The 1988 CART PPG Indy Car World Series season was the 10th national championship season of American open wheel racing sanctioned by CART. The season consisted of 15 races, and one non-points exhibition event. Danny Sullivan was the national champion, winning for Team Penske. The rookie of the year was John Jones. The 1988 Indianapolis 500 was sanctioned by USAC, but counted towards the CART points championship. Rick Mears won the Indy 500, his third victory at Indy.
The 1988 season was the breakout year for the Ilmor Chevrolet Indy V-8 engine. After being introduced in 1986, and earning its first victory in 1987, the Ilmor Chevy dominated the series in 1988, and established itself as the best powerplant on the circuit. Chevy won 14 of the 15 races, and all 15 pole positions. Along the way, the Ilmor Chevy earned its first victory at Indianapolis in 1988, with Rick Mears winning from the pole.
Season recap Danny Sullivan won four races, nine pole positions, and had 11 top five finishes en route to the championship title. Sullivan got off to a slow start, but at Indy, he and his Penske teammates (Rick Mears and Al Unser) dominated the month of May. The Penske team swept all three spots on the front row, and led 192 of the 200 laps. Sullivan himself qualified second and dominated the first half of the race. He dropped out just beyond the halfway point when a wing adjuster failed and sent his car into the wall. He rebounded over the next six races, posting two wins and no finish worse than 4th.
Sullivan's nearest competitors during the season were Al Unser Jr. and Bobby Rahal. Unser Jr. left Doug Shierson Racing after a winless 1987 campaign and returned to Galles Racing for 1988, and also got use of the coveted Chevrolet engine. Unser won at Long Beach and Toronto, then won a controversial race at the Meadowlands. Battling for the lead in the late stages of the race, he tangled with Emerson Fittipaldi, sending Fittipaldi into the tire barrier.
Back-to-back defending CART champion, and 1986 Indy winner Bobby Rahal returned for his last season at Truesports. The team dropped the Cosworth DFX and the took up development of the Judd AV engine. The engine was known to be down on horsepower, but excelled in fuel mileage and reliability, particularly in the 500-mile races. Rahal finished 4th at Indy, second at the Michigan 500, and won the Pocono 500. His ten top five finishes kept him in contention for the title, but with only one win, he was struggling to keep pace with the Chevy-powered teams.
After winning the Michigan 500, Danny Sullivan took the points lead for the first time all year. The lead was short-lived, however, as he wrecked at Pocono. Rahal and Unser Jr. finished 1–2 at Pocono, and the top three in the standings were separated by only 5 points with five races remaining.
At Mid-Ohio, Rahal crashed out, and his title hopes began to fade. Sullivan and Unser were separated by 1 point with four races to go. All three drivers finished strong at Road America, and the championship battle pushed on. The turning point of the season came at Nazareth. Al Unser Jr. blew his engine, Rahal was not a factor, but Sullivan dominated. Sullivan started from the pole, and led the final 74 laps to score a crucial victory. With only two races left, Sullivan had a commanding 25-point lead. At the second-to-last race of the season at Laguna Seca, Sullivan pulled out a hat trick by winning the pole, leading the most laps, and winning the race. With still one race left, Sullivan clinched the 1988 CART title, holding an insurmountable 35-point lead. It was Sullivan's first and only championship title and Penske's first since 1985.
With the championship decided for Sullivan, the season finale at Miami became a race to see who would finish second in points. Rahal held an 8-point lead over Al Unser Jr., with Mario Andretti and Rick Mears also lurking in 4th and 5th, respectively. Unser Jr. dominated the race, leading 82 (of 112) laps and winning for the second time at the Tamiami Park circuit. Rahal blew an engine, Mario Andretti dropped out, and Mears finished second. The results saw a shake up in the standings, with Unser Jr. finishing second in points, Rahal third, and Mears slipping ahead of Andretti by 3 points for 4th and 5th.
Other stories from 1988 included A. J. Foyt returning to a full-time schedule (from 1980 to 1987, he only ran a partial schedule), and the Porsche Indy car team expanding to full-time with driver Teo Fabi. Rookie John Andretti suffered a devastating crash at the Pocono 500, but would recover before the end of the season. Jim Crawford, who suffered serious leg injuries in a crash in 1987, returned to the cockpit with a notable run at Indianapolis where he led 8 laps and finished 6th, the best result to-date for the Buick V-6 engine.
Another story was the continued downward spiral of March. After Portland the Patrick Racing Team changed from the latest March to a Lola fleet which consisted of the current model and a year old Lola.
Drivers and constructors
The following teams and drivers competed for the 1988 Indy Car World Series. All cars used Goodyear tires. TeamChassisEngineNoDriversRoundsFull-time Newman/Haas Racing Lola T8800 Chevrolet 6 Mario AndrettiAll Patrick Racing March 88C Chevrolet 20 Emerson Fittipaldi 1–5 Lola T8700Lola T8800 6–15 Galles Racing March 88C Chevrolet (2–8, 10–15) Cosworth (1,9) 3 Al Unser Jr.All Team Penske Penske PC-17 Chevrolet 5 Rick MearsAll 9 Danny SullivanAll 1 Al Unser 3 60 9–10 Porsche North America Porsche 2708 Porsche 8 Teo FabiAll Truesports Lola T8800 Judd (1–7, 9–15) Cosworth (8) 1/4 Bobby RahalAll Kraco Racing March 88C Cosworth 18 Michael Andretti 1–9 Lola 10–15 Doug Shierson Racing March Cosworth 30 Raul Boesel 1–2, 4–5 Lola 3, 6–15 Raynor Racing Lola Cosworth 10 Derek DalyAll Arciero Racing March Cosworth 12 John Jones All Vince Granatelli Racing Lola/March Cosworth 2/4 Roberto Guerrero All except 7–8 2/4 Al Unser 7–8 58/71/85 Gordon Johncock 3, 9–10 Machinists Union Racing March Cosworth 11 Kevin Cogan All except 8–11 Scott Pruett 8, 11 55 Scott Atchison All except 3, 13 29/11 Rich Vogler 3, 9–10 Buick 28 Pancho Carter 3 Dick Simon Racing Lola Cosworth 7 Arie LuyendykAll 22 Dick Simon 1, 3–4, 9–10, 13 Scott Pruett 2 Didier Theys 5–8, 11–12, 14–15 23 Fulvio Ballabio 2, 11–12 Tero Palmroth 3, 5 Jean-Pierre Frey 14–15 A. J. Foyt Enterprises Lola Cosworth 14 A. J. Foyt All except 9 Johnny Rutherford 9 March 48 Rocky Moran 3 Chevrolet 84 Stan Fox 3 Bettenhausen Motorsports Lola/March Cosworth/Judd 16 Tony Bettenhausen Jr. All except 5 and 15 Dennis Vitolo 15 Alex Morales Motorsports March Cosworth 21 Howdy HolmesAll Hemelgarn Racing Lola Judd/Cosworth/Buick 91 Scott Brayton All except 11-12 and 14 71 Ludwig Heimrath Jr. 2–3, 5–8, 11–12, 15 Ken Johnson 14 81/71 Tom Sneva 3, 9 Gohr Racing March Cosworth 56 Rocky Moran 2, 5–8, 11–12, 14–15 Bill Vukovich III 1, 3, 9–10 Curb Racing Lola Cosworth 98 John Andretti All except 11-12 and 14–15 Leader Card Racing Lola Cosworth 24 Randy Lewis All except 13 16 Dominic Dobson 5Part-time Dobson Motorsports Lola Cosworth 17/92 Dominic Dobson 3, 14 Dale Coyne Racing March Chevrolet 19 Dale Coyne 3–11, 13–15 Dominic Dobson 2 Los Angeles Drywall March Cosworth 27 Dick Ferguson 2 Ed Pimm 3 Bernstein RacingLolaBuick15 Jim Crawford317 Johnny Rutherford3 KargoStopper Lola Cosworth 88 Darin Brassfield 11, 14 BDR Racing March Cosworth 43 Steve Bren 14 Gary Trout MotorsportsMarchCosworth 33 Steve Chassey3 33 Ed Pimm11-12 Andale Racing March Cosworth 69 Bernard Jourdain 14–15 U.S. Engineering March Cosworth 77 Phil Krueger 6, 9–10 Kent Baker Racing March Cosworth 97 Phil Krueger 3 Scheid Tire Centers March Cosworth 46 Gary Bettenhausen 3 Calumet Farms March Chevrolet 84 George Snider 3 GF Racing March Cosworth 25 Giupponi Franca 11, 14 José Romano 12, 15 Indiana Carbon March Cosworth 87 Spike Gehlhausen 3 Mergard March Cosworth 36 Harry Sauce 3 Performers, Inc. March Cosworth 77 Tom Bigelow 3
Schedule Icon Legend Oval/Speedway Road course Street circuitNC Non-championship race
Rd Date Race Name Track City 1 April 10 Checker 200 Phoenix International Raceway Phoenix, Arizona 2 April 17 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Long Beach Street Circuit Long Beach, California 3 May 29 Indianapolis 500* Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway, Indiana 4 June 5 Miller High Life 200 Milwaukee Mile West Allis, Wisconsin 5 June 19 Budweiser/G.I. Joe's 200 Portland International Raceway Portland, Oregon 6 July 3 Budweiser Cleveland Grand Prix Burke Lakefront Airport Cleveland, Ohio 7 July 17 Molson Indy Toronto Exhibition Place Toronto, Ontario 8 July 24 Marlboro Grand Prix Meadowlands Street Circuit East Rutherford, New Jersey 9 August 7 Marlboro 500 Michigan International Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan 10 August 21 Quaker State 500 Pocono International Raceway Long Pond, Pennsylvania 11 September 4 Escort Radar Warning 200 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, Ohio 12 September 11 Briggs & Stratton 200 Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin 13 September 25 Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix Pennsylvania International Raceway Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania 14 October 16 Nissan Monterey Grand Prix Laguna Seca Raceway Monterey, California NC November 5 Marlboro Challenge Tamiami Park Miami, Florida 15 November 6 Nissan Indy Challenge Tamiami Park Miami, Florida * Indianapolis was USAC-sanctioned but counted towards the CART title.
Results Rnd Race Name Pole position Winning driver Winning teamRace time Report 1 Checker 200 Rick Mears Mario Andretti Newman/Haas Racing1:38:22 Report 2 Long Beach Grand Prix Danny Sullivan Al Unser Jr. Galles Racing1:53:47 Report 3 Indianapolis 500 Rick Mears Rick Mears Team Penske3:27:10 Report 4 Miller High Life 200 Michael Andretti Rick Mears Team Penske1:37:42 Report 5 Budweiser/G. I. Joe's 200 Danny Sullivan Danny Sullivan Team Penske1:57:17 Report 6 Budweiser Grand Prix of Cleveland Danny Sullivan Mario Andretti Newman/Haas Racing1:35:46 Report 7 Molson Indy Toronto Danny Sullivan Al Unser Jr. Galles Racing1:59:34 Report 8 Meadowlands Grand Prix Emerson Fittipaldi Al Unser Jr. Galles Racing1:50:14 Report 9 Marlboro 500 Rick Mears Danny Sullivan Team Penske2:46:03 Report 10 Quaker State 500 Rick Mears Bobby Rahal Truesports3:44:21 Report 11 Escort Radar Warning 200 Danny Sullivan Emerson Fittipaldi Patrick Racing2:14:18 Report 12 Briggs & Stratton 200 Danny Sullivan Emerson Fittipaldi Patrick Racing1:38:11 Report 13 Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix Danny Sullivan Danny Sullivan Team Penske1:20:47 Report 14 Champion Spark Plug 300 Danny Sullivan Danny Sullivan Team Penske1:58:35 ReportNC Marlboro Challenge Danny Sullivan Michael Andretti Kraco Racing0:48:52 Report 15 Nissan Indy Challenge Danny Sullivan Al Unser Jr. Galles Racing1:58:08 Report
Final driver standings