Jump to content

1976 USAC Championship Car season

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1976 USAC Championship Car season
USAC National Championship Trail
Season
Races13
Start dateMarch 14
End dateNovember 7
Awards
National championUnited States Gordon Johncock
Indianapolis 500 winnerUnited States Johnny Rutherford
← 1975
1977 →

The 1976 USAC Championship Car season consisted of 13 races, beginning in Avondale, Arizona on March 14 and concluding at the same location on November 7. The USAC National Champion was Gordon Johncock and the Indianapolis 500 winner was Johnny Rutherford.

Schedule and results

[edit]

All races running on Oval/Speedway.

Rnd Date Race Name Track Location Pole Position Winning Driver
1 March 14 Jimmy Bryan 150 Phoenix International Raceway Avondale, Arizona United States Al Unser United States Bobby Unser
2 May 2 Trenton 200 Trenton International Speedway Trenton, New Jersey United States A. J. Foyt United States Johnny Rutherford
3 May 30 International 500 Mile SweepstakesA Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway, Indiana United States Johnny Rutherford United States Johnny Rutherford
4 June 13 Rex Mays Classic Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway West Allis, Wisconsin United States Gordon Johncock United States Mike Mosley
5 June 27 Schaefer 500 Pocono International Raceway Long Pond, Pennsylvania United States Johnny Parsons United States Al Unser
6 July 18 Norton Twin 200s Michigan International Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan United States A. J. Foyt United States Gordon Johncock
7 August 1 Texas 150 Texas World Speedway College Station, Texas United States A. J. Foyt United States A. J. Foyt
8 August 15 Trenton 200B Trenton International Speedway Trenton, New Jersey United States A. J. Foyt United States Gordon Johncock
9 August 22 Tony Bettenhausen 200 Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway West Allis, Wisconsin United States Johnny Rutherford United States Al Unser
10 September 5 California 500 Ontario Motor Speedway Ontario, California United States A. J. Foyt United States Bobby Unser
11 September 18 Michigan 150 Michigan International Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan United States A. J. Foyt United States A. J. Foyt
12 October 31 Benihana World Series of Auto Racing Texas World Speedway College Station, Texas United States A. J. Foyt United States Johnny Rutherford
13 November 7 Bobby Ball 150 Phoenix International Raceway Avondale, Arizona United States Bobby Unser United States Al Unser
^A Scheduled for 500 miles, stopped early due to rain.
^B Scheduled for 200 miles, stopped early due to rain.

Final points standings

[edit]

Note: David Hobbs, Danny Ongais and Vern Schuppan were not eligible for points.

Pos Driver PHX1
TRE1
INDY
MIL1
POC
MIC1
TXS1
TRE2
MIL2
ONT
MIC2
TXS2
PHX2
Pts
1 United States Gordon Johncock 3 2 3 2 27 1 5 1 2 3 2 2 2 4240
2 United States Johnny Rutherford 18 1 1 9 4 2 3 7 3 2 11 1 16 4220
3 United States Wally Dallenbach Sr. 16 6 4 12 3 20 2 4 17 4 3 6 4 3105
4 United States Al Unser 4 7 4 1 10 17 2 1 32 18 3 1 3020
5 United States Mike Mosley 5 5 15 1 2 22 4 5 5 15 7 22 DNQ 2120
6 United States Bobby Unser 1 DNQ 10 3 32 4 1 4 17 21 2080
7 United States A. J. Foyt 21 18 2 17 31 3 1 19 23 1 11 1720
8 United States Tom Sneva 17 3 6 13 7 6 16 3 13 26 5 DNQ 1570
9 United States Mario Andretti 8 5 4 3 1200
10 United States Johnny Parsons 6 4 12 5 22 4 18 6 12 DNQ 13 15 20 980
11 United States Roger McCluskey DNQ 30 6 5 DNQ 22 6 21 10 19 5 955
12 United States Pancho Carter 2 7 5 18 14 29 DNQ 10 920
13 United States Tom Bigelow 20 17 14 11 29 12 7 21 7 5 9 14 18 820
14 United States Bill Vukovich II DNQ 22 31 6 26 6 8 15 24 5 6 660
15 United States Jan Opperman 16 19 7 10 6 580
16 United States Rick Mears  RY  DNQ 8 9 9 390
17 United States Bill Puterbaugh 22 DNQ 7 8 375
18 United States Steve Krisiloff 24 8 16 6 21 17 370
19 United States George Snider 13 9 22 7 10 365
20 United States Salt Walther 9 9 9 18 DNQ 22 340
21 United States Dick Simon 7 16 32 14 10 19 13 16 30 21 7 330
22 United States John Martin 11 8 21 7 21 9 17 18 18 300
23 United States Todd Gibson 17 DNQ 13 9 8 11 14 16 13 280
24 United States Bobby Olivero  R  13 DNQ 10 DNQ 11 9 DNQ 14 275
25 United States Larry Dickson 19 19 Wth 11 14 15 11 DNQ 19 8 15 240
26 United States Al Loquasto 8 10 25 15 10 12 DNQ DNQ 12 215
27 United States Larry Cannon 17 30 11 8 DNQ 8 18 190
28 United States Bill Simpson DNQ 8 23 8 12 14 14 15 20 DNQ 190
29 United States Jerry Grant 22 27 10 150
30 United States Spike Gehlhausen 12 14 33 21 25 16 14 16 9 13 12 12 19 130
31 United States Lloyd Ruby 11 13 22 100
32 United States Lee Kunzman Wth 13 18 9 DNQ 20 DNQ 11 90
33 United States Roger Rager  R  20 10 17 16 60
34 United States Sheldon Kinser 19 28 12 50
35 United States Bob Harkey 20 12 DNQ 20 50
36 United States Jim McElreath 10 DNQ DNQ 45
37 United States Ed Finley DNQ 13 15 DNQ 11 DNQ 40
38 United States Tom Frantz 15 11 DNQ DNQ DNQ 40
39 United States Ken Nichols  R  DNQ 12 20 18 14 DNQ 20
- United States Janet Guthrie  R  15 DNQ 24 13 15 DNQ DNQ 0
- United States Arlene Hiss  R  14 0
- Canada Frank Weiss DNQ 16 15 0
- United States Larry McCoy 26 16 0
- Canada Eldon Rasmussen DNQ 20 17 31 17 0
- Australia Vern Schuppan  R  18 0
- United States Jerry Karl Wth 19 21 DNQ 0
- United States Mike Hiss DNQ DNQ 19 0
- Canada Ed Crombie  R  DNQ 20 Wth DNQ DNQ 0
- United States Jack Owens  R  DNQ 21 DNQ 0
- United States Billy Scott DNQ 23 DNQ 0
- United States John Mahler DNQ 25 0
- United States Gary Bettenhausen DNQ 28 DNQ 33 27 DNQ 0
- United States Danny Ongais  R  28 0
- United Kingdom David Hobbs 29 0
- United States Mel Kenyon DNQ 33 0
- United States Greg Hodges DNQ DNQ DNQ 0
- United States Gary Allbritain DNQ DNQ 0
- United States Butch Harris DNQ 0
- United States Bill Engelhart DNQ 0
- United States Jim Hurtubise DNQ 0
- United States Rick Muther DNQ 0
- United States Ed Miller Wth 0
Pos Driver PHX1
TRE1
INDY
MIL1
POC
MIC1
TXS1
TRE2
MIL2
ONT
MIC2
TXS2
PHX2
Pts
Color Result
Gold Winner
Silver 2nd place
Bronze 3rd place
Green 4th & 5th place
Light Blue 6th-10th place
Dark Blue Finished
(Outside Top 10)
Purple Did not finish
(Ret)
Red Did not qualify
(DNQ)
Brown Withdrawn
(Wth)
Black Disqualified
(DSQ)
White Did not start
(DNS)
Blank Did not
participate
(DNP)
Not competing
In-line notation
Bold Pole position
Italics Ran fastest race lap
* Led most race laps
 RY  Rookie of the Year
 R  Rookie

References

[edit]
  • Åberg, Andreas. "USAC National Championship 1976". Driver Database. Archived from the original on March 25, 2008. Retrieved May 4, 2009.
  • Harms, Phil; Ferner, Michael; Measures, Gerry; Brown, Allen. "Indy 500 and USAC racing (1971-1978)". OldRacingCars.com. Archived from the original on September 6, 2012. Retrieved May 4, 2009.
  • "1976 USAC National Championship Trail". ChampCarStats.com. Archived from the original on October 11, 2008. Retrieved May 11, 2009.
  • Harms, Phil. "1976 Championship Driver Summary" (PDF). Motorsport.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 10, 2012. Retrieved May 3, 2011.
  • http://media.indycar.com/pdf/2011/IICS_2011_Historical_Record_Book_INT6.pdf Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine (p. 219–220)

See also

[edit]