1981 IndyCar season

1981 American Championship Car season
Series  : IndyCar
Champion : Rick Mears
Previous: 1980	Next: 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.

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	G	1	Johnny Rutherford
Sugaripe Prune Bignotti-Cotter	Phoenix March	Cosworth	G	2	Tom Sneva
				21	Salt Walther
Team Penske	Penske	Cosworth	G	3	Bobby Unser
				6	Rick Mears
				7	Bill Alsup
Alex Foods	Penske Lightning	Cosworth	G	5	Pancho Carter
				75	Steve Chassey
Longhorn Racing	Longhorn Racing	Cosworth	G	8	Al Unser
Rhoades Racing Intermedics	Wildcat	Cosworth	G	12	Dennis Firestone Gary Bettenhausen Gordon Smiley
Gilmore Racing	Coyote	Cosworth	G	14	A.J. Foyt
Zamboni Electric	McLaren	Chevrolet	G	15	Bill Tempero
Bettenhausen Racing Provimi Veal	McLaren	Cosworth	G	16	Tony Bettenhausen, Jr.
Leader Card	Watson Vollstedt	Cosworth Offy	G	17	Jerry Sneva
				22	Dick Simon Spike Gehlhausen
Patrick Racing	Wildcat	Cosworth	G	20	Gordon Johncock
				40	Mario Andretti Steve Krisiloff
Space Racing	Eagle	Cosworth	G	21/49	Chip Mead
Brayton Racing	Penske	Cosworth	G	21	Mike Mosley
				37	Scott Brayton
McElreath Racing	Eagle	Offy	G	23	Jim McElreath
Luxury Racers	King	Chevrolet	G	24	Wally Pankratz
Buick Racing	Eagle	Chevrolet	G	26/86	Jim Buick
Menard Racing	Lightning	Chevrolet	G	28	Herm Johnson
Beaudoin Racing	McLaren	Cosworth	G	29	Billy Engelhart
Machinists Union Racing	Penske	Cosworth	G	31	Larry Dickson
O´Connell Racing	Phoenix	Cosworth	G	32	Kevin Cogan
Thomas W. Barrett III -Private Entry-	McLaren March	Cosworth	G	33	Vern Schuppan
Wysard Motor Co.	Eagle	Cosworth	G	34	Hurley Haywood Johnny Parsons
Fletcher Racing	Penske March	Cosworth	G	35	Bob Lazier
Tonco Trailer	McLaren Karl	Chevrolet	G	38	Jerry Karl
Alsup Racing	Penske	Cosworth	G	41	Bill Alsup
Crossroads Inn	Eagle	Offy	G	42/71	Bob Frey
Steve Vukovich Racing Rattlesnake Racing	Watson	Offy	G	42	Bill Vukovich II
Armstrong Mould	Lola Armstrong	Cosworth	G	43	Greg Leffler
				45	Harry MacDonald
CHC-Intersec	McLaren	Chevrolet	G	47	Phil Caliva
All American Racers	Eagle	Chevrolet	G	48	Mike Mosley Geoff Brabham Rocky Moran
Kraco Racing	Penske Wildcat	Cosworth Offy	G	54	Geoff Brabham
				95	Herm Johnson
				95/99	Larry Cannon
				96	Tom Frantz
				96/99	Dick Ferguson
				99	John Cannon
Garza Racing	Penske	Cosworth	G	54/55	Josele Garza
Genesee Beer Wagon	Penske	Chevrolet	G	56	Tom Bigelow
Global Heat Exchanger Metro Racing Systems Nyloncraft Founder´s	McLaren	Offy	G	57	Cliff Hucul
Spirit of Idaho	Riley	Chevrolet	G	63	Ken Hamilton
Jet Engineering	Eagle	Chevrolet	G	64	Steve Chassey
Seymour Enterprises McCray Plastering	Wildcat	Chevrolet	G	66	Roger Rager Orio Trice
Hamilton Racing Mergard Racing	McLaren	Chevrolet	G	67	Phil Threshie Teddy Pilette
Warner Hodgdon	Penske	Cosworth	G	72/74	Michael Chandler
Davis Racing	Wildcat	Offy	G	77	Ross Davis
Joe Hunt Magneto	Eagle	Chevrolet	G	89	Phil Krueger
Duke Racing	Penske	Offy Chevrolet	G	92	John Mahler
Grupo-Acypsa	Penske	Offy	G	93	Michel Jourdain
Whittington Brothers Racing	March	Cosworth	G	94	Bill Whittington
Vetrock Racing	Eagle	Chevrolet	G	-	Dean Vetrock
Ohio Racing Associates	Longhorn Racing	Cosworth	G	-	Steve Krisiloff

Grands Prix

Rd	Date	Race Name	Circuit	City/Location	Pole Position	Winning driver	Winning team
1	March 22	Kraco Car Stereo 200	Phoenix International Raceway	Phoenix, Arizona	Bobby Unser	Johnny Rutherford	Chaparral
2	June 7	Gould-Rex Mays 150	Milwaukee Mile	West Allis, Wisconsin	Gordon Johncock	Mike Mosley	All American Racers
3	June 21	Kraco Twin 125 (R1)	Atlanta Motor Speedway	Hampton, Georgia	Johnny Rutherford	Rick Mears	Penske Racing
4	June 21	Kraco Twin 125 (R2)	Atlanta Motor Speedway	Hampton, Georgia	Rick Mears	Rick Mears	Penske Racing
5	July 25	Norton Michigan 500	Michigan International Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan	Tom Sneva	Pancho Carter	Alex Foods
6	August 30	Los Angeles Times 500	Riverside International Raceway	Riverside, California	Geoff Brabham	Rick Mears	Penske Racing
7	September 5	Tony Bettenhausen 200	Milwaukee Mile	West Allis, Wisconsin	Johnny Rutherford	Tom Sneva	Bignotti-Cotter
8	September 20	Detroit News Grand Prix	Michigan International Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan	Rick Mears	Rick Mears	Penske Racing
9	October 4	Watkins Glen 150	Watkins Glen International	Watkins Glen, New York	Mario Andretti	Rick Mears	Penske Racing
10	October 18	II Copa Mexico 150	Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez	Mexico City, Mexico	Bobby Unser	Rick Mears	Penske Racing
11	October 31	Miller High Life 150	Phoenix International Raceway	Phoenix, Arizona	Bobby Unser	Tom Sneva	Bignotti-Cotter

  Oval/Speedway

  Road Course/Street Circuit

Final driver standings

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 Rick Mears 4 1 1 3 1 2 1 1 1 8 304 2 Bill Alsup 5 8 8 4 3 11 4 3 5 Ret 175 3 Pancho Carter 7 Ret 5 5 1 Ret 10 Ret 15 6 5 166 4 Gordon Johncock 6 16 4 4 Ret 2 6 5 10 3 3 142 5 Johnny Rutherford 1 6 2 3 Ret Ret 4 Ret 2 Ret Ret 120 6 Tony Bettenhausen Jr 12 7 11 2 DNS 14 10 8 11 Ret 107 7 Bobby Unser 2 Ret 13 6 Ret 9 3 7 Ret 15 2 99 8 Tom Sneva 3 4 Ret Ret 1 Ret Ret Ret 1 96 9 Bob Lazier 12 13 17 9 10 5 16 13 4 4 13 92 10 Al Unser Ret 5 6 7 11 Ret 5 3 14 2 Ret 90 11 Mario Andretti 11 3 3 2 2 Ret 4 81 12 Tom Bigelow 9 5 Ret 9 11 60 13 Scott Brayton 15 11 9 10 7 8 Ret Ret Ret Ret DNQ 57 14 Larry Dickson 10 10 12 9 Ret 12 8 7 Ret DNQ 49 15 Gary Bettenhausen 6 Ret 42 16 Dick Simon 10 7 Ret 6 Ret Ret 11 Ret Ret 38 16 Herm Johnson Ret Ret 17 Ret 7 13 9 8 9 38 18 Mike Chandler Ret 4 16 DNQ 37 19 Mike Mosley 1 DNS Ret DNS Ret 7 Ret 32 20 Steve Chassey DNQ Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret 15 12 5 DNQ 31 21 Josele Garza Ret 14 12 Ret Ret Ret 8 Ret Ret 18 6 30 22 Phil Caliva Ret 15 8 DNS DNS DNQ 27 23 Kevin Cogan 2 16 Ret Ret Ret 23 24 Dick Ferguson Ret Ret 6 10 7 20 25 Steve Krisiloff Ret 7 17 18 26 Rocky Moran 6 16 27 Geoff Brabham 9 Ret 9 14 28 Jerry Karl 8 Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret 13 29 Billy Engelhart 8 Ret 9 11 30 Larry Cannon Ret 15 11 Ret 12 10 30 Roger Rager 13 Ret Ret Ret DNQ DNQ 10 32 Bill Tempero Ret 15 14 Ret Ret 17 15 Ret 12 DNQ 7 33 Phil Krueger 14 Ret 14 16 6 33 Bill Vukovich II Ret DNQ 14 Ret 6 35 Gordon Smiley Ret Ret 10 5 36 Jim McElreath Ret 11 DNQ 13 DNQ 4 36 Ross Davis DNQ Ret DNQ DNS 16 13 DNQ 4 36 Vern Schuppan Ret Ret Ret 15 4 36 Jim Buick Ret 19 Ret 16 DNS 4 40 Hurley Haywood Ret 12 17 3 41 Bob Frey 13 17 DNQ 2 41 Spike Gehlhausen 14 13 2 41 John Mahler Ret Ret Ret DNQ 2 44 Jerry Sneva DNS 12 1 44 Chip Mead Ret 14 1 44 Dennis Firestone Ret 1 44 Johnny Parsons Ret 1 44 Phil Threshie 18 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 Second place Bronze Third place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired (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 practice (DNP) Did not arrive (DNA) Excluded (EX) In-line notation Bold Pole position Rookie of the Year Rookie

See also

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

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. 

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