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. Entrants (partial list)

TeamChassisEngineDriversRounds A.J. Foyt EnterprisesCoyoteFoyt A.J. Foyt 1-8, 10-12 All American RacersEagleOffenhauser Pancho Carter 1-5, 10-12 Bruce CrowerEagleOffenhauser Tom Sneva 13 Bob FletcherEagleOffenhauser Bobby Unser 1-5, 9-13 Alex MoralesEagleOffenhauser Bob Vukovich II 1-5, 7-10, 12-13 Jerry O"Connell RacingEagleOffenhauser Mike Mosley All Leader Card RacingEagleOffenhauser Tom Bigelow All Lindsey Hopkins RacingHopkinsOffenhauser Roger McCluskey 2-3, 5-13 McLarenMcLarenOffenhauser Johnny Rutherford All Patrick RacingEagle (3-5) Wildcat (1, 6-13) Offenhauser (3-6) (DGS (1, 6-13) Gordon Johncock AllWildcatDGS Wally Dallenbach All Team PenskeMcLarenOffenhauser Tom Sneva 1-11McLarenOffenhauser Mario Andretti 3, 5, 12-13 Vatis EnterprisesEagle Offenhauser Johnny Parsons All Vel's Parnelli Jones RacingParnelliCosworth 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 2 Trenton 200 Trenton International Speedway Trenton, New Jersey A. J. Foyt Johnny Rutherford 3 May 30 International 500 Mile Sweepstakes 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 200 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

Originally scheduled for April 25 but postponed to May 2 due to heavy rain.MRN Broadcast of the 1976 Virginia 500 NASCAR race held April 25 extensively mentions this Scheduled for 500 miles, stopped early due to rain. 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.

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 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 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 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 DNQ 12 20 18 14 DNQ 20 - Janet Guthrie 15 DNQ 24 13 15 DNQ DNQ 0 - Arlene Hiss 14 0 - Frank Weiss DNQ 16 15 0 - Larry McCoy 26 16 0 - Eldon Rasmussen DNQ 20 17 31 17 0 - Vern Schuppan 18 0 - Jerry Karl Wth 19 21 DNQ 0 - Mike Hiss DNQ DNQ 19 0 - Ed Crombie DNQ 20 Wth DNQ DNQ 0 - Jack Owens 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 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 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. 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

References