Has a rookie ever won the IndyCar Championship? All you need to know

IndyCar is a spec series, which means, even a rookie can upset a champion on a given day. And indeed, many have. But there is a world of difference between a rookie winning a race and one racking up victories to win the ultimate prize - the championship.

In IndyCar's history, only one rookie has achieved this unparalleled feat - Nigel Mansell. The British racer debuted in IndyCar in 1993. However, he was no ordinary rookie.

The year before testing an Indy car and joining the series full-time with Newman/Haas Racing to replace Michael Andretti, Mansell dominantly won the F1 championship with Williams, scoring nearly double the points of his teammate in the standings.

Nigel Mansell Tests Indy Car in January 1993 (Source: Getty)

Under ordinary circumstances, he would've continued in F1. But a disagreement with Williams led to Mansell retiring from F1 in 1992 to join IndyCar the next year.

The Briton took the series by storm on debut at Surfers Paradise in Australia by taking pole position and converting that into a victory after overcoming several challenges during the race. Mansell racked up four more victories during his fairytale season and became the first rookie to win an IndyCar championship. And to date, the only one.

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Nigel Mansell's nasty IndyCar crash that could have ended his rookie season after race one

Nigel Mansell at the F1 Grand Prix of Mexico - Previews - Source: Getty

The high that Nigel Mansell experienced after his scintillating debut in Australia was soon crushed in the second race of the season. During a practice session on Saturday morning at the Phoenix International Raceway, the Newman/Haas driver spun and crashed his Ford Cosworth-powered Lola into the barriers at over 180 mph.

Though it was at this circuit that he tested an Indy car in January of that year, the tricky oval got the better of him. Mansell suffered a concussion and injured his shoulder and back. The then-40-year-old was hospitalized overnight and missed the Valvoline 200 the next day.

"The toughest thing that year was coming back from the accident," Mansell later said (via MotorSport Magazine). "Some people didn’t seem to appreciate how bad it was. It took a little time for me to get over the pains and be 100 percent fit. That was the biggest thing I achieved that year."

He remains the only driver in motorsport history to have won the F1 and IndyCar championships in consecutive years. To date, no rookie has been strong enough to replicate what he did. But the comparisons with young rookies might never be fair because Mansell had a 13-year F1 career behind him before he jumped ship to its American counterpart.