The 1959 USAC Championship Car season consisted of 13 races, beginning in

Daytona Beach Daytona Beach, or simply Daytona, is a coastal resort-city in east-central Florida. Located on the eastern edge of Volusia County near the Atlantic coastline, its population was 72,647 at the 2020 census. Daytona Beach is approximately nort ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

on April 4 and concluding in

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California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

on October 25. There were also three non-championship events. The USAC National Champion and

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...

winner was

Rodger Ward Rodger M. Ward (January 10, 1921 – July 5, 2004) was a World War II Lockheed_P-38_Lightning, P-38 aviator in the United States Army Air Forces, and an American race driver with 26 victories in top echelon open-wheel racing in North America ...

. In this tragic season 7 fatal accidents occurred. During the pre-season, Marshall Teague was fatally injured in a crash at

Daytona Daytona refers to the city of Daytona Beach, Florida, or things named after it. Daytona may also refer to: Locations * Daytona Beach Shores, Florida * South Daytona, Florida * The Daytona Beach metropolitan area * Halifax area, also known as Da ...

. He was 37 years old. In the first race of the season at

, 34-year-old

George Amick George Reggie "Little George" Amick (October 24, 1924 – April 4, 1959) was an American racecar driver, mainly competing in the American National Championship. He was killed in a crash in a USAC race at Daytona International Speedway. Racing ...

was killed in an accident on the last lap. In the second race of the season at Trenton,

Dick Linder Richard Refeld Linder (April 6, 1923April 19, 1959) was an American, professional, race car driver from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Career Linder raced USAC open wheel as well as NASCAR stock cars. Between 1949 and 1956 he entered 28 NASCAR event ...

was killed; he was 36 years old. The third race of the season, the

Indy 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of India ...

, had two fatalities. On May 2,

Jerry Unser Jeremy Michael Unser Jr. (November 15, 1932 – May 17, 1959) was an American racecar driver. He was the 1957 USAC Stock Car champion. Jerry was the first of the Unser family to compete at Indianapolis. In his only start, in 1958, he was ca ...

(26 years old) was killed in a practice accident, and on May 19 death

Bob Cortner Robert Charles Cortner (April 16, 1927 – May 19, 1959) was an American motor sport, automobile racing driver from Redlands, California. Cortner was killed practicing for the 1959 Indianapolis 500. Career Cortner was active on the midget car raci ...

(32 years old) was also killed in a practice accident. On July 19 at Mechanicsburg in the Indianapolis Sweepstakes non-championship race

Van Johnson Charles Van Dell Johnson (August 25, 1916 – December 12, 2008) was an American film, television, theatre and radio actor. He was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer during and after World War II. Johnson was described as the embodiment o ...

was killed in an accident; he was 32 years old. On August 30, 32-year-old

Ed Elisian Ed Elisian (born Edward Gulbeng Eliseian; December 9, 1926 – August 30, 1959) was an American racecar driver, mainly competing in the National Championship. He died in a crash at the Milwaukee Mile. In the 1955 Indianapolis 500, he stoppe ...

was killed at the Milwaukee Mile. The 1959 season could be considered one of the most tragic seasons in American

open-wheel car An open-wheel single-seater (often known as formula car) is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have thei ...

history.

Schedule and results

: Indianapolis 500 was USAC-sanctioned and counted towards the 1959 FIA World Championship of Drivers title. : 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

Note: At the Milwaukee 200 started with the car #16 Jim Rathmann, after 29 lap the relieved driver A. J. Foyt led the car the remaining 171 lap and finished 4, so the car completed the 200 lap. The points for this place was 240 points, Jim Rathmann received 34.8 points and A. J. Foyt received 205.2 points; because the method: (the points for the finish place) / (number the lap when completed the car) * (number the lap when completed the driver).

References

* * * http://media.indycar.com/pdf/2011/IICS_2011_Historical_Record_Book_INT6.pdf (p. 276-277)

Schedule and results

Final points standings

References

See also