1980 USAC Championship Car season

1980 USAC Championship Car season
Championship Racing League
Champion: Johnny Rutherford
Season
Races	5
Start date	April 13
End date	July 13
Awards
National champion	Johnny Rutherford
Indianapolis 500 winner	Johnny Rutherford
← 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.

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.

In January 1980, USAC initially released a ten-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.

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	Winning Driver
1	April 13	Datsun Twin 200	200 mi (320 km)	O  Ontario Motor Speedway	Ontario, California	Johnny Rutherford	Johnny Rutherford
2	May 26	500 Mile International Sweepstakes	500 mi (800 km)	O  Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Speedway, Indiana	Johnny Rutherford	Johnny Rutherford
3	June 8	Gould Rex Mays Classic	150 mi (240 km)	O  Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway	West Allis, Wisconsin	Gordon Johncock	Bobby Unser
4	June 22	True Value 500	500 mi (800 km)	O  Pocono International Raceway	Long Pond, Pennsylvania	Bobby Unser	Bobby Unser
5	July 13	Red Roof Inns 150	150 mi (240 km)	R  Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course	Lexington, Ohio	Al Unser	Johnny Rutherford
Races sanctioned by CART only
NC	July 20	Norton 200	200 mi (320 km)	O  Michigan International Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan	Bobby Unser	Johnny Rutherford
NC	August 3	Kent Oil 150	150 mi (240 km)	R  Watkins Glen International	Watkins Glen, New York	Al Unser	Bobby Unser
NC	August 10	Tony Bettenhausen 200	200 mi (320 km)	O  Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway	West Allis, Wisconsin	Johnny Rutherford	Johnny Rutherford
NC	August 31	California 500	500 mi (800 km)	O  Ontario Motor Speedway	Ontario, California	Bobby Unser	Bobby Unser
NC	September 20	Gould Grand Prix	150 mi (240 km)	O  Michigan International Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan	Mario Andretti	Mario Andretti
NC	October 26	I Copa México 150	150 mi (240 km)	R  Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez	Mexico City, Mexico	Bobby Unser	Rick Mears
NC	November 8	Miller High Life 150	150 mi (240 km)	O  Phoenix International Raceway	Avondale, Arizona	Mario Andretti	Tom Sneva

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

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 In-line notation Bold Pole position Italics Ran fastest race lap * Led most race laps Rookie of the Year Rookie

• Åberg, Andreas. "USAC National Championship 1980". Driver Database. Archived from the original on March 25, 2008. Retrieved May 11, 2009.
• "1980 Championship Racing League". ChampCarStats.com. Archived from the original on September 8, 2008. Retrieved May 11, 2009.

• 1980 Indianapolis 500
• 1980 CART PPG Indy Car World Series