1996 CART IndyCar season
PPG Indy Car World Series
Season
Races	16
Start date	March 3
End date	September 8
Awards
Drivers' champion	Jimmy Vasser
Constructors' Cup	Reynard
Manufacturers' Cup	Honda
Nations' Cup	United States
Rookie of the Year	Alex Zanardi
← 1995 1997 (CART) →

The 1996 PPG Indy Car World Series season was the eighteenth in the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) era of American open-wheel car racing. It consisted of 16 races, beginning in Homestead, Florida on March 3 and concluding in Monterey, California on September 8. This was the first season after the split with the Indy Racing League and the last year that CART operated under the name "IndyCar", with the trademark reverting to Indianapolis Motor Speedway at season's end. The Indianapolis 500 was replaced by the U.S. 500, held at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan.

The PPG Indy Car World Series Drivers' Champion was Jimmy Vasser, whose Honda/Reynard won four of the first six races, including the inaugural US 500. Rookie of the Year was Alex Zanardi. The competition soon starting catching up to Vasser, who had to fend off two late challenges from veterans: Al Unser Jr.'s consistent performance saw him come close to tying Vasser late in the season, but his hopes evaporated after a last-lap crash at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and an engine failure while leading on the final turn at Road America. Michael Andretti's resulting victory there and in Vancouver put him in contention at the final race, but a disappointing result at Laguna Seca gave Vasser the championship. Rookie driver Jeff Krosnoff and a course worker died in an accident at the Toronto round, and one week later, Emerson Fittipaldi was in a serious accident at the start of the Marlboro 500 and had to retire.

Teams and drivers

The following teams and drivers competed in the 1996 Indy Car World Series season.

Team	Chassis	Engine	Tires	No	Drivers	Rounds	Primary Sponsor
Brahma Sports Team	Reynard 96I	Ford Cosworth XD	G	1	Raul Boesel	All	Brahma
Marlboro Team Penske	Penske PC-25	Mercedes IC 108C	G	2	Al Unser Jr.	All	Marlboro
				3	Paul Tracy	1–12, 14–16
				3	Jan Magnussen	13
Target/Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard 96I	Honda HRH	F	4	Alex Zanardi R	All	Target
Target/Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard 96I	Honda HRH	F	12	Jimmy Vasser	All	Target
Walker Racing	Reynard 96I	Ford Cosworth XD	G	5	Robby Gordon	All	Valvoline
	Reynard 96I	Ford Cosworth XB	G	15	Scott Goodyear	1–2, 11, 15–16	Valvoline DuraBlend
					Mike Groff	5
					Fredrik Ekblom	6
Newman/Haas Racing	Lola T96/00	Ford Cosworth XD	G	6	Michael Andretti	All	Texaco-Havoline
Newman/Haas Racing	Lola T96/00	Ford Cosworth XD	G	11	Christian Fittipaldi	All	Budweiser
Team Scandia	Lola T96/00	Ford Cosworth XB	G	7	Marco Greco	1–2	Int. Sports/Perry Ellis
				7	Eliseo Salazar	7, 9, 12–13	Cristal
				22	Carlos Guerrero	1–3	Herdez
				22	Michel Jourdain Jr. R	4, 7–9, 15–16	Herdez
Hall Racing	Reynard 96I	Honda HRH	G	8	Gil de Ferran	All	Pennzoil
Hogan Penske Racing	Penske PC-25	Mercedes IC 108C	G	9	Emerson Fittipaldi	1–12	Mobil 1
Hogan Penske Racing	Penske PC-25	Mercedes IC 108C	G	9	Jan Magnussen R	14–16	Mobil 1
Galles Racing International	Lola T96/00	Mercedes IC 108C	G	10	Eddie Lawson R	1–11	Delco Electronics
Galles Racing International	Lola T96/00	Mercedes IC 108C	G	10	Davy Jones	12–16	Delco Electronics
Bettenhausen Motorsports	Reynard 96I	Mercedes IC 108C	G	16	Stefan Johansson	All	Alumax
Bettenhausen Motorsports	Penske PC-23	Mercedes IC 108C	G	26	Gary Bettenhausen	6	Alumax
PacWest Racing Group	Reynard 96I	Ford Cosworth XB	G	17	Maurício Gugelmin	All	Hollywood Cigarettes
				21	Mark Blundell R	1–2, 6–16	Visa
				21	Teo Fabi	4–5	Visa
Team Rahal	Reynard 96I	Mercedes IC 108C	G	18	Bobby Rahal	All	Miller
Team Rahal	Reynard 96I	Mercedes IC 108C	G	28	Bryan Herta	All	Shell
Payton/Coyne Racing	Lola T96/00	Ford Cosworth XB	F	19	Hiro Matsushita	All	Panasonic
Payton/Coyne Racing	Lola T96/00	Ford Cosworth XB	F	34	Roberto Moreno	All	Data Control
Patrick Racing	Lola T96/00	Ford Cosworth XD	F	20	Scott Pruett	All	Firestone
Arciero-Wells Racing	Reynard 96I	Toyota RV8A	F	25	Jeff Krosnoff R	1–11	Arciero-Wells Racing 6 MCI 8
Arciero-Wells Racing	Reynard 96I	Toyota RV8A	F	25	Max Papis R	13–14, 16	Arciero-Wells Racing 6 MCI 8
Tasman Motorsports Group	Lola T96/00	Honda HRH	F	31	André Ribeiro	All	LCI International
Tasman Motorsports Group	Lola T96/00	Honda HRH	F	32	Adrián Fernández	All	Tecate
All American Racers	Eagle MK-V	Toyota RV8A	G	36	Juan Manuel Fangio II R	All	Castrol
All American Racers	Eagle MK-V	Toyota RV8A	G	98	P. J. Jones R	6–16	Castrol
Della Penna Motorsports	Reynard 95I	Ford Cosworth XB	G	44	Richie Hearn R	4, 11, 16	Ralphs
Brix Comptech Racing	Reynard 96I	Honda HRH	F	49	Parker Johnstone	All	Motorola
Project Indy	Reynard 95I	Ford Cosworth XB	G	64	Dennis Vitolo	4	SmithKline Beecham
Player's/Forsythe Racing	Reynard 96I	Mercedes IC 108C	F	99	Greg Moore R	All	Player's

Season Summary

Schedule

Rnd	Date	Race Name	Circuit	Location
1	March 3	Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami Presented by Toyota	O Homestead Motorsports Complex	Homestead, Florida
2	March 17	IndyCar Rio 400	O Autódromo de Jacarepaguá	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
3	March 31	Indy Carnival	R Surfers Paradise Street Circuit	Surfers Paradise, Australia
4	April 14	Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach	R Streets of Long Beach	Long Beach, California
5	April 28	Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix	O Nazareth Speedway	Nazareth, Pennsylvania
6	May 26	U.S. 500	O Michigan International Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan
7	June 2	Miller 200	O Milwaukee Mile	West Allis, Wisconsin
8	June 9	ITT Automotive Detroit Grand Prix	R The Raceway on Belle Isle Park	Detroit, Michigan
9	June 23	Budweiser/G. I. Joe's 200	R Portland International Raceway	Portland, Oregon
10	June 30	Medic Drug Grand Prix of Cleveland	R Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport	Cleveland, Ohio
11	July 14	Molson Indy Toronto	R Exhibition Place	Toronto, Ontario
12	July 28	Marlboro 500	O Michigan International Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan
13	August 11	Miller 200	R Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course	Lexington, Ohio
14	August 18	The Chicago Tribune Presents the Texaco/Havoline 200	R Road America	Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
15	September 1	Molson Indy Vancouver	R Concord Pacific Place	Vancouver, British Columbia
16	September 8	Toyota Grand Prix of Monterey Featuring the Bank of America 300	R Laguna Seca Raceway	Monterey, California

– Toronto was scheduled to run 170 miles, but was shortened due to the fatal accident of Jeff Krosnoff.
O Oval/Speedway
R Road/Street course

Race results

Rnd	Race	Pole position	Fastest lap	Race Winner				Race time	Report
Rnd	Race	Pole position	Fastest lap	Driver	Team	Chassis	Engine	Race time	Report
1	Homestead	Paul Tracy	Greg Moore	Jimmy Vasser	Target Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	1:51:23	Report
2	Rio	Alex Zanardi	Gil de Ferran	André Ribeiro	Tasman Motorsports	Lola	Honda	2:06:08	Report
3	Surfers Paradise	Jimmy Vasser	Jimmy Vasser	Jimmy Vasser	Target Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	2:00:46	Report
4	Long Beach	Gil de Ferran	Paul Tracy	Jimmy Vasser	Target Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	1:44:02	Report
5	Nazareth	Paul Tracy	Emerson Fittipaldi	Michael Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	Lola	Ford	1:25:08	Report
6	Michigan 1	Jimmy Vasser	Alex Zanardi	Jimmy Vasser	Target Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	3:11:48	Report
7	Milwaukee	Paul Tracy	Michael Andretti	Michael Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	Lola	Ford	1:33:32	Report
8	Belle Isle	Scott Pruett	Christian Fittipaldi	Michael Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	Lola	Ford	2:00:44	Report
9	Portland	Alex Zanardi	Alex Zanardi	Alex Zanardi	Target Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	1:50:25	Report
10	Cleveland	Jimmy Vasser	Jimmy Vasser	Gil de Ferran	Jim Hall Racing	Reynard	Honda	1:35:39	Report
11	Toronto	André Ribeiro	Alex Zanardi	Adrián Fernández	Tasman Motorsports	Lola	Honda	1:41:59	Report
12	Michigan 2	Jimmy Vasser	Adrián Fernández	André Ribeiro	Tasman Motorsports	Lola	Honda	3:16:33	Report
13	Mid-Ohio	Alex Zanardi	Alex Zanardi	Alex Zanardi	Target Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	1:46:49	Report
14	Road America	Alex Zanardi	Paul Tracy	Michael Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	Lola	Ford	1:56:33	Report
15	Vancouver	Alex Zanardi	Alex Zanardi	Michael Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	Lola	Ford	1:48:16	Report
16	Laguna Seca	Alex Zanardi	Alex Zanardi	Alex Zanardi	Target Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	1:48:32	Report

Final driver standings

Further information: List of American Championship car racing point scoring systems

Pos	Driver	MIA	RIO	SUR	LBH	NAZ	500	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	TOR	MIC	MDO	ROA	VAN	LAG	Pts
1	Jimmy Vasser	1	8	1*	1	7	1	10	12	13	10	8	9	2	6	7	4	154
2	Michael Andretti	9	22	19	7	1*	23	1	1	11	19	22	22	3	1	1*	9	132
3	Alex Zanardi RY	24	4*	21	24	13	17*	13	11	1*	2	2*	21	1*	3	26	1*	132
4	Al Unser Jr.	8	2	9	3	3	8	2*	22	4	4	13	4	13	10*	5	16	125
5	Christian Fittipaldi	6	5	5	21	9	12	6	2*	3	7	7	10	7	16	3	10	110
6	Gil de Ferran	2	10	11	5*	23	9	9	3	2	1*	18	19	17	25	4	25	104
7	Bobby Rahal	5	6	20	14	6	19	7	21	6	15	3	24	5	2	2	7	102
8	Bryan Herta	10	13	17	12	11	15	14	13	26	5	6	2	4	5	6	2	86
9	Greg Moore R	7	18	3	22	2	13	5	20	25	3	4	17	9	23	25	6	84
10	Scott Pruett	4	3	2	11	8	26	12	10	23	8	10	13	21	7	20	3	82
11	André Ribeiro	16	1	8	27	12	4	8	24	7	20	21	1*	8	19	21	19	76
12	Adrián Fernández	11	14	23	6	10	DNS	11	4	12	6	1	20	6	13	8	11	71
13	Paul Tracy	23*	19	22	4	5	7	3	17	27	9	5	Wth		12	18	29	60
14	Maurício Gugelmin	26	25	4	15	15	2	15	16	16	21	12	3	26	21	24	5	53
15	Stefan Johansson	19	23	6	19	19	16	27	7	9	12	17	5	11	4	17	21	43
16	Mark Blundell R	17	27				5	22	5	8	11	11	6	10	20	12	24	41
17	Parker Johnstone	Wth	16	24	2	20	11	16	14	5	25	26	18	12	11	11	13	33
18	Robby Gordon	3	15	16	13	22	20	17	26	10	18	9	8	18	17	10	15	29
19	Emerson Fittipaldi	13	11	25	20	4	10	4	25	20	22	14	25					29
20	Eddie Lawson R	15	21	7	9	17	6	20	6	15	24	15						26
21	Roberto Moreno	27	9	12	8	24	3	25	23	19	14	23	23	23	22	27	12	25
22	Raul Boesel	14	7	13	16	21	24	26	8	28	26	24	7	22	14	23	20	17
23	Juan Manuel Fangio II	21	17	15	25	25	22	19	18	14	13	28	14	20	8	19	28	5
24	Jan Magnussen R													14	26	22	8	5
25	Scott Goodyear	12	Wth									19				9	18	5
26	P. J. Jones R						Wth	24	9	24	23	20	16	25	18	13	27	4
27	Max Papis R													24	9		22	4
28	Hiro Matsushita	18	24	10	28	26	14	28	19	21	17	27	15	19	15	15	23	3
29	Richie Hearn R				10							25					17	3
30	Eliseo Salazar							21		18			11	15				2
31	Davy Jones												12	16	24	14	14	1
32	Marco Greco	25	12															1
33	Carlos Guerrero	20	20	14														0
34	Mike Groff					14												0
35	Jeff Krosnoff R	22	26	18	26	18	18	18	15	17	16	16¹						0
36	Teo Fabi				18	16	Wth											0
37	Michel Jourdain Jr. R				23			23	DNS	22						16	26	0
38	Dennis Vitolo				17													0
39	Gary Bettenhausen						21											0
40	Fredrik Ekblom R						25											0
Pos	Driver	MIA	RIO	SUR	LBH	NAZ	500	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	TOR	MIC	MDO	ROA	VAN	LAG	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)
Blank	Not competing

In-line notation
Bold	Pole position
Italics	Ran fastest race lap
*	Led most race laps
RY	Rookie of the Year
R	Rookie

Note: ¹ Jeff Krosnoff died in an accident at the Molson Indy Toronto.

Nations' Cup

Top result per race counts towards Nations' Cup.

Pos	Country	Pts
1	United States	282
2	Brazil	206
3	Italy	120
4	Canada	111
5	Mexico	71
6	Sweden	43
7	United Kingdom	41
8	Argentina	5
9	Denmark	5
10	Japan	3
11	Chile	2
Pos	Country	Pts

Chassis Constructors' Cup

Pos	Chassis	Pts	Wins
1	Reynard 96I	276	8
2	Lola T9600	260	8
3	Penske PC-25/PC-23	139	0
4	Eagle MK V/96	9	0
Pos	Chassis	Pts	Wins

Engine Manufacturers' Cup

Pos	Engine	Pts	Wins
1	Honda	271	11
2	Ford XD/XB	234	5
3	Mercedes	218	0
4	Toyota	9	0
Pos	Engine	Pts	Wins

Drivers breakdown

Pos ↓	Car	Driver ↓	Team ↓	Starts ↓	Wins ↓	Podiums ↓	Top 5s ↓	Top 10s ↓	Poles ↓	Points ↓
1	12	Vasser	Target Ganassi Racing	16	4	5	6	14	4	154
2	6	Andretti	Newman Haas Racing	16	5	6	6	9		131
3	4	Zanardi	Target Ganassi Racing	16	3	6	7	7	6	130
4	2	Unser Jr.	Marlboro Team Penske	16	0	4	8	12		124
5	11	C. Fittipaldi	Newman Haas Racing	16	0	3	5	13		110
6	8	de Ferran	Jim Hall Racing	16	1	4	6	9	1	104
7	18	Rahal	Team Rahal	16	0	3	5	10		102
8	28	Herta	Team Rahal	16	0	2	5	8		86
9	99	Moore	Forsythe Racing	16	0	3	5	8		84
10	20	Pruett	Patrick Racing	16	0	3	4	9	1	82
11	31	Ribeiro	Tasman Motorsports	16	2	2	3	7	1	76
12	32	Fernandez	Tasman Motorsports	15	1	1	2	7		71
13	3	Tracy	Marlboro Team Penske	14	0	1	4	6	3	60
14	17	Gugelmin	PacWest Racing	16	0	2	4	4		53
15	16	Johansson	Bettenhausen Racing	16	0	0	2	5		43
16	21	Blundell	PacWest Racing	13	0	0	2	5		41
17	49	Johnstone	Comptech Racing	15	0	1	2	2		33
18	5	Gordon	Walker Racing	16	0	1	1	5		29
18	9	E. Fittipaldi	Hogan Penske	12	0	0	2	3		29
20	10	Lawson	Galles Racing	11	0	0	0	4		26
21	34	Moreno	Payton/Coyne Racing	15	0	1	1	3		25
22	1	Boesel	Brahma Sports Team	16	0	0	0	3		17
23	36	Fangio	All American Racing	16	0	0	0	1		5
23	9	Magnussen	Hogan Penske	4	0	0	0	1		5
23	15	Goodyear	Walker Racing	4	0	0	0	1		5
26	98	P. J. Jones	All American Racing	10	0	0	0	1		4
26	25	Papis	Arciero-Wells Racing	3	0	0	0	1		4
28	19	Matsushita	Payton/Coyne Racing	16	0	0	0	1		3
28	44	Hearn	Della Penna Motorsports	3	0	0	0	1		3
30	7	Salazar	Dick Simon Racing	4	0	0	0	0		2
31	10	D. Jones	Galles Racing	5	0	0	0	0		1
31	7	Greco	Dick Simon Racing	2	0	0	0	0		1
33	25	Krosnoff	Arciero-Wells Racing	11	0	0	0	0		0
33	22	Jourdain Jr.	Della Penna Motorsports	5	0	0	0	0		0
33	22	Guerrero	Dick Simon Racing	3	0	0	0	0		0
33	21	Fabi	PacWest Racing	2	0	0	0	0		0
33	15	Ekblom	Walker Racing	1	0	0	0	0		0
33	15	Groff	Walker Racing	1	0	0	0	0		0
33	26	Bettenhausen	Bettenhausen Racing	1	0	0	0	0		0
33	64	Vitolo	Project Indy	1	0	0	0	0		0

v t e American Championship car racing (Indy car) seasons
AAA	1905 1906–1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942–1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955
USAC	1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95
CART	1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
CCWS	2004 2005 2006 2007 ~~2008~~
IRL	1996 1996–97 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002
INDYCAR	2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Years marked in italics are not official championship years or upcoming seasons.