1983 CART season
PPG Indy Car World Series
Season
Races	13
Start date	April 17
End date	October 29
Awards
Drivers' champion	Al Unser
Constructors' Cup	March
Manufacturers' Cup	Cosworth
Nations' Cup	United States
Rookie of the Year	Teo Fabi
Indianapolis 500 winner	Tom Sneva
← 1982 1984 →

The 1983 CART PPG Indy Car World Series season was the 5th national championship season of American open wheel racing sanctioned by CART. The season consisted of 13 races. Al Unser was the national champion, and the rookie of the year was Teo Fabi. The 1983 Indianapolis 500 was sanctioned by USAC, but an arrangement was made such that it counted towards the CART points championship. Tom Sneva won the Indy 500, after three previous runner-up finishes.

Al Unser jumped out to the early points lead, with second-place finishes in the first three races of the season. Unser finished second at Indianapolis to Tom Sneva, but not without some controversy. Rookie Al Unser Jr. was accused of blocking for his father, but Sneva prevailed, making the winning pass with ten laps to go. Unser won at Cleveland, finished second at the Michigan 500, and third at Road America. After 6 of 13 races, Unser had a 35-point lead over Tom Sneva in the standings.

Rookie Teo Fabi made headlines at Indianapolis, becoming the first rookie to win the pole since 1950. His car dropped out, however, with a failed fuel o-ring. After a mixed start to the year, Fabi's season came alive in July, winning his first career race at the Pocono 500. Fabi jumped from 8th in points to as high as second following his win at Mid-Ohio. Fabi began to whittle away at Unser's point lead. Unser was running consistently, and had no finish worse than 11th.

In the next-to-last race of the season at Laguna Seca, Fabi dominated. He won the pole position and led 95 of 98 laps, winning his third race of the season. With only one race to go, Unser's point lead was down to 15 points. At the season finale in Phoenix, Fabi put in another dominating performance. He won the pole and led 138 of 150 laps. Fabi's championship hopes, however, fell just short as Al Unser came home 4th. Al Unser won the title by a mere 5 points over Fabi.

Other top stories from 1983 included Newman/Haas Racing joining the series with driver Mario Andretti plus a new chassis from Lola, and the rookie debut of Al Unser Jr. Though Unser Jr. did not win any races, he had ten top-10 finishes en route to 7th in points.

Drivers and constructors

The following teams and drivers competed for the 1983 CART World Series. All competitors utilized Goodyear tires.

Team/Car Owner	No	Drivers	Rounds
Alex Morales Motorsports	21	Pancho Carter	All
All American Racers	98	Jeff Wood	11-12
Alsup Racing	11	Bill Alsup	1, 3-5, 7, 9-10, 12-13
Arciero Racing	66	Pete Halsmer	1, 3-13
		Johnny Parsons	2
Armstrong Mould Racing Team	43	Steve Krisiloff	2
BC Pace Racing	36	Chuck Ciprich	7
Bettenhausen Racing	10	Tony Bettenhausen Jr.	All
	82	Gary Bettenhausen	13
	90	Derek Daly	6, 9, 11-13
Bignotti-Cotter Racing	5	Tom Sneva	All
	6	Kevin Cogan	1, 3-13
	16		2
Bob Ward Racing	47	Bob Ward	8
Brayton Racing	35	Patrick Bedard	2, 5, 7
	37	Scott Brayton	2, 4-5, 7, 10-11
Circle Bar Auto Racing	38	Chet Fillip	1-2, 10
Circle Bar Auto Racing w/ Caliva Racing		Phil Caliva	8
Dick Simon Racing	32	Dick Simon	6
	22		1-3, 5, 8-11, 13
		Jorge Koechlin	12
Doug Shierson Racing	30	Howdy Holmes	All
Douglas Schulz	48	Tom Klausler	6, 8
Forsythe Racing	33	Teo Fabi	All
Galles Racing	17	Al Unser Jr.	1, 3-13
	19		2
Gilmore Racing	1	George Snider	2
	14	A. J. Foyt	2
Gohr Racing	56	Steve Chassey	1-8, 11-13
GTS Racing	86	Drake Olson	6
		Al Loquasto	7
H&R Racing	28	Gary Bettenhausen	3, 7, 9
		Herm Johnson	9
HBK Racing	70	Tom Bigelow	3
	78		5
Herm Johnson Racing	42	Herm Johnson	4-5
Hoffman Racing	86	Dick Ferguson	5
Intercomp Racing	92	John Mahler	2
Interscope Racing	25	Danny Ongais	2
Jet Engineering	64	Greg Leffler	6, 8-9
		Tom Bigelow	12
Joel McCray Racing	46	Phil Krueger	1, 3-4, 9
Kraco Enterprises	18	Mike Mosley	1-8, 10, 13
		Geoff Brabham	11-12
	99		8, 10
		Michael Andretti	11-13
Leader Card Racers	8	Johnny Parsons	5
		Tom Bagley	7
		Randy Lewis	12
	24	Chip Mead	9-10
Machinists Union Racing	9	Roger Mears	1-4, 6-13
	55	Josele Garza	2, 4-12
McElreath Racing	23	Jim McElreath	1, 5, 7
Newman/Haas Racing	3	Mario Andretti	All
Patrick Racing	40	Johnny Rutherford	1, 7, 10-11, 13
		Danny Ongais	4-6
	60		3
	20		7-9
	60	Chip Ganassi	2, 4-5, 7, 9-13
	20		6
		Gordon Johncock	1-5
Primus Racing	72	Chris Kneifel	2, 4-13
Racing Team VDS	12	John Paul Jr.	1, 4-13
		Geoff Brabham	2
Rattlesnake Racing w/ Agajanian Curb	29	Mike Chandler	2
	19		5
		Dick Ferguson	7
Rhoades Racing	41	Doug Heveron	1
	46	Jerry Karl	7-8
	61		3, 5
Simpson Sports	90	Dennis Firestone	2
Team Penske	1	Rick Mears	1, 3-13
	2		2
	7	Al Unser	All
Tempero Racing	15	Bill Tempero	4, 9
Truesports	2	Bobby Rahal	1, 3-12
	4		2
Whittington Racing	91	Don Whittington	2, 5, 7
	94	Bill Whittington	2, 4, 7
Wysard Racing	34	Derek Daly	1-2
		Desiré Wilson	3, 6-9, 11-13
		Geoff Brabham	5

Schedule

Of the notable changes to the schedule, there were the additions of the Caesars Palace Grand Prix, which was formerly a Formula One championship event, and Laguna Seca Raceway. The Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio returned to the schedule after a 2 year hiatus, and finally starting this season there would only be one race per season at the Milwaukee Mile.

Rd	Date	Name	Circuit	Location	TV Broadcaster
-	March 20	Kraco Car Stereo 150	O  Phoenix International Raceway	Avondale, Arizona	N/A
1	April 17	Kraco Dixie 200	O  Atlanta Motor Speedway	Hampton, Georgia	NBC
2	May 29	Indianapolis 500	O  Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Indianapolis, Indiana	ABC
3	June 12	Gould Rex Mays Classic	O  Milwaukee Mile	West Allis, Wisconsin	ESPN
4	July 3	Budweiser Cleveland 500	R  Burke Lakefront Airport	Cleveland, Ohio	ESPN
5	July 17	Norton Michigan 500	O  Michigan International Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan	NBC
6	July 31	Provimi Veal 200	R  Road America	Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin	TNN
7	August 14	Domino's Pizza 500	O  Pocono International Raceway	Long Pond, Pennsylvania	NBC
8	August 29*	Budweiser 500K	R  Riverside International Raceway	Riverside, California	ESPN
9	September 11	Escort Radar Warning 200	R  Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course	Lexington, Ohio	ESPN
10	September 26	Detroit News Grand Prix	O  Michigan International Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan	ESPN
11	October 8	Caesars Palace Grand Prix	R  Caesars Palace	Las Vegas, Nevada	NBC
12	October 23	Cribari Wines 300k	R  Laguna Seca Raceway	Monterey, California	ESPN
13	October 29	Miller High Life 150	O  Phoenix International Raceway	Avondale, Arizona	NBC

 O  Oval/Speedway
 R  Dedicated road course

• The season-opening Phoenix race was cancelled due to flooding.
• The Riverside race was scheduled for August 28, but pushed a day due to rain.

Season Summary

Race results

Rd	Race Name	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Winning driver	Winning team	Race time	Report
1	Kraco Dixie 200	Rick Mears	26.730	Gordon Johncock	Patrick Racing	1:22:29	Report
2	Indianapolis 500	Teo Fabi	2:53.582	Tom Sneva	Bignotti-Cotter Racing	3:05:03	Report
3	Gould Rex Mays Classic	Teo Fabi	26.259	Tom Sneva	Bignotti-Cotter Racing	1:17:42	Report
4	Budweiser Cleveland 500	Mario Andretti	1:13.516	Al Unser	Penske Racing	2:51:54	Report
5	Norton Michigan 500	Teo Fabi	35.621	John Paul Jr.	VDS Racing	3:42:27	Report
6	Provimi Veal 200	Mario Andretti	1:58.898	Mario Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	2:00:42	Report
7	Domino's Pizza 500	Tom Sneva	46.912	Teo Fabi	Forsythe Racing	3:42:28	Report
8	Budweiser 500K	Teo Fabi	1:30.887	Bobby Rahal	Truesports	2:45:28	Report
9	Escort Radar Warning 200	Bobby Rahal	1:21.364	Teo Fabi	Forsythe Racing	2:01:49	Report
10	Detroit News Grand Prix	Bobby Rahal	35.075	Rick Mears	Penske Racing	1:05:49	Report
11	Caesars Palace Grand Prix	John Paul Jr.	34.888	Mario Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	2:17:48	Report
12	Cribari Wines 300k	Teo Fabi	56.920	Teo Fabi	Forsythe Racing	1:44:28	Report
13	Miller High Life 150	Teo Fabi	24.947	Teo Fabi	Forsythe Racing	1:11:03	Report

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

Final points standings

Pos Driver ATL INDY MIL CLE MIC ROA POC RIV MDO MIC CPL LAG PHX Pts 1 Al Unser 2 2 2 1* 2 3 11 11 4 5 4 11 4 151 2 Teo Fabi  RY  20 26 4 3 15 15 1* 2 1* 3 25 1* 1* 146 3 Mario Andretti 5 23 18 15 3 1 7 16 2 4 1* 2 2 133 4 Tom Sneva 14 1* 1* 5 25 4 12 5 7 21 15 18 3 96 5 Bobby Rahal 21 20 6 19 5 10* 5 1 3 2 9 7 DNS 94 6 Rick Mears 8* 3 3 7 4 17 3 19 9 1* 13 21 17 92 7 Al Unser Jr.  R  6 10 13 9 7 2 2 4* 18 10 10 4 8 89 8 John Paul Jr.  R  3 DNQ 21 1* 5 29 3 20 7 2 26 11 84 9 Chip Ganassi 8 13 8 21 26 25 6 3 3 5 56 10 Pancho Carter 16 7 14 8 6 7 6 7 10 15 6 25 10 53 11 Pete Halsmer 4 DNQ 9 2 33 14 14 27 24 14 5 20 7 48 12 Roger Mears 7 28 8 6 DNQ 8 16 9 12 16 7 6 16 43 13 Howdy Holmes 9 6 7 12 32 16 13 13 8 8 17 5 21 39 14 Mike Mosley 13 13 5 4 17 25 4 24 DNQ 11 24 36 15 Kevin Cogan 15 5 20 25 27 19 15 21 6 20 16 22 6 26 16 Gordon Johncock 1 14 23 26 26 20 17 Chris Kneifel  R  12 27 9 26 8 22 13 24 8 9 15 19 18 Tony Bettenhausen Jr. 10 17 10 18 18 12 10 8 14 9 21 14 18 19 19 Steve Chassey 17 11 19 22 10 6 25 17 12 10 19 17 20 Danny Ongais 21 12 28 23 18 24 10 5 14 21 Geoff Brabham 4 22 18 12 20 16 13 22 Josele Garza 25 17 19 11 9 20 23 17 11 12 9 23 Tom Klausler  R  22 6 DNQ 8 24 Jeff Wood  R  22 8 5 25 Scott Brayton 9 24 12 28 13 26 5 26 Derek Daly  R  22 19 DNS 9 22 18 23 22 4 27 Michael Andretti  R  19 24 9 4 28 Desiré Wilson  R  DNQ 10 20 31 14 16 23 19 13 3 29 Dick Simon DNQ 15 11 14 13 25 15 19 14 23 2 30 Jim McElreath 11 13 23 2 31 Greg Leffler DNQ DNQ 24 15 11 2 32 Phil Krueger DNQ DNQ 17 11 27 2 33 Dick Ferguson DNQ 11 22 2 34 Jerry Karl DNQ 16 DNQ 21 32 12 1 35 Gary Bettenhausen DNQ 22 27 DNS 12 1 36 Doug Heveron  R  12 DNQ 1 37 Randy Lewis  R  13 0 38 Bill Alsup DNS DNQ 21 20 16 20 19 22 27 14 0 39 Tom Bigelow DNQ 15 DNQ 29 17 DNQ 0 40 Bill Whittington  R  18 15 19 0 41 Jorge Koechlin  R  15 0 42 Herm Johnson DNQ 16 24 DNQ 17 0 43 Mike Chandler 16 31 0 44 Patrick Bedard  R  30 28 17 0 45 Chet Fillip  R  19 33 DNQ 18 0 46 Johnny Rutherford 18 Wth 21 23 24 20 0 47 Al Loquasto DNQ 18 0 48 Don Whittington 27 20 33 0 49 Bill Tempero DNQ 23 DNQ 21 0 50 Johnny Parsons 22 30 0 51 Phil Caliva DNQ 23 0 52 Drake Olson  R  DNQ 23 0 53 Dennis Firestone 24 0 54 Chip Mead 26 25 0 55 Bob Ward  R  26 DNQ DNS 0 56 Steve Krisiloff 29 DNQ 0 57 Chuck Ciprich  R  DNQ 30 0 58 A. J. Foyt 31 0 59 George Snider 32 0 60 Tom Bagley DNQ 34 0 - Richard Hubbard DNQ DNQ DNQ 0 - Barry Ruble DNQ DNQ 0 - Teddy Pilette DNQ DNS 0 - Harry MacDonald DNQ 0 - Mark Alderson DNQ 0 - Jim Buick DNQ 0 - Larry Cannon DNQ 0 - Bob Frey DNQ 0 - Amber Furst DNQ 0 - Spike Gehlhausen DNQ 0 - Bob Harkey DNQ 0 - Sheldon Kinser DNQ 0 - Bob Lazier DNQ 0 - John Mahler DNQ 0 - Mack McClellan DNQ 0 - Graham McRae DNQ 0 - Dave Peperak DNQ 0 - Roger Rager DNQ 0 - Ken Schrader DNQ 0 - Jerry Sneva DNQ 0 - Rich Vogler DNQ 0 - Bill Vukovich II DNQ 0 - John Morton DNQ 0 - Lee Kunzman DNP 0 - Dave McMillan DNP 0 - Bobby Olivero DNP 0 - Bill Puterbaugh DNP 0 - Larry Rice DNP 0 - Dale Whittington DNP 0 Pos Driver ATL INDY MIL CLE MIC ROA POC RIV MDO MIC CPL LAG PHX Pts

Color Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green 4th-6th place Light Blue 7th-12th place Dark Blue Finished (Outside Top 12) Purple Did not finish Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Brown Withdrawn (Wth) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Blank Did not participate (DNP) Not competing In-line notation Bold Pole position Italics Ran fastest race lap * Led most race laps  RY  Rookie of the Year  R  Rookie