1974 USAC Championship Car season

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 A.J. Foyt EnterprisesCoyoteFoyt A.J. Foyt 1, 3-14 All American RacersEagleOffenhauser Bobby Unser 1, 3-14 Richard BeithEagleOffenhauser Steve Krisiloff 2-3 Bob FletcherEagleOffenhauser Jimmy Caruthers 2-14EagleOffenhauser Jerry Grant 2-3, 5-8EagleOffenhauser Pancho Carter 6, 8-14 GerhardtEagleOffenhauser Jim McElreath 1, 3-8, 14 Jerry O"Connell RacingEagleOffenhauser Bill Vukovich II 1, 3-12, 14 Leader Card RacingEagleOffenhauser Mike Mosley 1, 3-12, 14 Lindsey Hopkins RacingMcLaren (1, 3-4, 9-10) Eagle (6-8, 11-14)Offenhauser Roger McCluskey 1, 3-4, 6-14 McLarenMcLarenOffenhauser Johnny Rutherford 2-14 Patrick RacingEagleOffenhauser Gordon Johncock 1, 3-14EagleOffenhauser Wally Dallenbach 1, 3-14EagleOffenhauser Steve Krisiloff 6-8, 10, 12-14 Team PenskeMcLarenOffenhauser Gary Bettenhausen 2-8 Unlimited Racing TeamEagleOffenhauser Lloyd Ruby 1, 3-12 Vel's Parnelli Jones RacingParnelli (2-3, 5, 7) Eagle (4, 6, 8-11, 14)Offenhauser Mario Andretti 2-11, 14EagleOffenhauser Al Unser 2-14EagleOffenhauser 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 A. J. Foyt A. J. Foyt 2 California 500 Qualification Heat 2 Johnny Rutherford Johnny Rutherford 3 March 10 California 500 A. J. Foyt Bobby Unser 4 March 17 Phoenix 150 Phoenix International Raceway Avondale, Arizona Al Unser Mike Mosley 5 April 7 Trentonian 200 Trenton International Speedway Trenton, New Jersey Mario Andretti Bobby Unser 6 May 26 International 500 Mile Sweepstakes Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway, Indiana A. J. Foyt Johnny Rutherford 7 June 9 Rex Mays Classic Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway West Allis, Wisconsin A. J. Foyt Johnny Rutherford 8 June 30 Schaefer 500 Pocono International Raceway Long Pond, Pennsylvania Bobby Unser Johnny Rutherford 9 July 21 Michigan 200 Michigan International Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan Bobby Unser Bobby Unser 10 August 11 Tony Bettenhausen 200 Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway West Allis, Wisconsin A. J. Foyt Gordon Johncock 11 September 15 Norton 250 Michigan International Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan A. J. Foyt Al Unser 12September 22 Trenton 300 Heat #1Trenton International SpeedwayTrenton, New Jersey A. J. Foyt A. J. Foyt 13 Trenton 300 Heat #2 A. J. Foyt Bobby Unser 14 November 2 Bobby Ball 150 Phoenix International Raceway Avondale, Arizona Johnny Rutherford 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.

Pos Driver ONTQ-H1 ONTQ-H2 ONT500 PHX1150 TRE1200 INDY500 MIL1150 POC500 MIS1200 MIL2200 MIS2250 TRE2150 TRE3150 PHX2150 Pts 1 Bobby Unser 2 1 2 1 2 21 5 1 4 3 2 1 2 4870 2 Johnny Rutherford 1 27 7 6 1 1 1 4 5 9 4 7 7 3650 3 Gordon Johncock 14 26 4 2 4 16 3 3 1 14 11 2 1 3050 4 Al Unser 5 2 18 10 18 5 22 2 9 1 6 5 5 2430 5 Jimmy Caruthers 2 4 19 4 23 20 2 11 13 18 7 9 8 2065 6 Bill Vukovich II 10 21 8 3 3 3 8 5 10 19 18 6 1925 7 Lloyd Ruby 3 5 9 8 9 9 6 DNQ 7 21 DNQ 1580 8 A. J. Foyt 1 30 3 Wth 15 6 27 13 2 24 1 4 4 1510 9 Wally Dallenbach Sr. 7 6 6 13 30 15 10 6 3 11 3 11 18 1445 10 Steve Krisiloff 3 24 22 11 4 23 5 3 22 1130 11 Pancho Carter 7 15 9 12 2 9 6 9 1040 12 Mike Mosley 6 7 1 7 29 10 21 8 18 15 17 DNQ 945 13 Jim McElreath 4 15 10 18 6 7 23 10 700 14 Mario Andretti 9 25 5 9 31 17 17 18 8 10 3 655 15 John Martin 6 9 11 16 12 16 6 600 16 Roger McCluskey 5 8 16 16 18 28 16 6 13 10 16 19 555 17 Tom Sneva 13 12 15 11 20 14 13 10 14 5 8 8 24 550 18 Mike Hiss 31 14 7 4 420 19 Jerry Grant 13 3 5 10 13 DNQ DNP 350 20 Bentley Warren 12 13 11 17 DNQ 7 17 DNQ 340 21 Dick Simon 8 28 13 33 4 29 21 11 15 270 22 Gary Bettenhausen 11 20 14 DNQ 32 2 31 260 23 Bob Harkey 15 17 14 8 26 250 24 Tom Bigelow 9 10 12 DNQ 19 22 23 240 25 Eldon Rasmussen DNQ DNQ 9 20 22 DNQ 200 26 Al Loquasto 18 12 DNQ 11 14 11 12 160 27 Dan Murphy DNQ 19 23 22 7 13 15 DNQ 150 28 Karl Busson 8 12 13 21 140 29 George Snider 10 11 17 28 25 16 130 30 Joe Leonard 4 19 120 31 Salt Walther 8 22 12 17 DNP 20 DNQ 15 10 20 115 32 Bill Simpson 14 14 13 8 18 19 11 105 33 Jerry Karl 7 29 19 12 32 16 75 34 Larry McCoy 16 DNQ 12 15 20 17 Wth 50 35 Mel Kenyon DNQ 12 25 36 Lee Brayton 11 DNS DNQ 14 DNS 20 20 37 John Cannon 12 16 DNS 19 DNQ DNP 10 - David Hobbs 5 DNP 0 - Sam Posey 13 0 - John Hubbard 22 DNQ 19 15 23 DNQ 14 0 - Sam Sessions DNQ 30 14 0 - Billy Scott 14 0 - Skip Barber 15 32 0 - Max Dudley 15 0 - Benny Rapp DNQ 16 0 - Johnny Parsons 33 26 DNQ DNQ 17 17 0 - Mel Cornett 21 0 - Jan Opperman 21 23 33 0 - Rick Muther 23 27 DNQ 0 - Jim Hurtubise DNQ 25 24 0 - Larry Rice DNQ Wth 24 0 - Larry Cannon 24 DNQ 0 - Evan Noyes 25 0 - Jigger Sirois DNS DNQ 0 - Denny Zimmerman DNS DNQ 0 - Bud Tingelstad DNS 0 - Bruce Jacobi DNQ 0 - John Mahler DNQ 0 - Bill Puterbaugh DNQ 0 - Brett Lunger DNQ 0 - 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 laps Rookie of the Year Rookie

References

http://media.indycar.com/pdf/2011/IICS_2011_Historical_Record_Book_INT6.pdf (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