Actor Paul Newman and racing entrepreneur Carl Haas, who had been competing against each other in the Can-Am Series, began discussing the possibility of joining forces and forming a Championship car team to compete in the Champ Car (then named) PPG Indy Car World Series.
1983
Overall Wins - 2 | Poles - 2 | Laps Led by Team - 214 of 1,812
Newman/Haas Racing (NHR) began its inaugural season of competition with driver Mario Andretti in a Lola/Cosworth...The team scored its first pole in its fourth event (Cleveland) and its first win at its sixth event (Elkhart Lake, from the pole)...Scored its second win at Las Vegas...Andretti scored the second pole for the team at Elkhart Lake...Finished its first season third in the PPG Cup.
1984
CHAMPIONSHIP
Overall Wins - 6 | Poles - 8 | Laps Led by Team - 572 of 2,286
In only the team’s second year, Mario Andretti captured the PPG Cup Championship with six wins, eight pole positions and 10 track records in a Lola/Cosworth...Andretti received a unanimous vote for “Driver of the Year.”
1985
Overall Wins - 3 | Poles - 3 | Laps Led by Team - 514 of 2,051
In his third season with NHR, Mario Andretti won three races and three poles and topped the lap-leader standings with 514...Finished second in the Indianapolis 500 to Danny Sullivan...Andretti broke his shoulder in an accident at Michigan and missed a race for the first time in his career (Elkhart Lake) due to an injury...Alan Jones became the second driver to compete for the team as a substitute for the injured Andretti at Elkhart Lake...Finished fifth in the PPG Cup point race while running a Lola/Cosworth.
1986
Overall Wins - 2 | Poles - 3 | Laps Led by Team - 204 of 2,434
Mario Andretti beat his son Michael (driving for Kraco) to the finish line at Portland on Father’s Day in the closest margin of victory in modern Champ or Indy car history (0.07 seconds)...At Phoenix, sat on the pole next to son Michael for the first father-son Champ Car front-row start...Mario surpassed A.J. Foyt as all-time pole position leader...Finished fifth in the PPG Cup in a Lola/Cosworth.
1987
Overall Wins - 2 | Poles - 8 | Laps Led by Team - 610 of 2,067
Team switched to the Chevrolet/Illmor combination and Mario Andretti brought the team its first (and only) Indy 500 pole position...Andretti and NHR brought Chevrolet/Illmor its first Champ Car win (from the pole) at Long Beach...Mario became the all-time lap leader...Finished sixth in the PPG Cup while driving a Lola/Chevrolet-Illmor.
1988
Overall Wins - 2 | Poles - 0 | Laps Led by Team - 240 of 2,221
Mario Andretti became the first driver to top $6 million in career Champ Car earnings...Won 50th race of career at Phoenix... Finished fifth in the PPG Cup while driving a Lola/Chevrolet-Illmor...In November, the team announced that they would debut the first father-son Champ Car team in 1989 with the addition of Michael Andretti.
1989
Overall Wins - 2 | Poles - 2 | Laps Led by Team - 518 of 2,083
NHR made history with the first father-son Champ Car team of Mario and Michael Andretti...Michael won two
events and two pole positions en route to a third place finish in the PPG Cup...Michael set a qualifying record at Cleveland...Mario finished sixth in the PPG Cup…Team fielded Lola/Chevy-Illmors.
1990
Overall Wins - 5 | Poles - 4 | Laps Led by Team - 581 of 2,040
Michael Andretti won five races and four pole positions to finish runner-up in the PPG Cup Championship ...Michael’s Detroit win marked the first time a driver led every lap of the race since his father, Mario, did it in August 1987...Team scored two one-two finishes at Portland and Mid-Ohio...Mario finished seventh in the PPG Cup...Mario was given the AutoSport Award for Special Achievement for contributions to motorsports…Team fielded Lola/Chevy-Illmors.
1991
CHAMPIONSHIP
Overall Wins - 8 | Poles - 8 | Laps Led by Team – 1,067 of 2,110
Michael Andretti earned his first PPG Cup title and the second for the team with a Champ Car-record eight wins, eight poles and 15 track records...Earned a record number of points under the modern (1983) system...Michael became the first driver to win the Marlboro Challenge twice, the first to win from the pole and win the PPG Cup in the same season...Michael set a single-season earnings mark of $2,461,734...Topped Champ Car’s only all-Andretti podium finish with cousin John and father, Mario, at Milwaukee…Earned “Driver of the Year” honors...Team scored a one-two finish in Toronto...Mario Andretti was the leader in the laps and miles completed for the season...Mario finished seventh in the PPG Cup…Team fielded Lola/Chevy-Illmors.
1992
Overall Wins - 5 | Poles - 8 | Laps Led by Team – 1,178 of 2,110
Team secured Ford-Cosworth factory status and made the switch from the dominant Chevy-Illmor...Michael Andretti was runner-up in the PPG Championship to Bobby Rahal by the second-closest margin in history (196-192)...Michael led nearly 54 percent of all laps raced during the season...Mario Andretti missed the Detroit race (second in his career for an injury) after breaking his toes in an accident in the Indy 500...Teo Fabi became the fourth driver to compete for NHR when he substituted for Mario at Detroit...Mario was named “Driver of the Quarter Century” by vote of the past Drivers of the Year and a panel of 12 journalists...Mario surpassed A.J. Foyt in record number of Champ Car starts...In last race as teammates, Michael and Mario finished one-two in season finale at Laguna Seca...Mario finished sixth in the PPG Cup...Team fielded Lola/Ford-Cosworths…Michael announced he would leave the Champ Car circuit after 10 years of competition to race in Formula One the next season...Team announced on Sept. 18, that Formula One World Champion Nigel Mansell would compete for NHR in 1993.
1993
CHAMPIONSHIP
Overall Wins - 6 | Poles - 8 | Laps Led by Team - 742 of 2,083
In perhaps the boldest move ever, Haas brought 1992 Formula One World Champion Nigel Mansell to his team in 1993 to replace Michael Andretti, who left to compete in Formula One...The association brought historic results, with Mansell becoming the first true rookie ever to win the title along with five victories in his “rookie” season...Mansell was the first driver to win Formula One and Champ Car titles in consecutive years...Mansell missed the Phoenix race after a 180 mph practice crash...Recovered from surgery to finish third at Indy 500 and earn “Rookie of the Year” honors...Earned “Driver of the Year” honors from national media panel…Mario Andretti scored his 52nd career Champ Car win at Phoenix, making him the oldest winner in Champ Car history...First driver to win Champ Car races in four decades...Marked 100th racing career victory...Mario earned record-setting 65th pole at Michigan and became the oldest Champ Car pole winner as well as set a world closed-course record at 234.275 mph...Mario finished sixth in the PPG Cup...Team fielded Lola/Ford-Cosworths.
1994
Overall Wins - 0 | Poles - 3 | Laps Led by Team - 103 of 2,083
Mario Andretti spent 12 years of his illustrious career with Paul Newman and Carl Haas. The dedication and combined efforts of the three brought about an emotional final season for Mario before his retirement from full-time Champ car racing at the conclusion of the 1994 season...Mansell scored eight top-10 finishes and five top-five finishes...Mario finished 14th in the PPG Cup, and Nigel finished eighth...The team fielded Lola/Ford-Cosworths…It was announced in September that Canadian Paul Tracy would replace Nigel Mansell at the team in 1995...It was also announced that Michael Andretti would rejoin the team and carry on the Andretti tradition at NHR the following season.
1995
Overall Wins - 3 | Poles - 3 | Laps Led by Team - 569 of 2,194
Michael Andretti’s return brought about a competitive season for the team, although the results didn’t always equal the effort...Andretti led more laps than any other driver but only scored one win due to various problems...Andretti’s teammate, Paul Tracy, won two events (Australia, Milwaukee)...Andretti finished fourth in the PPG Cup, and Tracy finished sixth...Team fielded Lola/Ford-Cosworths…NHR announced at Laguna Seca that former Formula One driver Christian Fittipaldi would replace Paul Tracy, who was returning to Team Penske, for 1996.
1996
Overall Wins - 5 | Poles - 0 | Laps Led by Team - 361 of 2,005
Team won its 50th (followed by its 51st) race...Michael Andretti had a slow start to the season, but the momentum of a season-high five wins put him in the hunt for the title as it came down to the season finale...PPG Cup champion Jimmy Vasser’s consistency of finishing all 16 races while Andretti retired in six of the 16 events added strength to Vasser’s charge...Andretti finished the season as runner-up to the champion for the fifth time...Brazilian Christian Fittipaldi’s debut season established him as one of the series’ most consistent drivers with 13 top-10 finishes in 16 races...On one occasion, in Detroit, Fittipaldi looked sure to score his first Champ Car win after taking the lead from sixth place on the Lap 1 and leading a total of 64, only to lose it to his teammate, Michael Andretti, with six laps to go...Fittipaldi made three podium appearances in 1996 and finished fifth in the PPG Cup…Team fielded Lola/Ford-Cosworths…NHR announced in mid-1996 that it would switch from a Lola chassis to an American-made Swift chassis beginning in 1997 and would also take an active role in the development.
1997
Overall Wins - 1 | Poles - 0 | Laps Led by Team - 200 of 2,259
The team scored the first win for an American-made Champ or Indy car chassis in 14 years when Michael Andretti drove to victory in the car’s debut...The chassis was built in cooperation with California-based Swift Engineering, Inc. NHR engineers Gibbons and Lisles assisted in the David Bruns design...The season marked the first time for NHR to compete with a chassis other than a Lola...Andretti scored five podium finishes in the first eight races but dropped to eighth in the year-end standings...At the second race of the season in Australia, Christian Fittipaldi was hit from behind and sent head-on into the concrete barriers at 190 mph. He broke his right tibia and fibula as well as his left foot, causing him to miss a total of seven races. After an intense rehabilitation program, Fittipaldi made his competitive return at Portland and earned his highest qualifying position (third) to date. A series of bad luck and malfunctions kept him out of victory lane the remainder of the season and he finished 15th in the standings despite missing seven races...Roberto Moreno filled in for Fittipaldi in all six events, scoring his highest personal qualifying effort of second place in Brazil and highest finish of fifth at Detroit.
1998
Overall Wins - 1 | Poles - 1 | Laps Led by Team - 490 of 2,549
The team started the season with a win at Homestead by Michael Andretti, who was a contender at most events...Andretti led only 31 fewer laps than eventual champion Alex Zanardi but finished seventh in the standings due to eight DNF’s in 19 events...Andretti again made history by scoring the first pole for an American-made Champ or Indy car chassis in 16 years at Elkhart Lake. It was his first pole after 59 non-pole events...Andretti scored a total of five podium finishes, which included a win and four second place finishes...Fittipaldi encountered a string of bad luck and had only three trouble-free races of 19 total, including suffering a mild concussion at Milwaukee after a Friday practice accident. Moreno again filled in for Fittipaldi...Fittipaldi had two podium finishes of third place – one at Elkhart Lake and one in his return to Australia, since his accident at the track 18 months prior.
1999
Overall Wins - 2 | Poles - 2 | Laps Led by Team - 283 of 2,769
The team began its third season with the Swift chassis again powered by Ford-Cosworth but switched to Firestone tires...Michael Andretti won one race (St. Louis) and one pole (Elkhart Lake), and scored a total of five podium finishes…Christian Fittipaldi’s first Champ Car pole (Rio) was the first for an American-made chassis on an oval in 17 years and his first Champ Car victory (Elkhart Lake) was also the first for an American-made chassis on a road/street course in 19 years…When only 28 points out of first place, Fittipaldi’s title bid was put on hold after a testing accident on Aug. 2, when he suffered a subdural hematoma after a transmission failure at St. Louis. He missed five races and dropped from fourth to eight in the standings and recorded five podium finishes…After three years with the Swift chassis, the team announced that it would return to Lola Cars International in 2000.
2000
Overall Wins – 3 | Poles – 0 | Laps Led by Team – 338 of 2,830
After switching back to the Lola chassis, NHR scored three victories. Michael Andretti won on the oval in Japan and the street course in Toronto, while Fittipaldi scored his first 500-mile victory and second overall in Champ Car with his $1 million win in the season-ending race in Fontana...Andretti was a championship contender until round 19 of 20, when engine failure ended his bid…Fittipaldi led an effort to develop the Head and Neck Support (HANS) safety device in hopes of minimizing whiplash in accidents. The device was later mandated in Champ Car in 2001, and other series began to consider it for possible use…Unfortunately, Fittipaldi provided the ultimate test for the device in Chicago during a practice accident that resulted in a mild concussion and was therefore not allowed to race…At the conclusion of the season, the team announced that Cristiano da Matta would take over the vacant seat long held by Michael Andretti and that NHR would switch to Toyota engines for 2001 after nine seasons with Ford-Cosworth.
2001
Overall Wins – 3 | Poles – 0 | Laps Led by Team – 116 of 2,610
The team embarked on its first season ever without an Andretti after three decades of partnership…Young race
winner Cristiano da Matta joined team veteran Fittipaldi and scored a win in his debut in Monterrey, Mexico, as well as two more in Australia and the Marlboro 500 before the conclusion of the season…With his win in Mexico, da Matta brought the team its eighth victory in a season opener and became one of only two drivers to win in his debut with the team. Reigning Formula One Champion Nigel Mansell was the other…Team competed in its milestone 300th race in Japan…In its first season with Toyota, NHR brought them three of their six wins during the year…The team’s season-ending win in California was the 107th for chassis manufacturer Lola, 57 of which were won by NHR.
2002
CHAMPIONSHIP
Overall Wins - 7 | Poles - 7 | Laps Led by Team – 637 of 2,411
Cristiano da Matta earned a series high seven wins and seven poles as well as led almost twice as many laps as the driver ranked second in that category and brought the team its fourth title and the first for Toyota…Despite winning seven races, his domination exceeded that mark as victory was within reach in another seven events although it eluded him due to a variety of circumstances…He matched Al Unser Jr. and Alex Zanardi’s Champ Car record for four consecutive wins and looked likely to win a record setting fifth before engine failure ended his bid…He was one win away from matching a Champ Car record for most wins in one season – at eight -- despite leading the race in two of his final three attempts and finishing second in his third…Clinched the title with three races left in the season…In 19 events, he started on the front row 9 times and earned 11 podium finishes…Accumulated the second highest number of points in modern Champ Car history with 73 over second place Bruno Junqueira, behind only Alex Zanardi’s 116-point winning margin in 1998…Led the series in fastest race laps at six…Da Matta became the first open wheel driver since Nigel Mansell in 1993 (with NHR) to be named “Driver of the Year,” an award that is voted on by a national panel of journalists…He also earned the honor of being named to the AAWRBA First Team and was voted by fans as Racer Magazine’s “Road Racer of the Year” and was a close second to five-time F 1 World Champion Michael Schumacher for “Overall Racer of the Year”…The successful season earned him a test and later, the role of driver for Toyota’s Formula One program for 2003…Fittipaldi drove to a fifth place finish in the standings after earning three second, and two third-place finishes…After seven years with the team, he left to pursue a racing career in NASCAR for 2003.
2003
Overall Wins – 5 | Poles – 7 | Laps Led by Team – 438 of 1,922
For the first time in it’s history, NHR had a completely new line-up of drivers when 2002 Champ Car runner-up Bruno Junqueira and reigning F3000 Champion Sebastien Bourdais joined the team…Junqueira displayed consistency with his two wins, two poles and nine podium finishes in 18 events although he finished second overall for the second consecutive time…Despite being a rookie, Bourdais drove to five pole positions and three wins while setting new records en route to a fourth place rank…He was the first driver since NHR’s Nigel Mansell to win the pole in his debut (St. Pete) and became the first driver in series history to lead his first laps in the Champ Car series. He was also the first driver since Mansell to win the first two poles of his Champ Car career (St. Pete, Monterey)…In Germany, he became the first in series history to drive to victory in his oval racing debut from pole…Bourdais earned the “Rookie of the Year” title as well as became the first rookie to earn the Greg Moore Legacy Award…He posted the best qualifying average (3.67) of any driver in the series and also won the Bridgestone Passion for Excellence title which was awarded to the driver who, on the whole, posted the fastest race lap average of all races during the year…Team returned to the Ford-Cosworth powerplant for the first time since 2000 and continued to compete with Lola chassis and Bridgestone tires.
2004
CHAMPIONSHIP AND SECOND PLACE Overall Wins – 9 | Poles – 9 | Laps Led by Team – 629 of 1,335
NHR had their best season ever with Sebastien Bourdais bringing the team its fifth title as well as topping their first one-two finish with Bruno Junqueira as runner-up…Bourdais and Junqueira combined to earn a total of nine wins, nine poles and 20 podium finishes in 14 races…Bourdais drove to victory seven times and became the first driver since Michael Andretti (1991) to earn eight poles in one season…He set the fastest race lap six times and was the first driver ever to have made top-three starts in every race during the season (14) as well as the first driver to have started in the top-three 15 consecutive times, dating back to the 2003 season-finale in Mexico City...He and teammate Bruno Junqueira fought for the title until the final lap of the season-finale in Mexico City after Bourdais overcame a late-race, off-track excursion which erased his 17-second lead before he ultimately won the event and clinched his first Champ Car title…He won the Bridgestone Passion For Excellence Award for the second consecutive season. The award adds every driver’s fastest laps from every race together, with the award going to the driver that has the lowest aggregate time over the season. Bourdais’ combined time was more than five seconds faster than his next-quickest competitor…He earned the fan vote for SPEED TV’s Driver of the Year (DOY) for the third quarter and final vote. For the second quarter (CCWS season had just begun) he was fifth in the media voting, and second in the third and fourth quarter…He was selected as TSN Magazine’s “Champion of Champions,” Racer Magazine’s “Road Racer of the Year,” ESPN.com’s “North American Open-Wheel Driver of the Year” and earned First Team honors from the AARWBA…Junqueira earned a series high 10 top-three finishes in 14 races, including two wins and six second-place finishes to end the season as runner-up to the champion for the third consecutive time in his fourth season in the series…He set the fastest race lap five times…NHR returned to the Indy 500 for the first time since 1995 with a one-car effort where Junqueira qualified fourth, led 16 laps and finished fifth.
2005
CHAMPIONSHIP AND SECOND PLACE Overall Wins – 8 | Poles – 6 | Laps Led by Team – 404 of 1,310
The team again finished first and second in the standings but it was Bourdais and Spaniard Oriol Servia in the ranking as Servia replaced Bruno Junqueira, who fractured his T-12 and L-1 vertebra in the Indy Racing League-sanctioned Indy 500 after he was hit by A.J. Foyt IV who was four laps down…Junqueira had taken over the Champ Car points lead with his win in Round 2 in Monterrey before his season-ending injury in the Indy 500 where he was a contender for the win due to a fuel strategy that had moved him into sixth place before the halfway mark of the race…Bourdais, Servia and Junqueira combined to earn a total of eight wins, six poles and 16 podium finishes in 13 races and Bourdais and Servia’s overall 1-2 finish in the series duplicated the team’s most successful season with their 1-2 finish…Bourdais led the series with six wins, five poles and seven podium finishes, set the fastest race lap seven times and clinched the title in Australia with one race to go…He completed all but 10 of the 1,310 laps during the season, won the Bridgestone Passion For Excellence Award for the third consecutive season and was nominated for SPEED TV’s Driver of the Year” for three of the four quarters and the overall award. He also earned First Team honors from the AARWBA for the second consecutive year and it was his third to be recognized by the prestigious group…In his debut at the Indy 500 he started 15th and was in fifth place in the closing laps when he received a cut tire while racing in a pack and crashed with 1.5 laps to go to finish 12th…In the 11 events Oriol Servia drove for the team, he earned his first win and pole in the series and amassed a total of seven top-three and 10 top-five finishes to earn the runner-up spot.
2006
Bourdais and Junqueira return to the team and will attempt to bring NHR their third straight title and fourth in five years…They will continue to compete in Ford-Cosworth-powered Lola chassis on Bridgestone tires in the team’s 24th season of Champ Car competition.
