1976 USAC Championship Car season

Sports season August 2023 USAC Championship Car 1976 USAC National Championship Trail 13 March 14 November 7 National champion USA Gordon Johncock USA 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. Entrants (partial list) TeamChassisEngineDriversRounds United States A.J. Foyt EnterprisesCoyoteFoytUS A.J. Foyt 1-8, 10-12 United States All American RacersEagleOffenhauserUS Pancho Carter 1-5, 10-12 United States Bruce CrowerEagleOffenhauserUS Tom Sneva 13 United States Bob FletcherEagleOffenhauserUS Bobby Unser 1-5, 9-13 United States Alex MoralesEagleOffenhauserUS Bob Vukovich II 1-5, 7-10, 12-13 United States Jerry O"Connell RacingEagleOffenhauserUS Mike Mosley All United States Leader Card RacingEagleOffenhauserUS Tom Bigelow All United States Lindsey Hopkins RacingHopkinsOffenhauserUS Roger McCluskey 2-3, 5-13 United Kingdom McLarenMcLarenOffenhauserUS Johnny Rutherford All United States Patrick RacingEagle (3-5) Wildcat (1, 6-13) Offenhauser (3-6) (DGS (1, 6-13) US Gordon Johncock AllWildcatDGSUS Wally Dallenbach All United States Team PenskeMcLarenOffenhauserUS Tom Sneva 1-11McLarenOffenhauserUS Mario Andretti 3, 5, 12-13 United States Vatis EnterprisesEagle OffenhauserUS Johnny Parsons All United States Vel's Parnelli Jones RacingParnelliCosworthUS Al Unser 1, 3-13 Schedule and results 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 USA Al Unser USA Bobby Unser 2 May 2A A Trenton 200 Trenton International Speedway Trenton, New Jersey USA A. J. Foyt USA Johnny Rutherford 3 May 30 International 500 Mile SweepstakesB B Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway, Indiana USA Johnny Rutherford USA Johnny Rutherford 4 June 13 Rex Mays Classic Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway West Allis, Wisconsin USA Gordon Johncock USA Mike Mosley 5 June 27 Schaefer 500 Pocono International Raceway Long Pond, Pennsylvania USA Johnny Parsons USA Al Unser 6 July 18 Norton Twin 200s Michigan International Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan USA A. J. Foyt USA Gordon Johncock 7 August 1 Texas 150 Texas World Speedway College Station, Texas USA A. J. Foyt USA A. J. Foyt 8 August 15 Trenton 200C C Trenton International Speedway Trenton, New Jersey USA A. J. Foyt USA Gordon Johncock 9 August 22 Tony Bettenhausen 200 Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway West Allis, Wisconsin USA Johnny Rutherford USA Al Unser 10 September 5 California 500 Ontario Motor Speedway Ontario, California USA A. J. Foyt USA Bobby Unser 11 September 18 Michigan 150 Michigan International Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan USA A. J. Foyt USA A. J. Foyt 12 October 31 Benihana World Series of Auto Racing Texas World Speedway College Station, Texas USA A. J. Foyt USA Johnny Rutherford 13 November 7 Bobby Ball 150 Phoenix International Raceway Avondale, Arizona USA Bobby Unser USA Al Unser A A Originally scheduled for April 25 but postponed to May 2 due to heavy rain.MRN Broadcast of the 1976 Virginia 500 NASCAR race held April 25 extensively mentions this B B Scheduled for 500 miles, stopped early due to rain. C C Scheduled for 200 miles, stopped early due to rain. Final points standings Note: David Hobbs, Danny Ongais and Vern Schuppan were not eligible for points. List of American Championship car racing point scoring systems Pos Driver PHX1 TRE1 INDY MIL1 POC MIS1 TWS1 TRE2 MIL2 ONT MIS2 TWS2 PHX2 Pts 1USA Gordon Johncock 3 2 3 2 27 1 5 1 2 3 2 2 2 4240 2USA Johnny Rutherford 18 1 1 9 4 2 3 7 3 2 11 1 16 4220 3USA Wally Dallenbach Sr. 16 6 4 12 3 20 2 4 17 4 3 6 4 3105 4USA Al Unser 4 7 4 1 10 17 2 1 32 18 3 1 3020 5USA Mike Mosley 5 5 15 1 2 22 4 5 5 15 7 22 DNQ 2120 6USA Bobby Unser 1 DNQ 10 3 32 4 1 4 17 21 2080 7USA A. J. Foyt 21 18 2 17 31 3 1 19 23 1 11 1720 8USA Tom Sneva 17 3 6 13 7 6 16 3 13 26 5 DNQ 1570 9USA Mario Andretti 8 5 4 3 1200 10USA Johnny Parsons 6 4 12 5 22 4 18 6 12 DNQ 13 15 20 980 11USA Roger McCluskey DNQ 30 6 5 DNQ 22 6 21 10 19 5 955 12USA Pancho Carter 2 7 5 18 14 29 DNQ 10 920 13USA Tom Bigelow 20 17 14 11 29 12 7 21 7 5 9 14 18 820 14USA Bill Vukovich II DNQ 22 31 6 26 6 8 15 24 5 6 660 15USA Jan Opperman 16 19 7 10 6 580 16USA Rick Mears gold RY silver DNQ 8 9 9 390 17USA Bill Puterbaugh 22 DNQ 7 8 375 18USA Steve Krisiloff 24 8 16 6 21 17 370 19USA George Snider 13 9 22 7 10 365 20USA Salt Walther 9 9 9 18 DNQ 22 340 21USA Dick Simon 7 16 32 14 10 19 13 16 30 21 7 330 22USA John Martin 11 8 21 7 21 9 17 18 18 300 23USA Todd Gibson 17 DNQ 13 9 8 11 14 16 13 280 24USA Bobby Olivero orange R silver 13 DNQ 10 DNQ 11 9 DNQ 14 275 25USA Larry Dickson 19 19 Wth 11 14 15 11 DNQ 19 8 15 240 26USA Al Loquasto 8 10 25 15 10 12 DNQ DNQ 12 215 27USA Larry Cannon 17 30 11 8 DNQ 8 18 190 28USA Bill Simpson DNQ 8 23 8 12 14 14 15 20 DNQ 190 29USA Jerry Grant 22 27 10 150 30USA Spike Gehlhausen 12 14 33 21 25 16 14 16 9 13 12 12 19 130 31USA Lloyd Ruby 11 13 22 100 32USA Lee Kunzman Wth 13 18 9 DNQ 20 DNQ 11 90 33USA Roger Rager orange R silver 20 10 17 16 60 34USA Sheldon Kinser 19 28 12 50 35USA Bob Harkey 20 12 DNQ 20 50 36USA Jim McElreath 10 DNQ DNQ 45 37USA Ed Finley DNQ 13 15 DNQ 11 DNQ 40 38USA Tom Frantz 15 11 DNQ DNQ DNQ 40 39USA Ken Nichols orange R silver DNQ 12 20 18 14 DNQ 20 -USA Janet Guthrie orange R silver 15 DNQ 24 13 15 DNQ DNQ 0 -USA Arlene Hiss orange R silver 14 0 -CAN Frank Weiss DNQ 16 15 0 -USA Larry McCoy 26 16 0 -CAN Eldon Rasmussen DNQ 20 17 31 17 0 -AUS Vern Schuppan orange R silver 18 0 -USA Jerry Karl Wth 19 21 DNQ 0 -USA Mike Hiss DNQ DNQ 19 0 -CAN Ed Crombie orange R silver DNQ 20 Wth DNQ DNQ 0 -USA Jack Owens orange R silver DNQ 21 DNQ 0 -USA Billy Scott DNQ 23 DNQ 0 -USA John Mahler DNQ 25 0 -USA Gary Bettenhausen DNQ 28 DNQ 33 27 DNQ 0 -USA Danny Ongais orange R silver 28 0 -GBR David Hobbs 29 0 -USA Mel Kenyon DNQ 33 0 -USA Greg Hodges DNQ DNQ DNQ 0 -USA Gary Allbritain DNQ DNQ 0 -USA Butch Harris DNQ 0 -USA Bill Engelhart DNQ 0 -USA Jim Hurtubise DNQ 0 -USA Rick Muther DNQ 0 -USA Ed Miller Wth 0 Pos Driver PHX1 TRE1 INDY MIL1 POC MIS1 TWS1 TRE2 MIL2 ONT MIS2 TWS2 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 notparticipate(DNP) Not competing In-line notationBoldPole positionItalicsRan fastest race lap*Led most race lapsgold RY silver Rookie of the Yearorange R silver Rookie References http://www.driverdb.com/standings/980-1976/ USAC National Championship 1976 Åberg, Andreas Driver Database 2009-05-04 https://web.archive.org/web/20080325034423/http://www.driverdb.com/standings/980-1976/ 2008-03-25 live http://www.oldracingcars.com/indy/ Indy 500 and USAC racing (1971-1978) Harms, Phil Ferner, Michael Measures, Gerry Brown, Allen OldRacingCars.com 2009-05-04 https://archive.today/20120906023507/http://www.oldracingcars.com/indy/ 2012-09-06 live http://www.champcarstats.com/year/1976.htm 1976 USAC National Championship Trail ChampCarStats.com 2009-05-11 https://web.archive.org/web/20081011230015/http://www.champcarstats.com/year/1976.htm 2008-10-11 live http://old.motorsport.com/stats/champ/data/1976sum.pdf 1976 Championship Driver Summary Harms Phil Motorsport.com 2011-05-03 https://web.archive.org/web/20120910064101/http://www.motorsport.com/stats/champ/data/1976sum.pdf 2012-09-10 dead http://media.indycar.com/pdf/2011/IICS_2011_Historical_Record_Book_INT6.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20160304053905/http://media.indycar.com/pdf/2011/IICS_2011_Historical_Record_Book_INT6.pdf 2016-03-04 (p. 219–220) https://www.champcarstats.com/year/1976.htm Retrieved August 9, 2025 https://www.oldracingcars.com/indy/1976/ Retrieved August 9, 2025 https://www.racingyears.com/results/1976/USAC Retrieved August 9, 2025 See also 1976 Indianapolis 500 References * USAC Championship Car season Category:USAC Championship Car USAC Championship