Mike Chandler

Last updated
Mike Chandler
NationalityAmerican
Born (1958-04-21) April 21, 1958 (age 67)
San Marino, California, U.S.
Related to Otis Chandler (father)
Statistics up to date as of January 22, 2014.

Michael Chandler (born April 21, 1958) is an American former driver in the Indianapolis 500 from 1981 to 1983. [1] Serious injuries from a crash in 1984 effectively ended his racing career. [1]

Contents

He drove in the CART Championship Car series. In the 1980–1984 seasons, he had 9 career starts, [2] and started in the Indianapolis 500 in 1981–1983.

A near head-on crash in practice for the 1984 race left him in a coma for several days and prematurely ended his career. He finished in the top ten twice, with his best finish in 4th position in 1981 at Riverside.

Sponsors

Chandler's early sponsors included his father, Los Angeles Times publisher Otis Chandler; businessman Warner Hodgdon, owner of National Engineering; and California Lieutenan Governor Mike Curb. [3]

Racing record

Complete USAC Mini-Indy Series results

YearEntrant12345678PosPoints
1979 TEX1
3		 IRP
4		 MIL1
6		 POC
7		 TEX2
1		 MIL2
3		 MIN1
2		 MIN2
22		2nd903
1980 Championship Racing Stables MIL
18		 POC
4		 MOH
3		 MIN1 MIN2 ONT
4		7th384

Indianapolis 500 results

YearChassisEngineStartFinish
1981 Penske Cosworth 25th12th
1982 Eagle Chevrolet 22nd17th
1983 Rattlesnake Cosworth 30th16th
1984 Eagle Pontiac Practice Crash

24 Hours of Le Mans results

YearTeamCo-DriversCarClassLapsPos.Class
Pos.
1981 Flag of the United States.svg Thunderbird Swap Shop Flag of the United States.svg Preston Henn
Flag of France.svg Marcel Mignot 		Porsche 935-K3/80 IMSA GTX45DNFDNF

24 Hours of Daytona results

YearTeamCo-DriversCarClassLapsPos.Class
Pos.
1983 Flag of the United States.svg All American Racers Flag of the United States.svg Dennis Aase
Flag of the United States.svg Al Unser Jr. 		Toyota Celica Mk. III GTU130DNFDNF
1984 Flag of the United States.svg All American Racers Flag of the United States.svg Dennis Aase
Flag of the United States.svg Wally Dallenbach Jr. 		Toyota Celica Mk. III GTU49DNFDNF

References

  1. 1 2 Jenkins, Richard, Where are they now?, OldRacingCars.com, February 21, 2004. Retrieved August 23, 2025.
  2. ↑ 9 starts do not include the 1981 or 1982 Indy 500, as it was not a CART race that year.
  3. ↑ Schulte, Jim (August 31, 1980). "A driver with the right connections". The San Bernadino County Sun. Retrieved 2025-08-23– via Newspapers.com.
F1 chequered flag.svg

This biographical article related to United States auto racing is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.