1990 CART PPG Indy Car World Series

The 1990 CART PPG Indy Car World Series season was the 12th national championship season of American open wheel racing sanctioned by CART. 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 was Eddie Cheever. The 1990 Indianapolis 500 was sanctioned by USAC, but counted towards the CART points championship. Arie Luyendyk won the Indy 500, his first-ever victory in championship-level competition, and the fastest 500 until the 2013 Indianapolis 500.

Quick Facts Season, Races ...

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 →

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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 the Michigan 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 with Rick Galles's and it became a two-car effort known as Galles-KRACO Racing. Al Unser Jr. and Rahal became teammates, and Rahal got use of the Chevy Ilmor 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 at Penske and Patrick. Emerson Fittipaldi left Patrick Racing to join the Penske, and the original Patrick Racing Team transferred ownership to Chip Ganassi to become Chip Ganassi Racing. Pat Patrick returned with a new team, taking over the Alfa Romeo Indy car effort.

This was the final year in which March Engineering chassis were run.

The following teams and drivers competed for the 1990 Indy Car World Series. All cars used Goodyear tires.

More information Team, Chassis ...

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

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• "1990 CART PPG IndyCar World Series standings". race-database.com. Retrieved 2010-12-06.
• Åberg, Andreas. "PPG Indy Car World Series 1990". Driver Database. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
• "1990 PPG Indy Car World Series". Champ Car Stats. Archived from the original on 11 May 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
• "Official Box Score: 74th 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 Laguna Seca". Champ Car World Series. Archived from the original on April 5, 2008. Retrieved 2009-05-19.

• 1990 Indianapolis 500
• 1990 American Racing Series season