United States Automobile Club

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USAC
Sport governing body

Category	Auto racing
Area of jurisdiction	United States
Formation date	1955^[1]
Headquarters	Speedway, Indiana
Website	www.usacracing.com

The United States Automobile Club (USAC) is an open-wheel auto racing sanctioning body. From 1956 to 1979 the USAC sanctioned the United States National Championship, and from 1956 to 1997 it sanctioned the Indianapolis 500.

1 History
2 1978 Plane Crash
3 End of Championship car sanctioning
4 CART/IRL split
5 USAC Championship Car Series
6 USAC Silver Crown Series
7 USAC Sprint Car Series
8 USAC National Midget Series
9 USAC Stock Cars
10 References
11 External links

USAC was formed by Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Tony Hulman when the American Automobile Association (AAA) withdrew from auto racing following the 1955 Le Mans disaster. USAC became the arbiter of rules, car design, and other matters for what it termed Championship automobile racing. This term, which sounds rather generic, in fact became a term of art describing a car built to be used in the highest level of USAC racing. For a while there was a separate series of specifications for Championship cars designed to be run on dirt, rather than paved, tracks.

USAC also became the sanctioning body for many lower levels of motor racing, including sports cars, sprint cars, midget cars, and others. Some of these series were used somewhat as a developmental league for Championship racing. USAC sanctioned stock car racing from 1956 to 1984.^[2]

On April 23, 1978, eight key members of USAC, plus the pilot, were killed when their 10-seat Piper Navajo Chieftain crashed during a thunderstorm 25 miles southeast of Indianapolis.^[3]

Killed were:

Ray Marquette, USAC's vice-president of public affairs and a former sportswriter for the Indianapolis Star
Frank Delroy, chairman of the USAC technical committee
Shim Malone, starter for USAC races and head of its midget racer division
Judy Phillips, graphic artist and publication director of USAC's newsletter
Stan Worley, chief registrar
Ross Teeguarden, assistant technnical chairman
Don Peabody, head of the sprint division
Dr. Bruce White, assistant staff doctor
Don Mullendore, owner and pilot of the plane.

The effect on USAC, and for open wheel racing in the USA, was devastating, especially since it closely followed the death of Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Tony Hulman.

Unfortunately, the crash came at a time when Indy car owners and drivers were demanding changes from USAC. Aside from the Indy 500, USAC events were not well attended, and the owners felt that USAC poorly negotiated TV rights. The owners also wanted increases in payouts, especially Indy.^[4]

Also unpopular were USAC's attempts to keep the aging Offenhauser engine competitive with the newer, and much more expensive, Cosworth DFV engine using boost-limiting "pop off valves" and limiting the amount of fuel that could be used.^[5]

Finally, most car owners banded together to form Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) in 1979. USAC tried unsuccessfully to ban all CART owners from the 1979 Indy 500, finally losing in court before the race began. Both USAC and CART ran race schedules in 1979.

IMS Speedway President John Cooper was instrumental in forming a joint body of CART and USAC with the creation of the Championship Racing League in March, 1980. However, in mid 1980, Cooper forced USAC to renounce their agreement with the CRL if they wanted to keep officiating the Indy 500.^[6] After USAC's disastrous attempt at a 500-mile races at Pocono -- which was boycotted by the CART teams, forcing USAC to fill the field with sprint cars -- USAC and CART eventually settled into a relatively peaceful co-existence, with the USAC continuing to sanction to Indianapolis 500, and CART including the race in its schedule.

In 1996, when CART and the newly formed Indy Racing League split open-wheel racing into two different series, USAC remained the sanctioning body for the IRL.

At the end of the 1997 Indianapolis 500, a caution flag came out. It was unclear as to whether the race would end under caution or under green flag conditions. The decision was made to go green at lap 199 of 200. When Arie Luyendyk, the race leader, arrived in turn one, the yellow caution lights still flashed even though he had been given the green and white flags by the starter. Runner-up Scott Goodyear claimed that he had assumed the race would end under caution and was surprised to see the green flag.

At the IRL's next race in Texas, Luyendyk was incorrectly scored as being two laps down from the apparent winner Billy Boat. While Boat and car owner A.J. Foyt celebrated in victory lane, Luyendyk walked onto the scene and confronted officials. Foyt slapped Luyendyk, and he fell over a flower bed. In review, Luyendyk was scored as the race winner by nearly a lap, and USAC was subsequently removed as the IRL's sanctioning body.

While USAC did not disappear, its influence was greatly lessened. It still continues today as a sanctioning body for some of the medium levels of motor racing, including the USAC Silver Crown series for tube-framed, alcohol-fueled open-wheel cars racing on dirt and paved ovals, as well as national championships for sprint and midget cars.

USAC Championship Car Season Champions: (1956-1979)