1971 USAC Championship Car season

The 1971 USAC Championship Car season consisted of 12 races, beginning in Rafaela, Argentina on February 28 and concluding in Avondale, Arizona on October 23. The USAC National Champion was Joe Leonard and the Indianapolis 500 winner was Al Unser. For 1971 it was decided that there should be three separate points championships, for paved ovals, dirt ovals, and road courses.

The existing Championship Car championship was then restricted to only paved ovals, and two new championships were created. The National Dirt Car Championship (which would become the modern Silver Crown Series in 1981) was run over four races, and won by George Snider. The Road Racing championship was originally to be run over between 8 and 10 races, however a lack of interest lead to just two races being held on the same day, on the 7th of August at Seattle International Raceway. Continental Championship cars were allowed, and made up the majority of the grid, with just 5 USAC specification cars entered. Jim Dittemore won the series in a Formula 5000 specification Lola T192-Chevrolet. The Road Racing championship did not continue in 1972.

Entrants (partial list)

TeamChassisEngineDriversRounds Vel's Parnelli Jones RacingColtFord Al Unser All Colt Ford Joe Leonard All A.J. Foyt EnterprisesCoyote Ford A. J. Foyt 3, 5-12 Scorpion Ford Art Pollard 2-12 All American RacersEagleOffenhauser Bobby Unser 1, 3-12EagleOffenhauser Swede Savage 1-3, 10-12EagleOffenhauser LeeRoy Yarbrough 4-5 Dick Simon RacingLola (1-3, 7-12), Volstedt (4-6)Ford Dick Simon 1, 3-12 Andy GranatelliMcNamaraFord Mario Andretti 1, 3-12Brawner Hawk (3-4), Volstedt (5), King (7-12)Ford (3-5, 7, 10), Offennhauser (8-9, 11-12) Steve Krisiloff 3-5, 7-12 Gene White RacingMongooseFord Lloyd Ruby AllMongooseFord Cale Yarborough All GerhardtGerhardtOffenhauser Gary Bettenhausen All Grant KingKingOffenhauser Roger McCluskey 1-2 Jerry O'Connell RacingHeyhoeOffenhauser Bill Vukovich II 4-12 Leader Card RacingWatsonFord (1-5), Offenhauser (12) Mike Mosley 1-5, 12 Lindsey Hopkins RacingKuzmaOffenhauser Wally Dallenbach 3-11KuzmaFord (3-11), Offenhauser (12) Roger McCluskey 3-12 McLarenMcLarenOffenhauser Peter Revson 5, 7, 10 Patrick RacingEagle (3-8, 11), Brabham (10, 12)Offenhauser Johnny Rutherford 3-8, 10-12 Team PenskeLola (3-4, 7), McLaren (5, 8, 10-12)Offenhauser (3, 5, 8, 10-12), Ford (4, 7) Mark Donohue 3-5, 7-8, 10-12 Volstedt RacingVolstedtFord Wally Dallenbach 12VolstedtOffenhauser Johnny Rutherford 1-2

Schedule and results

All races were run on oval speedways. On February 18, the non-championship races at Rafaela were transformed into a points-paying double round, due to a request from race organizers. On June 3, the Langhorne round was cancelled by its promoter because of insufficient entries. He alleged that the event had been boycotted by a number of drivers refusing to race at the outdated venue, which was torn down at the end of the year. On June 30, USAC cancelled the race at the new Mountaineer Speedway, which was never built to completion. The 1971 season was the first time the 500 mile triple crown was on the schedule with the addition of Ontario Motor Speedway's California 500 the previous year and the Pocono 500 added in this season. Rnd Date Race name Track Location Pole position Winning driver 1February 28 Rafaela Indy 300 Heat 1Autódromo de RafaelaRafaela, Argentina Lloyd Ruby Al Unser 2 Rafaela Indy 300 Heat 2 Al Unser Al Unser 3 March 27 Phoenix 150 Phoenix International Raceway Avondale, Arizona Bobby Unser Al Unser 4 April 25 Trenton 200 Trenton International Speedway Trenton, New Jersey Bobby Unser Mike Mosley 5 May 29 International 500 Mile Sweepstakes Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway, Indiana Peter Revson Al Unser 6 June 6 Rex Mays Classic 150 Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway West Allis, Wisconsin Bobby Unser Al Unser - June 13 Langhorne 150 Langhorne Speedway Langhorne, Pennsylvania Race cancelled due to security concerns 7 July 3 Inaugural Pocono 500 Pocono International Raceway Long Pond, Pennsylvania Mark Donohue Mark Donohue 8 July 18 Michigan 200 Michigan International Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan Bobby Unser Mark Donohue - August 8 Mountaineer 150 Mountaineer Speedway Parkersburg, West Virginia Race cancelled 9 August 15 Tony Bettenhausen 200 Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway West Allis, Wisconsin Bobby Unser Bobby Unser 10 September 5 California 500 Ontario Motor Speedway Ontario, California Mark Donohue Joe Leonard 11 October 3* Trenton 300 Trenton International Speedway Trenton, New Jersey Bobby Unser Bobby Unser 12 October 23 Bobby Ball 150 Phoenix International Raceway Avondale, Arizona Bobby Unser A. J. Foyt

Trenton 300 was originally schedulded for September 26, 1971 but was postponed due to rain.

Final points standings

Note 1: Donnie Allison, Carlos Pairetti, Denny Hulme, David Hobbs and Jim Hurtubise were not eligible for points. Note 2: John Mahler qualified 21st at Indianapolis. His car was driven in the race by Dick Simon who started 33rd as a result of the driver change.

Pos DriverRAF PHX1 TRE1 INDY MIL1 POC MIS MIL2 ONT TRE2 PHX2 Pts 1 Joe Leonard 6 3 4 24 19 2 2 19 DNQ 1 3 10 3015 2 A. J. Foyt 17 3 20 3 17 2 16 5 1 2320 3 Bill Vukovich II 25 5 3 5 2 14 10 4 3 2250 4 Al Unser 1 1 1 21 1 1 31 24 17 15 17 21 2200 5 Lloyd Ruby 2 2 5 13 11 7 8 21 6 4 23 24 1830 6 Bobby Unser 27 2 4 12 14 9 18 1 21 1 8 1805 7 Gary Bettenhausen 11 7 20 16 10 16 6 22 3 3 24 5 1800 8 Mark Donohue 6 19 25 1 1 18 6 16 1760 9 Mario Andretti Wth 9 18 30 11 4 12 19 33 2 4 1370 10 Wally Dallenbach Sr. 7 2 24 4 15 4 4 23 9 11 1220 11 Art Pollard 24 6 26 5 16 16 16 2 20 9 1170 12 Peter Revson 2 21 7 1100 13 Roger McCluskey 5 4 22 22 9 23 25 3 18 28 22 2 1050 14 Jim Malloy 14 21 11 4 DNS 26 13 DNQ 6 1030 15 Steve Krisiloff DNQ 11 31 10 7 24 5 7 20 990 16 Cale Yarborough 8 8 13 5 16 DNQ 32 5 8 14 11 DNQ 710 17 Mike Mosley 3 23 10 1 13 19 655 18 Swede Savage 4 5 3 12 16 23 590 19 Johnny Rutherford 7 20 21 17 18 6 7 10 26 Wth 22 570 20 Dick Simon 13 6 12 7 14 9 17 15 DNQ 22 25 7 405 21 Jim McElreath DNQ 27 8 27 6 370 22 Bud Tingelstad 7 DNQ 19 17 300 23 LeeRoy Yarbrough 3 Wth 280 24 George Eaton 9 11 10 18 270 25 Greg Weld DNQ 18 12 10 30 8 14 260 26 Denny Zimmerman 24 19 19 8 22 24 26 20 13 DNQ 250 27 Gordon Johncock 9 10 8 15 29 10 20 23 25 27 DNQ DNQ 225 28 Sam Sessions DNQ 27 11 DNQ 7 DNQ 13 220 29 George Snider 18 33 21 33 14 5 32 14 15 200 30 John Mahler 16 16 23 Wth 23 9 200 31 Larry Dickson 28 6 15 13 DNS 160 32 Bentley Warren 10 24 16 26 23 8 22 Wth 120 33 Karl Busson DNQ 8 23 DNQ DNQ 100 34 Bruce Walkup DNQ 8 DNQ 29 DNQ 100 35 John Martin DNQ 15 9 12 DNQ DNQ 100 36 Al Loquasto 9 DNQ DNQ DNQ 80 37 Ludwig Heimrath Sr. 25 18 10 DNQ 60 38 Jerry Karl 12 Wth 11 22 60 39 Carl Williams DNQ 11 31 26 17 40 40 Salt Walther 15 11 DNQ DNQ 20 30 41 Mel Kenyon 32 DNQ 25 12 DNQ 30 42 Bill Simpson 17 13 23 DNQ 19 18 DNQ DNQ 28 12 15 43 Jimmy Caruthers Wth 12 13 19 DNQ 15 44 Dee Jones 26 12 15 DNQ 15 - Donnie Allison 6 17 28 24 0 - Carlos Pairetti 12 9 0 - Bill Puterbaugh DNQ 14 DNQ 13 19 0 - Jerry Grant DNQ 13 0 - Don Brown 18 14 14 21 15 DNQ 0 - Bob Harkey 14 22 29 DNQ DNQ 0 - Dave Strickland 19 15 Wth 0 - George Follmer 15 DNQ 0 - Max Dudley 20 17 DNQ 0 - Denny Hulme 17 0 - Eldon Rasmussen 18 DNQ 0 - Arnie Knepper 20 DNQ 25 20 DNQ 0 - David Hobbs 20 0 - Rick Muther 22 25 DNQ DNQ 21 24 0 - Tom Bigelow 21 22 DNQ 0 - Tom Sneva 21 DNQ 0 - Larry Cannon 23 26 Wth DNQ 0 - Jim Hurtubise DNQ 30 DNQ 0 - Jorge Cupeiro DNS 0 - Omar Cuvertino DNS 0 - Ángel Monguzzi DNS 0 - Carlos Salatino DNS 0 - Jigger Sirois DNQ 0 - Les Scott DNQ 0 - Ralph Liguori DNQ 0 - Danny Ongais DNQ 0 - Bobby Allen DNQ 0 - Jim Reynard DNQ 0 - Gig Stephens DNQ 0 - Bobby Johns DNQ 0 - Sam Posey DNQ 0 - Dick Tobias DNQ 0 - Don Hawley DNQ 0 - Johnny Parsons DNQ 0 - Crockey Peterson DNQ 0 - Bruce Jacobi Wth 0 - Tony Adamowicz Wth 0 - Ronnie Bucknum Wth 0 Pos Driver RAF1 RAF2 PHX1 TRE1 INDY MIL1 POC MIS MIL2 ONT TRE2 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 notparticipate(DNP) Not competing In-line notationBoldPole positionItalicsRan fastest race lap*Led most race laps Rookie of the Year Rookie

References

http://media.indycar.com/pdf/2011/IICS_2011_Historical_Record_Book_INT6.pdf (p. 230-231) https://www.champcarstats.com/year/1971.htm Retrieved July 30, 2025 https://www.oldracingcars.com/indy/1971/ Retrieved July 30, 2025

See also 1971 Indianapolis 500