1971 USAC Championship Car season

The 1971 USAC Championship Car season consisted of 12 races, beginning in Rafaela, Argentina on February 28 and concluding in Avondale, Arizona on October 23. The USAC National Champion was Joe Leonard and the Indianapolis 500 winner was Al Unser. For 1971 it was decided that there should be three separate points championships, for paved ovals, dirt ovals, and road courses.[1][2]

1971 USAC Championship Car season
USAC Marlboro Championship Trail
Season
Races12
Start dateFebruary 28
End dateOctober 23
Awards
National championUnited States Joe Leonard
Indianapolis 500 winnerUnited States Al Unser
← 1970
1972 →

The existing Championship Car championship was then restricted to only paved ovals, and two new championships were created. The National Dirt Car Championship (which would become the modern Silver Crown Series in 1981) was run over four races, and won by George Snider.[1] The Road Racing championship was originally to be run over between 8 and 10 races, however a lack of interest lead to just two races being held on the same day, on the 7th of August at Seattle International Raceway. Continental Championship cars were allowed, and made up the majority of the grid, with just 5 USAC specification cars entered. Jim Dittemore won the series in a Formula 5000 specification Lola T192-Chevrolet.[1][3] The Road Racing championship did not continue in 1972.

Schedule and results

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All races were run on oval speedways. On February 18, the non-championship races at Rafaela were transformed into a points-paying double round, due to a request from race organizers. On June 3, the Langhorne round was cancelled by its promoter because of insufficient entries. He alleged that the event had been boycotted by a number of drivers refusing to race at the outdated venue, which was torn down at the end of the year. On June 30, USAC cancelled the race at the new Mountaineer Speedway, which was never built to completion. The 1971 season was the first time the 500 mile triple crown was on the schedule with the addition of Ontario Motor Speedway's California 500 the previous year and the Pocono 500 added in this season.[1][2]

Rnd Date Race Name Track Location Pole Position Winning Driver
1 February 28   Rafaela Indy 300 Heat 1 Autódromo de Rafaela Rafaela, Argentina   Lloyd Ruby   Al Unser
2   Rafaela Indy 300 Heat 2   Al Unser   Al Unser
3 March 27   Phoenix 150 Phoenix International Raceway Avondale, Arizona   Bobby Unser   Al Unser
4 April 25   Trenton 200 Trenton International Speedway Trenton, New Jersey   Bobby Unser   Mike Mosley
5 May 29   International 500 Mile Sweepstakes Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway, Indiana   Peter Revson   Al Unser
6 June 6   Rex Mays Classic 150 Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway West Allis, Wisconsin   Bobby Unser   Al Unser
- June 13   Langhorne 150 Langhorne Speedway Langhorne, Pennsylvania Race cancelled due to security concerns
7 July 3   Inaugural Pocono 500 Pocono International Raceway Long Pond, Pennsylvania   Mark Donohue   Mark Donohue
8 July 18   Michigan 200 Michigan International Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan   Bobby Unser   Mark Donohue
- August 8   Mountaineer 150 Mountaineer Speedway Parkersburg, West Virginia Race cancelled
9 August 15   Tony Bettenhausen 200 Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway West Allis, Wisconsin   Bobby Unser   Bobby Unser
10 September 5   California 500 Ontario Motor Speedway Ontario, California   Mark Donohue   Joe Leonard
11 October 3   Trenton 300 Trenton International Speedway Trenton, New Jersey   Bobby Unser   Bobby Unser
12 October 23   Bobby Ball 150 Phoenix International Raceway Avondale, Arizona   Bobby Unser   A. J. Foyt

Final points standings

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Note 1: Donnie Allison, Carlos Pairetti, Denny Hulme, David Hobbs and Jim Hurtubise are not eligible for points.

Note 2: John Mahler qualified 21st at Indianapolis. His car was driven in the race by Dick Simon who started 33rd as a result of the driver change.

Pos Driver RAF
 
PHX1
 
TRE1
 
INDY
 
MIL1
 
POC
 
MIC
 
MIL2
 
ONT
 
TRE2
 
PHX2
 
Pts
1   Joe Leonard 6 3 4 24 19 2 2 19 DNQ 1 3 10 3015
2   A. J. Foyt 17 3 20 3 17 2 16 5 1 2320
3   Bill Vukovich II 25 5 3 5 2 14 10 4 3 2250
4   Al Unser 1 1 1 21 1 1 31 24 17 15 17 21 2200
5   Lloyd Ruby 2 2 5 13 11 7 8 21 6 4 23 24 1830
6   Bobby Unser 27 2 4 12 14 9 18 1 21 1 8 1805
7   Gary Bettenhausen 11 7 20 16 10 16 6 22 3 3 24 5 1800
8   Mark Donohue 6 19 25 1 1 18 6 16 1760
9   Mario Andretti Wth 9 18 30 11 4 12 19 33 2 4 1370
10   Wally Dallenbach Sr. 7 2 24 4 15 4 4 23 9 11 1220
11   Art Pollard 24 6 26 5 16 16 16 2 20 9 1170
12   Peter Revson 2 21 7 1100
13   Roger McCluskey 5 4 22 22 9 23 25 3 18 28 22 2 1050
14   Jim Malloy 14 21 11 4 DNS 26 13 DNQ 6 1030
15   Steve Krisiloff DNQ 11 31 10 7 24 5 7 20 990
16   Cale Yarborough 8 8 13 5 16 DNQ 32 5 8 14 11 DNQ 710
17   Mike Mosley 3 23 10 1 13 19 655
18   Swede Savage 4 5 3 12 16 23 590
19   Johnny Rutherford 7 20 21 17 18 6 7 10 26 Wth 22 570
20   Dick Simon 13 6 12 7 14 9 17 15 DNQ 22 25 7 405
21   Jim McElreath DNQ 27 8 27 6 370
22   Bud Tingelstad 7 DNQ 19 17 300
23   LeeRoy Yarbrough 3 Wth 280
24   George Eaton  RY  9 11 10 18 270
25   Greg Weld DNQ 18 12 10 30 8 14 260
26   Denny Zimmerman 24 19 19 8 22 24 26 20 13 DNQ 250
27   Gordon Johncock 9 10 8 15 29 10 20 23 25 27 DNQ DNQ 225
28   Sam Sessions DNQ 27 11 DNQ 7 DNQ 13 220
29   George Snider 18 33 21 33 14 5 32 14 15 200
30   John Mahler 16 16 23 Wth 23 9 200
31   Larry Dickson 28 6 15 13 DNS 160
32   Bentley Warren 10 24 16 26 23 8 22 Wth 120
33   Karl Busson DNQ 8 23 DNQ DNQ 100
34   Bruce Walkup DNQ 8 DNQ 29 DNQ 100
35   John Martin DNQ 15 9 12 DNQ DNQ 100
36   Al Loquasto 9 DNQ DNQ DNQ 80
37   Ludwig Heimrath Sr. 25 18 10 DNQ 60
38   Jerry Karl 12 Wth 11 22 60
39   Carl Williams DNQ 11 31 26 17 40
40   Salt Walther 15 11 DNQ DNQ 20 30
41   Mel Kenyon 32 DNQ 25 12 DNQ 30
42   Bill Simpson 17 13 23 DNQ 19 18 DNQ DNQ 28 12 15
43   Jimmy Caruthers Wth 12 13 19 DNQ 15
44   Dee Jones 26 12 15 DNQ 15
-   Donnie Allison 6 17 28 24 0
-   Carlos Pairetti  R  12 9 0
-   Bill Puterbaugh DNQ 14 DNQ 13 19 0
-   Jerry Grant DNQ 13 0
-   Don Brown 18 14 14 21 15 DNQ 0
-   Bob Harkey 14 22 29 DNQ DNQ 0
-   Dave Strickland 19 15 Wth 0
-   George Follmer 15 DNQ 0
-   Max Dudley 20 17 DNQ 0
-   Denny Hulme 17 0
-   Eldon Rasmussen  R  18 DNQ 0
-   Arnie Knepper 20 DNQ 25 20 DNQ 0
-   David Hobbs 20 0
-   Rick Muther 22 25 DNQ DNQ 21 24 0
-   Tom Bigelow 21 22 DNQ 0
-   Tom Sneva  R  21 DNQ 0
-   Larry Cannon 23 26 Wth DNQ 0
-   Jim Hurtubise DNQ 30 DNQ 0
-   Jorge Cupeiro DNS 0
-   Omar Cuvertino DNS 0
-   Ángel Monguzzi DNS 0
-   Carlos Salatino DNS 0
-   Jigger Sirois DNQ 0
-   Les Scott DNQ 0
-   Ralph Liguori DNQ 0
-   Danny Ongais DNQ 0
-   Bobby Allen DNQ 0
-   Jim Reynard DNQ 0
-   Gig Stephens DNQ 0
-   Bobby Johns DNQ 0
-   Sam Posey DNQ 0
-   Dick Tobias DNQ 0
-   Don Hawley DNQ 0
-   Johnny Parsons DNQ 0
-   Crockey Peterson DNQ 0
-   Bruce Jacobi Wth 0
-   Tony Adamowicz Wth 0
-   Ronnie Bucknum Wth 0
Pos Driver RAF1
 
RAF2
 
PHX1
 
TRE1
 
INDY
 
MIL1
 
POC
 
MIC
 
MIL2
 
ONT
 
TRE2
 
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

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  • Åberg, Andreas. "USAC National Championship 1971". Driver Database. Archived from the original on March 25, 2008. Retrieved May 3, 2009.
  • Harms, Phil; Ferner, Michael; Measures, Gerry; Brown, Allen. "Indy 500 and USAC racing 1971". OldRacingCars.com.
  • "1971 USAC Marlboro Championship Trail". ChampCarStats.com. Retrieved May 11, 2009.
  • Harms, Phil. "1971 Championship Driver Summary" (PDF). Motorsport.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 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. 230-231)
  1. ^ a b c d Waltz, Keith. "Sweeping Changes For USAC After 1970 Season". Speed Sport. Retrieved August 15, 2019.
  2. ^ a b Braddock, Bill (November 15, 1970). "$300,000 Marlboro Auto Slate Hits Paved Oval Trail in 1971". The New York Times. Retrieved August 15, 2019.
  3. ^ Klopfer, Wolfgang (2004). Formula A and Formula 5000 in America. Books on Demand. p. 79. ISBN 383340566X.

See also

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