1980 USAC Championship Car season

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1980 USAC Championship Car season

Championship Racing League
Season
Races	5
Start date	April 13
End date	July 13
Awards
National champion	Johnny Rutherford
Indianapolis 500 winner	Johnny Rutherford

Chronology
Previous season	Next season
1979	1981-82

The 1980 USAC Championship Car season consisted of five races, beginning in Ontario, California on April 13 and concluding in Lexington, Ohio on July 13. The USAC National Champion and Indianapolis 500 winner was Johnny Rutherford. The season was planned to be 12 races, each co-sanctioned with CART, however the USAC withdrew from the agreement after the fifth race.

In January 1980, USAC initially released a 10-race schedule, with new venues Talladega, Charlotte, and Road Atlanta added to the schedule.^[1] However, these three events were eventually scrapped when USAC entered into a joint sanctioning effort with CART.

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	April 13	Datsun Twin 200	200 mi (320 km)	Ontario Motor Speedway	Ontario, California	Oval	Johnny Rutherford	Johnny Rutherford
—	April 26	—	—	Texas World Speedway	—	—	—	—
2	May 26	Indianapolis 500-Mile Race	500 mi (800 km)	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Speedway, Indiana	Oval	Johnny Rutherford	Johnny Rutherford
3	June 8	Gould Rex Mays Classic	150 mi (240 km)	Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway	West Allis, Wisconsin	Oval	Gordon Johncock	Bobby Unser
4	June 22	True Value 500	500 mi (800 km)	Pocono International Raceway	Long Pond, Pennsylvania	Oval	Bobby Unser	Bobby Unser
5	July 13	Red Roof Inns 150	150 mi (240 km)	Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course	Lexington, Ohio	Road course	Al Unser	Johnny Rutherford
—	July 27	—	—	Road Atlanta	—	—	—	—
—	August 10	—	—	Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway	Became a CART event
—	August 24	—	—	Alabama International Motor Speedway	—	—	—	—
—	September 14	—	—	Mosport International Raceway	—	—	—	—
—	September 28	—	—	Charlotte Motor Speedway	—	—	—	—

Leading National Championship standings

Pos	Driver	Team	Wins	Poles	Points
1	Johnny Rutherford	Pennzoil	3	2	2740
2	Tom Sneva	Sugaripe Prune	0	0	1970
3	Bobby Unser	Norton Spirit	2	1	1334
4	Gordon Johncock	North American Van Lines	0	1	1330
5	Pancho Carter	Alex Foods	0	0	1078
6	Bill Alsup	Alsup Racing/Polaroid Time Zero	0	0	990
7	Rick Mears	Gould Charge	0	0	766
8	Gary Bettenhausen	Armstrong Moulding	0	0	726
9	Vern Schuppan	Wysard Motors	0	0	650
10	Sheldon Kinser	Genesee Beer	0	0	673
11	Danny Ongais	Interscope Racing	0	0	345
12	Howdy Holmes	Armstrong Moulding	0	0	266

References

Åberg, Andreas. "USAC National Championship 1980". Driver Database. Archived from the original on 2009-05-13. http://www.driverdb.com/standings/980-1980/. Retrieved 2009-05-11.
"1980 Championship Racing League". ChampCarStats.com. Archived from the original on 2009-05-13. http://www.champcarstats.com/year/1980u.htm. Retrieved 2009-05-11.

^ January 17, 1980 USAC News letter

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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1980 USAC Championship Car season