1977 USAC Championship Car season explained

The 1977 USAC Championship Car season consisted of 14 races, beginning in Ontario, California on March 6 and concluding in Avondale, Arizona on October 29. The USAC National Champion was Tom Sneva and the Indianapolis 500 winner was A. J. Foyt. The schedule included a road course for the first time since 1970.

Schedule and results

Rnd	Date	Race Name	Track	Location	Pole Position	Winning Driver
1	March 6	Datsun Twin 200s	Ontario Motor Speedway	Ontario, California	Johnny Rutherford	A. J. Foyt
2	March 27	Jimmy Bryan 150	Phoenix International Raceway	Avondale, Arizona	Johnny Rutherford	Johnny Rutherford
3	April 2	Texas Grand Prix	Texas World Speedway	College Station, Texas	Johnny Rutherford	Tom Sneva
4	April 30	Trenton 200	Trenton International Speedway	Trenton, New Jersey	Johnny Rutherford	Wally Dallenbach Sr.
5	May 29	International 500 Mile Sweepstakes	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Speedway, Indiana	Tom Sneva	A. J. Foyt
6	June 12	Rex Mays Classic 150	Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway	West Allis, Wisconsin	Bobby Unser	Johnny Rutherford
7	June 26	Schaefer 500	Pocono International Raceway	Long Pond, Pennsylvania	A. J. Foyt	Tom Sneva
8	July 3	Molson Diamond Indy	Mosport Park	Bowmanville, Ontario	Al Unser	A. J. Foyt
9	July 17	Norton 200	Michigan International Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan	Tom Sneva	Danny Ongais
10	July 31	American Parts 200	Texas World Speedway	College Station, Texas	Danny Ongais	Johnny Rutherford
11	August 21	Tony Bettenhausen 200	Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway	West Allis, Wisconsin	Danny Ongais	Johnny Rutherford
12	September 4	California 500	Ontario Motor Speedway	Ontario, California	Johnny Rutherford	Al Unser
13	September 17	Michigan Grand Prix	Michigan International Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan	Danny Ongais	Gordon Johncock
-	September 24	Machinists Union 150	Trenton International Speedway	Trenton, New Jersey	Race postponed due to rain; eventually cancelled
14	October 29	Bobby Ball 150	Phoenix International Raceway	Avondale, Arizona	Bobby Unser	Gordon Johncock

• The Machinist Union 150, scheduled for September 24, was first postponed due to rain, and was eventually cancelled on October 3.^{[1] [2]}

Final points standings

Pos Driver ONT1 PHX1 TXS1 TRE1 INDY MIL1 POC MOS MIC1 TXS2 MIL2 ONT2 MIC2 TRE2 PHX2 Pts 1 Tom Sneva 14 16 1 10 2 2 1 3 4 5 18 3 10 C 17 3965 2 Al Unser 2 9 2 3 3 25 17 16 21 15 1 4 C 2 3030 3 Johnny Rutherford 25 1 4 8 33 1 5 9 3 1 1 24 2 C 22 2840 4 A. J. Foyt 1 2 14 1 15 1 Wth 19 2 C 2840 5 Gordon Johncock 5 12 9 2 11 12 3 18 2 2 10 11 1 C 1 2830 6 Wally Dallenbach Sr. 18 10 3 1 4 15 4 16 8 17 3 20 3 C 6 2635 7 Mario Andretti DNQ 16 26 2 4 20 C 4 1580 8 Pancho Carter 3 20 11 9 15 5 20 10 3 2 14 3 1420 9 Tom Bigelow 4 4 12 15 6 7 29 8 11 10 4 28 15 C 19 1370 10 Mike Mosley 16 6 5 3 19 4 8 Wth 16 18 C DNQ 1030 11 Roger McCluskey 22 3 17 5 8 19 26 11 20 DNQ 20 22 7 C 5 940 12 7 5 13 20 17 23 15 1 13 21 8 17 C 12 935 13 Bobby Olivero 25 6 32 9 6 5 9 C 21 920 14 Gary Bettenhausen 10 11 11 16 20 7 2 17 8 17 C 14 850 15 Johnny Parsons DNQ DNP 5 DNQ 11 18 4 13 29 14 C 20 840 16 Larry Dickson 13 DNQ 18 DNQ 13 5 8 12 7 6 C 18 740 17 Lee Kunzman 7 DNP 6 DNQ 22 15 16 DNQ 700 18 Todd Gibson 11 13 6 6 DNQ 14 DNQ 4 15 DNQ DNQ 600 19 Rick Mears 24 DNQ 15 DNQ 30 6 7 5 26 8 C 555 20 Spike Gehlhausen 26 14 8 12 DNQ 9 DNQ 10 9 12 7 13 13 C 7 550 21 Jim McElreath 23 24 12 6 9 5 530 22 Vern Schuppan 8 8 16 17 DNQ 21 19 6 475 23 Salt Walther 23 18 4 DNQ 18 12 6 DNP 25 DNQ C 13 450 24 Dick Simon 6 7 31 13 16 19 14 9 33 C 11 360 25 Steve Krisiloff 21 9 DNP 22 14 7 DNQ 19 27 320 26 DNQ 7 7 DNQ 31 DNQ DNQ 23 19 C 240 27 Bill Vukovich II 20 19 13 17 9 12 14 31 220 28 DNQ 11 10 Wth 18 11 DNQ 22 C 220 29 Jerry Grant Wth 13 5 DNQ DNQ 16 200 30 Ed Crombie 10 7 DNQ 14 DNS 165 31 Jerry Sneva 10 DNP 18 DNQ DNQ 22 DNQ DNQ C 150 32 John Martin DNQ 10 150 33 Larry Cannon DNP DNQ 12 12 C 9 125 34 Bill Simpson 9 22 Wth 80 35 Bobby Unser 15 17 DNP Wth 18 16 19 21 15 17 30 8 75 36 8 75 37 Al Loquasto 19 21 DNP Wth 28 28 11 19 11 C 16 70 38 Gary Irvin 10 14 DNQ 60 39 Bill Puterbaugh 12 50 40 George Snider 24 33 DNQ 20 32 21 C 10 45 41 12 15 19 22 DNP DNQ 20 - 13 16 DNQ 0 - Eldon Rasmussen 13 21 0 - John Mahler 14 14 DNQ 0 - 15 0 - Lloyd Ruby 17 27 DNP 0 - Bubby Jones 21 DNQ C DNQ 0 - Bob Harkey DNQ 22 DNQ 0 - Chuck Gurney 27 DNQ 0 - Sheldon Kinser 32 0 - Alan Jones DNS 0 - Larry McCoy DNQ Wth 0 - Tommy Hunt DNS 0 - Ed Finley C DNQ 0 - Jerry Karl DNQ DNQ 0 - Bertil Roos DNQ C DNQ 0 - Jim Hurtubise DNQ 0 - Mel Kenyon DNQ 0 - Teddy Pilette DNQ 0 - Tom Frantz Wth 0 - Jack Owens C 0 Ineligible for USAC championship points - Janet Guthrie DNQ 29 17 18 C 0 - 30 0 Pos Driver ONT1 PHX1 TXS1 TRE1 INDY MIL1 POC MOS MIC1 TXS2 MIL2 ONT2 MIC2 TRE2 PHX2 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 *|style="background:#F2F2F2;" align=center|Led most race laps|-|style="text-align:center" colspan=2| Rookie of the Year|-|style="text-align:center" colspan=2| Rookie|}|}|} See also 1977 Indianapolis 500 References Web site: USAC National Championship 1977 . Åberg, Andreas . Driver Database . 2009-05-04 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080325034428/http://www.driverdb.com/standings/980-1977/ . 2008-03-25 . live . Web site: Indy 500 and USAC racing (1971-1978) . Harms, Phil . Ferner, Michael . Measures, Gerry . Brown, Allen . OldRacingCars.com . 2009-05-04 . https://archive.today/20120906023507/http://www.oldracingcars.com/indy/ . 2012-09-06 . live . Web site: 1977 USAC National Championship Trail . ChampCarStats.com . 2009-05-11 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080827191427/http://www.champcarstats.com/year/1977.htm . 2008-08-27 . live . Web site: 1977 Championship Driver Summary . Harms . Phil . Motorsport.com . 2011-05-03 . https://www.webcitation.org/5yQ3uPhkG?url=http://www.motorsport.com/stats/champ/data/1977sum.pdf . 2011-05-04 . dead . http://media.indycar.com/pdf/2011/IICS_2011_Historical_Record_Book_INT6.pdf (p. 217-218)

Notes and References

1. News: Trenton Race Canceled. The New York Times. August 2, 2019. October 4, 1977.
2. News: Trenton 200. OldRacingCars.com. August 2, 2019.