American Championship Car Racing

This article provides a general outline of the major American Open-Wheel motor racing championship, for specific information on the current Champ Car World Series and the Indy Racing League see Champcar and IRL.

Sanctioning Bodies

:*From 1909 to 1955 the championship was sanctioned by the American Automobile Association (the AAA).

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:*From 1956 to 1978 the championship was sanctioned by the United States Automobile Club (the USAC), a body formed by the then-owner of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Tony Hulman.

Related Topics:
USAC - Indianapolis Motor Speedway

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:*In 1979 there were two championships run by two sanctioning bodies, USAC and CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams), which was a body formed by most of the existing team-owners. As all the top teams were allied to CART, the CART championship became the de-facto championship. USAC ran a "rump" season, with few cars and fewer name drivers - the only exception being A.J. Foyt.

Related Topics:
CART - A.J. Foyt

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:*In 1980 USAC and CART jointly formed the Championship Racing League (CRL) to run the National Championship, but the management of the Indianapolis speedway disliked the idea. The CRL was abandoned before any races were run and CART exclusively sanctioned the championship. http://www.netaxs.com/~gg1/race/cartirl.htm In 1981 and 1982 the Indianapolis 500 was not included as a points-paying round of the National Championship, although all the top drivers and teams competed anyway. One further race was run by USAC at Pocono in 1981. This race was not supported by many CART teams, and even included some dirt-track cars. After this, USAC withdrew from sanctioning, except for the Indianapolis 500, which they continued to run. USAC ceremonially named the '500' as part of their 'Gold Crown' championship, an essentially meaningless title as the race was the only round, and allowed the race to be included in the CART championship.

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:*From 1983 to 1995 stability returned and the championship was run by CART, with USAC organising at Indianapolis.

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:*In 1996, Tony Hulman's grandson, Tony George, the owner of the Indianapolis track and the '500', created the Indy Racing League (IRL), a separate championship that includes the Indianapolis 500 as a round. The IRL's results are either listed alongside the existing National championship http://www.rumbledrome.com/stats.html or treated as a entirely separate entity and not included. http://www.motorsport.com/stats/ http://www.motorracing-world.co.uk/

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:*CART continued running the existing championship until the organisation went bust at the end of 2003.

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:*The rights to CART's assets were purchased by a consortium called Open Wheel Racing Series (OWRS) in 2004 and the former-CART series was renamed the Champ Car World Series.

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