1974 USAC Championship Car season

(Redirected from 1974 USAC Champ Car season)

The 1974 USAC Championship Car season consisted of 14 races, beginning in Ontario, California on March 3 and concluding in Avondale, Arizona on November 2. The USAC National Champion was Bobby Unser and the Indianapolis 500 winner was Johnny Rutherford. Due to the events of the 1973 Indianapolis 500 significant improvements were made to the cars for safety concerns. Wings were reduced in size, and pop-off valves were added to the turbocharger plenums in order to reduce horsepower and curtail speeds.

1974 USAC Championship Car season
USAC National Championship Trail
Season
Races14
Start dateMarch 3
End dateNovember 2
Awards
National championUnited States Bobby Unser
Indianapolis 500 winnerUnited States Johnny Rutherford
← 1973
1975 →

Schedule and results

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All races running on Oval/Speedway.

Rnd Date Race Name Track Location Pole Position Winning Driver
1 March 3 California 500 Qualification Heat 1 Ontario Motor Speedway Ontario, California   A. J. Foyt   A. J. Foyt
2 California 500 Qualification Heat 2   Johnny Rutherford   Johnny Rutherford
3 March 10 California 500   A. J. Foyt   Bobby Unser
4 March 17 Phoenix 150 Phoenix International Raceway Avondale, Arizona   Al Unser   Mike Mosley
5 April 7 Trentonian 200 Trenton International Speedway Trenton, New Jersey   Mario Andretti   Bobby Unser
6 May 26 International 500 Mile Sweepstakes Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway, Indiana   A. J. Foyt   Johnny Rutherford
7 June 9 Rex Mays Classic Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway West Allis, Wisconsin   A. J. Foyt   Johnny Rutherford
8 June 30 Schaefer 500 Pocono International Raceway Long Pond, Pennsylvania   Bobby Unser   Johnny Rutherford
9 July 21 Michigan 200 Michigan International Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan   Bobby Unser   Bobby Unser
10 August 11 Tony Bettenhausen 200 Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway West Allis, Wisconsin   A. J. Foyt   Gordon Johncock
11 September 15 Norton 250 Michigan International Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan   A. J. Foyt   Al Unser
12 September 22 Trenton 300 Heat #1 Trenton International Speedway Trenton, New Jersey   A. J. Foyt   A. J. Foyt
13 Trenton 300 Heat #2   A. J. Foyt   Bobby Unser
14 November 2 Bobby Ball 150 Phoenix International Raceway Avondale, Arizona   Johnny Rutherford   Gordon Johncock

Final points standings

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Note 1: Jim Hurtubise, Skip Barber, David Hobbs, Sam Posey and Evan Noyes are not eligible for points.

Note 2: Jerry Grant did not obtain a USAC license until after the Ontario event, making him ineligible for points for the first two races of the year.

Pos Driver ONT

Q-H1
ONT

Q-H2
ONT

500
PHX1

150
TRE1

200
INDY

500
MIL1

150
POC

500
MIC1

200
MIL2

200
MIC2

250
TRE2

150
TRE3

150
PHX2

150
Pts
1   Bobby Unser 2 1 2 1 2 21 5 1 4 3 2 1 2 4870
2   Johnny Rutherford 1 27 7 6 1 1 1 4 5 9 4 7 7 3650
3   Gordon Johncock 14 26 4 2 4 16 3 3 1 14 11 2 1 3050
4   Al Unser 5 2 18 10 18 5 22 2 9 1 6 5 5 2430
5   Jimmy Caruthers 2 4 19 4 23 20 2 11 13 18 7 9 8 2065
6   Bill Vukovich II 10 21 8 3 3 3 8 5 10 19 18 6 1925
7   Lloyd Ruby 3 5 9 8 9 9 6 DNQ 7 21 DNQ 1580
8   A. J. Foyt 1 30 3 Wth 15 6 27 13 2 24 1 4 4 1510
9   Wally Dallenbach Sr. 7 6 6 13 30 15 10 6 3 11 3 11 18 1445
10   Steve Krisiloff 3 24 22 11 4 23 5 3 22 1130
11   Pancho Carter  RY  7 15 9 12 2 9 6 9 1040
12   Mike Mosley 6 7 1 7 29 10 21 8 18 15 17 DNQ 945
13   Jim McElreath 4 15 10 18 6 7 23 10 700
14   Mario Andretti 9 25 5 9 31 17 17 18 8 10 3 655
15   John Martin 6 9 11 16 12 16 6 600
16   Roger McCluskey 5 8 16 16 18 28 16 6 13 10 16 19 555
17   Tom Sneva 13 12 15 11 20 14 13 10 14 5 8 8 24 550
18   Mike Hiss 31 14 7 4 420
19   Jerry Grant 13 3 5 10 13 DNQ DNP 350
20   Bentley Warren 12 13 11 17 DNQ 7 17 DNQ 340
21   Dick Simon 8 28 13 33 4 29 21 11 15 270
22   Gary Bettenhausen 11 20 14 DNQ 32 2 31 260
23   Bob Harkey 15 17 14 8 26 250
24   Tom Bigelow 9 10 12 DNQ 19 22 23 240
25   Eldon Rasmussen DNQ DNQ 9 20 22 DNQ 200
26   Al Loquasto 18 12 DNQ 11 14 11 12 160
27   Dan Murphy  R  DNQ 19 23 22 7 13 15 DNQ 150
28   Karl Busson 8 12 13 21 140
29   George Snider 10 11 17 28 25 16 130
30   Joe Leonard 4 19 120
31   Salt Walther 8 22 12 17 DNP 20 DNQ 15 10 20 115
32   Bill Simpson 14 14 13 8 18 19 11 105
33   Jerry Karl 7 29 19 12 32 16 75
34   Larry McCoy 16 DNQ 12 15 20 17 Wth 50
35   Mel Kenyon DNQ 12 25
36   Lee Brayton 11 DNS DNQ 14 DNS 20 20
37   John Cannon 12 16 DNS 19 DNQ DNP 10
-   David Hobbs 5 DNP 0
-   Sam Posey 13 0
-   John Hubbard 22 DNQ 19 15 23 DNQ 14 0
-   Sam Sessions DNQ 30 14 0
-   Billy Scott  R  14 0
-   Skip Barber  R  15 32 0
-   Max Dudley 15 0
-   Benny Rapp  R  DNQ 16 0
-   Johnny Parsons 33 26 DNQ DNQ 17 17 0
-   Mel Cornett  R  21 0
-   Jan Opperman  R  21 23 33 0
-   Rick Muther 23 27 DNQ 0
-   Jim Hurtubise DNQ 25 24 0
-   Larry Rice  R  DNQ Wth 24 0
-   Larry Cannon 24 DNQ 0
-   Evan Noyes  R  25 0
-   Jigger Sirois DNS DNQ 0
-   Denny Zimmerman DNS DNQ 0
-   Bud Tingelstad DNS 0
-   Bruce Jacobi DNQ 0
-   John Mahler DNQ 0
-   Bill Puterbaugh DNQ 0
-   Brett Lunger DNQ 0
-   Steve Durst DNP 0
Pos Driver ONT

Q-H1
ONT

Q-H2
ONT

500
PHX1

150
TRE1

200
INDY

500
MIL1

150
POC

500
MIC1

200
MIL2

200
MIC2

250
TRE2

150
TRE3

150
PHX2

150
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 1974". 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.
  • "1974 USAC National Championship Trail". ChampCarStats.com. Archived from the original on October 25, 2008. Retrieved May 11, 2009.
  • Harms, Phil. "1974 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. 223-224)

See also

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