The 1996 U.S. 500 was a CART series race held at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan on Sunday May 26, 1996. It was the sixth round of the 1996 CART PPG Indy Car World Series season, and was run on the same day as the 1996 Indianapolis 500. Jimmy Vasser of Chip Ganassi Racing won the race from the pole position. It marked the first and only time that two 500-mile Indy car races were held at Michigan in the same season, alongside the traditional Michigan 500, which was held two months later on July 28.
The race was born out of a protest of the formation of the rival IRL and specifically the reservation of starting spots in the 1996 Indianapolis 500 to IRL-based entries. In 1994, Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Tony George announced he was going to start a new series, the Indy Racing League (IRL), with the Indianapolis 500 as its centerpiece. CART had been sanctioning the sport of Indy car racing since 1979, with the exception of the Indianapolis 500 itself, which was sanctioned singly by USAC. Throughout much of 1995, the CART-based teams were unhappy with the formation of the IRL, and mostly uninterested in participating in its events. However, for the time being, they were still tentatively preparing to compete at the Indianapolis 500 (in a one-off) pending a reconciliation. Traditionally, the Indianapolis 500 has had a field of 33 cars. On July 3, 1995, the IRL announced that the top 25 drivers in IRL points would be guaranteed starting positions in the 1996 Indy 500, leaving only eight at-large spots; a rule that became known as the 25/8 rule. On December 18, 1995 CART teams, convinced they were being deliberately locked out from the 1996 Indy 500, and the victims of a "power grab" by Tony George, announced their intentions to boycott that event. The owners, along with CART president and CEO Andrew Craig, jointly announced plans for a new race, the Inaugural U.S. 500, to be held at Michigan International Speedway the same day.
A field of 28 cars qualified for the race. All of the CART-based teams participated, including such major teams as Penske, Ganassi, Newman/Haas, Galles, Rahal, Tasman, Forsythe, and Team Green – each considered among the top teams in the sport. The race attracted a crowd of 110,879 spectators, and posted a $1 million purse for first place. The historic Vanderbilt Cup trophy was revived and would be presented to the winner. But the race was marred by a huge pileup on the pace lap, which turned the race into a debacle. Approaching the green flag in turn four, Adrián Fernández, in the middle of the front row, clipped wheels with polesitter Jimmy Vasser. Both cars crashed collecting Bryan Herta on the outside of the front row. Several other cars were collected in the incident. Many cars crashed, spun, or veered to the infield grass to avoid the melee. The race was red-flagged, with no less than 12 cars involved in the crash. About an hour later, the race was restarted with numerous drivers switching to back-up cars.
CART rookie Alex Zanardi started in row two and avoided the pace lap crash. He led 134 laps (of 250) but dropped out with a blown engine on lap 175. The lead passed to Parker Johnstone, and then to André Ribeiro. With nine laps to go, Ribeiro's car ran out of fuel, and he was forced to duck into the pits for a splash-and-go. Ribeiro's car – one of the backup cars rolled out – did not have proper working fuel telemetry, leaving the crew unsure of their fuel situation. Jimmy Vasser led the final 9 laps to victory. It was Vasser's fourth win of the season, and he would go on to win the 1996 CART championship.
Background See also 1996 Indy Racing League season
The seeds of the IRL/CART "Split" were planted in the early 1990s, when newly-named Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Tony George began exploring options of changes in the sport of Indy car racing. Sharply rising costs, the lack of many ovals on the schedule, and the dwindling number of American participants were among his stated concerns. As early as May 1991, George announced intentions to change the engine formula to 3.5L normally aspirated powerplants (similar to the engines used in Formula One at the time), an idea that never got beyond the planning stages. George joined the CART board of directors from 1992 to 1994 as a non-voting member. He resigned after the brief tenure, disagreeing with the direction of the series.
In the summer of 1994, George announced he was going to start a new series, the Indy Racing League, with the Indianapolis 500 as its centerpiece. CART had been sanctioning the sport of Indy car racing since 1979, with the exception of the Indianapolis 500 itself, which was sanctioned singly by USAC. The first USAC/CART "split" in 1979 had already caused major controversy in the sport. USAC continued to sanction paved championship races outside of Indianapolis as late as 1981, but by 1983 dropped all races outside of Indy. An arrangement around that time was put in place to recognize the Indianapolis 500 on the CART schedule, and it would pay points towards the CART championship. The Indy 500 would be contested by the CART-based teams, along with numerous part-time and "Indy only" entries. Stability returned, and the sport settled into a relative harmony through 1995. Rules between the two sanctioning bodies were largely similar, and for the most part, the same chassis and engines were used by both, with only minor technical differences. One conspicuous difference was that USAC allowed "stock block" engines (e.g. Buick V-6 and the Menard V-6) more turbocharger boost than CART allowed, and USAC - for a time - allowed purpose-built pushrod engines (a rule that was exploited by Penske in 1994).
George blueprinted the new Indy Racing League as a lower-cost alternative to CART, with an emphasis on attracting more American drivers (particularly from the Sprint and Midget ranks), an all-oval schedule, and new cars with normally-aspirated, "production-based" engines. Turbochargers would be banned after 1996. For approximately the first season and a half the Indy Racing League would fall under the overall sanctioning umbrella of USAC. As a result of these changes, the Indy 500 would no longer be recognized on the CART calendar, and due to a planned "rules freeze", CART's 1996 model year chassis and some of the 1996 engines would technically be prohibited as well. Furthermore, starting in 1997, the machines raced in IRL would be entirely different and the chassis and turbocharged engines used in CART would no longer be allowed at the Speedway.
Almost immediately, a turbulent political controversy erupted, with participants, media, fans, manufacturers, and sponsors all apprehensive of the sport's direction and pending shakeup. The prevailing opinion around the CART paddock was largely negative regarding the formation of the IRL. The 1995 season and 1995 Indy 500 were held as normal, but under a growing cloud of uncertainty about the future of the sport. During the summer of 1995, and into the offseason, the two factions of CART and the IRL were unable to reconcile on much of anything, and the "Split" began to take shape.
From 1992 to 1996, Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) licensed the trademark IndyCar from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. During that timeframe, the CART series was referred to as the PPG IndyCar Series, the sanctioning body operated under the name "IndyCar", and the machines were referred to as "Indy cars". All references to "CART" were largely eschewed. With the upstart series now named the Indy Racing League, and ties between the Indy 500 and CART severed, there was growing confusion with respect to the names.
CART boycott Throughout much of the summer and fall of 1995, CART teams were generally ambivalent regarding the formation of the IRL and expressed no interest in participating in any IRL race other than Indianapolis. CART announced their 1996 schedule on June 10, 1995, which initially featured no races in May and an open date on Memorial Day weekend. While no direct conflicts with the three-race 1996 IRL schedule were created, CART scheduled international races at Rio and Australia the weekend before and the weekend after the IRL race at Phoenix, respectively. With lengthy and logistically complicated international trips bookending Phoenix, there would be no realistic way for the CART teams to participate in that event.
On July 3, 1995, to ensure larger car counts for non-Indianapolis races, the IRL announced that the top 25 drivers in the IRL points standings would be guaranteed starting positions in the 1996 Indy 500. The only condition was to meet a prescribed minimum qualifying speed average during time trials (220 mph). The new rules meant that only eight positions would be filled by non-top 25 "at-large" entries, leading to it being referred to as the 25/8 rule.
George and others within the IRL hoped that the 25/8 rule would lure some of the CART teams to participate in the first two IRL races in 1996 (Walt Disney World and Phoenix). However, none of the CART teams were planning on entering either of those two races. Since none of the CART-based entries would have scored any IRL championship points by the time they arrived at Indy in May, the entire contingent of CART-based teams (as many as 28 cars), would all be considered "at-large" entries - all vying for only 8 spots on the grid. With additional handful of (non-CART based) one-off "Indy-only" entries expected to enter, the total number of "at-large" cars could be as high as 35–40.
On December 18, 1995 CART teams, convinced they were being deliberately locked out from the 1996 Indy 500, announced their intention to boycott the 500. The owners, along with CART president and CEO Andrew Craig, jointly announced plans for a new race, the Inaugural U.S. 500, to be held at Michigan International Speedway the same day. At the time, Michigan was owned by Roger Penske, a prominent owner in the CART series. The official reaction from IMS/IRL was one of disappointment and dismay, suggesting that CART was preparing to do considerable damage to Indy car racing. CART participants were convinced of the opposite.
"Stars and cars" Almost immediately after the announcement of the race, the U.S. 500 was marketed as the "[Real] stars and cars" of Indy car racing. It was to imply the top teams, top drivers, and the best equipment would be racing at Michigan and not at Indy. The tagline appeared on the race's program cover, and similar phrases appeared in various advertisements. Several of the drivers at Indy were inexperienced rookies from an obscure range of backgrounds, giving the impression of a field of replacement drivers. Three former Indy 500 winners (Bobby Rahal, Emerson Fittipaldi, and Al Unser Jr.) would be at Michigan, while only former 500 winner (Arie Luyendyk) would be at Indy.
The U.S. 500 name was a reference to the United States of America, and was immediately referred to by CART CEO Andrew Craig as "...America's best taking on the world." The name style was not entirely unique; it was similar to the NHRA's U.S. Nationals, and the Formula One U.S. Grand Prix. Without Indy on their calendar, CART was determined to establish the U.S. 500 as the flagship event for their series.
All of the CART-based teams elected to boycott the 1996 Indianapolis 500 (and the remainder of the 1996 IRL season) except for Galles and Walker. But neither of those two teams fielded their regular full-time CART drivers at Indy. Former CART teams A. J. Foyt Racing, Hemelgarn Racing, and Dick Simon Racing (which had been sold to Andy Evans and became Team Scandia) switched alliances during the offseason to the IRL.