The Penske PC-16 was a CART open-wheel race car, designed by Penske Racing, which was constructed for competition in the 1987 season. The chassis debuted with poor results at the season-opening races, and struggled mightily to get up to speed at Indianapolis. Midway through the first week of practice, the Penske team parked the PC-16 in favor of their backup cars, a contingent of March 86C chassis.
Designer Alan Jenkins was fired from Penske, and later replaced with Nigel Bennett. [1]
(key)
| Year | Entrant | Engine | Tyres | Driver | No. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | Points | D.C. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Penske Racing | Chevrolet 265A V8 t | G | LBH | PHX | INDY | MIL | POR | MEA | CLE | TOR | MCH | POC | ROA | MDO | NAZ | LAG | MIA | ||||
 Danny Sullivan | 3 | 22 | 11 | Wth | 11 | 20 | 87* | 9th* | ||||||||||||||
| Rick Mears | 8 | 9 | 20 | Wth | 3 | 18 | 7 | 10 | 102* | 5th* | ||||||||||||
| Al Unser | 9 | DNQ | 39* | 13th* | ||||||||||||||||||
| Interscope Racing | Danny Ongais | 25 | Wth | 0* | 42nd* |
*Includes points scored by other cars.
Rick Ravon Mears is a retired American race car driver. He is one of four men to win the Indianapolis 500 four times and is the current record-holder for pole positions in the race with six. Mears is also a three-time Indycar series/World Series champion.
Alfred Unser was an American automobile racing driver, the younger brother of fellow racing drivers Jerry and Bobby Unser, and father of Al Unser Jr. He was the second of four men to have won the Indianapolis 500 four times, the fourth of six to have won the race in consecutive years, and the winner of the National Championship in 1970, 1983, and 1985. The Unser family has won the Indy 500 a record nine times. He was the only person to have both a sibling (Bobby) and child as fellow Indy 500 winners. Al's nephews Johnny and Robby Unser have also competed in that race. In 1971, he became the only driver to date to win the race on his birthday.
Danny Ongais was an American racing driver.
Team Penske is an American professional auto racing organization, competing in the IndyCar Series, NASCAR Cup Series, IMSA SportsCar Championship and FIA World Endurance Championship. Debuting at the 1966 24 Hours of Daytona, the organization has also competed in various other types of professional racing such as Formula One, Can-Am, Trans Am, and Australia's Supercars Championship. Altogether, Team Penske has earned over 500 victories and over 40 championships in all of auto racing. Team Penske is a division of Penske Corporation, and is owned and chaired by Roger Penske. The team president is Tim Cindric.
Patrick Racing was an auto racing team in USAC, CART, Champ Car and the Indy Racing League. Patrick Racing was started by U.E. "Pat" Patrick in the 1970s. The team is best known for winning the Indianapolis 500 on three occasions, and the Indy car title twice. Patrick Racing achieved 45 Indy car wins.
The 79th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday, May 28, 1995. Sanctioned by USAC, it was part of the 1995 CART PPG Indy Car World Series season. Jacques Villeneuve won in his second start. After dominating the 1994 race and the 1994 season, Marlboro Team Penske failed to qualify for the race. Two-time and defending Indy 500 winner Al Unser Jr. and two-time winner Emerson Fittipaldi (bumped) could not get their cars up to speed. A noticeable period of decline followed for the team, including being absent from Indianapolis from 1996 to 2000 due to the ongoing Open wheel "Split". The team returned to Indianapolis in 2001, and were back to their winning ways by 2000 when Gil de Ferran won the CART championship.
The 78th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday, May 29, 1994. The race was sanctioned by United States Auto Club (USAC), and was included as race number 4 of 16 of the 1994 PPG IndyCar World Series. For the second year in a row, weather was not a factor during the month. Only one practice day was lost to rain, and pole day was only partially halted due to scattered showers. Warm, sunny skies greeted race day.
The 74th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday, May 27, 1990. Dutchman Arie Luyendyk took the lead with 32 laps to go, and earned his first-ever victory in championship-level competition. It was the second consecutive year the Indy 500 was won by a foreign-born competitor, the first time that had occurred since 1965–1966. Luyendyk completed the 500 miles at an average speed of 185.981 mph (299.307 km/h), a record that stood for 23 years until 2013. In reference to the long-standing speed record, the 1990 race had often been referred to as "The Fastest 500."
The 72nd Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, on Sunday May 29, 1988. Team Penske dominated the month, sweeping the top three starting positions with Rick Mears winning the pole position, Danny Sullivan at the center of the front row, and Al Unser, Sr. on the outside. Mears set a new track record, becoming the first driver to break the 220 mph barrier in time trials. On race day, the three Penske teammates proceeded to lead 192 of the 200 laps, with Rick Mears taking the checkered flag, his third-career Indy 500 victory. The race represented the milestone 50th victory in Championship car racing for owner Roger Penske and Penske Racing.
The 71st Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, on Sunday May 24, 1987. After dominating practice, qualifying, and most of the race, leader Mario Andretti slowed with mechanical problems with only 23 laps to go. Five laps later, Al Unser Sr. assumed the lead, and won his record-tying fourth Indianapolis 500 victory. At age 47, just days short of his 48th birthday, Unser became the oldest winner of the Indy 500, a record that still stands as of 2024. During the month of May, an unusually high 25 crashes occurred during practice and qualifying, with one driver in particular, Jim Crawford, suffering serious leg injuries.
The 1987 CART PPG Indy Car World Series season was the 9th national championship season of American open wheel racing sanctioned by CART. The season consisted of 16 races, and one non-points exhibition event. Bobby Rahal was the national champion, winning his second-consecutive title. The rookie of the year was Fabrizio Barbazza. The 1987 Indianapolis 500 was sanctioned by USAC, but counted towards the CART points championship. Al Unser won the Indy 500, his record-tying fourth victory at Indy.
Galles Racing is a former auto racing team owned by Rick Galles that competed in the CART series, Can-Am and the Indy Racing League. The team won the 1990 CART championship as well as the 1992 Indianapolis 500, both with driver Al Unser Jr. The team won a total of 21 Indy car races along its history. In addition to Unser's 1992 victory, the team finished second at Indianapolis on three separate occasions.
Truesports was an automobile racing team founded by Jim Trueman based in Hilliard, Ohio. The team is best known for winning the 1986 Indianapolis 500 and back-to-back CART championships in 1986 and 1987. The team won 19 points-paying Indy car races.
The Penske PC-23 was a highly successful CART racing car that competed in the 1994 IndyCar season with Penske Racing, and in the 1995 IndyCar season with Bettenhausen Motorsports. It was designed by Nigel Bennett, who based its design on the 1993 car, the PC-22, which was a radical departure from the basic concept of the previous Penske cars. The PC-23 was one of the most dominant open-wheel race cars ever developed. It won both the 1994 CART season, and the 1994 Indianapolis 500 with Al Unser Jr., together with Emerson Fittipaldi and Paul Tracy scoring 12 wins out of 16 in total, collecting 10 pole positions and 28 podium finishes, in a season that saw Penske also take the Constructor's Cup, and the Manufacturer's Cup with the Ilmor-Mercedes-Benz engine. Nevertheless, the car is mostly known for the controversial pushrod Mercedes-Benz 500I engine, designed and developed for the single race of Indianapolis, exploiting a loophole in different technical rules between the Indy 500 and CART sanctioning bodies at that time.
The Penske PC-20 was a CART Penske Racing car which competed in the 1991 and 1992 seasons. In 1991, it raced in all seventeen events, scoring 3 wins, two with Rick Mears, and one with Emerson Fittipaldi, placed 4th and 5th at the season's end respectively. The most remarkable success of the PC-20 was the 1991 Indianapolis 500 win by Mears, his 4th win at the Brickyard. The car was designed by Nigel Bennett, his 4th for Penske Racing. In 1992, it also raced alongside the Penske PC-21.
The Penske PC-17 was a CART Penske Racing car which was constructed for competition in the 1988 season. The car was designed by Nigel Bennett. The chassis swept the front row at the 1988 Indianapolis 500 with Rick Mears winning the pole position, Danny Sullivan qualifying second and Al Unser, Sr. third. Mears went on to win the Indy 500 and Sullivan the season championship.
The Penske PC-18 was a CART Penske Racing car which was constructed for competition in the 1989 season. The chassis was fielded by two teams, Penske Racing and Patrick Racing.
The Penske PC-10 is a CART open-wheel race car, designed by Penske Racing, which was constructed for competition in the 1982 season. Designed by Geoff Ferris, it is considered possibly the most dominant Penske race car design ever and that from a team that typically dominated. Rick Mears has been quoted as acknowledging this was his favorite racecar chassis ever. Twelve total were made (1-12), six raced by Penske (1-6), with four confirmed destroyed. They were manufactured at Penske Cars, Ltd. in Poole, England during 1982, and delivered to Penske Racing, Inc., in Reading, Pennsylvania. So outstanding was the PC-10's design, it won the prestigious Louis Schwitzer Award for innovation and engineering excellence in the field of race car design at the Indianapolis 500 in 1982. The PC-10s were active in the years 1982–1984. In fact, the PC-10 was ultimately much better than the following year PC-11, so Roger Penske bought back one of the PC-10s he had sold to another team for the 1983 season, and which then won another race for his team.
The Ilmor-Chevrolet 265-A is a turbocharged, 2.65 L (162 cu in), V-8 Indy car racing engine, designed and developed by Ilmor, in partnership with Chevrolet, for use in the CART PPG Indy Car World Series; between 1986 and 1993.
The March 86C is a highly successful and extremely competitive open-wheel race car, designed by Adrian Newey, and built by March Engineering, to compete in the 1986 CART Indy Car season, and eventually the 1987 Indy Car season. The season was another whitewash and a clean-sweep for March, following up on the success of their 1985 campaign. The 86C chassis dominated the season, winning 14 out of the 17 races, and taking 13 pole positions. Newey's March 86C chassis successfully clinched the 1986 CART Indy Car championship and the 1986 Indianapolis 500 with Bobby Rahal. It was primarily powered by the Ford-Cosworth DFX turbo V8 engine, but also used both the Buick Indy V6 turbo engine, and the Ilmor-Chevrolet 265-A Indy V8 turbo engine.
