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.

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
					Jan Magnussen	13
Target/Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard 96I	Honda HRH	F	4	Alex Zanardi  R	All	Target
				12	Jimmy Vasser	All
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
				11	Christian Fittipaldi	All	Budweiser
Team Scandia	Lola T96/00	Ford Cosworth XB	G	7	Marco Greco	1–2	Int. Sports/Perry Ellis
					Eliseo Salazar	7, 9, 12–13	Cristal
				22	Carlos Guerrero	1–3	Herdez
					Michel Jourdain Jr.  R	4, 7–9, 15–16
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
					Jan Magnussen  R	14–16
Galles Racing International	Lola T96/00	Mercedes IC 108C	G	10	Eddie Lawson  R	1–11	Delco Electronics
					Davy Jones	12–16
Bettenhausen Motorsports	Reynard 96I	Mercedes IC 108C	G	16	Stefan Johansson	All	Alumax
	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
					Teo Fabi	4–5
Team Rahal	Reynard 96I	Mercedes IC 108C	G	18	Bobby Rahal	All	Miller
				28	Bryan Herta	All	Shell
Payton/Coyne Racing	Lola T96/00	Ford Cosworth XB	F	19	Hiro Matsushita	All	Panasonic
				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
					Max Papis  R	13–14, 16
Tasman Motorsports Group	Lola T96/00	Honda HRH	F	31	André Ribeiro	All	LCI Communications
				32	Adrián Fernández	All	Tecate
All American Racers	Eagle MK-V	Toyota RV8A	G	36	Juan Manuel Fangio II  R	All	Castrol
				98	P. J. Jones  R	6–16
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

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	Bartercard Indycar Australia	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

Rnd	Race	Pole position	Fastest lap	Race Winner				Race time	Report
				Driver	Team	Chassis	Engine
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

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) 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.

• 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

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

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

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

• Åberg, Andreas. "PPG Indy Car World Series 1996". Driver Database. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
• "1996 PPG Indy Car World Series". Champ Car Stats. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
• "Standings after Laguna Seca". Champ Car World Series. Archived from the original on 22 October 2008. Retrieved 2009-05-19.

• 1996 Toyota Atlantic Championship season
• 1996 Indianapolis 500
• 1996 Indy Racing League
• 1996–97 Indy Racing League
• 1996 Indy Lights season