The last great championship battle among American Indy car drivers took place over a two-year span. It was Michael Andretti, Al Unser Jr, Bobby Rahal, and Rick Mears locked in a four-way fight for CART IndyCar supremacy as the quartet finished 1-2-3-4 in the standings from 1990-1991.
In 1990, it was Little Al’s title to secure, the first of two the New Mexico native would earn. Pennsylvania’s Andretti took the crown in 1991, which stands as his highest achievement in the sport. And for good measure, Rahal’s championship in 1992 – the Ohioan’s third – came despite losing Mears from the mix due to injury, and required staving off the advances of Andretti and Unser.
A number of IndyCar champions from the U.S.A. have been produced since this rich and all-too brief era came to an end. In CART, the Indy Racing League, and the modern IndyCar Series, Americans have waved the flag and celebrated their achievements with great patriotism, but we’ve waited almost 30 years for at least two Americans to follow in the footsteps of their countrymen.
Although the 2019 championship is far from over, and there’s no guarantee it will remain a red, white, and blue duel, the rare situation of having Tennessee’s Josef Newgarden and California’s Alexander Rossi holding first and second in the championship and, even better, trading first- and second-place finishes at half of the races run so far, is starting to feel like the past is visiting the present.
“I think it’s great for a sport whenever you have any rivalry, and when it’s two Americans like Alex and Josef, it’s pretty special,” Andretti tells RACER.
Having spent most of his career pitted against Unser Jr in CART where foreign drivers often comprised the majority of the grid, Andretti sees many parallels in what’s taking shape between his driver and Team Penske’s Newgarden.
“I think the one thing that me and Al had was a great rivalry because we really respected each other and we were still friends, but on the racetrack, we raced each other as hard as you can but took care of each other as well,” he says. “Even if we both went into the corner side-by-side, we’re still both going to come out the other side. We had a mutual respect for each other. Some of my best memories of racing were against Al.
“So, it’d be great if that same sort of story would come up with Alex and Newgarden because, number one, they’re both Americans. So, to have an American rivalry I think would be great, and you can see something’s brewing. They’re both great young talents that I think are going to be around for a long time in the future of our sport and for a long time. So, it’d be great if they could develop some sort of rivalry where… Not a hostile one, more a respected rivalry where they raced each other really hard on the racetrack....”
