1981–82 USAC Championship Car season

Sports season August 2023 April 2019 USAC Championship Car 1981–82 USAC Gold Crown Championship 6 May 24, 1981 May 30, 1982 National champion United States George Snider United States Bobby Unser (1981)United States Gordon Johncock (1982) 1980 1982–83 The 1981–82 USAC Championship Car season consisted of six races, beginning in Speedway, Indiana, on May 24, 1981, and concluding at the same location on May 30, 1982. The USAC National Champion was George Snider. The season included two Indianapolis 500 races. The 1981 winner was Bobby Unser, while the 1982 winner was Gordon Johncock. The schedule included dirt courses for the first time since 1970. By this time, the preeminent national championship season was instead sanctioned by CART. Schedule and results The United States Auto Club formed the Gold Crown Series in 1981 which was a combination of the Indianapolis 500 and other races including races on dirt tracks. It was set up so that season would extend over the course of two years with the final race of the season being the Indianapolis 500, with all races running on Oval/Speedway courses. Rnd Date Race name Length Track Location Type Pole position Winning driver 1 May 24 USA Indianapolis 500-Mile Race 500 mi km on Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway, Indiana Paved USA Bobby Unser USA Bobby Unser 2 June 21 USA Van Scoy Diamond Mines 500 305 mi km onA A Pocono International Raceway Long Pond, Pennsylvania Paved USA A. J. Foyt USA A. J. Foyt 3 August 15 USA Tony Bettenhausen 100 100 mi km on Illinois State Fairgrounds Springfield, Illinois Dirt USA Tom Bigelow USA George Snider 4 August 30 USA DuQuoin 100 100 mi km on DuQuoin State Fairgrounds Du Quoin, Illinois Dirt USA Bill Engelhart USA Rich Vogler 5 September 12 USA Hoosier Hundred 100 mi km on Indiana State Fairgrounds Indianapolis, Indiana Dirt USA Larry Rice USA Larry Rice 6 May 30 USA Indianapolis 500-Mile Race 500 mi km on Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway, Indiana Paved USA Rick Mears USA Gordon Johncock A A Scheduled for 500 miles, stopped early due to rain. The season opened with the 1981 Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Bobby Unser would win. Wally Dallenbach Sr. qualified the #40 car for Mario Andretti. However, after the race USAC officials penalized Unser 1 position and the win went to Andretti. Even if Andretti failed to win he would still go into the Van Scoy Diamond Mines 500 at Pocono International Raceway as the points leader as he was in possession of a USAC Class 1 License. The Van Scoy Diamond Mines 500 was won by A. J. Foyt getting Foyt his 67th and final USAC Gold Crown win. The race was cut from 500 miles down to 305 miles due to rain. At the Tony Bettenhausen 100 at the Illinois State Fairgrounds was won by George Snider for his first and only win in USAC Gold Crown competition. At the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds Rich Vogler would win his first and only race in USAC Gold Crown competition. At the Hoosier Hundred at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Larry Rice would win his only USAC Gold Crown race. The 1981 Indianapolis 500 results were changed to Bobby Unser winning the race over Mario Andretti, costing Andretti 200 points. The season ending 1982 Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis 500 was marred by the death of Gordon Smiley during qualifying (he was 36 years old), and at the start 2nd place starter Kevin Cogan would spin into A. J. Foyt's car and Mario Andretti's car, while further back in the field Roger Mears, Dale Whittington, and Bobby Rahal would collide. However, Foyt and Rahal were able to continue. Gordon Johncock would beat Rick Mears to the line to win his second Indianapolis 500. George Snider would win the championship with Geoff Brabham 2nd, Tom Bigelow 3rd, A. J. Foyt 4th, and Gordon Johncock 5th. Final points standings List of American Championship car racing point scoring systems Pos Driver INDYUSA POCUSA SPRUSA DQSFUSA ISFUSA INDYUSA Pts 1USA George Snider DNQ 4 1 3 8 21 1395 2AUS Geoff Brabham 5 2 28 1310 3USA Tom Bigelow 20 3 12* 2 5 18 1280 4USA A. J. Foyt 13 1 19 1045 5USA Gordon Johncock 9 1 1000 6USA Mario Andretti 2 31 805 7USA Rick Mears 30 2* 800 8USA Rich Vogler DNQ 11 1* 2 DNQ 760 9USA Larry Rice DNQ 21 2 13 1* DNQ 730 10AUS Vern Schuppan 3 17 DNQ 720 11USA Tom Sneva 25 16* 4 635 12USA Jim McElreath DNQ 7 3 17 24 DNQ 594 13USA Bill Vukovich II DNQ 6 17 6 DNQ 568 14USA Sheldon Kinser 6 22 15 7 DNQ 536 15CAN Harry MacDonald DNQ 5 500 16USA Jack Hewitt 12 4 4 13 490 17USA Don Whittington 31 6 405 18USA Gary Bettenhausen 26 27 20 18 3 12 366 19USA Joe Saldana 5 6 22 366 20USA Roger Rager DNQ 8 8 DNQ DNQ 350 21USA Tony Bettenhausen Jr. 7 26 310 22USA Jim Hickman 7 300 23USA Herm Johnson DNQ 9 200 24AUS Dennis Firestone 10 27 160 25USA Johnny Parsons DNQ 23 24 8 16 20 151 26USA Bill Henderson 10 150 27USA Greg Leffler DNQ 9 DNS 11 DNQ 100 28USA Bobby Rahal 11 70 29USA Mike Chandler 12 17 40 30USA Bill Whittington 21 16 40 31USA Larry Dickson 18 21 23 32 32MEX Héctor Rebaque 13 25 33USA Steve Ball DNQ 14 25 34USA Tim Richmond 14 DNP 25 35USA Danny Sullivan 14 25 36USA Jerry Karl 15 DNQ 25 37USA Chip Ganassi 15 25 38USA Jerry Sneva DNQ 25 23 25 39USA Richard Hubbard 18 20 40USA Dick Simon DNQ 20 DNQ 20 41MEX Josele Garza 23 29 20 42USA Steve Chassey DNQ 26 14 DNQ 14 43USA Danny Ongais 27 22 10 44USA Salt Walther 26 DNQ 10 45USA Kevin Cogan 4 30 5 46USA Tom Klausler 29 5 47USA Jan Sneva 29 DNQ 5 48USA Roger Mears DNQ 32 5 49USA Mike Mosley 33 DNQ 5 50USA Dale Whittington DNQ 33 5 -USA Bobby Unser 1* DNQ 0 -USA Pancho Carter 28 3 0 -USA Mark Alderson 11 19 19 4 0 -USA Bill Tyler 15 DNQ 5 DNQ 0 -USA Al Unser 17 5 0 -USA Chuck Amati 6 12 0 -USA Jerry Nemire 7 9 0 -USA Johnny Coogan 7 DNP 0 -USA Johnny Rutherford 32 8 0 -USA Steve Krisiloff 8 DNQ 0 -USA Jerry Miller DNQ DNP 9 19 0 -USA Chip Mead 9 DNQ 0 -USA Paul Pitzer 24 DNP 10 17 0 -USA Larry Martin 23 10 0 -USA Art Bisch Jr. 10 DNP 0 -USA Howdy Holmes 10 0 -USA Ken Schrader 16 11 0 -USA Bill Alsup 11 DNQ 0 -USA Jerry Weeks 12 0 -USA Smokey Snellbaker 13 DNQ 15 0 -USA Gary Gray 13 DNP 0 -USA Jeff Bloom 19 14 18 0 -USA Tracy Potter 14 23 DNP 0 -USA Ron Shuman 15 DNQ 0 -USA Scott Brayton 16 DNQ 0 -USA Sleepy Tripp 16 DNQ 0 -USA Bobby Olivero 18 21 20 DNP 0 -USA Bob Lazier 19 DNQ 0 -USA Bill Engelhart DNQ DNQ 20 26 DNQ 0 -USA Chuck Gurney 21 0 -USA Gordon Smiley 22 DNQ 0 -USA Dean Vetrock 22 DNQ 0 -USA Gary Hieber DNQ 22 0 -USA Pete Halsmer 24 25 0 -USA Arnie Knepper DNQ 24 0 -USA Chet Fillip 24 0 -USA Steve Cannon DNQ 25 0 -USA Manny Rockhold 25 DNP 0 -USA Duke Cook 28 DNQ DNQ DNQ 0 -USA Steve Kinser DNQ DNS DNP 0 -USA Bill Puterbaugh DNS DNQ 0 -USA Wally Dallenbach Sr. DNS 0 -USA Bobby Adkins DNS 0 -USA Gary Patterson DNQ DNQ DNQ 0 -USA Eddie Leavitt DNQ DNQ DNP 0 -USA Al Unser Jr. DNQ DNQ 0 -USA Patrick Bedard DNQ DNQ 0 -USA Phil Caliva DNQ DNQ 0 -USA Bob Frey DNQ DNQ 0 -USA Spike Gehlhausen DNQ DNQ 0 -USA Ken Hamilton DNQ DNQ 0 -USA Bob Harkey DNQ DNQ 0 -USA Phil Krueger DNQ DNQ 0 -USA John Mahler DNQ DNQ 0 -USA John Martin DNQ DNQ 0 -USA Lennie Waldo DNP DNQ 0 -USA Richard Powell DNQ DNP 0 -USA Mack McClellan DNQ DNP 0 -USA Jack Ziegler DNQ DNP 0 -USA Rick Hood DNP DNQ 0 -USA Tom Bagley DNQ 0 -USA Jim Buick DNQ 0 -USA Larry Cannon DNQ 0 -USA Dick Ferguson DNQ 0 -USA Jim Hurtubise DNQ 0 -USA Bubby Jones DNQ 0 -USA Bill Tempero DNQ 0 -USA Phil Threshie DNQ 0 -CAN Frank Weiss DNQ 0 -USA Billy Earl DNQ 0 -USA Tom Frantz DNQ 0 -USA Tom Gloy DNQ 0 -USA Tom Grunnah DNQ 0 -USA Hurley Haywood DNQ 0 -USA Gary Irvin DNQ 0 -USA Lee Kunzman DNQ 0 -USA Ray Lipper DNQ 0 -USA Al Loquasto DNQ 0 -BEL Teddy Pilette DNQ 0 -USA Rusty Schmidt DNQ 0 -USA Billy Scott DNQ 0 -USA Sammy Swindell DNQ 0 -USA Leroy van Conett DNQ 0 -ZAF 1928 Desiré Wilson DNQ 0 -USA Karl Busson DNP DNP 0 -USA Lonnie Caruthers DNP DNP 0 -USA Ron Fieller DNP DNP 0 -USA Mike Gregg DNP DNP 0 -USA Bobby Marshall DNP DNP 0 -USA Bud Wilmot DNP DNP 0 -CAN Buddie Boys DNP 0 -USA Earle Canavan DNP 0 -USA Bobby Fisher DNP 0 -USA Bill Compton DNP 0 -USA Jerry Potter DNP 0 -USA Dean Shirley DNP 0 -USA Jerry Stone DNP 0 -USA Mel Kenyon DNP 0 -USA Robert Tapply DNP 0 -USA Neil Bonnett DNP 0 Pos Driver INDYUSA POCUSA SPRUSA DQSFUSA ISFUSA INDYUSA 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 lapsRookie of the YearRookie See also 1981 Indianapolis 500 1982 Indianapolis 500 1981 CART PPG Indy Car World Series 1982 CART PPG Indy Car World Series References http://www.driverdb.com/standings/980-1982/ USAC National Championship 1982 Åberg, Andreas Driver Database 2009-05-11 https://web.archive.org/web/20080325034443/http://www.driverdb.com/standings/980-1982/ 2008-03-25 live http://www.champcarstats.com/year/1981-82.htm 1981-82 USAC Gold Crown Championship ChampCarStats.com 2009-05-11 https://web.archive.org/web/20081122120821/http://www.champcarstats.com/year/1981-82.htm 2008-11-22 live http://media.indycar.com/pdf/2011/IICS_2011_Historical_Record_Book_INT6.pdf PDF 200–203 IZOD INDYCAR SERIES 2011 HISTORICAL RECORD BOOK Media.indycar.com 2014-01-07 2016-03-04 https://web.archive.org/web/20160304053905/http://media.indycar.com/pdf/2011/IICS_2011_Historical_Record_Book_INT6.pdf dead USAC Championship Car season USAC Championship Car season Category:USAC Championship Car