From 1956 to 1978, USAC Championship Car seasons featured the top teams and drivers in U.S. open-wheel racing. Until 1971, the Championship contained road courses, ovals, dirt courses, and, on occasion, a hill climb. Thereafter, the schedule consisted mainly of paved ovals. In 1979, the majority of car owners left USAC to race in the

Indy Car INDYCAR, LLC, is an American-based auto racing sanctioning body for Indy car racing and other disciplines of open wheel car racing. The organization sanctions five racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with its centerpiece the Indianapolis ...

World Series, sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America and CART. This led to a decline in the number of events in the schedule, and by the 1984-85 season, the Championship comprised only one race, the

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 ...

. The era of USAC Championship Cars concluded with the formation of the

Indy Racing League The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices o ...

(IRL) in 1995, which was sanctioned by USAC until June 1997 when the IRL assumed officiating duties after the controversial finish of the 81st Indianapolis 500 and the scoring mistake that marred the following event. The most successful driver in USAC Championship Car history was

A. J. Foyt Anthony Joseph Foyt Jr. (born January 16, 1935) is an American retired auto racing driver who has raced in numerous genres of motorsports. His open wheel racing includes United States Automobile Club Champ cars, sprint cars, and midget cars. H ...

with seven National Championships and four Indianapolis 500 victories. Foyt competed in every season from 1957 to 1992-93. __TOC__

Seasons

* The 1981-82 season included both the 65th and 66th Indianapolis 500 races.
( ) Figures in parentheses denote the number of non-championship races in that season.

Seasons

References

See also