Machinists Union Racing

Machinists Union Racing was a CART Indy Car team owned by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and run by the IAM's national automotive coordinator Andy Kenopensky, a former appointee to the United States Metric Board. The team competed in CART from 1981 to 1990.

The team was the brainchild of IAM president William Winpisinger. It began sponsoring racing in 1978 by sponsoring a USAC Champ Car race at Trenton Speedway and sponsoring the Indy Car driven by Jerry Karl. The union formed its own team in 1981. From 1981 to 1988 it was additionally sponsored by Schaefer Beer alongside the Machinists Union branding. The team's most notable drivers during this time were Josele Garza who drove for the team from 1983 to 1987 and Roger Mears who drove for the team in 1982 and 1983. Garza finished 12th in the CART championship in 1985 and 11th in 1987. Garza brought the team its best CART finish of second at the Michigan 500 in 1986. Mears finished 9th in 1982 and 12th in 1983 and finished fourth at Riverside International Raceway in 1982. Scott Atchison and Kevin Cogan drove for the team in 1988 and saw little success, although Cogan did register the team's best finish of third at the Long Beach Grand Prix in 1988, finishing 13th in the 1988 championship while Atchison finished 20th. Veteran driver Pancho Carter joined the team with co-sponsorship from Hardee's and finished 13th and 20th in two seasons with the team with a best finish of 7th, coming in his first race for the team.

All team members were card-carrying members of the IAM. They had initially experimented with building their own chassis in 1980 but it was abandoned before it hit the track.

Throughout his involvement in the sport, team manager Andy Kenopensky was a constant critic of CART's management of the sport and complained that the racing was too expensive and that rules were being crafted to benefit large-budget teams at the expense of small-budget teams such as his own.[1][2]

The union and Schaefer also sponsored a NASCAR Winston Cup entry for Joe Ruttman in the 1989 Daytona 500 fielded by CalCar Motorsports.[3]

Drivers

Complete Racing Results

PPG CART Indycar World Series

(key)

Year Chassis Engine Drivers No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
1980 ONT INDY MIL POC MDO MCH WGL MIL ONT MCH MXC PHX
IAM 001 Donovan V8 Phil Threshie 30 DNQ 22 25 DNQ DNQ
Larry Dickson 35 22
1981 PHX MIL ATL MCH RIV MIL MCH WGL MXC PHX
Penske PC-7/79 Cosworth DFX Larry Dickson 31 10 10 12 9 16 12 8 7 22 DNQ
IAM 001 Donovan V8 Teddy Pilette 67 DNQ1
1982 PHX ATL MIL CLE MCH MIL POC RIV ROA MCH PHX
Penske PC-9B/81 Cosworth DFX Roger Mears 31 8 22 21
Penske PC-7/79 4 17 14 9 4 8 8
Penske PC-10/82 9 7
1983 ATL INDY MIL CLE MCH ROA POC RIV MDO MCH CPL LAG PHX
Penske PC-10/82 Cosworth DFX Roger Mears 9 7 28 8 6 DNQ 8 16 9 12 16 7 6 16
Josele Garza 55 25 17 19 11 9 20 23 17 11 12
1984 LBH PHX INDY MIL POR MEA CLE MCH ROA POC MDO SAN MCH PHX LAG CPL
Penske PC-10/82 Cosworth DFX Josele Garza 55 23 DNQ
March 84C 10 DNS 7 23 17 11 7 25 11 4 10 8 13 10
Penske PC-10/82 Roger Mears DNQ
1985 LBH INDY MIL POR MEA CLE MCH ROA POC MDO SAN MCH LAG PHX MIA
March 85C Cosworth DFX Josele Garza 55 28 31 7 12 27 6 19 18 26 11 6 6 7 10 9
Pete Halsmer 59 DNQ 15 8 19 11
Chip Ganassi 22
Rupert Keegan 19 12 10
1986 PHX LBH INDY MIL POR MEA CLE TOR MCH POC MDO SAN MCH ROA LAG PHX MIA
March 85C/86C Cosworth DFX Josele Garza 55 23 7 18 7 17 8 7 23 2 7 14 24
Desiré Wilson 19 16
59 13
Chip Ganassi 14 21
Rick Miaskiewicz (R) DNS
Johnny Parsons 22 21 16 29
95 27
55 7 23 11
Mike Nish (R) 45 DNQ
59 DNS 10 24 22
Eagle 86GC Jan Lammers 8 23 9
1987 LBH PHX INDY MIL POR MEA CLE TOR MCH POC ROA MDO NAZ LAG MIA
March 87C Cosworth DFX Pancho Carter 29 27 20 6 14 14 17 12 14
Josele Garza 55 5 6 17 22 6 24 16 17 12 11 11 8 8 8 18
March 86C Mike Nish 59 DNQ DNQ
Rick Miaskiewicz 14 12 16
March 87C 22
March 86C Tony Bettenhausen, Jr. DNQ
Pontiac V8 Sammy Swindell DNQ
1988 PHX LBH INDY MIL POR CLE TOR MEA MCH POC MDO ROA NAZ LAG MIA
March 88C Cosworth DFX Kevin Cogan 11 11 22 20 10 24 24 15 9 4
March 87C 8 3
Scott Pruett 16 20
Rich Vogler 15 11
29 17
Scott Atchison 55 DNQ 25 9
March 86C 12 9 DNQ 16 25 12 13 10 10 12 15 20 DNQ
1989 PHX LBH INDY MIL DET POR CLE MEA TOR MCH POC MDO ROA NAZ LAG
March 88C Cosworth DFX Kevin Cogan 11 10 26 32 19 17 24 11 12 9 25 22 10 18 8
Johnny Rutherford DNQ
Rich Vogler 29 DNQ
  1. ^ Ran in conjunction with Mergard Racing.
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References
  1. Fleischman, Bill. Team Manager: Indy Cars Too Expensive, Philadelphia Daily News, August 18, 1986, Retrieved 2013-09-16
  2. Glick, Shav. CART to Deal With Disarray in Its Meeting, Los Angeles Times, January 8, 1990, Retrieved 2013-09-16
  3. 'California Dreamin' of a Race Team in Tennessee, RPM Race Report, September 2, 1989, Retrieved 2013-09-16
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