List Of American Championship Car Winners
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List Of American Championship Car Winners
The following is a list compiling the total number of career victories in open wheel American Championship car racing. The list recognizes "Indy car" or "Champ car" victories under the following auspices: * American Automobile Association Contest Board (1905, 1916, and 1920–1955) * United States Automobile Club (1956–1997) * Championship Auto Racing Teams (1979–2007) * Indy Racing League/IndyCar Series (1996–present) Sanctioning bodies The AAA Contest Board began sanctioning races as early as 1904. In the early years of the sport, only two seasons (1905 and 1916) an official national championship was recognized and awarded. Individual events from 1904, 1906–1915, and 1917–1919 are specifically excluded from the table below, due to the fact that they were not part of an official "championship" season. The national championship was re-instated by AAA for 1920 and beyond. Retroactively awarded titles for the other years were later researched, although most historians c ...
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Marlboro Challenge
The Marlboro Challenge was an all-star race in the CART series race held from 1987–1992, sponsored by cigarette brand Marlboro. After 1992, the race was discontinued, in part because Phillip Morris reorganized its race sponsorship after the Marlboro Grand Prix of New York fell through. The race was considered a non-points exhibition race, and did not count towards championship standings or official statistics. Twelve drivers qualified for the 1987 race, although only ten started the race. In the other editions, ten drivers were selected. The selection criteria were as follows: all race winners and pole position winners since the previous year's Marlboro Challenge; previous year's season champion; and defending Indianapolis 500 winner. If the field was still small, it could be filled out by top race finishers (most second places, third places, etc.) in the current season's standings. In most years the event was held in conjunction with the final race weekend of the season, but i ...
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Ralph DePalma
Raffaele "Ralph" De Palma (December 19, 1882 – March 31, 1956) was an Italian-American racecar driving champion who won the 1915 Indianapolis 500. His entry at the International Motorsports Hall of Fame estimates that he won about 2,000 races. DePalma won the 1908, 1909, 1910, and 1911 American AAA national dirt track championships and is credited with winning 24 American Champ car races. He won the Canadian national championship in 1929. DePalma estimated that he had earned $1.5 million by 1934 after racing for 27 years. He is inducted in numerous halls of fame. He competed on boards and dirt road courses and ovals. Biography Born in Biccari, Apulia, Italy, DePalma's family emigrated to the United States in 1893. As a young man he tried bicycle racing with mixed success, but at the age of twenty-two he began racing motorcycles before switching to the automobile dirt track racing circuit in 1909, the year that the American Automobile Association established the nati ...
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1919 Indianapolis 500
The 7th Liberty 500-Mile Sweepstakes was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday, May 31, 1919. After a two-year hiatus due to World War I, the Indianapolis 500 returned to competition in 1919. Howdy Wilcox won, accompanied by riding mechanic Leo Banks. More than half the field (19 of 33 cars) consisted of rookie drivers, tied for the most ever, excluding the inaugural race where all 40 cars were considered "rookies." Ralph DePalma, the 1915 winner, and the driver who suffered a defeat in 1912, again put in a strong performance. DePalma led 93 of the first 102 laps, and drove the first half at record-breaking speed. Tire problems, however, necessitated a long pit stop, and DePalma finished in 6th place. Rain was a factor during practice, limiting available track time in the days immediately leading up to time trials. Since most teams did not arrive until later in the month, some cars had very limited preparation time. Qualifying was supposed to be held on just one d ...
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1915 Indianapolis 500
The 5th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Monday, May 31, 1915. The traditional race date of May 30 fell on a Sunday, but race organizers declined to schedule the race for Sunday. The race was set for Saturday May 29, but heavy rains in the days leading up to the race flooded the grounds and made some roads leading to the track impassible. Officials decided to postpone the race until Monday May 31 in order to allow the grounds to dry out. Speedway management would maintain their policy to not race on Sundays until 1974 Indianapolis 500, 1974. After a loss in 1912 Indianapolis 500, 1912, Ralph DePalma succeeded in victory for 1915. DePalma was accompanied by riding mechanic Louis Fontaine. Results Race details *For 1915, riding mechanics were required. *When about 2,000 unsuspecting fans showed up on May 29 for the race (which had already been rescheduled to May 31), Ralph DePalma entertained the fans with a tire changing exh ...
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1914 Indianapolis 500
The 4th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday, May 30, 1914. René Thomas was the race winner, accompanied by riding mechanic Robert Laly. Background Race history The Indianapolis Motor Speedway opened in 1909, and the first motorsport event at the track, a series of motorcycle races, was held in August of that year. A series of automobile races were held in 1909, but concerns were raised about the condition of the course after numerous accidents, including a fatality. The track was re-paved at a high-cost to Carl G. Fisher and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corporation, and further series of races took place in 1910. Fisher was worried about the dwindling attendances at these races, and decided to establish a 500-mile race; double the furthest distance of any previous race at the track. He went on to announce that the track would host no other races during the year, and that the prize for first place would be $25,0 ...
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1913 Indianapolis 500
The Third International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday, May 30, 1913. Frenchman Jules Goux became the first foreign-born, and first European winner of the Indianapolis 500. His margin of victory of 13 minutes, 8 seconds (approximately 7 laps) over second place Spencer Wishart still stands, as of 2022, as the largest margin of victory in Indy history. Race Summary After the entries in the first two years of the Indianapolis 500 had been almost exclusively American, 1913 saw six drivers travel to the United States from Europe to enter, likely attracted by the impressive $20,000 first prize (). A total of 27 cars would meet the 75 mile per hour qualifying speed, led by Jack Tower at 88.230 mph. The starting grid was determined by a random draw of names, and Caleb Bragg would be given the pole. Tower's car turned over on the southwest turn on lap 51, causing him to sustain a broken leg and his riding mechanic, Lee Dunning, to bre ...
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1912 Indianapolis 500
The 1912 Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, or International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race, the second such race in history, was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Thursday, May 30, 1912. Indiana-born driver Joe Dawson won the race, leading only the final two laps. Ralph DePalma dominated the race, leading 196 of the 200 laps, and pulling out to an over 5-lap lead. But with just over two laps to go, his car failed with a broken connecting rod. Summary In the aftermath of victory by Ray Harroun in the single-seat Marmon "Wasp" in the first 500-Mile Race the year before, new rules made the presence of riding mechanics mandatory; maximum engine size remained 600 cubic inches (9.83 liters) displacement. At $50,000, the race purse was nearly double that of 1911. Out of 29 original entries, 24 qualified for the race by sustaining a speed faster than a minimum of 75 mph (120.7 km/h) for a full lap, an increase from the quarter-mile qualifying distance of the inaug ...
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1911 Indianapolis 500
The 1911 International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Tuesday, May 30, 1911. It was the inaugural running of the Indianapolis 500, which is one of the Triple Crown of Motorsport, most prestigious automobile races in the world. Ray Harroun, an engineer with the Marmon Motor Car Company, came out of retirement to drive, and won the inaugural event before re-retiring for good in the winner's circle. Over the previous two seasons (1909 AAA Championship Car season, 1909 and 1910 AAA Championship Car season, 1910), the Speedway had scheduled numerous smaller races during a series of meets over the two years. In a departure from that policy, for 1911 the management decided to instead schedule a single, large-scale event attracting widespread attention from both American and European racing teams and manufacturers. It proved to be a successful event, immediately establishing itself as both the premier motorsports competition in the US and one of th ...
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1996 In IRL
The 1996 Indy Racing League was the first season in the history of the series, which was created and announced on March 11, 1994 by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as a supplementary Indy-car series to the established Indy Car World Series sanctioned by Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) since 1979. It consisted of only three races, as the season concluded with the 80th Indianapolis 500 in May. Walt Disney World Speedway was completed in time to host the first ever event of the Indy Racing League (IRL), and Phoenix International Raceway switched alliances from CART to the IRL, in order to host the second event of the season. At the conclusion of the three-race schedule, Scott Sharp and Buzz Calkins ended up tied for first place in the season championship. With no tiebreaker rule in place, the two drivers were declared co-champions. Its creation, and the opposition of Indy Car's teams and drivers to take part in it, marked the start of 'the Split', a 12-year period of competi ...
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Scott Sharp
Scott Sharp (born February 14, 1968) is an American professional racing driver in the United SportsCar Championship. He is the son of six-time SCCA champion Bob Sharp. Sharp is best known for his years as a competitor in the Indy Racing League. Early career Born in Norwalk, Connecticut, Sharp starting racing karts when he was eight years old, winning 50 out of 75 races. Sharp came from a road-racing background, earning several championships including championships in the 1986 SCCA GT-2, 1987 and 1988 SCCA GT-1, and 1991 and 1993 SCCA Trans-Am classes. Sharp competed in one NASCAR Winston Cup Series event, coming in 1992 at Watkins Glen. In 1993, Sharp made his CART debut with Bettenhausen Motorsports and became a full-time competitor in the series in 1994 with PacWest Racing. His first Indianapolis 500 start also came in 1994. In 1996, Sharp was part of Doyle Racing’s 24 Hours of Daytona winning team. Indy Racing League career Overview Sharp is one of only two drivers (the oth ...
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Buzz Calkins
Bradley "Buzz" Calkins Jr. (born May 2, 1971 in Denver, Colorado) is a former Indy Racing League driver. After a successful run in Indy Lights from 1993 to 1995 where he finished 11th, 10th, and 6th in his three seasons, he and his Bradley Motorsports team purchased a 1995 Reynard chassis to compete in the inaugural season of the IRL. He won the series' inaugural race, the 1996 Indy 200 at Walt Disney World ahead of Tony Stewart and was that year's league co-champion with Scott Sharp. He competed in the Indianapolis 500 six times, with a best finish of 10th in 1998 His win in the series' first race would end up to be his only IRL win. Calkins graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder in 1993. Calkins earned a Master of Business Administration from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in 2000. He drove until 2001 when he retired and ventured into the business world. He served as president of his father's company, Bradley Petroleum, until its sale in 2017 ...
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