1990 CART season
PPG Indy Car World Series
Al Unser Jr.
Season
Races	17
Start date	April 8
End date	October 21
Awards
Drivers' champion	Al Unser Jr.
Constructors' Cup	Lola
Manufacturers' Cup	Chevrolet
Nations' Cup	United States
Rookie of the Year	Eddie Cheever
Indianapolis 500 winner	Arie Luyendyk
← 1989 1991 →

The1990 CART PPG Indy Car World Series season was the 12th national championship season ofAmerican open wheel racing sanctioned byCART. The season consisted of 16 races, and one non-points exhibition event.Al Unser Jr. was the national champion, and the rookie of the year wasEddie Cheever. The1990 Indianapolis 500 was sanctioned byUSAC, but counted towards the CART points championship.Arie Luyendyk won the Indy 500, his first-ever victory inchampionship-level competition, and the fastest 500 until the 2013 Indianapolis 500.

Al Unser Jr. won a total of six races, one pole position, and had a total of ten podium finishes en route to the championship. He finished 4th at Indy, and won his first career oval race a week later at Milwaukee. He also tied a series record by winning four consecutive races during a stretch in July–August. Unser's victory at theMichigan 500 was his first superspeedway win.Michael Andretti was Unser's nearest competitor, winning five races and four poles. Andretti narrowed Unser's points lead to 37 points with two key victories late in the season. In the second-to-last race of the season at Nazareth, Unser crashed out, giving Andretti a huge opportunity to close the gap. Andretti managed only a 6th-place finish, and could not capitalize on Unser's misfortune. Unser left Nazareth with a 27-point lead, enough to clinch the championship regardless of the results at the season finale at Laguna Seca.

For 1990,Bobby Rahal's team owned by Maurice Kranes merged withRick Galles's and it became a two-car effort known asGalles-KRACO Racing.Al Unser Jr. and Rahal became teammates, and Rahal got use of the ChevyIlmor V-8 engine for the first time. Despite the upgrade in equipment, Rahal suffered a snake bitten season in 1990, finishing second five times, including runner-up finishes at both the Indy 500 and the Michigan 500. Despite finishing in the points in 14 races, it was the first season of his Indy car career he failed to win any races, and he managed only a 4th-place ranking in the final championship standings. Other team and driver shifts for 1990 included shake-ups atPenske andPatrick.Emerson Fittipaldi left Patrick Racing to join the Penske, and the original Patrick Racing Team transferred ownership toChip Ganassi to becomeChip Ganassi Racing. Pat Patrick returned with a new team, taking over theAlfa Romeo Indy car effort.

This was the final year in whichMarch Engineering chassis were run.

The followingteams anddrivers competed for the 1990Indy Car World Series. All cars usedGoodyear tires.

Team	Chassis	Engine	No	Drivers	Notes
Newman/Haas Racing	Lola	Chevrolet	3	Michael Andretti	All
			6	Mario Andretti	All
Doug Shierson Racing	Lola	Judd	11/28	Scott Goodyear	All
		Chevrolet	30	Arie Luyendyk	All
Patrick Racing	March/Lola	Alfa Romeo	20	Roberto Guerrero	All except 9
			40	Al Unser	3, 10
Porsche North America	March	Porsche	4	Teo Fabi	All
			41	John Andretti	All
Team Penske	Penske	Chevrolet	1	Emerson Fittipaldi	All
			2	Rick Mears	All
			7	Danny Sullivan	All
Galles-Kraco Racing	Lola	Chevrolet	5	Al Unser Jr.	All
			18	Bobby Rahal	All
Truesports	Lola	Judd	8/19	Raul Boesel	All
			21	Geoff Brabham	3
Chip Ganassi Racing	Penske/Lola	Chevrolet	15/25	Eddie Cheever	All
Leader Card Racing	Lola	Cosworth	29	Pancho Carter	1, 3-10
				Wally Dallenbach Jr.	11, 13, 16
U.S. Engineering	Lola	Cosworth	44	Jeff Wood	1, 3, 5, 7-11, 13-14, 16
Bettenhausen Motorsports	Lola	Cosworth/Buick	16	Tony Bettenhausen Jr.	All except 1, 12, and 16
				Guido Daccò	2
Euromotorsport	Lola	Cosworth	50	Guido Daccò	1
				Mike Groff	3, 5-16
Greenfield Engineering	Lola	Cosworth	42	Michael Greenfield	4, 7-9, 11, 13-15
Team Menard	Lola	Buick	51/15	Jim Crawford	1, 3
			51	Gary Bettenhausen	3
Arciero Racing	Penske	Buick/Cosworth	12	Randy Lewis	All
			24	Steve Bren	2
				Buddy Lazier	10
			8	Rich Vogler	3
Dick Simon Racing	Lola	Cosworth	10	Hiro Matsushita	2, 5-6, 8, 11-16
			22	Scott Brayton	All
			23/10	Tero Palmroth	3, 6, 8, 10
			23	Joe Sposato	16
Dale Coyne Racing	Lola	Cosworth	19/39	Dean Hall	All except 15
Gohr Racing	Lola	Cosworth	56	Rocky Moran	3
				Jon Beekhuis	10
				John Morton	6
				Fulvio Ballabio	16
A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Lola	Chevrolet	14	A. J. Foyt	All except 15-16
				Didier Theys	16
Vince Granatelli Racing	Lola/Penske	Buick	9/70	Didier Theys	1-3, 5-9, 11-13
			11	Kevin Cogan	3
			9	Tom Sneva	3
Bayside Motorsports	Lola	Cosworth	86	Dominic Dobson	1-3, 5-6, 8-9, 11-12, 14, 16
P. I. G. Racing	Lola	Judd	31	Jon Beekhuis	2, 5, 9, 11-14, 16
Raynor Racing	Lola	Judd	25	Willy T. Ribbs	2, 5, 8-9, 11-13, 16
Mann Motorsports	Lola	Buick	93	John Paul Jr.	3
Hemelgarn Racing	Lola	Buick	71/81	Bill Vukovich III	3, 10
			71/91	Buddy Lazier	3, 5-7, 9, 11-15
Kent Baker Racing	Lola	Buick	97	Stan Fox	3
Andale Racing	Lola	Buick	69	Bernard Jourdain	3
Burns Racing Team	Lola	Judd	66	Guido Daccò	3
TEAMKAR International	Lola	Cosworth	27/98	Jeff Andretti	3-4
			98	Kenji Momota	3
Conseco Racing	Lola	Cosworth	17	Kevin Cogan	10
				Johnny Rutherford	3
Walther Motorsports	Penske	Cosworth	77	Salt Walther	3, 10
Nu-Tech Motorsports	Lola	Cosworth	33	Guido Daccò	5, 9, 14-16
Spirit of Vancouver	Lola	Cosworth	27	Ross Bentley	12

Two new races were added to the schedule in the form of street courses at Denver and Vancouver. Pocono was dropped from the schedule with the series citing safety concerns.

* Indianapolis was USAC-sanctioned but counted towards the CART title.

** The Toronto race was supposed to run 183 miles, but was shortened by rain.

Rnd	Race Name	Pole position	Winning driver	Winning team	Race time
1	Autoworks 200	Rick Mears	Rick Mears	Team Penske	1:35:01
2	Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach	Al Unser Jr.	Al Unser Jr.	Galles-Kraco Racing	1:53:00
3	Indianapolis 500	Emerson Fittipaldi	Arie Luyendyk	Doug Shierson Racing	2:41:48
4	Miller Genuine Draft 200	Rick Mears	Al Unser Jr.	Galles-Kraco Racing	1:29:46
5	Valvoline Detroit Grand Prix	Michael Andretti	Michael Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	1:49:32
6	Budweiser/G.I.Joe's 200	Danny Sullivan	Michael Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	1:48:22
7	Budweiser Cleveland Grand Prix	Rick Mears	Danny Sullivan	Team Penske	1:47:24
8	Marlboro Grand Prix	Michael Andretti	Michael Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	1:52:34
9	Molson Indy Toronto	Danny Sullivan	Al Unser Jr.	Galles-Kraco Racing	2:13:26
10	Marlboro 500	Emerson Fittipaldi	Al Unser Jr.	Galles-Kraco Racing	2:38:07
11	Texaco/Havoline Grand Prix of Denver	Teo Fabi	Al Unser Jr.	Galles-Kraco Racing	2:08:00
12	Molson Indy Vancouver	Michael Andretti	Al Unser Jr.	Galles-Kraco Racing	2:08:13
13	Red Roof Inns 200	Michael Andretti	Michael Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	2:19:27
14	Texaco/Havoline 200	Danny Sullivan	Michael Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	1:53:00
NC	Marlboro Challenge	Michael Andretti	Rick Mears	Team Penske	0:39:06
15	Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix	Bobby Rahal	Emerson Fittipaldi	Team Penske	1:46:28
16	Champion Spark Plug 300K	Danny Sullivan	Danny Sullivan	Team Penske	1:47:45

Pos Driver PHX LBH INDY MIL DET POR CLE MEA TOR MIS DEN VAN MOH ROA MAR NAZ LAG Pts 1 Al Unser Jr. 3 1* 4 1 27 3 15* 11 1* 1 1* 1* 3 4 3 16 2 210 2 Michael Andretti 20 4 20 5* 1* 1* 25 1* 2 15 5 20 1* 1 6* 5 3 181 3 Rick Mears 1* 6 5 2 4 5 8 2 12 14 7 4 7 3 1 2 4 168 4 Bobby Rahal 2 12 2 4 2 11 2 25 22 2 3 8 6 7 7 3 5 153 5 Emerson Fittipaldi 5 2 3* 3 7 9 3 6 20 17* 18 6 12 2 2 1* 6 144 6 Danny Sullivan 6 3 32 8 14 4 1 14 4 21 2 2 5 16* 8 18 1* 139 7 Mario Andretti 4 5 27 21 25 2 4 24 6 3 4 3 2 5 5 4 26 136 8 Arie Luyendyk 9 7 1 19 5 6 6 4 5 19 13 26 21 6 4 17 9 90 9 Eddie Cheever RY  7 13 8 11 3 19 16 21 3 4 20 14 4 9 10 6 10 80 10 John Andretti 17 21 21 7 22 21 5 7 13 7 6 5 13 22 19 8 51 11 A. J. Foyt 22 24 6 9 17 10 7 5 16 6 10 13 15 20 42 12 Raul Boesel 18 8 28 6 6 18 20 13 10 9 28 19 9 10 8 11 42 13 Scott Goodyear 10 17 10 10 8 22 18 17 9 10 8 7 22 12 10 14 36 14 Teo Fabi 24 10 18 12 24 7 13 3 15 24 27 16 19 25 9 11 7 33 15 Scott Brayton 13 9 7 20 10 25 22 9 14 16 12 9 8 13 12 24 28 16 Roberto Guerrero 16 14 23 18 21 8 19 15 5 17 24 26 8 9 18 24 17 Mike Groff R  DNQ 15 23 9 26 11 11 14 22 10 17 7 15 17 18 Didier Theys 14 11 11 13 20 23 28 7 9 25 16 12 15 19 Dominic Dobson 23 15 22 26 24 8 8 25 11 19 20 12 20 Pancho Carter 8 29 15 9 15 14 18 18 18 9 21 Jon Beekhuis 16 18 25 8 22 21 24 11 27 7 22 Jeff Wood 11 DNQ 11 10 20 24 25 19 14 23 19 7 23 Kevin Cogan 9 20 4 24 Tony Bettenhausen Jr. DNQ 26 13 16 17 12 10 26 22 24 20 DNS 22 4 25 Dean Hall R  15 18 17 16 23 14 11 19 19 23 23 15 11 15 21 4 26 Willy T. Ribbs R  20 20 23 27 26 10 27 13 3 27 Wally Dallenbach Jr. 11 18 25 2 28 Randy Lewis 21 22 14 14 12 16 21 22 17 12 16 17 28 21 20 22 2 29 Guido Daccò 12 23 DNQ DNQ 23 14 13 16 1 30 Buddy Lazier R  DNQ DNQ 13 24 DNS 26 DNQ 12 23 DNS 14 1 31 Hiro Matsushita R  19 DNQ 19 12 16 15 23 17 18 21 23 1 32 Michael Greenfield R  DNS 17 12 21 21 25 24 15 1 33 Tero Palmroth 12 28 27 DNS 1 34 Bill Vukovich III 24 13 0 35 Al Unser 13 Wth 0 36 Jim Crawford 19 15 0 37 John Paul Jr. 16 0 38 Jeff Andretti R  DNQ 17 0 39 Joe Sposato R  17 0 40 Ross Bentley R  18 0 41 Geoff Brabham 19 0 42 Steve Bren 25 0 43 Rocky Moran 25 0 44 Tom Sneva 30 0 45 Gary Bettenhausen 31 0 46 Stan Fox 33 0 - Fulvio Ballabio DNQ 0 - Steve Barclay DNQ 0 - Steve Chassey DNQ 0 - Bernard Jourdain DNQ 0 - Kenji Momota DNQ 0 - John Morton DNQ 0 - Johnny Rutherford DNQ 0 - George Snider DNQ 0 - Rich Vogler DNQ 0 - Salt Walther DNQ DNS 0 Pos Driver PHX LBH INDY MIL DET POR CLE MEA TOR MIS DEN VAN MOH ROA MAR NAZ LAG 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) Not competing In-line notation Bold Pole position Italics Ran fastest race lap * Led most race laps  RY  Rookie of the Year  R  Rookie

• Top result per race counts towards Nations' Cup.

Pos	Country	PHX	LBH	INDY	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	MEA	TOR	MIC	DEN	VAN	MOH	ROA	NAZ	LAG	Pts
1	United States	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	1	312
2	Brazil	5	2	3	3	6	9	3	6	10	9	18	6	9	2	1	6	151
3	Netherlands	9	7	1	19	5	6	6	4	5	19	13	26	21	6	17	9	90
4	Canada	10	16	10	10	8	22	18	17	9	10	8	7	22	12	10	14	39
5	Italy	12	10	18	12	24	7	13	3	15	24	27	16	19	14	11	7	33
6	Colombia	16	14	23	18	21	8	19	15		5	17	24	26	8	9	18	24
7	Belgium	14	11	11		13	20	23	28	7		9	25	16			12	15
8	Japan		19	DNQ		19	12		16			15	23	17	18	21	23	1
9	Finland			12		28			27		DNS							1
10	Scotland	19		15														0
11	Australia			19														0
	Mexico			DNQ														0
Pos	Country	PHX	LBH	INDY	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	MEA	TOR	MIC	DEN	VAN	MOH	ROA	NAZ	LAG	Pts

Pos	Chassis	Pts
1	Lola T9000/T8900/T8800/T8700	318
2	Penske PC-19/PC-18/PC-17	264
3	March 90P/90CA/89P	75
Pos	Chassis	Pts

Pos	Engine	Pts
1	Chevrolet A	351
2	Porsche	72
3	Cosworth DFS/TC/DFX	72
3	Judd	59
4	Alfa Romeo	24
5	Buick	22
Pos	Engine	Pts

• "1990 CART PPG IndyCar World Series standings". race-database.com. RetrievedDecember 6, 2010.
• Åberg, Andreas."PPG Indy Car World Series 1990". Driver Database. RetrievedMay 19, 2009.
• "1990 PPG Indy Car World Series". Champ Car Stats.Archived from the original on May 11, 2009. RetrievedMay 19, 2009.
• "Official Box Score: 74th Indianapolis 500-Mile Race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway". Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Archived fromthe original on May 14, 2008. RetrievedMay 19, 2009.
• "Standings after Laguna Seca". Champ Car World Series. Archived fromthe original on April 5, 2008. RetrievedMay 19, 2009.

• 1990 Indianapolis 500
• 1990 American Racing Series season

• Champ Car seasons
• 1990 in American motorsport
• 1990 in CART

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from February 2025