1994 IndyCar season

1994 IndyCar season
PPG Indy Car World Series
Season
Races 16
Start date March 20
End date October 9
Awards
Drivers' champion Al Unser, Jr.
Constructors' Cup Penske
Manufacturers' Cup Ilmor
Nations' Cup United States
Rookie of the Year Jacques Villeneuve
Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser, Jr.
Chronology
Previous season Next season
1993 1995

The 1994 IndyCar season, the sixteenth in the CART era of U.S. open-wheel racing, comprised 16 races, beginning in Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia on March 20 and concluding in Monterey, California on October 9. The PPG Indy Car World Series Drivers' Champion and Indianapolis 500 winner was Al Unser, Jr. Rookie of the Year was Jacques Villeneuve. The 78th Indianapolis 500 was sanctioned by the USAC, but counted in the CART points standings.

Contents

Overview

The 1994 season was memorable for four main reasons: the dominance of Team Penske's PC-23 chassis, the retirement of the great Mario Andretti, the return of Michael Andretti after his unsuccessful season in Formula One, and the rise of young Canadian Jacques Villeneuve.

Teams and Drivers

Races

Rnd Race Name Circuit City/Location Date American TV
1 Australian FAI Indy Car Grand Prix Surfers Paradise Street Circuit Surfers Paradise, Australia March 20 ABC Sports
2 Slick 50 200 Phoenix International Raceway Avondale, Arizona April 10 ESPN
3 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Streets of Long Beach Long Beach, California April 17 ABC Sports
4 78th Indianapolis 500 Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway, Indiana May 29 ABC Sports
5 Miller Genuine Draft 200 Milwaukee Mile West Allis, Wisconsin June 5 ABC Sports
6 ITT Automotive Grand Prix of Detroit The Raceway on Belle Isle Park Detroit, Michigan June 12 ABC Sports
7 Budweiser/G. I. Joe´s 200 Portland International Raceway Portland, Oregon June 26 ESPN
8 Budweiser Grand Prix of Cleveland Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport Cleveland, Ohio July 10 ABC Sports
9 Molson Indy Toronto Exhibition Place Toronto, Ontario July 17 NBC Sports
10 Marlboro 500 Michigan International Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan July 31 ESPN
11 Pioneer Electronics 200 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, Ohio August 14 ABC Sports
12 Slick 50 200 New Hampshire International Speedway Loudon, New Hampshire August 21 ESPN
13 Molson Indy Vancouver Streets of Vancouver Vancouver, British Columbia September 4 ESPN2
14 Texaco/Havoline 200 Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin September 11 ESPN
15 Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix Nazareth Speedway Nazareth, Pennsylvania September 18 ESPN/ESPN2
16 Toyota Grand Prix of Monterey Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Monterey, California October 9 ESPN2
  Oval/Speedway
  Road Course/Street Circuit

Drivers and teams

The following teams and drivers competed in the 1994 Indy Car World Series season. All teams used Goodyear tyres; Firestone would return one year later after a hiatus lasting for two decades.

Team Chassis Engine(s) No(s) Drivers Sponsors Notes/Other
Newman-Haas Racing Lola T9400 Ford XB 1 Nigel Mansell Texaco-Havoline
Kmart
6 Mario Andretti Texaco-Havoline
Kmart
Retired after the season
Marlboro Team Penske Penske PC-23 Ilmor D
Mercedes-Benz 500I
2 Emerson Fittipaldi Marlboro The 209 cid Mercedes-Benz 500I was used at Indianapolis only
3 Paul Tracy Marlboro
31 Al Unser, Jr. Marlboro
Rahal-Hogan Racing Lola T9400
Lola T9300
Penske PC-22
Honda
Ilmor D
Ilmor C
4 Bobby Rahal Miller Genuine Draft Used the Penske/Ilmor combination at Indy after struggles with the Honda engine
10 Mike Groff Motorola Used the Penske/Ilmor combination at Indy after struggles with the Honda engine
Dick Simon Racing Lola T9400
Lola T9300
Ford XB 5 Raul Boesel Duracell
22 Hiro Matsushita Panasonic
Duskin
79 Tero Palmroth Unsponsored Indy 500 only
90 Lyn St. James J. C. Penney Indy 500 only
99 Hideshi Matsuda Unsponsored Indy 500 only
Galles Racing Reynard 94I Ilmor D 7 Adrián Fernández Tecate
Quaker State
First full season
Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard 94I Ford XB 8 Michael Andretti Target
88 Maurício Gugelmin Hollywood First full season
Walker Racing Lola T9400
Lola T9300
Ford XB 9 Robby Gordon Valvoline
15 Mark Smith Craftsman
24 Willy T. Ribbs Service Merchandise
A.J. Foyt Enterprises Lola T9400
Lola T9300
Lola T9200
Ford XB 14 Davy Jones
Bryan Herta
Eddie Cheever
Copenhagen Driver Rotation
Jones: Surfers Paradise through Indianapolis
Herta: replaced Jones in mid-May and was injured at Toronto
Cheever: Michigan through Laguna Seca
33 John Andretti Bryant Indy 500 only
Jim Hall/VDS Racing Reynard 94I Ilmor D 11 Teo Fabi Pennzoil
Bettenhausen Motorsports Penske PC-22 Ilmor D
Ilmor C
16 Stefan Johansson Alumax Aluminum
61 Gary Bettenhausen Unsponsored Indy 500 only (DNQ)
76 Gary Brabham
Robbie Groff
Tony Bettenhausen, Jr.
Split Cycle
Condor
Driver Rotation
Brabham: Surfers Paradise
Groff: Long Beach and Portland
Bettenhausen Indy 500 (WD)
King Racing Lola T9400
Lola T9300
Ford XB 40 Scott Goodyear Budweiser
60 Andrea Montermini Budweiser Cleveland and Toronto only
Hayhoe Racing Reynard 94I Ford XB 18 Jimmy Vasser Conseco
STP
Team Menard (Indy 500 only) Lola T9300 Buick 27 Eddie Cheever Quaker State
51 Eddie Cheever Glidden
Menards
DNQ
59 Scott Brayton
Geoff Brabham
Glidden Brabham DNQ
Euromotorsport Lola T9300
Lola T9200
Ilmor C
Ilmor A
50 Alessandro Zampedri
Jeff Wood
Giovanni Lavaggi
Franck Fréon
Agip
Dinemo
Heroflon
Driver Rotation
Zampedri: Australia through Indy
Wood: remainder of the season barring Detroit, Vancouver, and Road America
Lavaggi: Detroit only (DNQ)
Freon: Vancouver and Road America
55 David Kudrave
Jeff Andretti
Alessandro Zampedri
Agip
Hawaiian Tropic
Driver Rotation:
Kudrave: Surfers Paradise (DNQ)
Andretti: Phoenix
Zampedri: Long Beach
ProFormance Motorsports Lola T9300 Ilmor C 45 John Paul, Jr. Unsponsored Phoenix and Indy only
Payton/Coyne Racing Lola T9300
Lola T9200
Ford XB
Ilmor A
19 Robbie Buhl
Brian Till
Johnny Unser
Mauro Baldi
Alessandro Zampedri
Mi-Jack Driver Rotation
Buhl: Australia and Long Beach
Till: Phoenix and Indy
Unser: Milwaukee (DNQ) and New Hampshire
Zampedri: remainder of the season barring New Hampshire and Mid-Ohio
Baldi: replaced Zampedri at Mid-Ohio only
39 Andrea Montermini
Johnny Unser
Ross Bentley
Agfa Driver Rotation
Montermini: Australia (WD)
Unser: Phoenix and Long Beach (DNQ)
Bentley: remainder of the season
Arciero Racing Lola T9400 Ford XB 25 Marco Greco Unsponsored
Indy Regency Racing Lola T9400 Ilmor D 28 Arie Luyendyk Eurosport
Boost Monaco
29 Franck Fréon Unsponsored Laguna Seca only
PacWest Racing Lola T9400 Ford XB 17 Dominic Dobson Unsponsored Bank of America sponsored both cars at Laguna Seca after no funding all season
71 Scott Sharp Unsponsored Bank of America sponsored both cars at Laguna Seca after no funding all season
Leader Card Racing Lola T9300 Ilmor C 23 Buddy Lazier
Giovanni Lavaggi
Financial World Magazine Lavaggi drove at Cleveland and Road America, and DNQ at Laguna Seca
Hemelgarn Racing Reynard
Lola T9100
Ford XB 91
95
Stan Fox Delta Faucets Indy 500 only (failed to qualify Car #95)
Fledging teams (did not compete in 1993), Indy 500-only entries, and other one-offs
Team Chassis Engines No(s) Drivers Sponsors Notes/Other
Forsythe/Green Racing Reynard 94I Ford XB 12 Jacques Villeneuve Players Limited Rookie of the Year
Project Indy Lola T9300 Ford XB 64 Franck Fréon
Didier Theys
Christian Danner
Domenico Schiattarella
Andrea Montermini
Marcelo Group/No Touch Driver Rotation
Freon: Long Beach and Portland
Theys: Indy 500; DNQ
Danner: Detroit, Cleveland (WD), and Road America
Schiattarella: Toronto, Mid-Ohio, and Vancouver (WD)
Montermini: Laguna Seca only
Vitolo Racing Lola T9300 Ford XB 79 Dennis Vitolo Hooligan's Indy 500 only
Pagan Racing Lola T9200 Buick 21 Roberto Guerrero Pagan Racing Indy 500 only
Arizona Motorsport Lola T9400 Ford XB 44 Roberto Moreno
Al Unser
Tero Palmroth
Unsponsored Indy 500 only; all three drivers DNQ (Unser retired after failing to qualify)
Tasman Motorsports Lola T9400 Ford XB 34 Bryan Herta Unsponsored Indy 500 only; Withdrew after Herta joined A.J. Foyt's team.
McCormack Motorsports Lola T9400 Ilmor D 30 Claude Bourbonnais
Fredrik Ekblom
Players (Bourbonnais only) Bourbonnais: Long Beach, Toronto, Mid-Ohio, Vancouver, and Road America
Ekblom: Detroit only
Comptech Racing Lola T9400
Lola T9300
Honda 49 Parker Johnstone Comptech Portland, Cleveland, Toronto, Mid-Ohio, Vancouver, and Laguna Seca
Greenfield Racing Lola T93/01 Greenfield GC 209T 42 Michael Greenfield
Johnny Parsons Jr.
Unsponsored Indy 500 only; Greenfield missed Rookie Orientation, Parsons DNQ

Overview Part Two: Race Reports

Round One: Surfers Paradise

Round Two: Phoenix

Round Three: Long Beach

Round Four: 78th Indianapolis 500 mile race

Round Five: Milwaukee

Round Six: Detroit

Round Seven: Portland

Round Eight: Cleveland

Round Nine: Toronto

Round Ten: Marlboro 500 at Michigan

Round Eleven: Mid-Ohio

Round Twelve: New Hampshire

Emerson Fittipaldi took his first pole in nearly a year. At the start, eighth place starter Adrian Fernandez spun across the track without contact. But in an effort to avoid him, Jacques Villeneuve and Arie Luyendyk crashed and were done for the day before taking the green flag, thus failing to start the race. Robby Gordon spun harmlessly. Luyendyk blamed the crash on the top qualifiers for bringing the field perhaps too slowly to the green flag. The resulting 25 car starting field was the smallest of the year, showing the strength of the sport at the time. A scary crash on Lap 13 involved Mike Groff and former Trans-Am champion Scott Sharp. Groff spun exiting Turn 2 and hit the outside wall; just behind him, Sharp spun to avoid him and was propelled by his kinetic energy onto Groff's nose. His car was launched into the air and flipped once and a half, leaving the Connecticut native hanging upside down in the car for approximately two minutes. The rookie was flipped carefully onto his wheels and walked away unharmed.

Round Thirteen: Vancouver

Round Fourteen: Road America

Round Fifteen: Nazareth

Round Sixteen: Laguna Seca

Full Series Results

Race Results

Rnd Race Name Pole position Fastest lap Winning driver Winning team Report
1 Australian FAI Indy Car Grand Prix Nigel Mansell Nigel Mansell Michael Andretti Target Chip Ganassi Racing Report
2 Valvoline 200 Paul Tracy Emerson Fittipaldi Emerson Fittipaldi Marlboro Team Penske Report
3 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Paul Tracy Al Unser, Jr. Al Unser, Jr. Marlboro Team Penske Report
4 78th Indianapolis 500 Al Unser, Jr. Emerson Fittipaldi Al Unser, Jr. Marlboro Team Penske Report
5 Miller Genuine Draft 200 Raul Boesel Al Unser, Jr. Al Unser, Jr. Marlboro Team Penske Report
6 ITT Automotive Grand Prix of Detroit Nigel Mansell Al Unser, Jr. Paul Tracy Marlboro Team Penske Report
7 Budweiser/G. I. Joe´s 200 Al Unser, Jr. Al Unser, Jr. Al Unser, Jr. Marlboro Team Penske Report
8 Budweiser Grand Prix of Cleveland Al Unser, Jr. Al Unser, Jr. Al Unser, Jr. Marlboro Team Penske Report
9 Molson Indy Toronto Robby Gordon Michael Andretti Michael Andretti Target Chip Ganassi Racing Report
10 Marlboro 500 Nigel Mansell Al Unser, Jr. Scott Goodyear Budweiser King Racing Report
11 Pioneer Electronics 200 Al Unser, Jr. Al Unser, Jr. Al Unser, Jr. Marlboro Team Penske Report
12 Slick 50 200 Emerson Fittipaldi Emerson Fittipaldi Al Unser, Jr. Marlboro Team Penske Report
13 Molson Indy Vancouver Robby Gordon Robby Gordon Al Unser, Jr. Marlboro Team Penske Report
14 Texaco/Havoline 200 Paul Tracy Nigel Mansell Jacques Villeneuve Forsythe/Green Racing Report
15 Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix Emerson Fittipaldi Emerson Fittipaldi Paul Tracy Marlboro Team Penske Report
16 Toyota Grand Prix of Monterey Paul Tracy Paul Tracy Paul Tracy Marlboro Team Penske Report

Final driver standings

Pos Driver SUR PHX LBH INDY MIL DET POR CLE TOR MIC MDO LOU VAN ROA NAZ LAG Pts
1 Al Unser, Jr. 14 2 1* 1 1* 10* 1* 1* 29 8 1 1 1 2 2 20 225
2 Emerson Fittipaldi 2 1* 21 17* 2 2 2 20 3 10 3 3* 9 3 3 4 178
3 Paul Tracy 16 23 20 23 3 1 3 3 5 16 2* 2 20 18* 1* 1* 152
4 Michael Andretti 1* 20 6 6 4 5 31 18 1* 22 5 5 3 17 9 28 118
5 Robby Gordon 23 7 3 5 6 3 4 11 6 13 4 13 2 25 23 13 104
6 Jacques Villeneuve 17 25 15 2 9 7 6 4 9 20 9 26 24 1 7 3 94
7 Raul Boesel 27 8 4 21 8 28 23 6 12 9* 8 4 23 6 4 2 90
8 Nigel Mansell 9 3 2 22 5 21 5 2 23 26 7 18 10* 13 22 8 88
9 Teo Fabi 7 26 9 7 17 4 27 9 8 4 21 20 18 4 6 5 79
10 Bobby Rahal 26 14 30 3 7 6 12 28 2 28 27 9 7 9 14 29 59
11 Stefan Johansson 5 4 10 15 26 22 8 5 14 14 12 23 26 8 5 12 57
12 Scott Goodyear 10 11 19 30 22 11 28 14 10 1 22 11 4 7 8 27 55
13 Adrián Fernández 13 10 8 28 16 23 10 7 13 23 6 8 22 5 21 7 46
14 Mario Andretti 3 21 5 32 14 18 9 27 4 18 10 19 11 16 25 19 45
15 Jimmy Vasser 4 5 24 4 11 20 32 31 25 25 14 7 15 28 13 26 42
16 Maurício Gugelmin 6 15 7 11 15 8 30 8 20 15 25 14 5 19 10 22 39
17 Arie Luyendyk 25 22 11 18 21 19 14 21 31 2 13 27 6 22 26 6 34
18 Dominic Dobson 12 24 17 29 13 25 17 25 11 3 15 6 19 11 19 10 30
19 Mark Smith 21 Wth 25 DNQ 24 14 16 22 30 5 20 12 8 26 12 14 17
20 Mike Groff 8 6 27 31 19 27 11 19 22 27 26 25 14 20 11 15 17
21 Scott Sharp 11 9 28 16 12 13 18 24 16 12 11 24 12 10 15 21 14
22 Willy T. Ribbs 18 28 18 DNQ 25 16 25 12 21 7 28 10 25 24 18 11 12
23 Bryan Herta 9 10 9 28 13 Wth 11
24 Andrea Montermini Wth 16 7 9 10
25 Alessandro Zampedri 22 22 Wth 26 7 10 17 Wth 28 23 20 16 9
26 Hiro Matsushita 15 27 DNQ 14 23 DNQ 21 15 18 6 18 17 DNQ 14 16 23 8
27 Eddie Cheever 8 21 17 21 17 27 24 25 5
28 John Andretti 10 3
29 Marco Greco DNQ 16 23 27 20 24 20 26 15 11 DNQ 16 16 21 17 24 2
30 Christian Danner 12 Wth 12 2
31 Davy Jones 19 12 14 Wth 1
32 Franck Fréon 12 15 DNQ 29 18 1
33 Brian Till 19 12 1
34 Robbie Groff 13 13 0
35 Parker Johnstone 19 17 27 23 13 17 0
36 Buddy Lazier DNQ 13 29 DNQ 18 17 24 Wth DNS 24 DNQ DNS 27 DNQ 0
37 Stan Fox 13 0
38 Giovanni Lavaggi DNQ 30 15 DNQ 0
39 Fredrik Ekblom 15 Wth 0
40 Johnny Unser DNQ DNQ DNQ 15 0
41 Robbie Buhl 20 16 0
42 Domenico Schiattarella 26 16 Wth 0
43 Jeff Wood Wth 29 23 28 17 DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ 0
44 Jeff Andretti 17 DNQ 0
45 John Paul, Jr. 18 25 0
46 Ross Bentley DNQ DNQ DNQ 22 29 19 19 DNQ 22 DNQ DNS DNQ DNQ 0
47 Mauro Baldi 19 0
48 Lyn St. James 19 0
49 Scott Brayton 20 0
50 Claude Bourbonnais 26 24 24 21 30 0
51 Gary Brabham 24 0
52 Hideshi Matsuda 24 0
53 Dennis Vitolo 26 0
54 Roberto Guerrero 33 0
Gary Bettenhausen DNQ 0
Tony Bettenhausen, Jr. Wth 0
Geoff Brabham DNQ 0
Pancho Carter DNQ 0
Jim Crawford DNQ 0
Michael Greenfield Wth 0
Stéphan Grégoire DNQ 0
David Kudrave DNQ DNQ DNQ 0
Rocky Moran Wth 0
Roberto Moreno DNQ 0
Tero Palmroth DNQ 0
Johnny Parsons DNQ 0
Johnny Rutherford Wth 0
Russell Spence Wth 0
Didier Theys DNQ 0
Al Unser DNQ 0
Pos Driver SUR PHX LBH INDY MIL DET POR CLE TOR MIC MDO LOU VAN ROA NAZ LAG Pts
Color Result
Gold Winner
Silver 2nd place
Bronze 3rd place
Green 4th & 5th place
Light Blue 6th-10th place
Dark Blue Finished
(Outside Top 10)
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
Rookie of the Year
Rookie

Point Scoring System:

Position 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Points 20 16 14 12 10 8 6 5 4 3 2 1

Bonus Points:

Nation's Cup

Pos Country SUR PHX LBH INDY MIL DET POR CLE TOR MIC MDO LOU VAN ROA NAZ LAG Pts
1 United States 1 2 1 1 1 3 1 1 1 3 1 1 1 2 2 10 292
2 Canada 10 11 15 2 3 1 3 3 5 1 2 2 4 1 1 1 225
3 Brazil 2 1 4 11 2 2 2 6 3 9 3 3 5 3 3 2 213
4 England 9 3 2 22 5 21 5 2 23 26 7 18 10 13 22 8 88
5 Italy 7 26 9 7 17 4 7 9 7 4 16 20 18 4 6 5 86
6 Sweden 5 4 10 15 26 15 8 5 14 14 12 23 26 8 5 12 57
7 Mexico 13 10 8 28 16 23 10 7 13 23 6 8 22 5 21 7 46
8 Netherlands 25 22 11 18 21 19 14 21 31 2 13 27 6 22 26 6 34
9 Japan 15 27 DNQ 14 23 DNQ 21 15 18 6 18 17 DNQ 14 16 23 8
10 Germany 12 Wth 12 2
11 France 12 DNQ 15 DNQ 29 18 1
12 Australia 24 DNQ 0
13 Colombia 33 0
Belgium DNQ 0
Finland DNQ 0
Scotland DNQ 0
Pos Driver SUR PHX LBH INDY MIL DET POR CLE TOR MIC MDO LOU VAN ROA NAZ LAG Pts

Chassis Constructor's Cup

Pos Chassis Top Team Top Driver SUR PHX LBH INDY MIL DET POR CLE TOR MIC MDO LOU VAN ROA NAZ LAG Pts
1 Penske PC-23/PC-22 Marlboro Team Penske Al Unser, Jr. 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 8 1 1 1 2 1 1 313
2 Lola T9400/T9300/T9200 Walker Racing Robby Gordon 3 3 2 5 5 3 4 2 2 1 4 4 2 6 4 2 226
3 Reynard 94I Target Chip Ganassi Racing Michael Andretti 1 5 6 2 4 4 6 4 1 4 5 5 3 1 6 3 208
Pos Chassis Top Team Top Driver SUR PHX LBH INDY MIL DET POR CLE TOR MIC MDO LOU VAN ROA NAZ LAG Pts

Engine Manufacturer's Cup

Pos Engine Top Team Top Driver SUR PHX LBH INDY MIL DET POR CLE TOR MIC MDO LOU VAN ROA NAZ LAG Pts
1 Ilmor D, C, A Marlboro Team Penske Al Unser, Jr. 2 1 1 3 1 1 1 1 3 2 1 1 1 2 1 1 316
2 Ford XB Target Chip Ganassi Racing Michael Andretti 1 3 2 2 4 3 4 2 1 1 4 4 2 1 4 2 258
3 Honda Rahal Hogan Racing Bobby Rahal 8 6 27 DNQ 7 6 11 17 2 27 23 9 7 9 11 15 69
4 Mercedes Marlboro Team Penske* Al Unser, Jr.* 1 22
5 Buick Team Menard* Eddie Cheever* 8 5
Chevrolet C Unknown* Stephan Gregoire* DNQ 0
Greenfield V8 Greenfield Industries* Johnny Parsons* DNQ 0
Pos Engine Top Team Top Driver SUR PHX LBH INDY MIL DET POR CLE TOR MIC MDO LOU VAN ROA NAZ LAG Pts

References

See also