1974 USAC Championship Car season

Open-wheel car racing season August 2023 USAC Championship Car 1974 USAC National Championship Trail 14 March 3 November 2 National champion United States Bobby Unser United States Johnny Rutherford 1973 1975 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. Entrants (partial list) TeamChassisEngineDriversRounds United States A.J. Foyt EnterprisesCoyoteFoytUS A.J. Foyt 1, 3-14 United States All American RacersEagleOffenhauserUS Bobby Unser 1, 3-14 United States Richard BeithEagleOffenhauserUS Steve Krisiloff 2-3 United States Bob FletcherEagleOffenhauserUS Jimmy Caruthers 2-14EagleOffenhauserUS Jerry Grant 2-3, 5-8EagleOffenhauserUS Pancho Carter 6, 8-14 United States GerhardtEagleOffenhauserUS Jim McElreath 1, 3-8, 14 United States Jerry O"Connell RacingEagleOffenhauserUS Bill Vukovich II 1, 3-12, 14 United States Leader Card RacingEagleOffenhauserUS Mike Mosley 1, 3-12, 14 United States Lindsey Hopkins RacingMcLaren (1, 3-4, 9-10) Eagle (6-8, 11-14)OffenhauserUS Roger McCluskey 1, 3-4, 6-14 United Kingdom McLarenMcLarenOffenhauserUS Johnny Rutherford 2-14 United States Patrick RacingEagleOffenhauserUS Gordon Johncock 1, 3-14EagleOffenhauserUS Wally Dallenbach 1, 3-14EagleOffenhauserUS Steve Krisiloff 6-8, 10, 12-14 United States Team PenskeMcLarenOffenhauserUS Gary Bettenhausen 2-8 United States Unlimited Racing TeamEagleOffenhauserUS Lloyd Ruby 1, 3-12 United States Vel's Parnelli Jones RacingParnelli (2-3, 5, 7) Eagle (4, 6, 8-11, 14)OffenhauserUS Mario Andretti 2-11, 14EagleOffenhauserUS Al Unser 2-14EagleOffenhauserUS Joe Leonard 2-3 Schedule and results All races running on Oval/Speedway. Rnd Date Race name Track Location Pole position Winning driver 1March 3 California 500 Qualification Heat 1Ontario Motor SpeedwayOntario, California USA A. J. Foyt USA A. J. Foyt 2 California 500 Qualification Heat 2 USA Johnny Rutherford USA Johnny Rutherford 3 March 10 California 500 USA A. J. Foyt USA Bobby Unser 4 March 17 Phoenix 150 Phoenix International Raceway Avondale, Arizona USA Al Unser USA Mike Mosley 5 April 7 Trentonian 200 Trenton International Speedway Trenton, New Jersey USA Mario Andretti USA Bobby Unser 6 May 26 International 500 Mile Sweepstakes Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway, Indiana USA A. J. Foyt USA Johnny Rutherford 7 June 9 Rex Mays Classic Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway West Allis, Wisconsin USA A. J. Foyt USA Johnny Rutherford 8 June 30 Schaefer 500 Pocono International Raceway Long Pond, Pennsylvania USA Bobby Unser USA Johnny Rutherford 9 July 21 Michigan 200 Michigan International Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan USA Bobby Unser USA Bobby Unser 10 August 11 Tony Bettenhausen 200 Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway West Allis, Wisconsin USA A. J. Foyt USA Gordon Johncock 11 September 15 Norton 250 Michigan International Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan USA A. J. Foyt USA Al Unser 12September 22 Trenton 300 Heat #1Trenton International SpeedwayTrenton, New Jersey USA A. J. Foyt USA A. J. Foyt 13 Trenton 300 Heat #2 USA A. J. Foyt USA Bobby Unser 14 November 2 Bobby Ball 150 Phoenix International Raceway Avondale, Arizona USA Johnny Rutherford USA Gordon Johncock Final points standings 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. List of American Championship car racing point scoring systems Pos Driver ONTQ-H1 ONTQ-H2 ONT500 PHX1150 TRE1200 INDY500 MIL1150 POC500 MIS1200 MIL2200 MIS2250 TRE2150 TRE3150 PHX2150 Pts 1USA Bobby Unser 2 1 2 1 2 21 5 1 4 3 2 1 2 4870 2USA Johnny Rutherford 1 27 7 6 1 1 1 4 5 9 4 7 7 3650 3USA Gordon Johncock 14 26 4 2 4 16 3 3 1 14 11 2 1 3050 4USA Al Unser 5 2 18 10 18 5 22 2 9 1 6 5 5 2430 5USA Jimmy Caruthers 2 4 19 4 23 20 2 11 13 18 7 9 8 2065 6USA Bill Vukovich II 10 21 8 3 3 3 8 5 10 19 18 6 1925 7USA Lloyd Ruby 3 5 9 8 9 9 6 DNQ 7 21 DNQ 1580 8USA A. J. Foyt 1 30 3 Wth 15 6 27 13 2 24 1 4 4 1510 9USA Wally Dallenbach Sr. 7 6 6 13 30 15 10 6 3 11 3 11 18 1445 10USA Steve Krisiloff 3 24 22 11 4 23 5 3 22 1130 11USA Pancho Carter gold RY silver 7 15 9 12 2 9 6 9 1040 12USA Mike Mosley 6 7 1 7 29 10 21 8 18 15 17 DNQ 945 13USA Jim McElreath 4 15 10 18 6 7 23 10 700 14USA Mario Andretti 9 25 5 9 31 17 17 18 8 10 3 655 15USA John Martin 6 9 11 16 12 16 6 600 16USA Roger McCluskey 5 8 16 16 18 28 16 6 13 10 16 19 555 17USA Tom Sneva 13 12 15 11 20 14 13 10 14 5 8 8 24 550 18USA Mike Hiss 31 14 7 4 420 19USA Jerry Grant 13 3 5 10 13 DNQ DNP 350 20USA Bentley Warren 12 13 11 17 DNQ 7 17 DNQ 340 21USA Dick Simon 8 28 13 33 4 29 21 11 15 270 22USA Gary Bettenhausen 11 20 14 DNQ 32 2 31 260 23USA Bob Harkey 15 17 14 8 26 250 24USA Tom Bigelow 9 10 12 DNQ 19 22 23 240 25CAN Eldon Rasmussen DNQ DNQ 9 20 22 DNQ 200 26USA Al Loquasto 18 12 DNQ 11 14 11 12 160 27USA Dan Murphy orange R silver DNQ 19 23 22 7 13 15 DNQ 150 28USA Karl Busson 8 12 13 21 140 29USA George Snider 10 11 17 28 25 16 130 30USA Joe Leonard 4 19 120 31USA Salt Walther 8 22 12 17 DNP 20 DNQ 15 10 20 115 32USA Bill Simpson 14 14 13 8 18 19 11 105 33USA Jerry Karl 7 29 19 12 32 16 75 34USA Larry McCoy 16 DNQ 12 15 20 17 Wth 50 35USA Mel Kenyon DNQ 12 25 36USA Lee Brayton 11 DNS DNQ 14 DNS 20 20 37CAN John Cannon 12 16 DNS 19 DNQ DNP 10 -GBR David Hobbs 5 DNP 0 -USA Sam Posey 13 0 -USA John Hubbard 22 DNQ 19 15 23 DNQ 14 0 -USA Sam Sessions DNQ 30 14 0 -USA Billy Scott orange R silver 14 0 -USA Skip Barber orange R silver 15 32 0 -USA Max Dudley 15 0 -USA Benny Rapp orange R silver DNQ 16 0 -USA Johnny Parsons 33 26 DNQ DNQ 17 17 0 -USA Mel Cornett orange R silver 21 0 -USA Jan Opperman orange R silver 21 23 33 0 -USA Rick Muther 23 27 DNQ 0 -USA Jim Hurtubise DNQ 25 24 0 -USA Larry Rice orange R silver DNQ Wth 24 0 -USA Larry Cannon 24 DNQ 0 -USA Evan Noyes orange R silver 25 0 -USA Jigger Sirois DNS DNQ 0 -USA Denny Zimmerman DNS DNQ 0 -USA Bud Tingelstad DNS 0 -USA Bruce Jacobi DNQ 0 -USA John Mahler DNQ 0 -USA Bill Puterbaugh DNQ 0 -USA Brett Lunger DNQ 0 -USA Steve Durst DNP 0 Pos Driver ONTQ-H1 ONTQ-H2 ONT500 PHX1150 TRE1200 INDY500 MIL1150 POC500 MIS1200 MIL2200 MIS2250 TRE2150 TRE3150 PHX2150 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/980-1974/ USAC National Championship 1974 Åberg, Andreas Driver Database 2009-05-04 https://web.archive.org/web/20080325034413/http://www.driverdb.com/standings/980-1974/ 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/1974.htm 1974 USAC National Championship Trail ChampCarStats.com 2009-05-11 https://web.archive.org/web/20081025104936/http://www.champcarstats.com/year/1974.htm 2008-10-25 live http://old.motorsport.com/stats/champ/data/1974sum.pdf 1974 Championship Driver Summary Harms Phil Motorsport.com 2011-05-03 https://web.archive.org/web/20120810003609/http://www.motorsport.com/stats/champ/data/1974sum.pdf 2012-08-10 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. 223-224) https://www.champcarstats.com/year/1974.htm Retrieved August 9, 2025 https://www.oldracingcars.com/indy/1974/ Retrieved August 9, 2025 https://www.racingyears.com/results/1974/USAC Retrieved August 9, 2025 See also 1974 Indianapolis 500 * USAC Championship Car season Category:USAC Championship Car Category:1974 in American motorsport