1961 USAC Championship Car season

The 1961 USAC Championship Car season consisted of 12 races, beginning in Trenton, New Jersey on April 9 and concluding in Phoenix, Arizona on November 19. There was also one non-championship event at Pikes Peak, Colorado. The USAC National Champion and Indianapolis 500 winner was A. J. Foyt. The season was marred by the deaths of 1951 and 1958 season champion Tony Bettenhausen at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Al Keller at Phoenix.

Schedule and results

Rnd Date Race name Track Location Type Pole position Winning driver 1 April 9 Trenton 100 Trenton International Speedway Trenton, New Jersey Paved Tony Bettenhausen Eddie Sachs 2 May 30 International 500 Mile Sweepstakes Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway, Indiana Paved Eddie Sachs A. J. Foyt 3 June 4 Rex Mays Classic Milwaukee Mile West Allis, Wisconsin Paved Dick Rathmann Rodger Ward 4 June 18 Langhorne 100 Langhorne Speedway Langhorne, Pennsylvania Dirt Al Keller A. J. FoytNC July 4 Pikes Peak Auto Hill Climb Pikes Peak Highway Pikes Peak, Colorado Hill Bobby Unser Bobby Unser 5 August 20 Tony Bettenhausen 200 Milwaukee Mile West Allis, Wisconsin Paved Don Branson Lloyd Ruby 6 August 21 Tony Bettenhausen Memorial Illinois State Fairgrounds Springfield, Illinois Dirt Parnelli Jones Jim Hurtubise 7 September 4 Ted Horn Memorial DuQuoin State Fairgrounds Du Quoin, Illinois Dirt Jim Hurtubise A. J. Foyt 8 September 9 Syracuse 100 Syracuse Mile Syracuse, New York Dirt Rodger Ward Rodger Ward 9 September 16 Hoosier Hundred Indiana State Fairgrounds Indianapolis, Indiana Dirt A. J. Foyt A. J. Foyt 10 September 24 Trenton 100 Trenton International Speedway Trenton, New Jersey Paved Eddie Sachs Eddie Sachs 11 October 29 Golden State 100 California State Fairgrounds Sacramento, California Dirt Shorty Templeman Rodger Ward 12 November 19 Bobby Ball Memorial Arizona State Fairgrounds Phoenix, Arizona Dirt Al Keller Parnelli Jones

No pole is awarded for the Pikes Peak Hill Climb, in this schedule on the pole is the driver who started first. No lap led was awarded for the Pikes Peak Hill Climb, however, a lap was awarded to the drivers that completed the climb.

Final points standings

Pos Driver TRE1 INDY MIL1 LHS MIL2 SPR DQSF SYR ISF TRE2 CSF ASF Pts 1 A. J. Foyt 5 1 22 1 3 2 1 18 1 14 12 15 2150 2 Eddie Sachs 1 2 Wth 3 5 DNS 3 DNQ DNQ 1 DNQ 6 1760 3 Rodger Ward 18 3 1 19 6 17 1 17 3 1 2 1680 4 Shorty Templeman 4 DNQ 10 5 2 2 5 16 16 12 1190 5 Al Keller 5 2 15 12 18 5 4 16 5 18 17 1000 6 Jim Hurtubise 2 22 5 8 7 1 18 3 18 2 14 DNS 939 7 Len Sutton DNQ 19 4 2 10 9 9 4 11 4 8 860 8 Bobby Marshman 17 7 19 11 15 9 8 7 2 19 3 11 769 9 Parnelli Jones 15 12 2 23 11 12 5 12 9 2 1 750 10 Dick Rathmann 4 13 3 6 4 3 DNQ 10 20 750 11 Lloyd Ruby 8 21 1 16 16 11 DNQ 18 DNQ 670 12 Don Branson 16 33 6 14 24 15 6 17 8 4 7 3 530 13 Elmer George 8 8 4 DNQ 8 14 6 15 6 9 470 14 Chuck Stevenson 6 400 15 Roger McCluskey 6 27 17 5 DNQ 15 8 14 7 11 7 370 16 A. J. Shepherd 11 26 DNQ 6 4 7 15 DNQ 360 17 Chuck Hulse 12 DNQ 14 18 17 13 4 DNQ 6 6 DNQ 14 302 18 Jim McElreath 3 21 10 4 290 19 Al Farmer DNQ DNQ DNQ 16 7 13 16 DNQ DNQ 5 5 260 20 Jack Brabham 9 200 21 Johnny Boyd 21 7 8 DNQ 15 160 22 Norm Hall 10 DNQ DNQ DNQ 150 23 Troy Ruttman 3 20 16 140 24 Don Davis 29 DNQ 13 13 14 10 12 13 8 8 DNQ 140 25 Ronnie Duman DNQ 15 DNS 11 DNQ DNQ 10 DNQ 13 9 DNQ 128 26 Bob Christie 17 20 9 10 110 27 Gene Hartley 11 100 28 Red Riegel DNQ 7 DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ 13 18 60 29 Ralph Liguori DNQ DNQ 7 DNQ DNQ DNQ 60 30 Len Duncan 7 60 31 Jiggs Peters 9 12 DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ 50 32 Danny Jones DNQ 14 9 DNQ 40 33 Don Freeland DNQ 9 DNQ 40 34 Allen Crowe 16 17 13 DNQ 12 DNQ 10 40 35 Bruce Jacobi 14 DNQ DNQ 10 30 36 Wayne Weiler DNQ 15 10 30 37 Bob Cleberg 10 DNQ DNQ DNQ 30 38 Rex Easton DNQ DNQ 9 DNQ 22 39 Bud Tingelstad DNQ DNQ 14 DNQ 11 DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ 20 40 Eddie Johnson 18 11 DNQ DNQ 20 41 Bob Mathouser DNQ 11 DNQ DNQ 20 42 Dempsey Wilson 16 12 20 DNQ DNQ DNQ 15 DNQ 10 43 Jack Turner 25 21 12 DNQ DNQ 10 - Bill Cheesbourg 28 13 DNQ DNQ 0 - Don Horvath 13 DNQ 0 - Leroy Neumayer DNQ 13 0 - Paul Goldsmith 14 18 0 - Keith Rachwitz DNQ 16 0 - Jack Rounds 20 DNQ 17 0 - Bob Veith DNQ 25 17 0 - Ray Wearne DNQ 17 DNQ 0 - Leon Clum DNQ DNQ 18 DNQ DNQ 0 - Tony Bettenhausen 19 DNQ 0 - Tommy Copp 21 DNQ 0 - Johnny Coy 22 DNQ 22 0 - Ernie Koch DNQ DNQ 22 DNQ 0 - Ebb Rose 23 26 0 - Cliff Griffith 24 0 - Jim Rathmann DNQ 30 DNQ DNQ 0 - Jimmy Daywalt 31 0 - Bobby Grim 32 DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ 0 - Beau Clerke DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ 0 - Jim McWithey DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ 0 - Jim Hemmings DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ 0 - Harry Beck DNP DNQ DNQ DNQ 0 - Tony Bonadies DNQ DNQ DNQ 0 - Vern Harriman DNQ DNQ DNQ 0 - Ray Crawford DNQ DNQ DNQ 0 - Bill Randall DNQ DNQ 0 - Bert Brooks DNQ DNQ 0 - Jack Conely DNQ DNQ 0 - Ed Kostenuk DNQ DNQ 0 - Chuck Arnold DNQ DNQ 0 - Al Pombo DNQ DNQ 0 - Tony Romit DNQ 0 - Duane Carter DNQ 0 - Russ Congdon DNQ 0 - Jack Ensley DNQ 0 - Mike Magill DNQ 0 - Chuck Rodee DNQ 0 - Paul Russo DNQ 0 - Bud Sterrett DNQ 0 - Bob Wente DNQ 0 - Chuck Weyant DNQ 0 - Cliff Spalding DNQ 0 - Ray Brown DNQ 0 - Hal Rettberg DNQ 0 - Bill Hyde DNQ 0 - Russ Long DNQ 0 - Jimmy Davies DNQ 0 Pos Driver TRE1 INDY MIL1 LHS MIL2 SPR DQSF SYR ISF TRE2 CSF ASF 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. 272-273)

See also 1961 Indianapolis 500