1983 Indianapolis 500 would go on to win four races during the season and finish second to Al Unser Sr. for the CART championship. The 1983 Indy 500 ushered in a new era of civility and stability in the sport of Indy car racing. After four years of conflict and organizational disputes between USAC and CART, the two sanctioning bodies came to an amicable truce. The Indianapolis 500 would be sanctioned singly by USAC, and officially would be part of the ceremonial Gold Crown. However, the race was now recognized on the CART schedule, and counted towards the 1983 CART PPG Indy Car
1914 Indianapolis 500 Ray Harroun, who had won the inaugural Indianapolis 500 in 1911, designed the Maxwell car, and was given $10,000 () by the company's president as a reward for the cars qualifying with sub-1:37 times. By the end of the second day, 21 drivers had completed speed trials, and all but DePalma and Eddie Pullen had times below 1:45. Hughie Hughes's car suffered a broken crank case, preventing him from being able to set a qualifying time. On the final day of the trials, DePalma managed to make significant improvements in his Mercedes, and qualified with the twentieth fastest time overall,