1974 - Captured B/Sports series national title.
Racing Career:
A three time PPG Cup Champion (1986,1987 and 1992). Became first ever champion in first year s owner/driver (1992). Initial race experience came from driving father Michael's Lotus in an SCCA amateur race.
1974 - Captured B/Sports series national title.
1975 - Won Formula Atlantic Championship and was awarded SCCA President's
Cup as top amateur driver
1976 - Moved to the Formula Atlantic series.
1977 - Finished second to Gilles Villeneuve in Atlantic standings.
1978 - Ran European Formula Three series. Started two Formula One events for
the Wolf team, competing at Watkins Glen and Montreal.
1979 - Became a Formula Two and Can-Am competitor, winning a Can-Am
event at Laguna Seca. Fifth in Can-Am standings.
1980 - Again competing at Can-Am finished fifth.
1981 - Took fourth in IMSA GT title chase and third in World Endurance
Championship with a win at the 24 Hours of Daytona in a Porsche 935.
1982 - Won the pole for the 24 Hours Daytona event. Made first PPG Cup start
at Phoenix. Won first PPG event at Cleveland then took second win at Michigan 150.
Finished second in PPG Cup points. Won CART Rookie of the Year.
1983 - Eleventh in IROC Competition. Entered 24 Hours of LeMans but failed
to finish. Picked up nine Top Tens in twelve events including win at Riverside. Took fifth
in PPG points.
1984 - Drove a Wood Brothers NASCAR entry at Riverside. Finished seventh at
Indy after starting eighteenth. Earned back-to-back IndyCar wins at Phoenix and Laguna
Seca, finishing third in driver standings.
1985 - Again finished third in driver standings. Won three times, placed in Top
Five six times and Top Ten on ten occasions. Led all drivers with seven poles. Third in
IROC. Won Camel GT event at Elkhart Lake.
1986 - Won six events to secure his first PPG Indy Car World Series
championship. Became first PPG Cup driver to earn US$1,000,000 in a single season.
Captured Indy 500 victory less than a month before owner and mentor Jim Trueman
succumbed to cancer. Became first driver to complete Indy 500 in less than three hours.
Scored two poles.
1987 - Won second straight PPG Cup title clinching crown with fourth straight
Laguna Seca victory. First driver to win two consecutive championships since Rick Mears
(1981 and 1982). Scored twelve Top Five finishes including three wins. Won inaugural
Marlboro Challenge invitational at Miami. Won IROC at Mid-Ohio, fifth in points. Won
IMSA GTP events, finishing fifth overall.
1988 - One victory at Pocono highlighted season which saw nine Top Five
finishes. Judd engine victory at Pocono broke nine-race Chevy win streak marked Judd's
only win to date in IndyCar racing. Led all drivers in laps completed. Did not win a pole
for the first time since rookie season (1982). Announced decision to leave Truesports , his
team for seven years for Kraco Racing calling it "absolutely the hardest decision that I
have had to make in my racing career."
1989 - Single win at Meadowlands. With Cosworth was only one of two non-
Chevrolet engines to win (Porsche). Finished ninth in points.
1990 - Teamed with Al Unser Jr at newly merged Galles-Kraco Racing. For the
first time in his career did not win a race during PPG Cup season. Strong finishes did net
fourth overall in standings. Finished second five times in first ten of sixteen races including
the Indianapolis 500 to Arie Luyendyk and Marlboro 500 to team mate Al Unser Jr.
1991 - Broke thirty one winless race streak stretching back to Meadowlands
1989 with win at Meadowlands. Again produced an overabundance of second placed
finishes - six. Took PPG points battle down to the final race of the year at Laguna Seca
only to relinquish the fight to Michael Andretti when car overheated early. Won one pole
and finished in the top five thirteen times. Nearly caught Emerson Fittipaldi to win at
Detroit losing by the closest margin of victory of the year 0.287 seconds.
1992 - Announced plans to move to Patrick Racing instead bought team with St
Louis businessman Carl Hogan. Secured Chevy engine program and sponsorship from
Miller Genuine Draft. Partnership would pay dividends winning Rajah the first
US$1,000,000 PPG IndyCar World Series champion's bonus. Championship came down
to final race of the season in a three way battle with Michael Andretti and Al Unser Jr. 196
to 192 point margin over Andretti was second closest in Indy history. Scored four wins
(Phoenix, Detroit, New England and Nazareth) and three consecutive poles (Milwaukee,
New England and Toronto). Finished in the Top Five eleven times. Named driver of the
year by US panel.
1993 - Switched to Rahal/Hogan chassis at the start of the season, moved shops
to Columbus, Ohio taking over Truesports operation. Highlights were seconds at Long
Beach and Vancouver. Failed to qualify for Indy 500, subsequently switching to Lola
chassis. In last twelve races finished in Top Ten eleven times. Became first IndyCar driver
to top US$12,000,000 in career earnings (US$12,024,828). Finished fourth in
championship. Team performed testing and development for Honda IndyCar program.
Competed with Honda engine in 1994.
1994 - Started all sixteen races with Rahal/Hogan racing with new Honda engine.
Scored a season high second at Toronto. Worked closely with engineers to make his Lola
one of the
best handling cars in the series. switched from the Lola/Honda to the Penske/Ilmor at Indy to start twenty eighth and move all the way up at the finish to third. Announced that Raul Boesal would replace Mike Groff as team mate. Announced a switch from Honda to Mercedes engine for 1995.
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