The 1980 USAC Championship Car season consisted of five races, beginning in Ontario, California on April 13 and concluding in Lexington, Ohio on July 13. The USAC National Champion and Indianapolis 500 winner was Johnny Rutherford.

One year after the first open wheel "Split", USAC and CART came together under the banner of the Championship Racing League (CRL). The entire season was supposed to be co-sanctioned by CART and USAC. However, USAC pulled out the CRL arrangement in July after only five races. USAC declared their 1980 season over, while CART finished out the remainder of their 1980 season on their own.

Johnny Rutherford, driving Jim Hall's revolutionary ground effects Chaparral 2K won three of the five races (including Indianapolis), and finished second in the other two. Rutherford won the USAC championship by a commanding point margin. Rutherford happened to score the most points under both USAC's five-race points distribution and CART's 12-race points championship, securing what could be considered "undisputed" or "unanimous" top driver honors for the calendar year of 1980.

Schedule and results In January 1980, USAC initially released a ten-race schedule, with new venues Talladega, Charlotte, and Road Atlanta added to the schedule. However, these three events were eventually scrapped when USAC entered into a joint sanctioning effort with CART.

Original schedule Rnd Date Race name Length Track Location 1 April 26 Texas 200 Texas World Speedway College Station, Texas 2 May 26 500 Mile International Sweepstakes Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway, Indiana 3 June 8 Gould Rex Mays Classic Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway West Allis, Wisconsin 4 June 22 True Value 500 Pocono International Raceway Long Pond, Pennsylvania 5 July 13 Red Roof Inns 150 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, Ohio 6 July 27 Road Atlanta 200 Road Atlanta Braselton, Georgia 7 August 10 Tony Bettenhausen 150 Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway West Allis, Wisconsin 8 August 24 Alabama 200 Alabama International Motor Speedway Talladega, Alabama 9 September 14 Mosport 200 Mosport International Raceway Bowmanville, Ontario 10 September 28 Charlotte 500 Charlotte Motor Speedway Charlotte, North Carolina

Revised schedule In the spring of 1980, USAC and CART merged their schedules for the newly created CRL Championship. With Talladega, Charlotte, and Road Atlanta already scrapped, Texas World Speedway was cancelled too. That track would soon cease to hold any more professional races, and Indy cars never raced at Texas World again. Mosport, which had held races in the past, was also dropped. Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Mid-Ohio, and Pocono, all were kept as part of the final merged schedule.

The co-sanctioning effort ended after only five races. USAC declared their involvement in the 1980 season over after Mid-Ohio. The remaining seven races were sanctioned solely by CART, and paid points to the CART championship only.

Rnd Date Race name Length Track Location Pole position Winning driver 1 April 13 Datsun Twin 200 Ontario Motor Speedway Ontario, California Johnny Rutherford Johnny Rutherford 2 May 26 500 Mile International Sweepstakes Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway, Indiana Johnny Rutherford Johnny Rutherford 3 June 8 Gould Rex Mays Classic Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway West Allis, Wisconsin Gordon Johncock Bobby Unser 4 June 22 True Value 500 Pocono International Raceway Long Pond, Pennsylvania Bobby Unser Bobby Unser 5 July 13 Red Roof Inns 150 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, Ohio Al Unser Johnny RutherfordRaces sanctioned by CART only NC July 20 Norton 200 Michigan International Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan Bobby Unser Johnny Rutherford NC August 3 Kent Oil 150 Watkins Glen International Watkins Glen, New York Al Unser Bobby Unser NC August 10 Tony Bettenhausen 200 Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway West Allis, Wisconsin Johnny Rutherford Johnny Rutherford NC August 31 California 500 Ontario Motor Speedway Ontario, California Bobby Unser Bobby Unser NC September 20 Gould Grand Prix Michigan International Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan Mario Andretti Mario Andretti NC October 26 I Copa México 150 Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez Mexico City, Mexico Bobby Unser Rick Mears NC November 8 Miller High Life 150 Phoenix International Raceway Avondale, Arizona Mario Andretti Tom Sneva

Final points standings

Pos Driver ONT INDY MIL POC MOH Pts 1 Johnny Rutherford 1* 1* 2 2 1 2740 2 Tom Sneva 2 2 6 3 11 1970 3 Bobby Unser 23 9 1 1* 15 1334 4 Gordon Johncock 3 4 3* DNQ 2 1330 5 Pancho Carter 18 6 4 6 7 1078 6 Bill Alsup 7 DNQ 9 4 3 990 7 Rick Mears 21 5 5 12 9* 766 8 Gary Bettenhausen 3 12 33 20 726 9 Sheldon Kinser 13 DNQ 11 7 24 345 10 Danny Ongais 7 24 18 21 330 11 Howdy Holmes DNQ 15 8 14 266 12 Tom Bigelow 8 250 13 Spike Gehlhausen 4 29 DNQ 245 14 Tom Bagley 5 28 23 29 DNS 220 15 Tim Richmond 9 DNQ DNQ 22 205 16 Larry Cannon 33 DNQ 9 DNQ 205 17 Roger Mears 9 DNQ 4 180 18 Gordon Smiley 6 25 170 19 Billy Engelhart 11 10 13 170 20 Vern Schuppan DNQ 5 5 150 21 Lee Kunzman DNQ 10 DNQ 150 22 Greg Leffler 10 DNQ 150 23 Tom Gloy 6 120 24 Jerry Sneva 17 8 14 120 25 Herm Johnson 14 DNQ 17 11 116 26 Dick Ferguson 8 31 DNQ 105 27 Roger Rager 23 26 8 100 28 Cliff Hucul 7 90 29 Bill Vukovich II 12 21 28 65 30 Jan Sneva 10 DNQ 60 31 Rick Muther 24 DNQ 18 10 57 32 Jerry Karl 21 14 15 18 54 33 Phil Caliva 15 DNQ 16 12 50 34 Al Unser 16 27 20 24 13 49 35 A. J. Foyt DNS 14 19 45 36 Ron Shuman 11 DNQ 40 37 Mario Andretti 20 17 40 38 Dick Simon 22 13 21 DNQ 38 39 Dennis Firestone 16 30 30 40 John Martin DNQ 20 16 28 41 Mike Mosley 19 32 23 28 42 John Wood 12 DNQ DNQ 23 25 43 Don Whittington 13 DNQ 25 44 George Snider 15 DNQ 25 45 Jim McElreath 24 27 25 46 Bill Tempero 17 DNQ 16 17 22 47 Joe Saldana 25 DNQ 22 DNQ 19 48 Phil Threshie DNQ 22 25 15 49 Johnny Parsons 26 DNQ 10 50 Billie Harvey 19 6 51 John Mahler DNQ DNQ 19 6 52 Bill Whittington 30 5 53 Al Loquasto DNQ 31 5 54 Tony Bettenhausen Jr. DNQ DNQ 32 DNQ 5 - Hurley Haywood 18 0 - Pete Halsmer 20 DNQ 0 - Ross Davis 22 0 - Bob Frey DNQ DNQ 0 - Janet Guthrie DNQ DNQ 0 - Buddie Boys DNQ DNQ 0 - Rich Vogler DNQ DNQ 0 - Bob Harkey DNQ DNQ 0 - Dana Carter DNQ 0 - Larry Dickson DNQ 0 - Tom Frantz DNQ 0 - Jim Hurtubise DNQ 0 - Bill Puterbaugh DNQ 0 - Salt Walther DNQ 0 - Frank Weiss DNQ 0 - Bruce Hill DNQ 0 - Milt Harper DNQ 0 Pos Driver ONT INDY MIL POC MOH 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 lapsRookie of the YearRookie

References

See also 1980 Indianapolis 500 1980 CART PPG Indy Car World Series