1971 USAC Championship Car season

The 1971 USAC Championship Car season consisted of 12 races, beginning in Rafaela, Argentina on February 28 and concluding in Avondale, Arizona on October 23. The USAC National Champion was Joe Leonard and the Indianapolis 500 winner was Al Unser. For 1971 it was decided that there should be three separate points championships, for paved ovals, dirt ovals, and road courses.

The existing Championship Car championship was then restricted to only paved ovals, and two new championships were created. The National Dirt Car Championship (which would become the modern Silver Crown Series in 1981) was run over four races, and won by George Snider. The Road Racing championship was originally to be run over between 8 and 10 races, however a lack of interest lead to just two races being held on the same day, on the 7th of August at Seattle International Raceway. Continental Championship cars were allowed, and made up the majority of the grid, with just 5 USAC specification cars entered. Jim Dittemore won the series in a Formula 5000 specification Lola T192-Chevrolet. The Road Racing championship did not continue in 1972.

Schedule and results

All races were run on oval speedways. On February 18, the non-championship races at Rafaela were transformed into a points-paying double round, due to a request from race organizers. On June 3, the Langhorne round was cancelled by its promoter because of insufficient entries. He alleged that the event had been boycotted by a number of drivers refusing to race at the outdated venue, which was torn down at the end of the year. On June 30, USAC cancelled the race at the new Mountaineer Speedway, which was never built to completion. The 1971 season was the first time the 500 mile triple crown was on the schedule with the addition of Ontario Motor Speedway's California 500 the previous year and the Pocono 500 added in this season.

Rnd	Date	Race name	Track	Location	Pole position	Winning driver	1	2	3	4	5	6	-	7	8	-	9	10	11	12
February 28	Argentina Rafaela Indy 300 Heat 1	Autódromo de Rafaela	Rafaela, Argentina	US Lloyd Ruby	US Al Unser
Argentina Rafaela Indy 300 Heat 2	US Al Unser	US Al Unser
March 27	US Phoenix 150	Phoenix International Raceway	Avondale, Arizona	US Bobby Unser	US Al Unser
April 25	US Trenton 200	Trenton International Speedway	Trenton, New Jersey	US Bobby Unser	US Mike Mosley
May 29	US [International 500 Mile Sweepstakes](1971-indianapolis-500)	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Speedway, Indiana	US Peter Revson	US Al Unser
June 6	US Rex Mays Classic 150	Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway	West Allis, Wisconsin	US Bobby Unser	US Al Unser
June 13	US Langhorne 150	Langhorne Speedway	Langhorne, Pennsylvania	Race cancelled due to security concerns
July 3	US Inaugural [Pocono 500](1971-schaefer-500)	Pocono International Raceway	Long Pond, Pennsylvania	US Mark Donohue	US Mark Donohue
July 18	US Michigan 200	Michigan International Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan	US Bobby Unser	US Mark Donohue
August 8	US Mountaineer 150	Mountaineer Speedway	Parkersburg, West Virginia	Race cancelled
August 15	US Tony Bettenhausen 200	Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway	West Allis, Wisconsin	US Bobby Unser	US Bobby Unser
September 5	US [California 500](1971-california-500)	Ontario Motor Speedway	Ontario, California	US Mark Donohue	US Joe Leonard
October 3	US Trenton 300	Trenton International Speedway	Trenton, New Jersey	US Bobby Unser	US Bobby Unser
October 23	US Bobby Ball 150	Phoenix International Raceway	Avondale, Arizona	US Bobby Unser	US A. J. Foyt