1/5/2003
Champ Car announces on 1/5/2003 that the series will run a race on the 1.2-mile Indy circuit at the fabled Brands Hatch circuit in England. Champ Cars had run on the Brands circuit in 1978 with Rick Mears taking the win. Danny Ongais had led the first 83 laps before losing a gearbox, handing the lead, and eventually the win, to Mears.
1/6/1983
Champ Car revises its points system on 1/6/83, giving 20 points to the winner of a race and eliminating race distance as a factor in the awarding of points. The system would stand as the Champ Car standard until 2004.
1/12/1997
Paul Tracy runs the first laps ever around the newly-built California Speedway on 1/12/97. He ran 19 laps around the oval as well as four laps around the 1.3-mile infield road course.
1/14/2005
Walker Racing announces that it will switch to Lola chassis for the 2005 season on 1/14/2005, meaning that every driver will have a Lola in '05.
1/17/1994
Andrew Craig was named as the CEO of CART on 1/17/94. It was during his tenure that the series would become a publicly-held company, allowing the company to purchase the Indy Lights and Toyota Atlantic series with the proceeds raised by the IPO.
1/17/2002
Chip Ganassi announced that he would renew the contract of second-year driver Bruno Junqueira on 1/17/2002. Junqueira would go on to finish as the series runner-up in 2002, the first of three consecutive seasons where he would finish second in the Champ Car standings.
1/21/1997
Champ Car announces 1/21/97 that it will move the Marlboro 500 from Michigan International Speedway to the newly constructed two-mile California Speedway
1/28/2004
Judge Frank J. Otte awards the assets of CART to Open Wheel Racing Series, LLC, on 1/28/2004, ensuring that Champ Car would survive bankruptcy proceedings that affected the CART organization.
2/1/2002
Champ Car announced on 2/5/2002 that it would not return to Chicago Motor Speedway, ending a four-year run at the Cicero oval. The final race took place in 2001 with Kenny Brack taking the win on a day where temperatures ran in the 90s all day.
2/5/2004
Champ Car announces a revision to the points system on 2/5/2004, putting the system in place that is currently in use. Points will be paid to the top 20 finishers and bonus points for leading a lap, running the fastest lap and gaining the most positions are added.
2/8/2000
Champ Car announces the members of its inaugural All-Star Team 2/8/2000. 1999 series champ Juan Montoya was the leading vote-getter and won the Mario Andretti Trophy. Paul Tracy, Dario Franchitti, Max Papis and Michael Andretti were also named. Greg Moore was named as an honorary member after his untimely demise in the 1999 season finale.
2/10/1984
Champ Car announces a multi-year, multi-race package to hold races in Canada 2/10/84, giving exclusive territorial rights to Molson Breweries.
2/15/2002
Champ Car announces allows the use of traction control in its cars for the 2002 season 2/15/2002. The innovation would last one season before being disallowed in 2003.
2/22/1926
The first and only Champ Car race on the Miami-Fulford Speedway took place 2/22/26 with Peter DePaolo taking the victory. The track, which featured an astonishing 50 degrees of banking in the turns, was designed by inaugural Indy 500 winner Ray Harroun and financed by Carl Fisher, who had a hand in building IMS. The track was destroyed by a hurricane in September and never rebuilt.
2/23/2003
Sebastien Bourdais becomes the first driver to ever lead on the first lap of his Champ Car career, 2/23/03 in St. Petersburg, Florida. Paul Tracy would go on to win the event, the first of three consecutive wins for the eventual 2003 series champion.
2/28/1914
Eddie Pullen wins the American Grand Prize event 2/28/14 on the 8.417-mile street course in Santa Monica, California. It is reported to be the only time in the race's history that an American driver won the event in an American car (Mercer).
2/28/1971
Rafaela, Argentina hosts the first Champ Car races ever to be held outside of North America on 2/28/71. Both of the two 152-mile races are won by Al Unser Sr. in a Colt-Ford.
3/2/1997
Michael Andretti wins at Homestead 3/2/97 in a Swift chassis, marking the first Champ Car victory in an American-built chassis since 1983. The victory came in the first-ever Champ Car start for the Swift.
3/5/1977
Future Formula 1 World Champion Alan Jones makes his first Champ Car appearance 3/5/77, qualifying a McLaren 24th at Ontario. Jones relinquished his ride for the race to Steve Krisiloff however. Jones would make one Champ Car start later in his career, finishing third at Elkhart Lake in 1985 driving in relief for the injured Mario Andretti.
3/8/1983
Domino's Pizza announces a $1 million prize for any driver that can sweep the Triple Crown races 3/8/83. The Triple Crown was made up of the 500-mile races in Indianapolis, Michigan and Pocono.
3/11/1979
The first CART-sanctioned race takes place on 3/11/79 at Phoenix and is won by Gordon Johncock in a Penske-Cosworth. Johncock leads the last 40 laps and wins by one second over Rick Mears
3/14/1976
Arlene Hiss becomes the first woman to start a Champ Car race 3/14/76, finishes 14th after qualifying 21st at Phoenix. Hiss was running at the end of the event, and completed 128 of the 150 laps in a race won by Bobby Unser.
3/17/1991
Champ Car holds its first race in Australia, running on the streets of Surfers Paradise 3/17/91 in a race won by John Andretti. It would be his only Champ Car win. Andretti holds the distinction of being the only driver to win races in the top level of Champ Car, NASCAR and NHRA competition.
3/17/1996
Native son Andre Ribiero wins the first Champ Car race held in Brazil 3/17/96. Ribiero held off Al Unser Jr. for the last four laps to claim the victory. The race also featured the first Champ Car pole won by rookie Alex Zanardi.
3/20/1994
Michael Andretti returns to Champ Cars from a season in Formula 1 with a win in Surfers Paradise 3/20/94, scoring the first Champ Car victory for Reynard.
3/21/1993
Nigel Mansell becomes the first Champ Car rookie to win in his series debut, taking victory in Surfers Paradise 3/21/93.
3/22/1964
A.J. Foyt wins at Phoenix 3/22/64 in the first of what would be a record seven consecutive Champ Car victories. The race was also the first for Champ Cars at the Phoenix oval.
3/22/1992
Jimmy Vasser makes his Champ Car debut 3/22/92 in Surfers Paradise, qualifying 17th and finishing 15th.
3/25/1978
Tom Sneva sets a new Champ Car record in qualifying for the 200-miler event at Ontario with a lap of 202.384mph 3/25/78. Danny Ongais would win the race the next day for his second career win.
3/25/1983
Champ Car announces 3/25/83 that it will hold its first-ever race in Las Vegas, running a 200-mile event on a modified oval course near the Caesar's Palace casino.
3/28/1982
Bobby Rahal makes his Champ Car debut 3/28/82 at Phoenix finishing 18th in a race won by Rick Mears.
3/28/1998
Champ Car holds its first race in Japan with Adrian Fernandez winning at Twin Ring Motegi 3/28/98.
4/1/1984
The first Champ Car race held at the Long Beach Grand Prix takes place 4/1/84 and is won by Mario Andretti. Mario led all 112 laps from pole and won by more than a minute over Geoff Brabham.
4/4/1959
The only Champ Car race to be held in Daytona is won by Jim Rathmann on 4/4/59. The average speed of the race was 170.261 mph, setting a record that would stand for 14 years.
4/4/1993
Mario Andretti scores the 52nd and final victory of his Champ Car career 4/4/93 with a victory in Phoenix. Andretti took the lead with 29 laps to go when leader Emerson Fittipaldi cut a tire and crashed. The victory made Andretti the oldest driver to ever win a Champ Car race at the age of 53 years, one month and seven days.
4/5/1987
Mario Andretti wins Long Beach 4/5/87 with the new Chevrolet V8 engine, marking the first Champ Car win for a Chevy engine since 1981. The win broke an 81-race win streak for Cosworth.
4/6/1975
A.J. Foyt wins his 50th career Champ Car race, besting a 15-car field on a brutally cold day in Trenton, 4/6/75. Foyt took his 13th career Trenton victory on a day that saw wind chill readings at 10 degrees.
4/9/1967
Lloyd Ruby leads all 150 laps to win the 1967 Champ Car season opener in Phoenix 4/9/67, winning in a turbocharged Mongoose-Drake-Offy. He saved the car after a 360-degree spin and went on to beat Roger McCluskey by more than a full lap.
4/9/2000
A snowstorm postpones the running of the Bosch Grand Prix in Nazareth, Pennsylvania for 47 days 4/9/2000.
4/10/1921
Ralph DePalma wins the 24th and final race of his Champ Car career 4/10/21 in Beverly Hills, California setting a career record for wins that would not be topped until 1963.
4/13/1969
Mario Andretti wins the California 200 at Hanford Motor Speedway on 4/13/69 in what would be the final race held at the first superspeedway built west of the Mississippi. It is also the first Champ Car win for car owner Andy Granatelli.
4/13/1986
Michael Andretti earns the first of his 42 Champ Car victories with a win 4/13/86 at Long Beach. He led the last 24 laps of the day and beat Al Unser Jr. to the line by .38 seconds.
4/16/1922
The San Francisco Speedway board track opens to a crowd of 40,000 in San Carlos, California 4/16/22 in a race won by Harry Hartz in a Duesenberg.
4/18/1993
Paul Tracy scores his first-ever Champ Car win, 4/18/93 in Long Beach. He led 81 of 105 laps after starting on the outside of the front row.
4/18/2004
Nelson Philippe becomes the youngest driver ever to start a Champ Car race on 4/18/2004 when he took the green at Long Beach at the age of 17 years, eight months and 25 days. He started 16th and finished 13th.
4/22/1979
Johnny Rutherford wins a pair of 125-mile races at Atlanta 4/22/79 in what would be the final Champ Car victories for the McLaren chassis.
4/23/1978
Gordon Johncock posts the final Champ Car victory in an Offenhauser powerplant with a win 4/23/78 at Trenton.
4/24/1966
Rodger Ward wins at Trenton 4/24/66 in the first Champ Car victory ever for a car with a supercharged engine. It was the 26th and final win of Ward's career. The event was also the first Champ Car win for Lola chassis
4/25/1965
Jim McElreath wins in Trenton 4/25/65, giving car builder Jack Brabham his first Champ Car win. Brabham would later be credited as the man to bring rear-engined Champ Cars to Indianapolis. The race was called due to rain after 87 laps with Mario Andretti running second.
5/1/1982
Danny Sullivan finishes third in his Champ Car debut 5/1/82 in Atlanta, marking the best debut for a series rookie to that point. That record would later fall to Nigel Mansell.
5/6/2001
Scott Dixon becomes the youngest driver ever to win a Champ Car race 5/6/2001, pacing the final 36 laps at Nazareth to score the victory at the age of 20 years, nine months and 14 days.
5/7/1927
Frank Lockhart lapped the Atlantic City track at 147.729 mph during a qualifying run on 5/7/27, setting an American closed course record that stood for thirty-three years, until the high-banked 2.5-mile Daytona Speedway was opened in 1959.
5/11/2003
Alex Zanardi makes his emotional return to Champ Car on 5/11/2003, completing 13 laps in a specially-designed car less than two years after suffering the traumatic amputation of both of his lower legs in an accident at the Lausitzring.
5/13/1971
Mark Donohue turns the first laps under 50 seconds in a Champ Car at Indianapolis, getting around the 2.5-mile oval in 49.73 seconds.
5/14/1977
Tom Sneva turns the first 200mph qualifying lap in a Champ Car at Indianapolis, running his first lap of qualifying at 200.401 mph.
5/14/1988
Rick Mears, Danny Sullivan and Al Unser Sr. qualify on the front row at Indianapolis 5/14/88 for Team Penske, marking the first time in Champ Car history that the front row for the Indianapolis 500 would be made up by cars from the same team.
5/15/1993
Champ Car's all-time winningest driver A.J. Foyt announces his retirement on 5/15/93.
5/17/1994
Al Unser Sr. announces his retirement from Champ Car racing 5/17/94. Four days later, Johnny Rutherford announced his retirement as well.
5/18/1991
Hiro Matsushita became the first Japanese driver to qualify for the Indianapolis 500. he started 24th and finished 16th. Interestingly, he was not the first Japanese person to participate in the Indy 500. Takio Hiroshima participated in three Indy 500s from 1935-37 as a riding mechanic.
5/19/1991
Willy T. Ribbs becomes the first African-American driver to qualify for the Indianapolis 500. He lasted only five laps on race day however, retiring with engine failure.
5/20/1978
Tom Sneva becomes the first driver to post a four-lap qualifying average of over 200mph in qualifying for the Indianapolis 500. He sat on pole with a speed of 203.620mph for the race but finished second to Al Unser Sr.
5/22/1977
Janet Guthrie becomes the first woman to qualify a Champ Car for the Indianapolis.
5/26/1985
Danny Sullivan completes the famous 'Spin and Win', claiming the Indianapolis 500 on 5/26/85. He saved the car after a 360-degree spin while trying to pass Mario Andretti and went on to victory. The race was also the first Champ Car event in which every car in the field qualified at over 200mph.
5/26/1996
Jimmy Vasser wins the inaugural U.S. 500, the first Champ Car race to offer a $1 million prize to the winner.
5/27/2000
Gil de Ferran wins the rescheduled race in Nazareth 5/27/2000 after the original date was snowed out. The win was the 100th in Champ Car for Roger Penske.
5/30/1946
Champ Car returns after a four-year hiatus due to World War II with the 1946 Indianapolis 500, won by George Robson.
5/30/1966
Graham Hill wins the 1966 Indianapolis 500, becoming the first rookie driver to win the event since 1927. His record would be matched on the same day 34 years later when Juan Montoya ran a one-off separate from his Champ Car duties to dominate the event.
5/31/1965
Jim Clark wins the Indianapolis 500 with a rear-engined Lotus-Ford on 5/31/65, marking the first rear-engined car ever to win at Indianapolis.
6/2/1991
Michael Andretti wins at the Milwaukee Mile, followed by his father Mario and his cousin John, providing the first 1-2-3 family race sweep in Champ Car history.
6/5/2000
Juan Montoya earns the first-ever Champ Car victory for Toyota with a win in Milwaukee 6/5/2000. He led 179 of 225 laps just one week after scoring an Indy 500 victory.
6/5/2004
Ryan Hunter-Reay sets a series single-event record by leading all 250 laps in a victory at Milwaukee.
6/7/1964
A.J. Foyt wins the 100-mile event on the Milwaukee Mile, extending his season-opening win streak to four races. Foyt becomes the only driver in series history to win the first four races of the year, a streak he would stretch to seven events. Only Al Unser Sr. and Paul Tracy have won as many as three races to start a season since.
6/7/1981
Mike Mosley wins in Milwaukee in a stock-block Chevrolet, coming from 25th on the grid to win. It is the first victory for a Chevrolet engine in Champ Car since 1969.
6/10/1979
The new CART series runs a pair of races at Trenton - both won by Bobby Unser - while USAC competes at Milwaukee is a 150-mile won by A.J. Foyt. It would be the last time that Champ Cars would run races in two different locations on the same day.
6/12/1926
Dave Lewis wins the 250-mile event on the Altoona, Pennsylvania board track in the first-ever Champ Car race won by a front-wheel drive car.
6/15/1986
Honda makes its debut in Champ Car competition as Galles Racing's Geoff Brabham qualifies 10th and finishes seventh with Honda power at Portland.
6/16/2002
Champ Car announces that the Ford-Cosworth XFE engine will serve as the exclusive powerplant for the series.
6/18/1978
Rick Mears scores his first-ever Champ Car win at Milwaukee in a race that is also the first Champ Car win for a Roger Penske-built car.
6/18/1989
Detroit Grand Prix becomes the first Champ Car race to ever offer a $1 million purse. The race was won by Emerson Fittipaldi.
6/21/1981
A.J. Foyt wins the last of his 67 races with a victory in Pocono. It was also the first in Champ Car competition for a March chassis, although it does not appear in CART record books since the race was sanctioned by USAC.
6/22/1997
Mark Blundell wins the closest race in Champ Car history, besting Gil de Ferran by 0.027 seconds at Portland on 6/22/97.
6/27/1976
Al Unser Sr. wins at Pocono in the first Champ Car race won by a Cosworth engine.
6/28/1981
Rick Mears becomes the last driver to win two Champ Car races on the same day, sweeping a pair at Atlanta International Raceway.
6/29/1969
Mario Andretti wins the last Pikes Peak Hill Climb to be included as part of the Champ Car series.
7/1/1937
Bernd Rosemeyer wins the 1937 Vanderbilt Cup race held in Long Island, New York in a supercharged Auto Union machine. It would be the last Champ Car win for a German car until 1988.
7/1/1967
Champ Car holds its first-ever race outside of the United States on 7/1/67 with two races at Mosport, Ontario, Canada. Both races are won by Bobby Unser from pole although the second race only ran six laps due to rain.
7/4/1914
Eddie Rickenbacker, who would go on to greater fame as America's top fighter pilot in World War I, earned his first Champ Car victory at Sioux City, Iowa.
7/4/1982
Champ Car runs its first race on a temporary road course, set up at Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland at 7/4/82. The race is won by Mario Andretti
7/5/2003
The first-ever nighttime road-course event in Champ Car history is run on Cleveland's Burke Lakefront Airport layout. Musco Lighting provided the 21 lighting towers needed to illuminate the 2.106-mile course in a race won by Sebastien Bourdais.
7/8/1984
Danny Sullivan claims his first Champ Car victory, winning in Cleveland. He bests Chip Ganassi by two full laps, who finished a career-best second. Sullivan took the lead when Bobby Rahal lost a gearbox with six laps to go. It was the first Champ Car win for team owner Doug Shierson.
7/13/1968
Al Unser Sr. wins at Nazareth Speedway, besting Mario Andretti in the first Champ Car race to be held at night. It was the first of five consecutive wins for Unser.
7/17/1983
John Paul Jr. takes the lead after Rick Mears and Chris Kneifel crash on the last lap and becomes the first Champ Car rookie to win a 500-mile race since 1966 with a win at Michigan.
7/17/1994
Mario Andretti makes his 400th career Champ Car start, finishing fifth in Toronto.
7/20/1986
Bobby Rahal drives his March-Cosworth to victory in the first Champ Car race at Exhibition Place in Toronto.
7/24/1965
Mario Andretti earns the first of his 52 career Champ Car wins at the road course at Indianapolis Raceway Park. He wins from pole, beating Bobby Unser.
7/26/1970
Al Unser Sr. wins on a road course in Indianapolis as he and Mark Donohue are the only cars to finish on the lead lap. The race is significant due to the fact that Champ Car would not run on a road course again until 1977.
7/28/1985
1981 and '82 World of Outlaws champion Sammy Swindell runs at Michigan with Patrick Racing for Swindell's first-ever Champ Car race. He started 12th but finished 23rd after a suspension failure.
7/28/1985
Emerson Fittipaldi scores his first Champ Car win in a 500-mile race at Michigan International Speedway.
7/30/1995
Scott Pruett wins in Michigan, giving Firestone its first win since its return to Champ Car competition after being away for 20 years.
8/5/1979
Champ Car runs at Watkins Glen, New York for the first time in its history. Bobby Unser wins by over 19 seconds over Rick Mears. The race also featured the only top-10 Champ Car finish for the mercurial Tim Richmond, who would go on to make his name in NASCAR.
8/5/1990
Al Unser Jr. wins a furious battle with Bobby Rahal to score his first-ever 500-mile Champ Car victory, at Michigan. The event set a new series record for average speed at 189.727mph, a record that would stand for 12 seasons.
8/7/1915
Dario Resta wins the first Champ Car race ever to average over 100mph, taking a Peugeot to first place on 8/7/1915 at a 100-mile race in Chicago at an average speed of 101.8mph.
8/9/1998
Adrian Fernandez wins at Mid-Ohio, to give Ford its 300th Champ Car victory. It is also the final appearance at Mid-Ohio and the final podium finish for Bobby Rahal, who retired at the 1998 season.
8/12/1979
Janet Guthrie finishes fifth after starting eighth in a USAC 200-mile event in Milwaukee, becoming the first woman to earn a top-five finish in a Champ Car. Roger McCluskey won the event , which had 20 starters.
8/13/1914
Ralph Mulford wins a 50-mile Champ Car race on a beach course in Galveston, Texas, marking the last time Champ Cars would race on a beach course.
8/17/1918
Ralph DePalma wins three Champ Car races on the same day, on a board track in Sheepshead Bay, NY. He is the only driver to earn three Champ Car victories on the same day.
8/20/1995
Andre Ribiero scores the first Champ Car victory for Honda with a win at Loudon.
8/21/1988
Bobby Rahal earns the only Champ Car win that a Judd-powered car would take, claiming victory at Pocono on 8/21/88. He led the final 28 laps and beat Al Unser Jr. by over 17 seconds.
8/22/1964
A.J. Foyt wins his seventh consecutive Champ Car race in Springfield, the longest-ever winning streak in Champ Car.
8/26/1973
Wally Dallenbach sets a new Champ Car race record by winning a 100-mile race in Ontario, California at an average speed of 179.910 mph on 8/26/73. The record will stand for six more seasons.
8/29/1982
Al Unser Jr. makes his Champ Car debut in Riverside, starting 10th and finishing fifth. He does so while still in the midst of a championship-winning SCCA Can-Am campaign.
8/29/2004
Jimmy Vasser sets the Champ Car records for consecutive starts at Montreal, making his 193rd consecutive start.
8/30/1953
Chuck Stevenson scores a win in a 200-mile race on dirt track in Milwaukee. The race is significant as is it the last time that Champ Car would ever run a dirt race longer than 100 miles.
8/31/1980
37 Champ Cars take to the grid for the last race at Ontario Motor Speedway, making up the largest Champ Car field since World War II. The race was won by Bobby Unser in a Penske-Cosworth
9/1/1941
Rex Mays wins the last race run before Champ Car racing is suspended for four years due to World War II. The race took place on a dirt track in Syracuse on 9/1
9/1/1947
Louis Unser wins the first Pikes Peak Hill Climb to be part of the Champ Car series.
9/3/1972
Jerry Grant runs the first official 200mph qualifying lap in Champ Car history, posting a lap of 201.414mph around Ontario Motor Speedway
9/5/1960
All-time Champ Car victory leader A.J. Foyt wins the first of his 67 races at DuQuoin.
9/6/1970
1969 NASCAR champion LeeRoy Yarborough just misses his first Champ Car win when his engine fails while leading, just nine laps from the finish in Ontario.
9/6/1987
Teo Fabi wins at Mid-Ohio giving Porsche its first Champ Car win as an engine manufacturer.
9/8/1996
Alex Zanardi authored 'The Pass', passing race leader Bryan Herta on the inside of the Corkscrew turn at Laguna Seca, prompting track owners to revamp the inside of the turn to deter others from making such a move. Jimmy Vasser clinched his first Champ Car title in the same race.
9/9/1993
Bobby Rahal announced that he would run Honda-powered Lolas for the 1994 season.
9/15/1917
Ralph Mulford wins the shortest Champ Car race on record, winning a five-mile event on a concrete oval in Providence.
9/18/1987
Porsche announces its intention to build an engine program for use in Champ Car. The car would debut less than a month later.
9/18/1993
Michael Andretti announces on that he will return to Champ Car racing for the 1994 season after spending one season in Formula 1.
9/19/1982
Hector Rebaque wins his first and only Champ Car race, winning at Road America in a race where four cars ran out of fuel in the last laps of the race.
9/19/1993
Nigel Mansell wins at Nazareth, leading 155 of 200 laps, clinching the 1993 Champ Car title and becoming the first driver ever to win the Formula 1 championship and the Champ Car title in successive seasons.
9/29/1909
Ralph De Palma, the winningest driver of the first 50 years of Champ Car racing, wins his first race in Riverhead, NY.
10/1/1978
The first Champ Car race to be held in Europe takes place at Silverstone, UK on 10/1/78 and is won by A.J. Foyt in a Coyote-Foyt.
10/4/1970
The last dirt-track race ever to count as part of the Champ Car series took place on 10/4/70 in Sacramento. The race was won by Al Unser Sr. There were five dirt races on the schedule in 1970, all won by Unser.
10/6/1946
Tony Bettenhausen claims the first of his 22 career Champ Car victories on 10/6/46, lapping the field to win in Goshen, New York. The chassis Bettenhausen ran that day was more than 10 years old and the engine was the same one that carried Floyd Roberts to victory in the 1938 Indianapolis 500!
10/8/1983
Michael Andretti makes his Champ Car debut on the temporary road course in Las Vegas. He started 15th and finished 19th.
10/9/1966
USAC runs a non-points race at Fuji International Speedway with 22 Champ Cars on hand. The race is won by Formula 1 legend Jackie Stewart, who is not credited with an official Champ Car win due to the non-points status of the race. Stewart averaged 96.782mph in a rear-engined Ford to beat Bobby Unser.
10/12/2003
2003 Champ Car race in Mexico City sets a Champ Car record with 221,011 fans attending the race at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
10/13/1917
Tom Alley wins on a board track in Chicago on 10/13/17 with an engine built by Harry Miller. It is the first official Champ Car win for a Miller engine. Miller would go on to become one of the legendary engine builder and his powerplants would dominate Champ Car racing throughout the 1920s and 30s.
10/14/2001
Max Papis starts 25th at Laguna Seca and takes the win despite not passing a single car on the track to match Mike Mosley's record for a Champ Car win from the deepest starting position in a non 500-mile races. He qualified 24th but started 25th after going to his backup car for the race.
10/15/1984
Ilmor and Chevrolet announce a 10-year deal to build an engine program for Champ Car. The engine debuted with Team Penske in 1986.
10/18/1998
Alex Zanardi scores his 15th Champ Car win in just 50 starts, leading 49 of 63 laps in Surfers Paradise. It would be his final Champ Car victory.
10/20/1979
Al Unser Sr. wins at Phoenix in the first Champ Car race won in the revolutionary Chapparral built by Jim Hall
10/26/1980
Rick Mears wins the first Champ Car race to be held in Mexico at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City.
10/27/2002
Mario Dominguez wins a rain-plagued event in Surfers Paradise at an average speed of 55.849 mph in a race where the field followed the pace car for much of the day. The average speed is the lowest winning speed for a Champ Car race (not including the Pikes Peak Hill Climbs) since 1926.
10/29/2000
Gil de Ferran sets the world closed-course speed record in qualifying for the Fontana race with a lap of 241.428 mph.
10/31/1987
Bobby Rahal wins the first Marlboro Challenge, claiming victory in the all-star event that pitted the top-10 drivers from the season against each other. The race was run at Tamiami Park in Miami, Florida.
10/31/1999
Juan Montoya finishes fourth in Fontana while Dario Franchitti places 10th, giving both drivers 212 points for the season. Montoya is awarded the title by virtue of his seven race wins in the first tie in Champ Car history. He becomes the youngest champion in Champ Car history.
11/1/1979
Champ Car announces a partnership with PPG Industries that would see PPG come on as the series title sponsor for the next 17 seasons.
11/1/2001
2001 Champ Car season finale at California Speedway produces a series record 73 lead changes among 19 drivers.
11/3/2002
Jimmy Vasser sets a Champ Car race record by averaging 197.995 mph in a win at California Speedway.
11/7/1963
Paula Murphy, became the first woman to pilot a Champ Car around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, driving five laps in a Novi during a tire testing session on 11/7/63.
11/7/2004
Each of the 19 cars that started the 2004 season finale in Mexico City would finish the race, marking the first time that every car to start a Champ Car race was running at the finish of the event.
11/8/1980
On 11/8/80, Tom Sneva comes from 25th at the start of the race to win at Phoenix. He does not get the series record for deepest starting position to win a race however as he qualified sixth for the race, but pitted twice during the parade laps with throttle linkage trouble. The team got the problem fixed, but as a result, he took the green flag from the 25th spot before coming on to win.
11/9/1985
Al Unser Sr. finishes fourth in the season finale in Miami on 11/9/85 while his son Al Jr. placed third, giving the senior Unser the Champ Car title by a single point. The margin would be the record for the closest season finish until 1999.
11/9/1986
Roberto Guerrero leads the first 111 laps of the 1986 Champ Car finale in Miami on 11/9/86 but runs out of fuel on the last lap, allowing Al Unser Jr. to take the win. It is the only time in series history that a driver has led every lap of race except the final one.
11/16/1919
Dario Resta won the last Vanderbilt Cup race, winning the event in Santa Monica on 11/16/19. The race was not part of the Champ Car series but the Vanderbilt Cup would later return as the trophy given to the Champ Car World Series champion.
11/17/2002
Champ Car returns to Mexico City with a race and sets a three-day attendance record with 351,972 fans coming through the gates to see Cristiano da Matta take the win.
11/25/1978
Championship Auto Racing Teams is formed by a group of series team owners.
11/26/1967
Dan Gurney wins his first Champ Car race in an Eagle-Weslake-Ford at Riverside making him the first driver ever to win in Champ Cars, sports cars, stock cars and Formula 1.
12/7/1969
Mario Andretti wins at Riverside in the last Champ Car race ever to take place in the month of December. The race was the 50th win in the career of legendary chief mechanic Clint Brawner.
12/7/1994
NFL great Walter Payton becomes the first NFL player to become a Champ Car team owner when he joined Dale Coyne to form Payton Coyne Racing.
12/8/1999
Former Ganassi technical manager Morris Nunn announces that he will form his own Champ Car team. The team will eventually end up giving two-time champion Alex Zanardi a seat upon his return to Champ Car from Formula 1.
12/10/1950
Johnnie Parsons wins in the first Champ Car race ever held at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina.
12/10/1992
Rick Mears announces his retirement from Champ Car racing after winning 29 races, 40 poles and three series championships.
12/17/1996
CART reaches an agreement with Tony George for Champ Cars to discontinue the use of the term IndyCar when referring to Champ Cars.
12/19/2001
Former Grand Prix of Long Beach promoter Chris Pook is named as the new CEO and President of CART.
12/21/1992
Formula 1 superstar Ayrton Senna tests a Penske Champ Car at Firebird Raceway near Phoenix.
12/30/2003
U.S. Bankruptcy Jude Frank J. Otte accepts the offer from Open Wheel Racing Series, LLC, as a qualified bid for the assets of CART, setting the stage for the purchase of the series by Kevin Kalkhoven, Gerald Forsythe and Paul Gentilozzi.