The 1981–82 USAC Championship Car season consisted of six races, beginning in Speedway, Indiana, on May 24, 1981, and concluding at the same location on May 30, 1982. The USAC National Champion was George Snider. The season included two Indianapolis 500 races. The 1981 winner was Bobby Unser, while the 1982 winner was Gordon Johncock. The schedule included dirt courses for the first time since 1970.

By this time, the preeminent national championship season was instead sanctioned by CART.

Schedule and results The United States Auto Club formed the Gold Crown Series in 1981 which was a combination of the Indianapolis 500 and other races including races on dirt tracks. It was set up so that season would extend over the course of two years with the final race of the season being the Indianapolis 500, with all races running on Oval/Speedway courses.

Rnd Date Race name Length Track Location Type Pole position Winning driver 1 May 24 Indianapolis 500-Mile Race Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway, Indiana Paved Bobby Unser Bobby Unser 2 June 21 Van Scoy Diamond Mines 500 Pocono International Raceway Long Pond, Pennsylvania Paved A. J. Foyt A. J. Foyt 3 August 15 Tony Bettenhausen 100 Illinois State Fairgrounds Springfield, Illinois Dirt Tom Bigelow George Snider 4 August 30 DuQuoin 100 DuQuoin State Fairgrounds Du Quoin, Illinois Dirt Bill Engelhart Rich Vogler 5 September 12 Hoosier Hundred Indiana State Fairgrounds Indianapolis, Indiana Dirt Larry Rice Larry Rice 6 May 30 Indianapolis 500-Mile Race Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway, Indiana Paved Rick Mears Gordon Johncock

Scheduled for 500 miles, stopped early due to rain.

The season opened with the 1981 Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Bobby Unser would win. Wally Dallenbach Sr. qualified the #40 car for Mario Andretti. However, after the race USAC officials penalized Unser 1 position and the win went to Andretti. Even if Andretti failed to win he would still go into the Van Scoy Diamond Mines 500 at Pocono International Raceway as the points leader as he was in possession of a USAC Class 1 License. The Van Scoy Diamond Mines 500 was won by A. J. Foyt getting Foyt his 67th and final USAC Gold Crown win. The race was cut from 500 miles down to 305 miles due to rain. At the Tony Bettenhausen 100 at the Illinois State Fairgrounds was won by George Snider for his first and only win in USAC Gold Crown competition. At the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds Rich Vogler would win his first and only race in USAC Gold Crown competition. At the Hoosier Hundred at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Larry Rice would win his only USAC Gold Crown race. The 1981 Indianapolis 500 results were changed to Bobby Unser winning the race over Mario Andretti, costing Andretti 200 points. The season ending 1982 Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis 500 was marred by the death of Gordon Smiley during qualifying (he was 36 years old), and at the start 2nd place starter Kevin Cogan would spin into A. J. Foyt's car and Mario Andretti's car, while further back in the field Roger Mears, Dale Whittington, and Bobby Rahal would collide. However, Foyt and Rahal were able to continue. Gordon Johncock would beat Rick Mears to the line to win his second Indianapolis 500. George Snider would win the championship with Geoff Brabham 2nd, Tom Bigelow 3rd, A. J. Foyt 4th, and Gordon Johncock 5th.

Final points standings

Pos Driver INDY POC SPR DQSF ISF INDY Pts 1 George Snider DNQ 4 1 3 8 21 1395 2 Geoff Brabham 5 2 28 1310 3 Tom Bigelow 20 3 12* 2 5 18 1280 4 A. J. Foyt 13 1 19 1045 5 Gordon Johncock 9 1 1000 6 Mario Andretti 2 31 805 7 Rick Mears 30 2* 800 8 Rich Vogler DNQ 11 1* 2 DNQ 760 9 Larry Rice DNQ 21 2 13 1* DNQ 730 10 Vern Schuppan 3 17 DNQ 720 11 Tom Sneva 25 16* 4 635 12 Jim McElreath DNQ 7 3 17 24 DNQ 594 13 Bill Vukovich II DNQ 6 17 6 DNQ 568 14 Sheldon Kinser 6 22 15 7 DNQ 536 15 Harry MacDonald DNQ 5 500 16 Jack Hewitt 12 4 4 13 490 17 Don Whittington 31 6 405 18 Gary Bettenhausen 26 27 20 18 3 12 366 19 Joe Saldana 5 6 22 366 20 Roger Rager DNQ 8 8 DNQ DNQ 350 21 Tony Bettenhausen Jr. 7 26 310 22 Jim Hickman 7 300 23 Herm Johnson DNQ 9 200 24 Dennis Firestone 10 27 160 25 Johnny Parsons DNQ 23 24 8 16 20 151 26 Bill Henderson 10 150 27 Greg Leffler DNQ 9 DNS 11 DNQ 100 28 Bobby Rahal 11 70 29 Mike Chandler 12 17 40 30 Bill Whittington 21 16 40 31 Larry Dickson 18 21 23 32 32 Héctor Rebaque 13 25 33 Steve Ball DNQ 14 25 34 Tim Richmond 14 DNP 25 35 Danny Sullivan 14 25 36 Jerry Karl 15 DNQ 25 37 Chip Ganassi 15 25 38 Jerry Sneva DNQ 25 23 25 39 Richard Hubbard 18 20 40 Dick Simon DNQ 20 DNQ 20 41 Josele Garza 23 29 20 42 Steve Chassey DNQ 26 14 DNQ 14 43 Danny Ongais 27 22 10 44 Salt Walther 26 DNQ 10 45 Kevin Cogan 4 30 5 46 Tom Klausler 29 5 47 Jan Sneva 29 DNQ 5 48 Roger Mears DNQ 32 5 49 Mike Mosley 33 DNQ 5 50 Dale Whittington DNQ 33 5 - Bobby Unser 1* DNQ 0 - Pancho Carter 28 3 0 - Mark Alderson 11 19 19 4 0 - Bill Tyler 15 DNQ 5 DNQ 0 - Al Unser 17 5 0 - Chuck Amati 6 12 0 - Jerry Nemire 7 9 0 - Johnny Coogan 7 DNP 0 - Johnny Rutherford 32 8 0 - Steve Krisiloff 8 DNQ 0 - Jerry Miller DNQ DNP 9 19 0 - Chip Mead 9 DNQ 0 - Paul Pitzer 24 DNP 10 17 0 - Larry Martin 23 10 0 - Art Bisch Jr. 10 DNP 0 - Howdy Holmes 10 0 - Ken Schrader 16 11 0 - Bill Alsup 11 DNQ 0 - Jerry Weeks 12 0 - Smokey Snellbaker 13 DNQ 15 0 - Gary Gray 13 DNP 0 - Jeff Bloom 19 14 18 0 - Tracy Potter 14 23 DNP 0 - Ron Shuman 15 DNQ 0 - Scott Brayton 16 DNQ 0 - Sleepy Tripp 16 DNQ 0 - Bobby Olivero 18 21 20 DNP 0 - Bob Lazier 19 DNQ 0 - Bill Engelhart DNQ DNQ 20 26 DNQ 0 - Chuck Gurney 21 0 - Gordon Smiley 22 DNQ 0 - Dean Vetrock 22 DNQ 0 - Gary Hieber DNQ 22 0 - Pete Halsmer 24 25 0 - Arnie Knepper DNQ 24 0 - Chet Fillip 24 0 - Steve Cannon DNQ 25 0 - Manny Rockhold 25 DNP 0 - Duke Cook 28 DNQ DNQ DNQ 0 - Steve Kinser DNQ DNS DNP 0 - Bill Puterbaugh DNS DNQ 0 - Wally Dallenbach Sr. DNS 0 - Bobby Adkins DNS 0 - Gary Patterson DNQ DNQ DNQ 0 - Eddie Leavitt DNQ DNQ DNP 0 - Al Unser Jr. DNQ DNQ 0 - Patrick Bedard DNQ DNQ 0 - Phil Caliva DNQ DNQ 0 - Bob Frey DNQ DNQ 0 - Spike Gehlhausen DNQ DNQ 0 - Ken Hamilton DNQ DNQ 0 - Bob Harkey DNQ DNQ 0 - Phil Krueger DNQ DNQ 0 - John Mahler DNQ DNQ 0 - John Martin DNQ DNQ 0 - Lennie Waldo DNP DNQ 0 - Richard Powell DNQ DNP 0 - Mack McClellan DNQ DNP 0 - Jack Ziegler DNQ DNP 0 - Rick Hood DNP DNQ 0 - Tom Bagley DNQ 0 - Jim Buick DNQ 0 - Larry Cannon DNQ 0 - Dick Ferguson DNQ 0 - Jim Hurtubise DNQ 0 - Bubby Jones DNQ 0 - Bill Tempero DNQ 0 - Phil Threshie DNQ 0 - Frank Weiss DNQ 0 - Billy Earl DNQ 0 - Tom Frantz DNQ 0 - Tom Gloy DNQ 0 - Tom Grunnah DNQ 0 - Hurley Haywood DNQ 0 - Gary Irvin DNQ 0 - Lee Kunzman DNQ 0 - Ray Lipper DNQ 0 - Al Loquasto DNQ 0 - Teddy Pilette DNQ 0 - Rusty Schmidt DNQ 0 - Billy Scott DNQ 0 - Sammy Swindell DNQ 0 - Leroy van Conett DNQ 0 - Desiré Wilson DNQ 0 - Karl Busson DNP DNP 0 - Lonnie Caruthers DNP DNP 0 - Ron Fieller DNP DNP 0 - Mike Gregg DNP DNP 0 - Bobby Marshall DNP DNP 0 - Bud Wilmot DNP DNP 0 - Buddie Boys DNP 0 - Earle Canavan DNP 0 - Bobby Fisher DNP 0 - Bill Compton DNP 0 - Jerry Potter DNP 0 - Dean Shirley DNP 0 - Jerry Stone DNP 0 - Mel Kenyon DNP 0 - Robert Tapply DNP 0 - Neil Bonnett DNP 0 Pos Driver INDY POC SPR DQSF ISF INDY 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

See also 1981 Indianapolis 500 1982 Indianapolis 500 1981 CART PPG Indy Car World Series 1982 CART PPG Indy Car World Series

References