A. J. Foyt driving a Championship Car in 1984

From 1956 to 1978, USAC Championship Car seasons featured the top teams and drivers in U.S. open-wheel racing. Until 1971, the Championship contained road courses, ovals, dirt courses, and, on occasion, a hill climb. Thereafter, the schedule consisted mainly of paved ovals. In 1979, the majority of car owners left USAC to race in the Indy Car World Series, sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America and CART. This led to a decline in the number of events in the schedule, and by the 1984–85 season, the Championship comprised only one race, the Indianapolis 500. The era of USAC Championship Cars concluded with the formation of the Indy Racing League (IRL) in 1995, which was sanctioned by USAC until June 1997 when the IRL assumed officiating duties after the controversial finish of the 81st Indianapolis 500 and the scoring mistake that marred the following event.^[1] The most successful driver in USAC Championship Car history was A. J. Foyt with seven National Championships and four Indianapolis 500 victories. Foyt competed in every season from 1957 to 1992–93.

Seasons

#	Year	Races					National Champion	Indianapolis 500	Drivers		Notes
		Dirt Oval	Hill Climb	Paved Oval	Road	Total			Ranked	Fatalities
USAC National Championship Trail
1	1956	8 (1)	(1)	4 (1)	-	12 (3)	Jimmy Bryan	Pat Flaherty	36	-	[2][3]
2	1957	9 (1)	(1)	4 (3)	-	13 (5)	Jimmy Bryan	Sam Hanks	41	1	[4][5]
3	1958	8 (1)	(1)	5 (3)	-	13 (5)	Tony Bettenhausen	Jimmy Bryan	38	3	[6][7]
4	1959	7 (1)	(1)	6 (1)	-	13 (3)	Rodger Ward		50	7	[8][9]
5	1960	7 (1)	(1)	5	-	12 (2)	A. J. Foyt	Jim Rathmann	45	1	[10][11]
6	1961	7	(1)	5	-	12 (1)	A. J. Foyt		43	2	[12][13]
7	1962	7	(1)	6	-	13 (1)	Rodger Ward		39	1	[14][15]
8	1963	6	(1)	6	-	12 (1)	A. J. Foyt	Parnelli Jones	36	-	[16][17]
9	1964	5	(1)	8	-	13 (1)	A. J. Foyt		46	4	[18][19]
10	1965	4	1	12	1	18	Mario Andretti	Jim Clark	57	-	[20][21]
11	1966	4	1	10	1 (1)	16 (1)	Mario Andretti	Graham Hill	57	1	[22][23]
12	1967	4	1	10	6	21	A. J. Foyt		62	-	[24][25]
13	1968	5	1	13	9	28	Bobby Unser		68	2	[26][27]
14	1969	5	1	10	8	24	Mario Andretti		72	-	[28][29]
15	1970	5	(1)	10	3	18 (1)	Al Unser		55	-	[30][31]
16	1971	-	-	12	-	12	Joe Leonard	Al Unser	44	-	[32][33]
17	1972	-	-	10	-	10	Joe Leonard	Mark Donohue	42	1	[34][35]
18	1973	-	-	16	-	16	Roger McCluskey	Gordon Johncock	36	3	[36][37]
19	1974	-	-	14	-	14	Bobby Unser	Johnny Rutherford	37	-	[38][39]
20	1975	-	-	13	-	13	A. J. Foyt	Bobby Unser	38	-	[40][41]
21	1976	-	-	13	-	13	Gordon Johncock	Johnny Rutherford	39	-	[42][43]
22	1977	-	-	13	1	14	Tom Sneva	A. J. Foyt	41	-	[44][45]
23	1978	-	-	15	3	18	Tom Sneva	Al Unser	45	-	[46][47]
24	1979	-	-	7	-	7	A. J. Foyt	Rick Mears	32	-	[48][49]
Championship Racing League
25	1980	-	-	4	1	5	Johnny Rutherford		57	-	[50][51]
USAC Gold Crown Championship
26	1981–82	3	-	3	-	6	George Snider	Bobby Unser*	51	1	[52][53]
								Gordon Johncock*
27	1982–83	3	-	1	-	4	Tom Sneva		39	-	[54][55]
28	1983–84	1	-	1	-	2	Rick Mears		39	-	[56][57]
29	1984–85	-	-	1	-	1	Danny Sullivan		32	-	[58]
30	1985–86	-	-	1	-	1	Bobby Rahal		33	-	[59]
31	1986–87	-	-	1	-	1	Al Unser		33	-	[60]
32	1987–88	-	-	1	-	1	Rick Mears		33	-	[61]
33	1988–89	-	-	1	-	1	Emerson Fittipaldi		33	-	[62]
34	1989–90	-	-	1	-	1	Arie Luyendyk		33	-	[63]
35	1990–91	-	-	1	-	1	Rick Mears		33	-	[64]
36	1991–92	-	-	1	-	1	Al Unser Jr.		33	1	[65]
37	1992–93	-	-	1	-	1	Emerson Fittipaldi		33	-	[66]
38	1993–94	-	-	1	-	1	Al Unser Jr.		33	-	[67]
39	1994–95	-	-	1	-	1	Jacques Villeneuve		33	-	[68]

* The 1981-82 season included both the 65th and 66th Indianapolis 500 races.
( ) Figures in parentheses denote the number of non-championship races in that season.

References

See also

• List of American Championship Car winners
• List of American Championship Car Rookie of the Year Winners
• Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year
• List of Indianapolis 500 winners