• CART was sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) • Indianapolis was USAC-sanctioned but counted towards the CART championship.
Race summaries Race 1: Arizona Republic/Jimmy Bryan 150 Bobby Unser won the first pole in the new series history and dominated the race leading the most laps (86). However Unser had tire issues forcing an extra stop and history would show Gordon Johncock as the series first ever winner with Rick Mears second, and Johnny Rutherford in third.
Races 2 and 3: Gould Twin Dixie 125's Johnny Rutherford would win the pole race 1. Race 1 would see Rutherford and Gordon Johncock dominate with Johncock leading the most laps (32) but would see Rutherford winning after a late race duel with Lee Kumzman who would hold on for second. Tom Sneva would take third while Johncock would take fourth. Race 2 would see Rutherford again lead the field to the green flag (Race 2 lineup set by Race 1 finishing order). This time Rutherford would lead the most laps (61) and win. Rick Mears took second. Placing third was Al Unser Sr after he ran out of fuel on the final lap. Also during this race weekend the CART teams that planned on entering the Indianapolis 500 were informed in a telegram from USAC that their board of directors voted unanimously to reject the entries of six key CART teams of Penske, Patrick, McLaren, Fletcher, Chaparral, and Gurney as they stated these six teams (19 cars) were alleged to be "harmful to racing" and "not in good standing with USAC."
Race 4: Indianapolis 500 After the rejected six filed an emergency injunction to be allowed to qualify and compete in the race, the injunction was granted. Race Day came around following
the qualifying controversy and Rick Mears won his first of six Indy 500 poles. Both Bobby and Al Unser combined to lead 174 laps. But on lap 103 Al Unsers Day came to an end with a failed transmission. Bobby Unser was then in firm control until lap 181 when he slowed with gearbox troubles. Rick Mears would lead the remainder of the race for his first of four Indy 500 wins. A J. Foyt would finish second after losing his engine on the final lap. Mike Mosely would finish third, Danny Ongais would take fourth, Bobby Unser nursed his car to a fifth place finish with an ailing gearbox.
Races 5 and 6: Trenton Twin Indy Race 1 would see Gordon Johncock take pole. He would lead the first 44 laps (most laps led) then lose the lead on the next lap as he had to pit, then he would spin 2 laps later losing more spots. That opened the door for Bobby Unser to win with brother Al Unser Sr taking second, and Johncock would recover for third. Starting order for race 2 was set by race 1 finishing order so Bobby Unser started first and would finish first after leading the most laps (62). Wally Dallenbach would finish second, Johnny Rutherford finished third.
Races 7 and 8: Norton Twin 125s In the first race,
Bobby Unser won the pole, followed by
Al Unser,
Gordon Johncock,
Wally Dallenbach, and
Rick Mears. Johncock jumped out to lead the first three laps, but Bobby Unser fought back and led until the first caution flew on lap 11 for
Spike Gehlhausen's stalled car.
Lee Kunzman stayed out under the caution and took the lead, while Bobby Unser's engine blew on lap 21. Al Unser would pick up the lead after the caution flew for
Danny Ongais spinning, but he miscalculated fuel mileage and ran out of fuel with 17 laps to go.
Mike Mosley led the first lap, but he had fuel pump problems the next lap and dropped out. Throughout the next 25 laps, Johnny Rutherford and Rick Mears would trade the lead, before Unser charged to the front on lap 28 and never looked back, winning the race. Rick Mears finished second on track, but he was penalized for passing cars under the yellow, dropping him to fifth.
Tom Sneva moved to second, Al Unser to third, and Gordon Johncock to fourth. Two cautions flew, the first for
John Mahler's stalled car on lap 23 and the second for a crash involving Danny Ongais on lap 40. Following the second of the two races, Rick Mears was leading the points with a 460 point lead over Gordon Johncock. Bobby Unser was third, 470 points back, Johnny Rutherford fourth, 925 points back, and Mike Mosley rounded out the top 5, 960 points back.
Race 9: Kent Oil 150 Al Unser won the pole, with
Bobby Unser,
Danny Ongais,
Rick Mears and
Gordon Johncock making up the rest of the top five. In the race, Al and Bobby Unser dominated, the two brothers being the only ones to lead laps throughout the day. Bobby Unser took the lead for good after Al had transmission problems on lap 48, and led the rest of the race to win over Rick Mears. Gordon Johncock finished third, Danny Ongais fourth, and Al Unser fell to fifth. With his win, Bobby Unser rose to second in points, 410 points behind Rick Mears. Gordon Johncock fell to third, 490 points back, Johnny Rutherford was in fourth, 1157 points back after dropping out with a blown engine, and
Mike Mosley remained in fifth, falling to 1185 points behind after dropping out with a broken gearbox.
Race 10: Ditzler 150 Bobby Unser won the pole, with
Gordon Johncock,
Tom Sneva,
Danny Ongais, and
Rick Mears making up the rest of the top five. The race was postponed over a week due to rain. When the race did run, except for one lap led by
Bill Alsup, Unser, Sneva, and Mears were the only ones to lead the race. Bobby Unser led the first 20 laps, before giving the lead to Mears. Tom Sneva then led at lap 57, followed by Unser regaining the lead on lap 69. Unser made a pit stop with 14 laps to go, giving the lead back to Sneva. Rick Mears gambled on pit strategy, and passed Tom Sneva with just 3 laps to go to win the final ever IndyCar race at Trenton. Bobby Unser also passed him, taking advantage of Sneva's fading tires to finish second. For the remainder of the race, Bobby Unser and Rick Mears traded the lead, While leading on lap 164, Rick Mears killed the engine on his pit stop, causing him to lose 12 seconds to Bobby Unser. This allowed Bobby Unser to take the lead, and hold it the rest of the way to win over
Tom Sneva. Rick Mears was third despite running out of gas on the final lap, Johnny Rutherford finished fourth, and
Tom Bagley was fifth. The win was the fifth straight for
Team Penske. Bobby Unser was now just 180 points behind Mears in the fight, followed by Rutherford, Johncock, and Al Unser.
Race 13: Rich's Atlanta Classic Bobby Unser claimed his fifth pole of the year, followed by
Rick Mears,
Al Unser,
Danny Ongais, and
Johnny Rutherford. In the race, Unser dominated the first half of the race, but while leading on lap 55 suffered a blown tire handing the lead to Johnny Rutherford. But with 25 laps remaining in the race, Rutherford's engine blew, which allowed Rick Mears to cruise to an easy victory.
Gordon Johncock placed second, despite running out of gas on the final lap, Bobby Unser wound up third,
Wally Dallenbach finished fourth, and Al Unser, who had tire problems of his own, There were two late-race cautions, one when Wally Dallenbach spun with 9 laps to go, and one when
Pancho Carter lost a wheel, which led to a two-lap shootout but Unser pulled away en route to his first and only win of the year, snapping a six-race Penske streak. Bobby Unser claimed second, Rick Mears third,
Gordon Johncock fourth, and Tom Sneva fifth. Mears's third was enough for him to claim the inaugural CART championship, winning by 240 points over Bobby Unser. Gordon Johncock finished third in points, with
Johnny Rutherford in fourth and Al Unser in fifth. == Points standings ==