1980 USAC Championship Car season

Sports season August 2023 USAC Championship Car 1980 200pxChampion: Johnny Rutherford Championship Racing League 5 April 13 July 13 National champion United States Johnny Rutherford United States Johnny Rutherford 1979 1981–82 The 1980 USAC Championship Car season consisted of five races, beginning in Ontario, California on April 13 and concluding in Lexington, Ohio on July 13. The USAC National Champion and Indianapolis 500 winner was Johnny Rutherford. One year after the first open wheel "Split", USAC and CART came together under the banner of the Championship Racing League (CRL). The entire season was supposed to be co-sanctioned by CART and USAC. However, USAC pulled out the CRL arrangement in July after only five races. USAC declared their 1980 season over, while CART finished out the remainder of their 1980 season on their own. Johnny Rutherford, driving Jim Hall's revolutionary ground effects Chaparral 2K won three of the five races (including Indianapolis), and finished second in the other two. Rutherford won the USAC championship by a commanding point margin. Rutherford happened to score the most points under both USAC's five-race points distribution and CART's 12-race points championship, securing what could be considered "undisputed" or "unanimous" top driver honors for the calendar year of 1980. Schedule and results USAC announced a 10-race schedule on December 26, 1979, expanding from 7 races in 1979. After the creation of the Championship Racing League, USAC integrated five of its events into a new, 12-race schedule announced on May 6, 1980. IconLegendwhite O silverOval/Speedwaylightblue R silverRoad course Rnd Date Race name Length Track Location Pole position Winning driver 1 April 13 Datsun Twin 200 200 mi km on white O darkgray Ontario Motor Speedway Ontario, California US Johnny Rutherford US Johnny Rutherford 2 May 26 500 Mile International Sweepstakes 500 mi km on white O darkgray Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway, Indiana US Johnny Rutherford US Johnny Rutherford 3 June 8 Gould Rex Mays Classic 150 mi km on white O darkgray Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway West Allis, Wisconsin US Gordon Johncock US Bobby Unser 4 June 22 True Value 500 500 mi km on white O darkgray Pocono International Raceway Long Pond, Pennsylvania US Bobby Unser US Bobby Unser 5 July 13 Red Roof Inns 150 150 mi km on lightblue R darkgray Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, Ohio US Al Unser US Johnny RutherfordReferences:1979-12-27 USAC Annnounces 1980 Schedule https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-indianapolis-star/5716090/ 2026-10-20 The Indianapolis Star 311980-05-07 Two New Tracks Added to 12-Race USAC Card https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-indianapolis-star/181415710/ 2026-10-20 The Indianapolis Star 36 1980-07-02 CART Is Back in Indy-Car Scene https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-indianapolis-star-070280-usac-spli/179320288/ 2026-10-20 The Indianapolis Star 141980-07-09 Milwaukee Vote Goes to CART https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-indianapolis-star-milwaukee-vote-goe/208650327/ 2026-10-20 The Indianapolis Star 19 Schedule changes The schedule included a return to Mosport Park, which had featured in the CART schedule for 1979 before the date was cancelled, as well as two new, 500-kilometre oval races at Charlotte Motor Speedway and the Alabama International Motor Superspeedway in Talladega, helped by a new partnership with NASCAR. After having an all-oval schedule for 1979, two road course events were scheduled at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and Road Atlanta. After the California 500 defected to CART during the 1979 season, the lone remaining date at Ontario was also switched to CART, and Texas World Speedway would only held one event, in hopes of helping dwindling attendance. The April 4, 1980 agreement between CART and USAC to form the Championship Racing League came before any of the two series had started their season, and a compromise was reached to keep races as scheduled until a new set of common races was drafted. On April 16, however, the Texas 200 was cancelled by the promoter due to a lack of entries. On May 6, 1980, the Championship Racing League announced that eleven of the remaining 19 races would stay on the combined schedule for a 12-race season. Among USAC-sanctioned events, the new races at Charlotte, Talladega, Road Atlanta and Mosport were scratched from the schedule. With the Championship Racing League partnership being dissolved on June 30, 1980, it was decided to keep the Mid-Ohio race as the last one under the CRL banner, while the Milwaukee Mile, which was the lone remaining venue under USAC sanctioning for the season, switched to CART sanctioning on July 8. With no races left to sanction, and most of its affiliated teams competing in CART for sponsorship reasons, USAC quietly shut down its season after a major reorganization in late August. The season standings would include all five races held up to that period, including the CART-sanctioned Datsun Twin 200. Cancelled events Race nameTrackCityOriginal dateUSA Texas 200white O silver Texas World SpeedwayCollege Station, TexasApril 26USA Road Atlanta 200lightblue R silver Road AtlantaBraselton, GeorgiaJuly 27USA Indy-Car 500 at Talladegawhite O silver Alabama International Motor SpeedwayLincoln, AlabamaAugust 24CAN Mosport 200lightblue R silver Mosport ParkBowmanville, OntarioSeptember 14USA Charlotte 500white O silver Charlotte Motor SpeedwayConcord, North CarolinaSeptember 28References:1980-01-31 1980 USAC Indy-car schedule https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-louisville-times-1980-usac-indy-car/208649162/ 2026-10-20 The Louisville Times 411980-04-16 Mysterious circumstances cancel TWS Indy race https://www.newspapers.com/article/bryan-college-station-eagle-mysterious-c/194835776/ 2026-10-20 Bryan-College Station Eagle 17 Final points standings List of American Championship car racing point scoring systems Pos Driver ONTUS INDYUS MILUS POCUS MOHUS Pts 1 US Johnny Rutherford 1* 1* 2 2 1 2740 2 US Tom Sneva 2 2 6 3 11 1970 3 US Bobby Unser 23 9 1 1* 15 1334 4 US Gordon Johncock 3 4 3* DNQ 2 1330 5 US Pancho Carter 18 6 4 6 7 1078 6 US Bill Alsup 7 DNQ 9 4 3 990 7 US Rick Mears 21 5 5 12 9* 766 8 US Gary Bettenhausen 3 12 33 20 726 9 US Sheldon Kinser 13 DNQ 11 7 24 345 10 US Danny Ongais 7 24 18 21 330 11 US Howdy Holmes DNQ 15 8 14 266 12 US Tom Bigelow 8 250 13 US Spike Gehlhausen 4 29 DNQ 245 14 US Tom Bagley 5 28 23 29 DNS 220 15 US Tim Richmond 9 DNQ DNQ 22 205 16 US Larry Cannon 33 DNQ 9 DNQ 205 17 US Roger Mears 9 DNQ 4 180 18 US Gordon Smiley 6 25 170 19 US Billy Engelhart 11 10 13 170 20 Australia Vern Schuppan DNQ 5 5 150 21 US Lee Kunzman DNQ 10 DNQ 150 22 US Greg Leffler 10 DNQ 150 23 US Tom Gloy 6 120 24 US Jerry Sneva 17 8 14 120 25 US Herm Johnson 14 DNQ 17 11 116 26 US Dick Ferguson 8 31 DNQ 105 27 US Roger Rager 23 26 8 100 28 Canada Cliff Hucul 7 90 29 US Bill Vukovich II 12 21 28 65 30 US Jan Sneva 10 DNQ 60 31 US Rick Muther 24 DNQ 18 10 57 32 US Jerry Karl 21 14 15 18 54 33 US Phil Caliva 15 DNQ 16 12 50 34 US Al Unser 16 27 20 24 13 49 35 US A. J. Foyt DNS 14 19 45 36 US Ron Shuman 11 DNQ 40 37 US Mario Andretti 20 17 40 38 US Dick Simon 22 13 21 DNQ 38 39 Australia Dennis Firestone 16 30 30 40 US John Martin DNQ 20 16 28 41 US Mike Mosley 19 32 23 28 42 US John Wood 12 DNQ DNQ 23 25 43 US Don Whittington 13 DNQ 25 44 US George Snider 15 DNQ 25 45 US Jim McElreath 24 27 25 46 US Bill Tempero 17 DNQ 16 17 22 47 US Joe Saldana 25 DNQ 22 DNQ 19 48 US Phil Threshie DNQ 22 25 15 49 US Johnny Parsons 26 DNQ 10 50 US Billie Harvey 19 6 51 US John Mahler DNQ DNQ 19 6 52 US Bill Whittington 30 5 53 USA Al Loquasto DNQ 31 5 54 US Tony Bettenhausen Jr. DNQ DNQ 32 DNQ 5 - US Hurley Haywood 18 0 - US Pete Halsmer 20 DNQ 0 - US Ross Davis 22 0 - US Bob Frey DNQ DNQ 0 - US Janet Guthrie DNQ DNQ 0 - Canada Buddie Boys DNQ DNQ 0 - US Rich Vogler DNQ DNQ 0 - US Bob Harkey DNQ DNQ 0 - US Dana Carter DNQ 0 - US Larry Dickson DNQ 0 - US Tom Frantz DNQ 0 - US Jim Hurtubise DNQ 0 - US Bill Puterbaugh DNQ 0 - US Salt Walther DNQ 0 - Canada Frank Weiss DNQ 0 - US Bruce Hill DNQ 0 - US Milt Harper DNQ 0 Pos Driver ONTUS INDYUS MILUS POCUS MOHUS 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 References http://www.driverdb.com/standings/980-1980/ USAC National Championship 1980 Åberg, Andreas Driver Database 2009-05-11 https://web.archive.org/web/20080325034438/http://www.driverdb.com/standings/980-1980/ 2008-03-25 live http://www.champcarstats.com/year/1980u.htm 1980 Championship Racing League ChampCarStats.com 2009-05-11 https://web.archive.org/web/20080908043144/http://www.champcarstats.com/year/1980u.htm 2008-09-08 live See also 1980 Indianapolis 500 1980 CART PPG Indy Car World Series USAC Championship Car season Category:USAC Championship Car USAC Championship