1986 CART PPG Indy Car World Series

1986 CART season
Bobby Rahal
PPG Indy Car World Series
Season
Races	17
Start date	April 6
End date	November 11
Awards
Drivers' champion	Bobby Rahal
Constructors' Cup	March
Manufacturers' Cup	Cosworth
Nations' Cup	United States
Rookie of the Year	Chip Robinson
Indianapolis 500 winner	Bobby Rahal
Chronology
Previous season	Next season
1985	1987

The 1986 CART PPG Indy Car World Series season was the 8th national championship season of American open wheel racing sanctioned by CART. The season consisted of 17 races, and one non-points exhibition event. Bobby Rahal was the national champion, and the rookie of the year was Chip Robinson. The 1986 Indianapolis 500 was sanctioned by USAC, but counted towards the CART points championship. Bobby Rahal won the Indy 500, and would later become the first driver since 1980 to win Indy and the CART championship in the same season.

The first two races of the season were won by Kevin Cogan (Phoenix) and Michael Andretti (Long Beach), respectively, the first career wins for both drivers on the CART circuit. Rain delayed the Indianapolis 500, postponing it for six days. Bobby Rahal, driving for Truesports, passed Kevin Cogan with two laps to go, and won for car owner Jim Trueman, who was stricken with cancer. Trueman died less than two weeks later.

The season would shape up as a two-man battle between Rahal and Michael Andretti. Andretti won at Milwaukee, which put him in the points lead for the first time. On Father's Day, Andretti was leading on the final lap at Portland. His car ran out of fuel on the final turn of the final lap, and his father Mario beat him to the finish line by 0.07 seconds. It would go down in lore as one of the most shocking finishes in Indy car history, as well as the closest finish in Indy car history on a road course (until 1997).

Rahal was back in victory lane in July, winning the inaugural Molson Indy Toronto, but Michael Andretti still held the points lead. Rahal won four out of five races during a stretch in August and September, and emerged with a 9-point lead in the standings with two races left. Michael Andretti won a key victory at the second-to-last race of the season at Phoenix, while Rahal finished 3rd.

Going into the season finale at Tamiami Park, Rahal held a scant 3-point lead over Andretti. Neither driver was a factor at Miami, and just past the halfway point, Andretti dropped out with a broken halfshaft. Rahal effectively clinched the championship when Andretti dropped out. Roberto Guerrero won the pole and dominated the race, leading the first 111 laps. But on the final lap, his car sputtered and he ran out of fuel. Al Unser, Jr. slipped by to steal the victory, his lone win of 1986. Unser, Jr. won from 19th starting position, the furthest back any driver had won a CART road/street course race at the time.

Drivers and Teams

The following teams and drivers competed in the 1986 Indy Car World Series season. All cars used Goodyear tires.

Team	Chassis	Engine	No*	Drivers	Notes
Cotter	March 86C	Cosworth TC	2 (5)	Roberto Guerrero	DNS Due to engine at Long Beach
Curb	March 86C	Cosworth TC	33	Tom Sneva
			66	Ed Pimm	Daly at Mid-Ohio, Sanair and Elkhart Lake, not entered at Toronto, and Pimm at all other events.
				Derek Daly
Dick Simon Racing	Lola T8600	Cosworth TC	22	Raúl Boesel
			23	Dick Simon	Simon at Indianapolis, Cleveland, Pocono and Sanair, Robinson at Meadowlands, Cleveland and Miami, and Ashley at Toronto, Mid-Ohio and Elkhart Lake
				Chip Robinson
				Ian Ashley
Galles Racing	Lola T8600/March 86C	Cosworth TC/Honda	8	Geoff Brabham	March 86C at Phoenix 1, Honda at 8 events
	Lola T8600	Cosworth TC	9	Roberto Moreno	Carter at Sanair, Moreno at all other races after Indianapolis
				Pancho Carter
			15		Indianapolis, Michigan 1 and Pocono only
Hemelgarn Racing	March 86C	Cosworth TC/ Buick	71	Scott Brayton	Hardee's and Buick at Indianapolis only, Brayton at Phoenix 1, Indianapolis, Michigan 1, Pocono and Michigan 2, Villeneuve at all other events.
		Cosworth TC		Jacques Villeneuve
			81		Indianapolis only
Kraco Racing	March 86C	Cosworth TC	18	Michael Andretti
Leader Cards Racing	March 86C	Cosworth TC	24	Gary Bettenhausen	Betenhausen on ovals, Dobson on road and street courses
				Dominic Dobson
	March 85C		42	Phil Krueger	Indianapolis only
Machinists Union Racing	March 86C	Cosworth TC	55	Josele Garza	Parsons at Sanair, Michigan 2, and Phoenix 2, Wilson at Elkhart Lake and Laguna Seca, Garza at all other races
				Johnny Parsons
				Desiré Wilson
			59		Ganassi at Phoenix 1 and Indianapolis, Parsons at Milwaukee, Cleveland, Michigan 1 and Pocono and Wilson at Mid-Ohio
				Chip Ganassi
				Johnny Parsons
			95		Indianapolis Only
Alex Morales Racing	March 86C	Cosworth TC	6	Rich Vogler	Indianapolis Only
			21	Johnny Rutherford
Newman/Haas Racing	Lola T8600	Cosworth TC	5 (2)	Mario Andretti
Patrick Racing	March 86C	Cosworth TC	7	Kevin Cogan
			20	Emerson Fittipaldi
Penske Racing	March 86C/ PC-15	Cosworth TC/ Chevy A	1/ 86 (4)	Rick Mears	#86 at Phoenix 1, PC-15 at 4 events, Chevy A at 8 events
			4 (1)	Danny Sullivan	PC-15/Chevy A at Miami only, March 86C/Cosworth TC at all other events
		Chevy A	11	Al Unser	Phoenix 1, Indianapolis, Michigan 1, Pocono and Miami only. PC-15 at Phoenix 1 and Indianapolis, March 86C at Michigan 1, Pocono and Miami
Doug Shierson Racing	Lola T8600	Cosworth TC	30	Al Unser, Jr.
Truesports	March 86C	Cosworth TC	3	Bobby Rahal
Part-time entries
A. J. Foyt Enterprises	March 86C	Cosworth TC	14	A. J. Foyt	Phoenix 1, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Michigan 1, Pocono, Michigan 2, Phoenix 2 and Miami only
		Chevy V6	44	Mike Nish	Indianapolis only, DNQ
		Cosworth TC	84	George Snider	Snider at Indianapolis and Michigan 1, Swindell at Pocono
				Sammy Swindell
Arciero Racing	March 86C/ March 85C	Cosworth TC	12	Randy Lanier	Lanier at Phoenix 1, Long Beach, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Portland, Meadowlands, Cleveland, Toronto and Michigan 1, MacPherson at Mid-Ohio, Elkhart Lake, Laguna Seca and Phoenix 2, Chassey at Michigan 2 and Cheever at Miami. March 85C at Michigan 2 and Mid-Ohio, March 86C at all other races.
				Steve Chassey
				Eddie Cheever
				Jeff MacPherson
Bettenhausen Motorsports	March 86C	Cosworth TC	16	Tony Bettenhausen, Jr.	Indianapolis only
	Lola T8600/ March 86C		61	Arie Luyendyk	All events except Portland and Sanair
Dale Coyne Racing	DC-1	Chevy	19	Dale Coyne	Attempted all events except Indianapolis and Milwaukee
Gohr Racing	March 86C	Buick/ Cosworth TC	56	Steve Chassey	Chassey at Indianapolis, Milwaukee and Michigan 1, Moran at Meadowlands, Cleveland, Pocono, Mid-Ohio, Michigan 2, Elkhart Lake, Laguna Seca, Phoenix 2 and Miami and Morton at Toronto. Buick engine until Mid-Ohio, Cosworth the remainder of the season.
				Rocky Moran
				John Morton
	March 85C	Buick	65	Rupert Keegan	Indianapolis only, DNQ
J.P. Racing	Lola T900	Cosworth TC	10	Spike Gehlhausen	Indianapolis, Michigan 1, Pocono and Michigan 2 only
March Engineering	March 86C	Buick	25	Danny Ongais	Indianapolis only
			31	Jim Crawford
Mosquito Autosport	March 85C	Cosworth TC	16 (19)	Rick Miaskiewicz	Long Beach, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Meadowlands, Cleveland and Toronto only.
Pace Racing	Lola T8600	Cosworth TC	36	Randy Lewis	Lewis at Long Beach, Meadowlands, Cleveland, Toronto, Mid-Ohio, Elkhart Lake, Laguna Seca, and Miami, Firestone at Indianapolis, Michigan 1, Pocono, Sanair, Michigan 2 and Phoenix 2
				Dennis Firestone
Team Menard	March 86C	Cosworth TC	28	Herm Johnson	Indianapolis only, DNQ
				Derek Daly

• - The number in parenthesis is the number the car used at the Indianapolis 500, if a different number was used.

Race winners

Rd	Date	Event Name	Circuit	Location	TV Network	Pole Position	Winner
1	April 6	Dana 200 for Special Olympics	Phoenix International Raceway	Avondale, Arizona	ESPN	Mario Andretti	Kevin Cogan
2	April 13	Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach	Streets of Long Beach	Long Beach, California	NBC	Danny Sullivan	Michael Andretti
3	May 31	Indianapolis 500	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Indianapolis, Indiana	ABC	Rick Mears	Bobby Rahal
4	June 8	Miller American 200 in Honor of Rex Mays	Milwaukee Mile	West Allis, Wisconsin	ESPN	Michael Andretti	Michael Andretti
5	June 15	Budweiser/G. I. Joe's 200	Portland International Raceway	Portland, Oregon	ESPN	Emerson Fittipaldi	Mario Andretti
6	June 29	Chase Grand Prix at the Meadowlands	Meadowlands Sports Complex	East Rutherford, New Jersey	NBC	Michael Andretti	Danny Sullivan
7	July 6	Budweiser Cleveland Grand Prix	Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport	Cleveland, Ohio	ESPN	Danny Sullivan	Danny Sullivan
8	July 20	Molson Indy Toronto	Streets of Toronto	Toronto, Ontario	ESPN	Emerson Fittipaldi	Bobby Rahal
9	August 2	Michigan 500	Michigan International Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan	NBC	Rick Mears	Johnny Rutherford
10	August 17	Domino's Pizza 500	Pocono Raceway	Long Pond, Pennsylvania	ESPN	Michael Andretti	Mario Andretti
11	August 31	Escort Radar Warning 200	Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course	Lexington, Ohio	ESPN	Mario Andretti	Bobby Rahal
12	September 7	Molson Indy Montreal	Sanair Super Speedway	Saint-Pie, Quebec	ESPN	Rick Mears	Bobby Rahal
13	September 28	Pepsi Cola 250	Michigan International Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan	ESPN	Rick Mears	Bobby Rahal
14	October 4	Race for Life 200	Road America	Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin	Not on TV	Bobby Rahal	Emerson Fittipaldi
15	October 12	Champion Spark Plug 300	Laguna Seca Raceway	Monterey, California	ESPN	Mario Andretti	Bobby Rahal
16	October 19	Circle K/Fiesta Bowl 200	Phoenix International Raceway	Avondale, Arizona	ESPN	Bobby Rahal	Michael Andretti
17	November 9	Nissan Indy Challenge	Tamiami Park	Miami, Florida	NBC	Roberto Guerrero	Al Unser, Jr.

  Oval/Speedway

  Road Course/Street Circuit

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

Full Series results

Drivers

Pos Driver PIR1 LB IND MIL POR MEA CLE TOR MIC1 POC MDO SAN MIC2 ROA LAG PIR2 MIA Pts 1 Bobby Rahal 16 18 1 6 20 3 15 1 10* 14 1 1* 1 5 1* 3 8 179 2 Michael Andretti 15* 1* 6 1* 2* 20 2 19 11 11* 10 6 2* 2* 3 1* 18 171 3 Danny Sullivan 4 11 9 11 11 1 1* 2 25 16 3* 5 12 6 2 2 26 147 4 Al Unser Jr. 12 2 5 8 3 9 8 4* 8 6 5 2 21 11 23 6 1 137 5 Mario Andretti 7 5 32 5 1 24 3 3 21 1 24 8 10 9 4 4 11 136 6 Kevin Cogan 1 17 2 12 14 21 23 5 22 2 4 4 4 20 9 14 4 115 7 Emerson Fittipaldi 3 16 7 24 12 2 13 17 20 19 21 3 3 1 7 5 20 103 8 Rick Mears 19 20 3* 3 16 19 4 8 12 8 17 18 8 3 17 20 3 89 9 Roberto Guerrero 8 DNS 4 18 13 4* 17 20 24 21 2 17 22 4 5 12 2* 87 10 Tom Sneva 2 4 DNS 2 4 17 5 9 18 15 12 13 5 12 22 18 22 82 11 Johnny Rutherford 5 9 8 4 15 7 10 10 1 18 8 16 9 14 12 9 12 78 12 Geoff Brabham 10 3 12 21 7 22 14 14 4 12 20 11 11 22 6 8 5 64 13 Raúl Boesel 13 19 13 14 8 23 6 7 5 5 7 9 15 8 14 13 19 54 14 Josele Garza 23 7 18 7 17 8 7 23 2 7 14 24 45 15 Jacques Villeneuve 8 20 15 5 5 19 24 11 19 10 19 16 6 38 16 Roberto Moreno 20 6 19 13 18 18 25 18 6 10 16 6 16 20 10 17 30 17 Arie Luyendyk 6 15 15 9 16 24 6 23 17 18 13 7 10 15 21 29 18 Ed Pimm 22 22 17 10 6 12 15 24 7 11 7 10 29 19 Pancho Carter 16 3 3 15 28 20 Randy Lanier 11 13 10 20 9 6 9 21 19 21 21 A.J. Foyt 17 24 19 9 4 16 22 23 16 22 Jan Lammers 9 14 DNQ 8 23 9 13 23 Derek Daly DNQ 6 10 13 11 24 Johnny Parsons 27 22 21 16 29 7 23 11 8 25 Randy Lewis 10 10 20 11 15 24 18 14 8 26 Chip Robinson 14 7 6 27 Spike Gehlhausen DNQ 7 22 18 6 28 Ian Ashley 15 9 23 4 29 Sammy Swindell 9 4 30 Mike Nish DNQ DNS 10 24 22 3 31 Dominic Dobson 12 19 11 18 16 19 18 21 13 3 32 Rick Miaskiewicz 21 DNQ 16 15 11 13 DNS 2 33 Gary Bettenhausen 21 11 23 26 13 21 20 19 2 34 Dale Coyne DNQ 23 21 DNQ 12 DNQ DNQ 26 23 12 DNQ 17 DNS DNQ 25 2 35 John Morton 12 1 36 Rocky Moran 13 16 25 25 DNQ 21 15 21 16 0 37 Jeff MacPherson 22 15 13 DNQ 0 38 Desiré Wilson 13 19 16 0 39 Scott Brayton 24 30 13 27 19 0 40 Dennis Firestone DNQ 17 28 14 14 17 0 41 Al Unser 18 22 14 20 15 0 42 Dick Simon 14 22 23 20 0 43 Chip Ganassi 14 21 0 44 Steve Chassey DNQ 17 28 17 0 45 Danny Ongais 23 0 46 Tom Phillips 24 0 47 Rich Vogler 25 0 48 George Snider 26 27 0 49 Eddie Cheever 27 0 50 Tony Bettenhausen, Jr. 28 0 51 Jim Crawford 29 0 52 Phil Krueger 31 0 - Rupert Keegan DNQ - - Herm Johnson DNQ - - John Paul, Jr. DNQ - - Steve Bren DNP - - Pete Halsmer DNP - Pos Driver PIR1 LB IND MIL POR MEA CLE TOR MIC1 POC MDO SAN MIC2 ROA LAG PIR2 MIA Pts

Color Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green 4th & 5th place (Top 5) Light Blue 6th–10th place (Top 10) Dark Blue Finished (Outside Top 10) Purple Did not finish (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Brown Withdrew (WD) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Blank Did not participate (DNP) Driver replacement (Rpl) Injured (Inj) Race not held (NH) Not competing In-line notation Bold Pole position Italics Ran fastest race lap * Led most race laps Rookie of the Year Rookie

Point Scoring System:

• Points are awarded based on each driver's resulting place (regardless of whether the car is running at the end of the race):

Position	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Points	20	16	14	12	10	8	6	5	4	3	2	1

Bonus Points:

• 1 For Pole Position
• 1 For Leading The Most Laps Of The Race

References

• Åberg, Andreas. "PPG Indy Car World Series 1986". Driver Database. Retrieved June 11, 2013.
• "1986 PPG Indy Car World Series". Champ Car Stats. Retrieved June 11, 2013.
• "Official Box Score: 70th Indianapolis 500-Mile Race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway". Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
• "Champ Car > Standings after Beatrice Indy Challange [sic]". Champ Car World Series. October 22, 2008. Archived from the original on October 22, 2008. Retrieved June 11, 2013.

See also

• 1986 Indianapolis 500
• 1986 in Indy Lights