The American Indycar Series (AIS) was an American open wheel racing series founded in 1988 by racing driver, owner, and businessperson Bill Tempero. The series utilized year-old (and older) chassis and engines from the CART series and later the Indy Racing League. CART and IRL drivers including Buddy Lazier, Jaques Lazier, Robby Unser, and Johnny Unser found early career success in the AIS.
In the mid-1980s, the once-popular Can-Am series was withering, and most teams had already defected to CART or IMSA. The last holdouts formed "CAT" (Can-Am Teams) in 1986 to take over sanctioning of the series as part of the SCCA. Two plans emerged, one keeping the Formula 5000-based cars, and others, led by Bill Tempero who favored using old CART Indy car machines. During 1986 and 1987, the CAT races were run essentially as two-class races, with the familiar full-bodied Formula 5000 cars racing alongside ex-CART Indy cars. CAT folded after the 1987 season.
Tempero then broke off and started his Indy car-based series in 1988. With an emphasis on cost savings, ex-CART Indy car chassis were powered by normally aspirated, stock block Chevrolet V-8 engines. Buddy Lazier was the first season champion. Tempero himself won one race that year, and placed third in the final season points standings.
As the series slowly began to gain competitors, the teams were allowed to run a choice of multiple powerplants. The aforementioned stock block Chevy, or the Buick V-6 in turbocharged or normally aspirated configuration. Some entries even showed up with the turbocharged Cosworth DFX, once a mainstay of the CART Indy car circuit. An equivalency formula was created to provide for competitive balance among the different engine combinations. The chassis utilized were the March, Lola, Reynard, Eagle, and Penske from CART competition. In later years, G-Force and Dallara chassis from IRL competition saw use as well. Over the years, the AIS series had a predominantly western-based schedule, but early on did have races in New York and in the South. International races were held in both Canada and Mexico. AIS raced on mostly short ovals and road courses, occasionally splitting a bill with Weekly racing series, Late models, and other short track series. A few street circuits and "roval" races were also held.
The original Tempero-era American Indycar Series ceased at the end of the 2000 season. The AIS was sold to a group led by Barry Brooke and Bobby Brooks. However, the series subsequently folded permanently after only two race meets had been held in 2002. A new management team formed the United States Speedway Series (USSS), which started racing in 2001. The USSS ran for five years under mostly the same format, featuring older chassis from CART and the first generation of IRL (G-Force and Dallara); with a variety of normally aspirated and turbocharged engines. The final season of the USSS was in 2005.
1988 American Indycar Series season The 1988 Valvoline-Machinists Union American Indycar Series was the inaugural season of the American Indycar Series. After running mixed-class races with ex-Indy car chassis alongside the full-bodied Formula 5000-based machines in the Can-Am series in 1986–1987, this represented the first full season for Bill Tempero's Indy car series. The cars were powered by stock block Chevrolet engines, ranging from 275 to 400 cubic inch displacement. The chassis were mostly used Marches and Lolas from CART competition in 1985–1986.
The season consisted of eight races beginning at Willow Springs in California. Three of the events were to be hosted as twin-race weekends, with the season finale consisting of twin races at Willow Springs. Three of the races were held on mile ovals, and rest were held on road courses. Buddy Lazier won the first season championship, with six wins out of the eight contested races. Kevin Whitesides placed second in points, posting three runner-up finishes, and was declared the rookie of the year.
Date Type Track Location Winner Chassis Engine Tire Laps Miles 1May 1 Willow Springs Rosamond, California Buddy Lazier March 85C Chevrolet40101.62 June 19 Gateway International Raceway Madison, Illinois Buddy Lazier March 85C Chevrolet54118.83 July 3 Mountain View Motorsports Park Mead, Colorado Robby Unser Lola Chevrolet1001004 July 23Shangri-La Motor SpeedwayOwego, New York Buddy Lazier March 85C Chevrolet10050July 23Cancelled due to rain 100505 September 3Race City Speedway Calgary, Alberta, Canada Buddy Lazier March 86C Chevrolet12562.56 September 4 Bill Tempero Lola Chevrolet12562.57 October 9Willow SpringsRosamond, California Buddy Lazier March 85C Chevrolet2460.968 October 9 Buddy Lazier March 85C Chevrolet2460.96 Oval Road course
Race summaries Round 1: The first race of the season was held at Willow Springs. Buddy Lazier started on the pole position after winning a 5-lap qualifying heat over Bob Schader. Lazier won the 40-lap race in dominating fashion, finishing 29.16 seconds ahead of second place Kevin Whitesides. The race was run in two 20-lap heats, with a one-hour halfway intermission for teams to make adjustments to their cars.
Round 2: The Illinois Grand Prix was held at the old road course at Gateway International Raceway. Buddy Lazier won the pole position with a lap of 98.4 mph. The race was run in two 27-lap legs, with a two-hour halfway break for teams to make adjustments to their machines. On a hot afternoon, a crowd of 6,000 were in attendance. Buddy Lazier led the most laps and won the race, despite experiencing bad tire wear over the final 15 laps. Bill Tempero, who battled with Lazier in the early going, finished second, 41.08 seconds behind. Kevin Whitesides blew an engine on Friday, then suffered a fire during the warmup lap, but he recovered to finish 4th.
Round 3: The Grand Prix of Colorado was held at the Mountain View Motor Sports Park road course on July 4th weekend. Robby Unser won the pole position and led-wire to wire for his first victory in the series. Buddy Lazier finish second, 4.5 seconds behind.
Round 4: The first oval event for the AIS was held at Shangri-La Speedway in New York. Twin 100-lap races were scheduled, but the second feature race was rained out. Only eight cars showed up, in front of a paltry crowd of roughly 2,500 spectators. Bill Tempero won the pole position, but elected to start the race at the back of the field. Buddy Lazier suffered an oil leak after practice in his March 86C, so the car was parked. His switched cars with his father and teammate Bob, who was driving an ex-Bobby Rahal March 85C. Lazier led all 100 laps en route to his third victory of the season. Only four cars were running at the finish.
Round 5: The AIS held its first race outside of the United States, with twin 125-lap races at Race City in Calgary. A pit stop demonstration was held Friday at Stephen Avenue mall to promote the event. The first race was held Saturday night. During practice on Friday, Buddy Lazier suffered a shattered brake disc on his March 85C, so he once again switched cars with his father Bob and drove the team's 86C. At that point, Bob elected to retire from driving in AIS. Lazier beat Kevin Whitesides to the finish line by 0.3 seconds. Bill Tempero finished third.
Round 6: The second race of the twin races at Race City in Calgary was held Sunday afternoon. Robby Unser set a new track record of 15.273 seconds to win the pole position. Bill Tempero won the race, with Unser second. Kevin Whitesides finished third, and Buddy Lazier fourth.
Rounds 7 and 8: The Bud Light 100 was the final event of the season. It was held as twin races at Willow Springs. Buddy Lazier won the pole position with a lap of 120.656 mph, and Robby Unser qualified second. During the first race, Robby Unser grabbed the lead at the start, and led the first 11 laps. Buddy Lazier took the lead in turn one lap 12, and led to the checkered flag. Lazier beat Unser to the finish line by 3.04 seconds, and with the victory, mathematically clinched the 1988 AIS championship. In the second race, Lazier started from the pole, and once again drove to victory, his sixth win of the season. Kevin Whitesides ran out of fuel during both races, but still scored enough points to place second in the final points standings.
Final points standings (Top five) Pos Driver R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 Pts 1 Buddy Lazier 1 1 2 1 1 4 1 1 152 2 Kevin Whitesides 2 4 3 2 2 3 6 4 112 3 Bill Tempero 9 2 5 3 3 1 3 3 110 4 Robby UnserDNS 10 1 4 5 2 2 2 97 5 John Eskuri 5 11 6 5 9 10 73
1989 American Indycar Series season The 1989 Machinists Union American Indycar Series was the second season of the AIS. The season consisted of eight doubleheader weekends, for a total of sixteen races. Robby Unser won 12 of the 16 races, and won the season championship. Buddy Lazier only ran a part-time schedule, splitting time with his CART commitments. Lazier won three races, and finished 7th in points. Richard Griffin won one race and was declared the rookie of the year. For 1989, most entries continued to utilize the normally aspirated, stock block Chevrolet V-8 engines. However, some reportedly fielded the Cosworth DFX.
The race meet at Shangri-La was originally scheduled for August 5, but was postponed to September due to rain.
Date Type Track Location Winner Chassis Engine Tire Laps Miles 1May 21Hawkeye Downs SpeedwayCedar Rapids, Iowa Robby Unser Lola T900 Chevrolet100502May 21 Robby Unser Lola T900 Chevrolet100503June 4I-70 SpeedwayOdessa, Missouri Robby Unser Lola T900 Chevrolet100504June 4 Robby Unser Lola T900 Chevrolet64325June 10Memphis Motorsports ParkMillington, Tennessee Robby Unser Lola T900 Chevrolet35636June 11 Robby Unser Lola T900 Chevrolet35637July 4Colorado National SpeedwayDacono, Colorado Robby Unser Lola T900 Chevrolet10037.58July 4 Buddy Lazier March Chevrolet10037.59August 20Race City Speedway Calgary, Alberta, Canada Robby Unser Lola T900 Chevrolet12562.510August 20 Buddy Lazier March 86C Chevrolet12562.511September 2Colorado National SpeedwayDacono, Colorado Robby Unser Lola T900 Chevrolet12546.912September 3 Robby Unser Lola T900 Chevrolet12546.913September 30Shangri-La Motor SpeedwayOwego, New York Robby Unser Lola T900 Chevrolet1005014September 30 Richard Griffin Lola Chevrolet1005015October 29Willow SpringsRosamond, California Buddy Lazier March 85C Chevrolet2562.516October 29 Robby Unser Lola T900 Chevrolet2562.5 Oval Road course
Race summaries Rounds 1 & 2: The first two races of the season were held at the mile oval at Hawkeye Downs Speedway in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Robby Unser won both of the 100-lap races, leading a total of 197 of the 200 possible laps. Bill Scott, driving an ethanol-powered machine, finished a close second in both races. The margin of victory was 3.75 seconds for the first race, and 1.47 seconds for the second race. Unser and Scott were the only drivers to complete all 200 laps. Bill Tempero qualified for the pole position for both races, but spun in an oil slick during the first race, then later burned a piston. Unser drove the weekend with a leg brace, after undergoing surgery for a broken leg he suffered in 1987. Kenji Momota made his AIS debut, finishing third in the second race.