Offseason
A busy offseason began at the conclusion of the 1991 PPG Indy Car World Series. The biggest announcement was the return of Ford to the IndyCar ranks. The Ford Cosworth XB was developing quickly into an engine of choice, and for 1992, was the powerplant for Newman/Haas Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing. For 1992, Ilmor introduced an updated motor, badged the "Chevy-B," and it was fielded by Penske Racing. The rest of the Chevrolet teams utilized the existing Ilmor, which was retronymically referred to as the "Chevy-A."
Galles-Kraco Racing unveiled their new in-house Galmer chassis for 1992. It met with instant success as Al Unser, Jr. won the pole position for the season opener at Surfers Paradise and finished 4th. Teammate Danny Sullivan won a few weeks later at Long Beach, with Unser, Jr. 4th. The chassis was expected to excel on street and road courses, but there were some doubts about its oval ability. Unser, Jr. managed a 4th place at Phoenix, but both drivers entered the month of May at Indy with relatively mediocre expectations.
Truesports fielded their own in-house "All American" chassis for the second year in a row.
After much fanfare of a pending retirement in 1991, A. J. Foyt brushed off the idea, and returned to the cockpit. He raced in the 1992 Daytona 500, and entered as a driver for Indianapolis. It would be his record 35th consecutive Indy 500 start.
Team and driver switches for 1992 included most notably Bobby Rahal and Danny Sullivan, who swapped rides with each other at Galles-Kraco Racing and Patrick Racing respectively. In December, however, Pat Patrick sold the assets of Patrick Racing to Rahal, and it became Rahal-Hogan Racing. Right off the bat, Rahal scored a victory for the re-booted team, winning the second race of the season at Phoenix, leading wire-to-wire.
Rookie driver Paul Tracy continued into his second year with Penske, and was offered his first attempt at Indy.
Read more about this topic: 1992 Indianapolis 500