1978 USAC Championship Car season

1978 American Championship Car season
Series  : USAC Championship Car
Champion : Tom Sneva
Previous: 1977	Next: 1979 (CART) 1979 (USAC)

The 1978 USAC Championship Car season consisted of 18 races, beginning in Avondale, Arizona on March 18 and concluding at the same location on October 28. The USAC National Champion was Tom Sneva and the Indianapolis 500 winner was Al Unser. This was the last year before the majority of car owners left the USAC to form CART.

By winning the Indianapolis 500, Pocono 500, and California 500, Al Unser swept the Indy car "triple crown," the only driver in history to do so. Sneva became the second driver to win the USAC championship without winning a race during the season, after Tony Bettenhausen in 1958.

Schedule and results

Rnd	Date	Race Name	Length	Track	Location	Pole Position	Winning Driver
1	March 18	Jimmy Bryan 150	150 mi (Template:Convert/150*1609.344)	Phoenix International Raceway	Avondale, Arizona	Danny Ongais	Gordon Johncock
2	March 26	Datsun Twin 200	200 mi (Template:Convert/200*1609.344)	Ontario Motor Speedway	Ontario, California	Tom Sneva	Danny Ongais
3	April 15	Coors 200	200 mi (Template:Convert/200*1609.344)	Texas World Speedway	College Station, Texas	Danny Ongais	Danny Ongais
4	April 23	Gabriel 200	200 mi (Template:Convert/200*1609.344)	Trenton International Speedway	Trenton, New Jersey	Tom Sneva	Gordon Johncock
5	May 28	International 500 Mile Sweepstakes	500 mi (Template:Convert/500*1609.344)	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Speedway, Indiana	Tom Sneva	Al Unser
6	June 11	Molson Diamond Indy	186.884 mi (Template:Convert/186.884*1609.344)	Mosport Park	Bowmanville, Ontario	Danny Ongais	Danny Ongais
7	June 18	Rex Mays Classic	150 mi (Template:Convert/150*1609.344)	Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway	West Allis, Wisconsin	Danny Ongais	Rick Mears
8	June 25	Schaefer 500	500 mi (Template:Convert/500*1609.344)	Pocono International Raceway	Long Pond, Pennsylvania	Danny Ongais	Al Unser
9	July 16	Norton Twin 200	200 mi (Template:Convert/200*1609.344)	Michigan International Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan	Tom Sneva	Johnny Rutherford
10	July 23	Gould Twin Dixie	152.2 mi (Template:Convert/152.2*1609.344)	Atlanta International Raceway	Hampton, Georgia	Tom Sneva	Rick Mears
11	August 6	Texas Grand Prix	200 mi (Template:Convert/200*1609.344)	Texas World Speedway	College Station, Texas	Tom Sneva	A. J. Foyt
12	August 20	Tony Bettenhausen 200	200 mi (Template:Convert/200*1609.344)	Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway	West Allis, Wisconsin	Danny Ongais	Danny Ongais
13	September 3	California 500	500 mi (Template:Convert/500*1609.344)	Ontario Motor Speedway	Ontario, California	Tom Sneva	Al Unser
14	September 16	Gould Grand Prix	150 mi (Template:Convert/150*1609.344)	Michigan International Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan	Johnny Rutherford	Danny Ongais
15	September 23	Machinist Union 150	150 mi (Template:Convert/150*1609.344)	Trenton International Speedway	Trenton, New Jersey	A. J. Foyt	Mario Andretti
16	October 1	Daily Empress Indy Silverstone	111.416 mi (Template:Convert/111.416*1609.344)	Silverstone Circuit	Silverstone, England	Danny Ongais	A. J. Foyt
17	October 7	Daily Mail Indy Trophy	120 mi (Template:Convert/120*1609.344)	Brands Hatch (Indy Circuit)	Fawkham, England	Al Unser	Rick Mears
18	October 29	Miller High Life Bobby Ball Memorial 150	150 mi (Template:Convert/150*1609.344)	Phoenix International Raceway	Avondale, Arizona	Danny Ongais	Johnny Rutherford

  Oval/Speedway

  Road Course/Street Circuit

Final points standings

Pos Driver PHX1 ONT1 TXS1 TRE1 INDY MOS MIL1 POC MIC1 ATL TXS2 MIL2 ONT2 MIC2 TRE2 SIL BRH PHX2 Pts 1 Tom Sneva 22 2 2 3 2 4 15 3 2 8 5 15 23 2 3 3 2 16 4153 2 Al Unser 10 3 DNQ 1 12 8 1 17 14 17 5 1 17 4 10 15 5 4031 3 Gordon Johncock 1 19 3 1 3 DNQ 22 14 19 7 7 3 3 3 14 4 11 3 3548 4 Johnny Rutherford 16 13 19 10 13 8 2 2 1 2 2 8 11 13 11 5 3 1 3067 5 A. J. Foyt 3 4 17 2 7 16 19 8 16 4 1 4 28 5 19 1 4 2 3024 6 Wally Dallenbach 14 9 4 11 5 11 3 4 3 9 4 7 10 11 6 14 5 6 2966 7 Steve Krisiloff 2 14 8 5 4 3 4 32 14 5 3 6 7 15 5 6 DNQ 8 2874 8 Danny Ongais 12 1 1 4 18 1 16 19 6 21 DNS 1 12 1 15 15 9 4 2662 9 Rick Mears 5 23 2 1 22 1 9 2 9 2 1 2171 10 Pancho Carter 24 15 21 10 DNQ 11 11 2 18 7 9 1206 11 Tom Bagley 8 17 10 12 27 17 7 26 12 6 16 DNS 4 6 12 13 14 14 1188 12 Bobby Unser 18 16 13 20 6 19 17 20 5 3 8 20 13 8 13 11 1122 13 Larry Dickson 17 5 14 22 5 5 5 11 1121 14 Johnny Parsons, Jr. Wth 18 11 17 10 9 9 22 4 20 18 19 15 7 2 DNQ 978 15 George Snider 8 6 15 DNS 27 11 8 20 766 16 Tom Bigelow 15 7 12 8 21 14 6 15 8 10 4 18 764 17 Mario Andretti DNS 15 5 13 12 23 DNS 20 1 7 681 18 Dick Simon 4 6 19 18 30 13 18 6 21 27 12 7 22 670 19 Jim McElreath 6 7 20 25 7 13 12 12 20 9 DNQ 12 573 20 Salt Walther 13 11 7 15 28 7 11 13 18 29 7 6 DNQ 562 21 Cliff Hucul 7 33 10 17 DNQ 21 9 8 13 519 22 Lee Kunzman DNQ 33 DNQ 18 5 513 23 Sheldon Kinser 6 8 15 14 32 12 DNQ 17 19 11 17 8 10 19 495 24 Mike Mosley 17 DNQ 14 7 DNQ 13 DNQ 16 8 10 483 25 Roger Mears 6 DNQ 400 26 Bobby Olivero 9 10 9 6 DNQ 360 27 Al Loquasto DNQ 13 12 9 10 19 13 19 321 28 Joe Saldana 15 21 9 10 10 DNQ 10 DNQ 16 10 314 29 Gary Bettenhausen 21 12 19 16 6 DNQ 29 22 9 21 294 30 Spike Gehlhausen 20 23 16 18 29 DNQ 13 31 20 22 14 16 21 16 17 9 12 17 188 31 Larry Cannon DNQ 10 11 DNQ 15 17 22 19 DNQ DNQ 184 32 Larry Rice DNQ 9 11 DNQ DNQ 180 33 Jerry Karl 11 21 21 22 14 18 DNS 20 104 34 Jerry Sneva 31 16 DNQ 16 25 14 18 DNQ 62 35 Roger McCluskey 19 20 20 21 25 24 13 61 36 Phil Threshie 30 18 20 24 21 DNQ 30 45 37 Todd Gibson 15 14 16 15 34 38 Vern Schuppan 18 16 DNQ 20 26 39 Bob Harkey 22 DNQ 18 26 40 Bill Vukovich, Jr. DNQ 28 26 20 41 Eldon Rasmussen DNQ DNQ 12 DNQ 15 42 Roger Rager DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ 12 15 43 John Mahler 26 10 44 Bubby Jones DNQ 27 10 45 Chuck Gurney DNQ 24 DNQ 6 - Janet Guthrie 9 0 - Ed Finley DNQ DNQ 0 - Tom Gloy DNQ DNQ 0 - Mike Hiss DNQ 0 - Jim Hurtubise DNQ 0 - Gary Irvin DNQ 0 - Mel Kenyon DNQ 0 - John Martin DNQ 0 - Graham McRae DNQ 0 - Frank Weiss DNQ 0 Pos Driver PHX1 ONT1 TXS1 TRE1 INDY MOS MIL1 POC MIC1 ATL TXS2 MIL2 ONT2 MIC2 TRE2 SIL BRH 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 Rookie of the Year Rookie

Note: Janet Guthrie not eligible for points.

References

• Åberg, Andreas. "USAC National Championship 1978". Driver Database. Archived

from the original on 2009-05-06. http://www.driverdb.com/standings/980-1978/. Retrieved 2009-05-04. 

• Harms, Phil; Ferner, Michael; Measures, Gerry; Brown, Allen. "Indy 500 and USAC racing (1971-1978)". OldRacingCars.com. Archived

from the original on 2009-05-06. http://www.oldracingcars.com/indy/. Retrieved 2009-05-04. 

• "1978 USAC National Championship Citicorp Cup". ChampCarStats.com. Archived

from the original on 2009-05-13. http://www.champcarstats.com/year/1978.htm. Retrieved 2009-05-11. 

• Harms, Phil. "1978 Championship Driver Summary". Motorsport.com. Archived

from the original on 2011-05-03. http://old.motorsport.com/stats/champ/data/1978sum.pdf. Retrieved 2011-05-03. 

• http://media.indycar.com/pdf/2011/IICS_2011_Historical_Record_Book_INT6.pdf (p. 214-216)

See also

• 1978 Indianapolis 500

This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at 1978 USAC Championship Car season. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Autopedia, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.