1976 USAC Championship Car season

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.

1976 USAC Championship Car season
USAC National Championship Trail
Season
Races	13
Start date	March 14
End date	November 7
Awards
National champion	Gordon Johncock
Indianapolis 500 winner	Johnny Rutherford

Entrants

(partial list)

Team	Chassis	Engine	Drivers	Rounds
A.J. Foyt Enterprises	Coyote	Foyt	A.J. Foyt	1-8, 10-12
All American Racers	Eagle	Offenhauser	Pancho Carter	1-5, 10-12
Bruce Crower	Eagle	Offenhauser	Tom Sneva	13
Bob Fletcher	Eagle	Offenhauser	Bobby Unser	1-5, 9-13
Alex Morales	Eagle	Offenhauser	Bob Vukovich II	1-5, 7-10, 12-13
Jerry O"Connell Racing	Eagle	Offenhauser	Mike Mosley	All
Leader Card Racing	Eagle	Offenhauser	Tom Bigelow	All
Lindsey Hopkins Racing	Hopkins	Offenhauser	Roger McCluskey	2-3, 5-13
McLaren	McLaren	Offenhauser	Johnny Rutherford	All
Patrick Racing	Eagle (3-5) Wildcat (1, 6-13)	Offenhauser (3-6) (DGS (1, 6-13)	Gordon Johncock	All
	Wildcat	DGS	Wally Dallenbach	All
Team Penske	McLaren	Offenhauser	Tom Sneva	1-11
	McLaren	Offenhauser	Mario Andretti	3, 5, 12-13
Vatis Enterprises	Eagle	Offenhauser	Johnny Parsons	All
Vel's Parnelli Jones Racing	Parnelli	Cosworth	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	Al Unser	Bobby Unser
2	May 2A	Trenton 200	Trenton International Speedway	Trenton, New Jersey	A. J. Foyt	Johnny Rutherford
3	May 30	International 500 Mile SweepstakesB	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Speedway, Indiana	Johnny Rutherford	Johnny Rutherford
4	June 13	Rex Mays Classic	Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway	West Allis, Wisconsin	Gordon Johncock	Mike Mosley
5	June 27	Schaefer 500	Pocono International Raceway	Long Pond, Pennsylvania	Johnny Parsons	Al Unser
6	July 18	Norton Twin 200s	Michigan International Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan	A. J. Foyt	Gordon Johncock
7	August 1	Texas 150	Texas World Speedway	College Station, Texas	A. J. Foyt	A. J. Foyt
8	August 15	Trenton 200C	Trenton International Speedway	Trenton, New Jersey	A. J. Foyt	Gordon Johncock
9	August 22	Tony Bettenhausen 200	Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway	West Allis, Wisconsin	Johnny Rutherford	Al Unser
10	September 5	California 500	Ontario Motor Speedway	Ontario, California	A. J. Foyt	Bobby Unser
11	September 18	Michigan 150	Michigan International Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan	A. J. Foyt	A. J. Foyt
12	October 31	Benihana World Series of Auto Racing	Texas World Speedway	College Station, Texas	A. J. Foyt	Johnny Rutherford
13	November 7	Bobby Ball 150	Phoenix International Raceway	Avondale, Arizona	Bobby Unser	Al Unser

^A Originally scheduled for April 25 but postponed to May 2 due to heavy rain.

^B Scheduled for 500 miles, stopped early due to rain.

^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.

Further information: 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 1 Gordon Johncock 3 2 3 2 27 1 5 1 2 3 2 2 2 4240 2 Johnny Rutherford 18 1 1 9 4 2 3 7 3 2 11 1 16 4220 3 Wally Dallenbach Sr. 16 6 4 12 3 20 2 4 17 4 3 6 4 3105 4 Al Unser 4 7 4 1 10 17 2 1 32 18 3 1 3020 5 Mike Mosley 5 5 15 1 2 22 4 5 5 15 7 22 DNQ 2120 6 Bobby Unser 1 DNQ 10 3 32 4 1 4 17 21 2080 7 A. J. Foyt 21 18 2 17 31 3 1 19 23 1 11 1720 8 Tom Sneva 17 3 6 13 7 6 16 3 13 26 5 DNQ 1570 9 Mario Andretti 8 5 4 3 1200 10 Johnny Parsons 6 4 12 5 22 4 18 6 12 DNQ 13 15 20 980 11 Roger McCluskey DNQ 30 6 5 DNQ 22 6 21 10 19 5 955 12 Pancho Carter 2 7 5 18 14 29 DNQ 10 920 13 Tom Bigelow 20 17 14 11 29 12 7 21 7 5 9 14 18 820 14 Bill Vukovich II DNQ 22 31 6 26 6 8 15 24 5 6 660 15 Jan Opperman 16 19 7 10 6 580 16 Rick Mears  RY  DNQ 8 9 9 390 17 Bill Puterbaugh 22 DNQ 7 8 375 18 Steve Krisiloff 24 8 16 6 21 17 370 19 George Snider 13 9 22 7 10 365 20 Salt Walther 9 9 9 18 DNQ 22 340 21 Dick Simon 7 16 32 14 10 19 13 16 30 21 7 330 22 John Martin 11 8 21 7 21 9 17 18 18 300 23 Todd Gibson 17 DNQ 13 9 8 11 14 16 13 280 24 Bobby Olivero  R  13 DNQ 10 DNQ 11 9 DNQ 14 275 25 Larry Dickson 19 19 Wth 11 14 15 11 DNQ 19 8 15 240 26 Al Loquasto 8 10 25 15 10 12 DNQ DNQ 12 215 27 Larry Cannon 17 30 11 8 DNQ 8 18 190 28 Bill Simpson DNQ 8 23 8 12 14 14 15 20 DNQ 190 29 Jerry Grant 22 27 10 150 30 Spike Gehlhausen 12 14 33 21 25 16 14 16 9 13 12 12 19 130 31 Lloyd Ruby 11 13 22 100 32 Lee Kunzman Wth 13 18 9 DNQ 20 DNQ 11 90 33 Roger Rager  R  20 10 17 16 60 34 Sheldon Kinser 19 28 12 50 35 Bob Harkey 20 12 DNQ 20 50 36 Jim McElreath 10 DNQ DNQ 45 37 Ed Finley DNQ 13 15 DNQ 11 DNQ 40 38 Tom Frantz 15 11 DNQ DNQ DNQ 40 39 Ken Nichols  R  DNQ 12 20 18 14 DNQ 20 - Janet Guthrie  R  15 DNQ 24 13 15 DNQ DNQ 0 - Arlene Hiss  R  14 0 - Frank Weiss DNQ 16 15 0 - Larry McCoy 26 16 0 - Eldon Rasmussen DNQ 20 17 31 17 0 - Vern Schuppan  R  18 0 - Jerry Karl Wth 19 21 DNQ 0 - Mike Hiss DNQ DNQ 19 0 - Ed Crombie  R  DNQ 20 Wth DNQ DNQ 0 - Jack Owens  R  DNQ 21 DNQ 0 - Billy Scott DNQ 23 DNQ 0 - John Mahler DNQ 25 0 - Gary Bettenhausen DNQ 28 DNQ 33 27 DNQ 0 - Danny Ongais  R  28 0 - David Hobbs 29 0 - Mel Kenyon DNQ 33 0 - Greg Hodges DNQ DNQ DNQ 0 - Gary Allbritain DNQ DNQ 0 - Butch Harris DNQ 0 - Bill Engelhart DNQ 0 - Jim Hurtubise DNQ 0 - Rick Muther DNQ 0 - 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 not participate (DNP) Not competing In-line notation Bold Pole position Italics Ran fastest race lap * Led most race laps  RY  Rookie of the Year  R  Rookie

References

• Åberg, Andreas. "USAC National Championship 1976". Driver Database. Archived from the original on March 25, 2008. Retrieved May 4, 2009.
• Harms, Phil; Ferner, Michael; Measures, Gerry; Brown, Allen. "Indy 500 and USAC racing (1971-1978)". OldRacingCars.com. Retrieved May 4, 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
• "1976 USAC National Championship Trail". ChampCarStats.com. Archived from the original on October 11, 2008. Retrieved May 11, 2009.
• Harms, Phil. "1976 Championship Driver Summary" (PDF). Motorsport.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 10, 2012. Retrieved May 3, 2011.
• http://media.indycar.com/pdf/2011/IICS_2011_Historical_Record_Book_INT6.pdf Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine (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