyCar", with the trademark reverting toIndianapolis Motor Speedway at season's end. TheIndianapolis 500 was replaced by theU.S. 500 , held atMichigan International Speedway inBrooklyn, Michigan .
ThePPG Indy Car World Series Drivers' Champion wasJimmy Vasser , whose Honda/Reynard won four of the first six races, including theinaugural US 500 . Rookie of the Year wasAlex Zanardi . The competition soon starting catching up to Vasser, who had to fend off two late challenges from veterans:Al Unser Jr. 's consistent performance saw him come close to tying Vasser late in the season, but his hopes evaporated after a last-lap crash atMid-Ohio Sports Car Course and an engine failure while leading on the final turn atRoad America .Michael Andretti 's resulting victory there and in Vancouver put him in contention at the final race, but a disappointing result atLaguna Seca gave Vasser the championship. Rookie driverJeff Krosnoff and a course worker died in an accident at the Toronto round, and one week later,Emerson Fittipaldi was in a serious accident at the start of theMarlboro 500 and subsequently retired from Indy Car altogether.
The followingteams anddrivers competed in the 1996Indy Car World Series season.
Team Chassis Engine Tires No Drivers Rounds Primary Sponsor Brahma Sports Team Reynard 96IFord Cosworth XD G 1 Raul Boesel All Brahma Marlboro Team Penske Penske PC-25 Mercedes IC 108CG 2 Al Unser Jr. All Marlboro 3 Paul Tracy 1–12, 14–16 Jan Magnussen 13 Target/Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard 96IHonda HRHF 4 Alex Zanardi R All Target 12 Jimmy Vasser All Walker Racing Reynard 96IFord Cosworth XD G 5 Robby Gordon All Valvoline Reynard 96IFord Cosworth XB G 15 Scott Goodyear 1–2, 11, 15–16 Valvoline DuraBlend Mike Groff 5 Fredrik Ekblom 6 Newman/Haas Racing Lola T96/00Ford Cosworth XD G 6 Michael Andretti All Texaco -Havoline 11 Christian Fittipaldi All Budweiser Team Scandia Lola T96/00Ford Cosworth XB G 7 Marco Greco 1–2 Int. Sports/Perry Ellis Eliseo Salazar 7, 9, 12–13 Cerveza Cristal 22 Carlos Guerrero 1–3 Herdez Michel Jourdain Jr. R 4, 7–9, 15–16 Hall Racing Reynard 96IHonda HRHG 8 Gil de Ferran All Pennzoil Hogan Penske Racing Penske PC-25 Mercedes IC 108CG 9 Emerson Fittipaldi 1–12 Mobil 1 Jan Magnussen R 14–16 Galles Racing International Lola T96/00Mercedes IC 108CG 10 Eddie Lawson R 1–11 Delco Electronics Davy Jones 12–16 Bettenhausen Motorsports Reynard 96IMercedes IC 108CG 16 Stefan Johansson All Alumax Penske PC-23 Mercedes IC 108CG 26 Gary Bettenhausen 6 Alumax PacWest Racing Group Reynard 96IFord Cosworth XB G 17 Maurício Gugelmin All Hollywood Cigarettes 21 Mark Blundell R 1–2, 6–16 Visa Teo Fabi 4–5 Team Rahal Reynard 96IMercedes IC 108CG 18 Bobby Rahal All Miller 28 Bryan Herta All Shell Payton/Coyne Racing Lola T96/00Ford Cosworth XB F 19 Hiro Matsushita All Panasonic 34 Roberto Moreno All Data Control Patrick Racing Lola T96/00Ford Cosworth XD F 20 Scott Pruett All Firestone Arciero-Wells Racing Reynard 96IToyota RV8AF 25 Jeff Krosnoff R 1–11 Arciero-Wells Racing 6 MCI 8 Max Papis R 13–14, 16 Tasman Motorsports Group Lola T96/00Honda HRHF 31 André Ribeiro All LCI Communications 32 Adrián Fernández All Tecate All American Racers Eagle MK-VToyota RV8AG 36 Juan Manuel Fangio II R All Castrol 98 P. J. Jones R 6–16 Della Penna Motorsports Reynard 95IFord Cosworth XB G 44 Richie Hearn R 4, 11, 16 Ralphs Brix Comptech Racing Reynard 96IHonda HRHF 49 Parker Johnstone All Motorola Project Indy Reynard 95IFord Cosworth XB G 64 Dennis Vitolo 4 SmithKline Beecham Player's/Forsythe Racing Reynard 96IMercedes IC 108CF 99 Greg Moore R All Player's
Icon Legend O Oval/Speedway R Road course S Street circuit
Rnd Date Race Name Circuit Location 1 March 3 Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami O Homestead Motorsports Complex Homestead, Florida 2 March 17 IndyCar Rio 400 O Autódromo de Jacarepaguá Rio de Janeiro ,Brazil 3 March 31 Bartercard Indycar Australia S Surfers Paradise Street Circuit Surfers Paradise ,Australia 4 April 14 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach S Streets of Long Beach Long Beach, California 5 April 28 Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix O Nazareth Speedway Nazareth, Pennsylvania 6 May 26 U.S. 500 O Michigan International Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan 7 June 2 Miller 200 O Milwaukee Mile West Allis, Wisconsin 8 June 9 ITT Automotive Detroit Grand Prix S The Raceway on Belle Isle Park Detroit ,Michigan 9 June 23 Budweiser/G. I. Joe's 200 R Portland International Raceway Portland, Oregon 10 June 30 Medic Drug Grand Prix of Cleveland R Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport Cleveland, Ohio 11 July 14* Molson Indy Toronto S Exhibition Place Toronto, Ontario 12 July 28 Marlboro 500 O Michigan International Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan 13 August 11 Miller 200 R Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, Ohio 14 August 18 Texaco/Havoline 200 R Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin 15 September 1 Molson Indy Vancouver S Concord Pacific Place Vancouver, British Columbia 16 September 8 Toyota Grand Prix of Monterey R Laguna Seca Raceway Monterey, California
* Toronto was scheduled to run 170 miles, but was shortened due to the fatal accident ofJeff Krosnoff .
Final driver standings [ edit ] Color Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green 4th–6th place Light Blue 7th–12th 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
Notes:
1 P. J. Jones andTeo Fabi are registered in the official results for the U.S. 500 as 'withdrawn', but their withdrawal before the start of practice meant that they did not compete in any of the official sessions.2 Jeff Krosnoff died in an accident at theMolson Indy Toronto .Top result per race counts towards Nations' Cup.
Jimmy Vasser
Reynard
Honda
Alex Zanardi
Brazil
Canada
Mexico
Sweden
Argentina
Denmark
Chile
Mercedes