1978 USAC Championship Car season

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1978 USAC Championship Car season

USAC National Championship Citicorp Cup
Season
Races	18
Start date	March 18
End date	October 28
Awards
National champion	Tom Sneva
Indianapolis 500 winner	Al Unser

Chronology
Previous season	Next season
1977	1979 (CART) 1979 (USAC)

The 1978 USAC Championship Car season consisted of 18 races, beginning in Avondale, Arizona on March 18 and concluding at the same location on October 28. The USAC National Champion was Tom Sneva and the Indianapolis 500 winner was Al Unser. This was the last year before the majority of car owners left the USAC to form CART.

By winning the Indianapolis 500, Pocono 500, and California 500, Al Unser swept the Indy car "triple crown," the only driver in history to do so. Sneva became the first driver to win the USAC championship without winning a race during the season.

Contents

1 Schedule and results
2 Leading National Championship standings
3 References
4 See also

Schedule and results

Rnd	Date	Race Name	Length	Track	Location	Type	Pole Position	Winning Driver
1	March 18	Jimmy Bryan 150	150 mi (240 km)	Phoenix International Raceway	Avondale, Arizona	Oval	Danny Ongais	Gordon Johncock
2	March 26	Datsun Twin 200	200 mi (320 km)	Ontario Motor Speedway	Ontario, California	Oval	Tom Sneva	Danny Ongais
3	April 15	Coors 200	200 mi (320 km)	Texas World Speedway	College Station, Texas	Oval	Danny Ongais	Danny Ongais
4	April 23	Gabriel 200	200 mi (320 km)	Trenton International Speedway	Trenton, New Jersey	Oval	Tom Sneva	Gordon Johncock
5	May 28	International 500 Mile Sweepstakes	500 mi (800 km)	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Speedway, Indiana	Oval	Tom Sneva	Al Unser
6	June 11	Molson Diamond Indy	186.884 mi (300.761 km)	Mosport Park	Bowmanville, Canada	Road course	Danny Ongais	Danny Ongais
7	June 18	Rex Mays Classic	150 mi (240 km)	Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway	West Allis, Wisconsin	Oval	Danny Ongais	Rick Mears
8	June 25	Schaefer 500	500 mi (800 km)	Pocono International Raceway	Long Pond, Pennsylvania	Oval	Danny Ongais	Al Unser
9	July 16	Norton Twin 200	200 mi (320 km)	Michigan International Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan	Oval	Tom Sneva	Johnny Rutherford
10	July 23	Gould Twin Dixie	152.2 mi (244.9 km)	Atlanta International Raceway	Hampton, Georgia	Oval	Tom Sneva	Rick Mears
11	August 6	Texas Grand Prix	200 mi (320 km)	Texas World Speedway	College Station, Texas	Oval	Tom Sneva	A. J. Foyt
12	August 20	Tony Bettenhausen 200	200 mi (320 km)	Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway	West Allis, Wisconsin	Oval	Danny Ongais	Danny Ongais
13	September 3	California 500	500 mi (800 km)	Ontario Motor Speedway	Ontario, California	Oval	Tom Sneva	Al Unser
14	September 16	Gould Grand Prix	150 mi (240 km)	Michigan International Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan	Oval	Johnny Rutherford	Danny Ongais
15	September 23	Machinist Union 150	150 mi (240 km)	Trenton International Speedway	Trenton, New Jersey	Oval	A. J. Foyt	Mario Andretti
16	October 1	Daily Empress Indy Silverstone	111.416 mi (179.307 km)	Silverstone Circuit	Silverstone, United Kingdom	Road course	Danny Ongais	A. J. Foyt
17	October 7	Daily Mail Indy Trophy	120 mi (190 km)	Brands Hatch (Indy Circuit)	Fawkham, United Kingdom	Road course	Al Unser	Rick Mears
18	October 29	Miller High Life Bobby Ball Memorial 150	150 mi (240 km)	Phoenix International Raceway	Avondale, Arizona	Oval	Danny Ongais	Johnny Rutherford

Leading National Championship standings

Pos	Driver	Team	Wins	Poles	Points
1	Tom Sneva	Norton Spirit	0	7	4153
2	Al Unser	1st National Travel Check	3	1	4031
3	Gordon Johncock	North American Van Lines	2	0	3548
4	Johnny Rutherford	1st National Travel Check	2	1	3067
5	A. J. Foyt	Gilmore Racing	2	1	3024
6	Wally Dallenbach, Sr.	Sugaripe Prune	0	0	2966
7	Steve Krisiloff	Foreman Industries	0	0	2874
8	Danny Ongais	Interscope Racing	5	8	2662
9	Rick Mears	Gould Charge	3	0	2171
10	Pancho Carter	Budweiser	0	0	1206
11	Tom Bagley	Kent Oil	0	0	1188
12	Bobby Unser	ARCOgraphite	0	0	1122

References

Åberg, Andreas. "USAC National Championship 1978". Driver Database. Archived from the original on 2009-05-06. http://www.driverdb.com/standings/980-1978/. Retrieved 2009-05-04.
Harms, Phil; Ferner, Michael; Measures, Gerry; Brown, Allen. "Indy 500 and USAC racing (1971-1978)". OldRacingCars.com. Archived from the original on 2009-05-06. http://www.oldracingcars.com/indy/. Retrieved 2009-05-04.
"1978 USAC National Championship Citicorp Cup". ChampCarStats.com. Archived from the original on 2009-05-13. http://www.champcarstats.com/year/1978.htm. Retrieved 2009-05-11.
Harms, Phil. "1978 Championship Driver Summary". Motorsport.com. Archived from the original on 2011-05-03. http://old.motorsport.com/stats/champ/data/1978sum.pdf. Retrieved 2011-05-03.

v t e American Championship car racing (IndyCar) seasons

AAA	1905 1906–1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942–1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955

NASCAR	1952 1953

USAC	1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84

CART / CCWS	1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 ~~2008~~

IRL / INDYCAR	1996 1996–97 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Years marked in italics are not official championship years.

v t e USAC Championship Cars (1971-1995)

Seasons	1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84

Indianapolis 500s	1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995

National Champions	Emerson Fittipaldi (twice) A. J. Foyt (twice) Gordon Johncock Joe Leonard (twice) Arie Luyendyk Roger McCluskey Rick Mears (three times) Bobby Rahal Johnny Rutherford Tom Sneva (three times) George Snider Danny Sullivan Al Unser Al Unser, Jr. (twice) Bobby Unser Jacques Villeneuve

Tracks	Atlanta Brands Hatch DuQuoin State Fair Illinois State Fair Indianapolis Indiana State Fair Michigan Mid-Ohio Milwaukee Mosport Nazareth Ontario Phoenix Pocono Rafaela Silverstone Texas World Trenton

The Indianapolis 500 was the only race in the USAC National Championship from 1984-85 onwards

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1978 USAC Championship Car season