1951 AAA Championship Car season

The 1951 AAA Championship Car season consisted of 15 races, beginning in Speedway, Indiana on May 30 and concluding in San Mateo, California on November 11. There was also one non-championship event in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. The AAA National Champion was Tony Bettenhausen, and the Indianapolis 500 winner was Lee Wallard.

1951 AAA Championship Car season
AAA National Championship Trail
Season
Races	15
Start date	May 30
End date	November 11
Awards
National champion	Tony Bettenhausen
Indianapolis 500 winner	Lee Wallard

Schedule and results

Rnd	Date	Race Name	Track	Location	Type	Pole Position	Winning Driver
1	May 30	International 500 Mile SweepstakesA	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Speedway, Indiana	Paved	Duke Nalon	Lee Wallard
2	June 10	Rex Mays Classic	Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway	West Allis, Wisconsin	Dirt	Jack McGrath	Tony Bettenhausen
3	June 24	Langhorne 100	Langhorne Speedway	Langhorne, Pennsylvania	Dirt	Jack McGrath	Tony Bettenhausen
4	July 4	Darlington 250	Darlington Raceway	Darlington, South Carolina	Paved	Johnny McDowell	Walt Faulkner
NC	July 29	Indianapolis Sweepstakes	Williams Grove Speedway	Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania	Dirt	Troy Ruttman	Troy Ruttman
5	August 18	Springfield 100	Illinois State Fairgrounds	Springfield, Illinois	Dirt	Paul Russo	Tony Bettenhausen
6	August 26	Milwaukee 200	Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway	West Allis, Wisconsin	Dirt	Johnny McDowell	Walt Faulkner
7	September 1	Ted Horn Memorial	DuQuoin State Fairgrounds	Du Quoin, Illinois	Dirt	Johnnie Parsons	Tony Bettenhausen
8	September 3	Du Quoin 150B	DuQuoin State Fairgrounds	Du Quoin, Illinois	Dirt	Tony Bettenhausen	Tony Bettenhausen
9	September 3	Pikes Peak Auto Hill Climb	Pikes Peak Highway	Pikes Peak, Colorado	Hill	Louis UnserC	Al Rogers
10	September 8	Syracuse 100D	New York State Fairgrounds	Syracuse, New York	Dirt	Tony Bettenhausen	Tony Bettenhausen
11	September 9	Detroit 100	Michigan State Fairgrounds Speedway	Detroit, Michigan	Dirt	Johnny McDowell	Paul Russo
12	September 23	Denver 100	Centennial Park	Littleton, Colorado	Dirt	Tony Bettenhausen	Tony Bettenhausen
13	October 21	San Jose 100	San Jose Speedway	San Jose, California	Dirt	Tony Bettenhausen	Tony Bettenhausen
14	November 4	Phoenix 100	Arizona State Fairgrounds	Phoenix, Arizona	Dirt	Henry Banks	Johnnie Parsons
15	November 11	Bay Meadows 150	Bay Meadows Race Track	San Mateo, California	Dirt	Jack McGrath	Johnnie Parsons

  Paved/Dirt Oval

  Road Course/Hill Climb

  Non-championship race

^A Indianapolis 500 was AAA-sanctioned and counted towards the 1951 FIA World Championship of Drivers title.

^B Race stopped after 101 laps due to rain.

^C No pole is awarded for the Pikes Peak Hill Climb, in this schedule on the pole is the driver who started first. No lap led was awarded for the Pikes Peak Hill Climb, however, a lap was awarded to the drivers that completed the climb.

^D Race stopped after 67 laps due to wreck.

Final points standings

Note1: The points became the car, when not only one driver led the car, the relieved driver became small part of the points. Points for driver method: (the points for the finish place) / (number the lap when completed the car) * (number the lap when completed the driver)

Further information: List of American Championship car racing point scoring systems

Note2: There were scoring omissions in the AAA records regarding laps completed for eight drivers in the Darlington and Milwaukee races in 1951. The statistics shown include the most accurate representation of those races that is available.

Pos Driver INDY MIL1 LAN DAR SPR MIL2 DUQ1 DUQ2 PIK SYR DET DNC SJS PHX BAY Pts 1 Tony Bettenhausen 9 1 1 2 1 10 1 1 1 4 1 1 13 2 2556 2 Henry Banks 6 11 10 7 4 5 6 5 6 9 2 3 2 3 1856.6 3 Walt Faulkner 15 1 DNQ 1 4 2 2 2 18 DNQ 6 DNS 1513.6 4 Jack McGrath 3 18 7 5 2 2 16 11 7 3 4 14 18 1460.4 5 Mike Nazaruk  RY  2 8 9 8 16 18 3 15 16 18 15 1143 6 Johnnie Parsons 21 DNQ DNS 23 3 2 16 17 14 7 1 1 1012 7 Lee Wallard 1 1000 8 Manuel Ayulo DNS 10 4 6 17 17 6 12 6 7 DNQ 9 11 997.5 9 Andy Linden 4 15 8 12 DNQ 22 9 7 11 DNQ 5 911 10 Paul Russo DNQ 4 13 14 9 3 15 1 13 2 DNQ 16 700 11 Bill Schindler 13 16 2 21 3 4 12 8 DNP 8 9 693.5 12 Cecil Green 22 2 3 3 650 13 Bobby Ball 5 DNQ 5 11 15 13 620 14 Chuck Stevenson 20 DNQ 9 5 6 10 4 9 DNP 538 15 Duane Carter 8 3 15 DNS 11 17 13 8 10 505 16 Sam Hanks 12 5 3 DNQ 5 10 DNQ 421.4 17 Jimmy Davies 16 14 24 18 13 13 17 5 3 8 315 18 Gene Force  R  11 7 15 13 19 10 18 DNQ DNQ 6 310.3 19 Cliff Griffith 28 9 11 11 7 8 9 DNQ 308.4 20 Neal Carter DNQ 18 20 16 DNQ 13 14 4 4 300 21 Bill Mackey 19 13 4 300 22 Carl Forberg  R  7 DNQ 300 23 Bill Vukovich  R  29 DNQ 14 26 15 21 7 DNQ 3 7 11 18 DNQ 291.8 24 Joe James 33 17 12 28 12 15 DNQ 14 16 15 4 8 5 DNQ 283 25 Fred Agabashian 17 DNS 6 DNQ 6 6 17 12 278.2 26 Jim Rigsby  R  DNS 10 11 14 12 DNS 12 10 11 7 233.1 27 Johnny McDowell 32 16 16 9 8 15 15 17 9 9 12 DNP 230 28 Gordon Reid  R  DNQ 6 17 17 7 20 18 13 DNQ 14 16 13 7 14 204 29 Al Rogers 1 200 30 Rodger Ward 27 5 13 DNS DNQ 8 17 10 17 192 31 Johnny Mauro 2 160 32 Duke Nalon 10 150 33 Louis Unser 3 140 34 Pete Woods 4 DNQ DNQ DNQ 120 35 Harry King  R  DNQ DNQ DNQ 8 5 DNQ 117.5 36 Eddie Johnson 4 11 100.4 37 Ray Knepper DNQ DNQ 5 22 100 38 Herb Bryers 5 100 39 Troy Ruttman 23 6 15 80 40 Charles Bryant 6 80 41 Joe Garson  R  8 DNQ 11 18 DNQ DNQ DNQ 70 42 Bob Finney 7 60 43 Shelby Hill 8 50 44 Mack Hellings 31 DNQ 9 DNQ 40 45 Johnny Tolan DNQ 12 DNS DNQ 14 DNQ DNQ 10 DNQ 40 46 Jimmy Good 10 30 47 Roy Sherman DNQ DNS DNS 28 48 Buzz Barton 10 20.1 49 Delmar Desch 11 20 50 George Connor 30 DNQ DNS 25 DNQ 12 DNQ DNQ DNQ 20 51 Walt Brown 26 DNQ 10 17 52 Frank Armi  R  DNQ DNQ DNQ 17 12 16 DNQ 10 53 Hugh Thomas 12 10 - Buster Warke DNS 12 0 - Wayne Sankey 13 0 - Kenny Eaton DNQ 14 0 - Tommy Hinnershitz DNQ 14 0 - Mauri Rose 14 0 - Glenn Harrison 14 0 - Walt Moffatt  R  15 0 - Jimmy Jackson 16 0 - Johnny Fedricks 16 0 - Wayne England 17 0 - Duke Dinsmore 24 DNQ 18 DNQ DNQ 0 - Carl Scarborough  R  18 DNQ DNQ 27 DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ 0 - Dick Fraizer DNQ 18 DNQ DNQ 0 - Roger Barlow  R  18 0 - Rex Easton  R  DNQ 19 DNQ 0 - D. R. Atkinson  R  19 0 - Malcolm Brazier  R  20 0 - Walt Killinger 21 DNS 0 - Phil Shafer 21 0 - Milton Mabe 22 0 - Buster Hammond 23 0 - Richard DeMark  R  24 0 - Chet Miller 25 0 - George Hammond 25 0 - Art McKee 26 0 - T. E. Russell 27 DNP 0 - Andy Cimino  R  28 0 - Joel Thorne DNQ DNS 0 - Clarence Doley DNS 0 - Clifford Foltz DNS 0 - Jim Hammond DNS 0 - Red Lawrence DNS 0 - Billy Ryan DNS 0 - Ray Shadbolt DNS 0 - Curt Stockwell DNS 0 - Harry Syer DNS 0 - Doc Shanebrook DNQ DNQ DNQ 0 - Joe Barzda DNQ DNQ DNQ 0 - Dick Page DNQ DNQ DNQ 0 - Bob Scott DNQ DNQ DNQ 0 - Myron Fohr DNQ DNQ 0 - George Lynch DNQ DNQ 0 - Jud Larson DNQ DNQ 0 - Joe Sostilio DNQ DNQ 0 - Mark Light DNQ DNQ 0 - Potsy Goacher DNQ DNQ 0 - Bill Boyd DNQ DNQ 0 - Del Fanning DNQ DNQ 0 - Jimmy Bryan DNQ 0 - Bill Cantrell DNQ 0 - Jimmy Daywalt DNQ 0 - George Fonder DNQ 0 - Jackie Holmes DNQ 0 - Norm Houser DNQ 0 - Jerry Hoyt DNQ 0 - Bill Johnson DNQ 0 - Danny Kladis DNQ 0 - Bayliss Levrett DNQ 0 - Roscoe Rann DNQ 0 - Mike Salay DNQ 0 - Bud Sennett DNQ 0 - Bob Sweikert DNQ 0 - Leroy Warriner DNQ 0 - Frank Burany DNQ 0 - John Crone DNQ 0 - Bobby Barker DNQ 0 - Eddie Sachs DNQ 0 - Bill Doster DNQ 0 - Slim Roberts DNQ 0 - Dempsey Wilson DNQ 0 - Jean Achard DNP 0 Pos Driver INDY MIL1 LAN DAR SPR MIL2 DUQ1 DUQ2 PIK SYR DET DNC SJS PHX BAY 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

• Åberg, Andreas. "AAA National Championship 1951". Driver Database. Archived from the original on October 19, 2012. Retrieved April 15, 2011.
• "1951 AAA National Championship Trail". ChampCarStats.com. Archived from the original on March 23, 2012. Retrieved April 15, 2011.
• Harms, Phil. "1951 Championship Driver Summary" (PDF). Motorsport.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 10, 2012. Retrieved April 15, 2011.
• http://media.indycar.com/pdf/2011/IICS_2011_Historical_Record_Book_INT6.pdf Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine (p. 299-302)

See also

• 1951 Indianapolis 500