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1980 USAC Championship Car season

Sports season

Champion: Johnny Rutherford 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.

USAC and CART united in early 1980 to form a co-sanctioning agreement under the banner of the Championship Racing League (CRL). The entire season was supposed to run under this agreement, but only the first five races of the 1980 Indy/Championship Car season were run under CRL banner. Unhappy with the arrangement, USAC pulled out of the CRL after the Mid-Ohio race in July. USAC declared their 1980 season over after the five races, while CART finished out the remainder of the 1980 season on their own.

Johnny Rutherford, driving Jim Hall's revolutionary ground effects Chaparral 2K won three of the five races (including Indianapolis), and finished second in the other two. Rutherford won the USAC championship by a commanding point margin. Rutherford happened to score the most points under both USAC's five-race points distribution and CART's 12-race points championship, securing what could be considered "undisputed" or "unanimous" top driver honors for the calendar year of 1980.

Schedule and results

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

Original schedule

Rnd	Date	Race name	Length	Track
April 26	Texas 200	200 mi	Texas World Speedway	College Station, Texas
May 26	[500 Mile International Sweepstakes](1980-indianapolis-500)	500 mi	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Speedway, Indiana
June 8	Gould Rex Mays Classic	150 mi	Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway	West Allis, Wisconsin
June 22	[True Value 500](1980-pocono-500)	500 mi	Pocono International Raceway	Long Pond, Pennsylvania
July 13	Red Roof Inns 150	150 mi	Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course	Lexington, Ohio
July 27	Road Atlanta 200	150 mi	Road Atlanta	Braselton, Georgia
August 10	Tony Bettenhausen 150	200 mi	Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway	West Allis, Wisconsin
August 24	Alabama 200	500 mi	Alabama International Motor Speedway	Talladega, Alabama
September 14	Mosport 200	150 mi	Mosport International Raceway	Bowmanville, Ontario
September 28	Charlotte 500	300 mi	Charlotte Motor Speedway	Charlotte, North Carolina

Revised schedule

In the spring of 1980, USAC and CART merged their schedules for the newly created CRL Championship. With Talladega, Charlotte, and Road Atlanta already scrapped, Texas World Speedway was cancelled too. That track would soon cease to hold any more professional races, and Indy cars never raced at Texas World again. Mosport, which had held races in the past, was also dropped. Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Mid-Ohio, and Pocono, all were kept as part of the final merged schedule.

The co-sanctioning effort ended after only five races. USAC declared their involvement in the 1980 season over after Mid-Ohio. The remaining seven races were sanctioned solely by CART, and paid points to the CART championship only.

Rnd	Date	Race name	Length	Track	Location	Pole position
April 13	Datsun Twin 200	200 mi	Ontario Motor Speedway	Ontario, California	US Johnny Rutherford	US Johnny Rutherford
May 26	[500 Mile International Sweepstakes](1980-indianapolis-500)	500 mi	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Speedway, Indiana	US Johnny Rutherford	US Johnny Rutherford
June 8	Gould Rex Mays Classic	150 mi	Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway	West Allis, Wisconsin	US Gordon Johncock	US Bobby Unser
June 22	[True Value 500](1980-true-value-500)	500 mi	Pocono International Raceway	Long Pond, Pennsylvania	US Bobby Unser	US Bobby Unser
July 13	Red Roof Inns 150	150 mi	Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course	Lexington, Ohio	US Al Unser	US Johnny Rutherford
July 20	Norton 200	200 mi	Michigan International Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan	USA Bobby Unser	USA Johnny Rutherford
August 3	Kent Oil 150	150 mi	Watkins Glen International	Watkins Glen, New York	USA Al Unser	USA Bobby Unser
August 10	Tony Bettenhausen 200	200 mi	Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway	West Allis, Wisconsin	USA Johnny Rutherford	USA Johnny Rutherford
August 31	California 500	500 mi	Ontario Motor Speedway	Ontario, California	USA Bobby Unser	USA Bobby Unser
September 20	Gould Grand Prix	150 mi	Michigan International Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan	USA Mario Andretti	USA Mario Andretti
October 26	I Copa México 150	150 mi	Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez	Mexico City, Mexico	USA Bobby Unser	USA Rick Mears
November 8	Miller High Life 150	150 mi	Phoenix International Raceway	Avondale, Arizona	USA Mario Andretti	USA Tom Sneva

Final points standings

Pos	Driver	ONT
US	[INDY](1980-indianapolis-500)
US	MIL
US	POC
US	MOH
US	Pts	1	2740	2	1970	3	1334	4	1330	5	1078	6	990	7	766	8	726	9	345	10	330	11	266	12	250	13	245	14	220	15	205	16	205	17	180	18	170	19	170	20	150	21	150	22	150	23	120	24	120	25	116	26	105	27	100	28	90	29	65	30	60	31	57	32	54	33	50	34	49	35	45	36	40	37	40	38	38	39	30	40	28	41	28	42	25	43	25	44	25	45	25	46	22	47	19	48	15	49	10	50	6	51	6	52	5	53	5	54	5	-	0	-	0	-	0	-	0	-	0	-	0	-	0	-	0	-	0	-	0	-	0	-	0	-	0	-	0	-	0	-	0	-	0	Pos	Driver	ONT
US	[INDY](1980-indianapolis-500)
US	MIL
US	POC
US	MOH
US	Pts
US Johnny Rutherford	1*	1*	2	2	1
US Tom Sneva	2	2	6	3	11
US Bobby Unser	23	9	1	1*	15
US Gordon Johncock	3	4	3*	DNQ	2
US Pancho Carter	18	6	4	6	7
US Bill Alsup	7	DNQ	9	4	3
US Rick Mears	21	5	5	12	9*
US Gary Bettenhausen		3	12	33	20
US Sheldon Kinser	13	DNQ	11	7	24
US Danny Ongais		7	24	18	21
US Howdy Holmes		DNQ	15	8	14
US Tom Bigelow		8
US Spike Gehlhausen	4	29		DNQ
US Tom Bagley	5	28	23	29	DNS
US Tim Richmond		9	DNQ	DNQ	22
US Larry Cannon		33	DNQ	9	DNQ
US Roger Mears	9	DNQ			4
US Gordon Smiley	6	25
US Billy Engelhart		11	10	13
Australia Vern Schuppan		DNQ		5	5
US Lee Kunzman		DNQ		10	DNQ
US Greg Leffler		10		DNQ
US Tom Gloy					6
US Jerry Sneva		17	8	14
US Herm Johnson	14	DNQ	17	11
US Dick Ferguson	8	31	DNQ
US Roger Rager		23		26	8
Canada Cliff Hucul			7
US Bill Vukovich II		12	21	28
US Jan Sneva	10	DNQ
US Rick Muther	24	DNQ	18		10
US Jerry Karl		21	14	15	18
US Phil Caliva	15	DNQ		16	12
US Al Unser	16	27	20	24	13
US A. J. Foyt	DNS	14		19
US Ron Shuman	11	DNQ
US Mario Andretti		20		17
US Dick Simon		22	13	21	DNQ
Australia Dennis Firestone		16		30
US John Martin		DNQ		20	16
US Mike Mosley	19	32		23
US John Wood	12	DNQ		DNQ	23
US Don Whittington		13		DNQ
US George Snider		15		DNQ
US Jim McElreath		24		27
US Bill Tempero	17	DNQ	16		17
US Joe Saldana	25	DNQ		22	DNQ
US Phil Threshie		DNQ	22	25
US Johnny Parsons		26		DNQ
US Billie Harvey			19
US John Mahler		DNQ	DNQ		19
US Bill Whittington		30
USA Al Loquasto		DNQ		31
US Tony Bettenhausen Jr.		DNQ	DNQ	32	DNQ
US Hurley Haywood		18
US Pete Halsmer	20	DNQ
US Ross Davis	22
US Bob Frey			DNQ	DNQ
US Janet Guthrie		DNQ	DNQ
Canada Buddie Boys		DNQ		DNQ
US Rich Vogler		DNQ		DNQ
US Bob Harkey		DNQ		DNQ
US Dana Carter		DNQ
US Larry Dickson		DNQ
US Tom Frantz		DNQ
US Jim Hurtubise		DNQ
US Bill Puterbaugh		DNQ
US Salt Walther		DNQ
Canada Frank Weiss		DNQ
US Bruce Hill			DNQ
US Milt Harper				DNQ

Color	Result
Gold	Winner
Silver	2nd place
Bronze	3rd place
Green	4th & 5th place
Light Blue	6th-10th place
Dark Blue	Finished
(Outside Top 10)
Purple	Did not finish
(Ret)
Red	Did not qualify
(DNQ)
Brown	Withdrawn
(Wth)
Black	Disqualified
(DSQ)
White	Did not start
(DNS)
Blank	Did not
participate
(DNP)
Not competing

|- |

Rookie

|} |}

References

Miller, Robin. (December 27, 1979). "USAC Announces 1980 Schedule". The Indianapolis Star.

Info: Wikipedia Source

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