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1974 USAC Championship Car season

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Open-wheel car racing season

1974 USAC Championship Car season
USAC National Championship Trail
Season
Races	14
Start date	March 3
End date	November 2
Awards
National champion	Bobby Unser
Indianapolis 500 winner	Johnny Rutherford
← 1973 1975 →

The1974 USAC Championship Car season consisted of 14 races, beginning inOntario,California on March 3 and concluding inAvondale,Arizona on November 2. TheUSAC National Champion wasBobby Unser and theIndianapolis 500 winner wasJohnny Rutherford. Due to the events of the1973 Indianapolis 500 significant improvements were made to the cars for safety concerns.Wings were reduced in size, andpop-off valves were added to theturbocharger plenums in order to reducehorsepower and curtail speeds.

Entrants

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(partial list)

Team	Chassis	Engine	Drivers	Rounds
A.J. Foyt Enterprises	Coyote	Foyt	A.J. Foyt	1, 3-14
All American Racers	Eagle	Offenhauser	Bobby Unser	1, 3-14
Richard Beith	Eagle	Offenhauser	Steve Krisiloff	2-3
Bob Fletcher	Eagle	Offenhauser	Jimmy Caruthers	2-14
	Eagle	Offenhauser	Jerry Grant	2-3, 5-8
	Eagle	Offenhauser	Pancho Carter	6, 8-14
Gerhardt	Eagle	Offenhauser	Jim McElreath	1, 3-8, 14
Jerry O"Connell Racing	Eagle	Offenhauser	Bill Vukovich II	1, 3-12, 14
Leader Card Racing	Eagle	Offenhauser	Mike Mosley	1, 3-12, 14
Lindsey Hopkins Racing	McLaren (1, 3-4, 9-10) Eagle (6-8, 11-14)	Offenhauser	Roger McCluskey	1, 3-4, 6-14
McLaren	McLaren	Offenhauser	Johnny Rutherford	2-14
Patrick Racing	Eagle	Offenhauser	Gordon Johncock	1, 3-14
	Eagle	Offenhauser	Wally Dallenbach	1, 3-14
	Eagle	Offenhauser	Steve Krisiloff	6-8, 10, 12-14
Team Penske	McLaren	Offenhauser	Gary Bettenhausen	2-8
Unlimited Racing Team	Eagle	Offenhauser	Lloyd Ruby	1, 3-12
Vel's Parnelli Jones Racing	Parnelli (2-3, 5, 7) Eagle (4, 6, 8-11, 14)	Offenhauser	Mario Andretti	2-11, 14
	Eagle	Offenhauser	Al Unser	2-14
	Eagle	Offenhauser	Joe Leonard	2-3

Schedule and results

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All races running on Oval/Speedway.

Rnd	Date	Race name	Track	Location	Pole position	Winning driver
1	March 3	California 500 Qualification Heat 1	Ontario Motor Speedway	Ontario,California	A. J. Foyt	A. J. Foyt
2	March 3	California 500 Qualification Heat 2			Johnny Rutherford	Johnny Rutherford
3	March 10	California 500			A. J. Foyt	Bobby Unser
4	March 17	Phoenix 150	Phoenix International Raceway	Avondale,Arizona	Al Unser	Mike Mosley
5	April 7	Trentonian 200	Trenton International Speedway	Trenton,New Jersey	Mario Andretti	Bobby Unser
6	May 26	International 500 Mile Sweepstakes	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Speedway,Indiana	A. J. Foyt	Johnny Rutherford
7	June 9	Rex Mays Classic	Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway	West Allis,Wisconsin	A. J. Foyt	Johnny Rutherford
8	June 30	Schaefer 500	Pocono International Raceway	Long Pond,Pennsylvania	Bobby Unser	Johnny Rutherford
9	July 21	Michigan 200	Michigan International Speedway	Brooklyn,Michigan	Bobby Unser	Bobby Unser
10	August 11	Tony Bettenhausen 200	Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway	West Allis,Wisconsin	A. J. Foyt	Gordon Johncock
11	September 15	Norton 250	Michigan International Speedway	Brooklyn,Michigan	A. J. Foyt	Al Unser
12	September 22	Trenton 300 Heat #1	Trenton International Speedway	Trenton,New Jersey	A. J. Foyt	A. J. Foyt
13	September 22	Trenton 300 Heat #2	Trenton International Speedway	Trenton,New Jersey	A. J. Foyt	Bobby Unser
14	November 2	Bobby Ball 150	Phoenix International Raceway	Avondale,Arizona	Johnny Rutherford	Gordon Johncock

Final points standings

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Note 1: Jim Hurtubise, Skip Barber, David Hobbs, Sam Posey and Evan Noyes are not eligible for points.

Note 2: Jerry Grant did not obtain a USAC license until after the Ontario event, making him ineligible for points for the first two races of the year.

Further information:List of American Championship car racing point scoring systems

Pos	Driver	ONT Q-H1	ONT Q-H2	ONT 500	PHX1 150	TRE1 200	INDY 500	MIL1 150	POC 500	MIS1 200	MIL2 200	MIS2 250	TRE2 150	TRE3 150	PHX2 150	Pts
1	Bobby Unser	2		1	2	1	2	21	5	1	4	3	2	1	2	4870
2	Johnny Rutherford		1	27	7	6	1	1	1	4	5	9	4	7	7	3650
3	Gordon Johncock	14		26	4	2	4	16	3	3	1	14	11	2	1	3050
4	Al Unser		5	2	18	10	18	5	22	2	9	1	6	5	5	2430
5	Jimmy Caruthers		2	4	19	4	23	20	2	11	13	18	7	9	8	2065
6	Bill Vukovich II	10		21	8	3	3	3	8	5	10	19	18		6	1925
7	Lloyd Ruby	3		5	9	8	9	9	6	DNQ	7	21	DNQ			1580
8	A. J. Foyt	1		30	3	Wth	15	6	27	13	2	24	1	4	4	1510
9	Wally Dallenbach Sr.	7		6	6	13	30	15	10	6	3	11	3	11	18	1445
10	Steve Krisiloff		3	24			22	11	4		23		5	3	22	1130
11	Pancho Carter RY						7		15	9	12	2	9	6	9	1040
12	Mike Mosley	6		7	1	7	29	10	21	8	18	15	17		DNQ	945
13	Jim McElreath	4		15	10	18	6	7	23						10	700
14	Mario Andretti		9	25	5	9	31	17	17	18	8	10			3	655
15	John Martin		6	9			11		16	12	16	6				600
16	Roger McCluskey	5		8	16		16	18	28	16	6	13	10	16	19	555
17	Tom Sneva	13		12	15	11	20	14	13	10	14	5	8	8	24	550
18	Mike Hiss			31			14			7		4				420
19	Jerry Grant		13	3		5	10	13	DNQ						DNP	350
20	Bentley Warren	12		13	11	17	DNQ		7	17			DNQ			340
21	Dick Simon	8		28	13		33	4	29	21	11				15	270
22	Gary Bettenhausen		11	20	14	DNQ	32	2	31							260
23	Bob Harkey		15	17		14	8		26							250
24	Tom Bigelow	9		10			12	DNQ	19	22					23	240
25	Eldon Rasmussen					DNQ	DNQ		9	20		22	DNQ			200
26	Al Loquasto			18	12		DNQ		11				14	11	12	160
27	Dan Murphy R			DNQ				19		23	22	7	13	15	DNQ	150
28	Karl Busson											8	12	13	21	140
29	George Snider		10	11	17		28		25			16				130
30	Joe Leonard		4	19												120
31	Salt Walther		8	22		12	17	DNP	20	DNQ			15	10	20	115
32	Bill Simpson		14	14			13	8	18		19				11	105
33	Jerry Karl		7	29			19	12	32						16	75
34	Larry McCoy					16	DNQ		12	15	20	17	Wth			50
35	Mel Kenyon						DNQ					12				25
36	Lee Brayton	11		DNS			DNQ		14	DNS		20				20
37	John Cannon		12	16	DNS	19	DNQ								DNP	10
-	David Hobbs						5								DNP	0
-	Sam Posey														13	0
-	John Hubbard							22	DNQ	19	15	23	DNQ	14		0
-	Sam Sessions						DNQ		30	14						0
-	Billy Scott R														14	0
-	Skip Barber R	15		32												0
-	Max Dudley					15										0
-	Benny Rapp R										DNQ		16			0
-	Johnny Parsons			33			26		DNQ	DNQ	17				17	0
-	Mel Cornett R										21					0
-	Jan Opperman R						21	23	33							0
-	Rick Muther			23			27		DNQ							0
-	Jim Hurtubise			DNQ			25		24							0
-	Larry Rice R					DNQ	Wth	24								0
-	Larry Cannon						24		DNQ							0
-	Evan Noyes R														25	0
-	Jigger Sirois			DNS			DNQ									0
-	Denny Zimmerman			DNS			DNQ									0
-	Bud Tingelstad			DNS												0
-	Bruce Jacobi						DNQ									0
-	John Mahler						DNQ									0
-	Bill Puterbaugh						DNQ									0
-	Brett Lunger														DNQ	0
-	Steve Durst			DNP												0
Pos	Driver	ONT Q-H1	ONT Q-H2	ONT 500	PHX1 150	TRE1 200	INDY 500	MIL1 150	POC 500	MIS1 200	MIL2 200	MIS2 250	TRE2 150	TRE3 150	PHX2 150	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)
Blank	Not competing

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

References

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Åberg, Andreas."USAC National Championship 1974". Driver Database.Archived from the original on March 25, 2008. RetrievedMay 4, 2009.
Harms, Phil; Ferner, Michael; Measures, Gerry; Brown, Allen."Indy 500 and USAC racing (1971-1978)". OldRacingCars.com.Archived from the original on September 6, 2012. RetrievedMay 4, 2009.
"1974 USAC National Championship Trail". ChampCarStats.com.Archived from the original on October 25, 2008. RetrievedMay 11, 2009.
Harms, Phil."1974 Championship Driver Summary"(PDF).Motorsport.com. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on August 10, 2012. RetrievedMay 3, 2011.
http://media.indycar.com/pdf/2011/IICS_2011_Historical_Record_Book_INT6.pdf Archived 2016-03-04 at theWayback Machine (p. 223-224)
https://www.champcarstats.com/year/1974.htm Retrieved August 9, 2025
https://www.oldracingcars.com/indy/1974/ Retrieved August 9, 2025
https://www.racingyears.com/results/1974/USAC Retrieved August 9, 2025

v t e American Championship car racing (Indy car) seasons
AAA	1905 1906–1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942–1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955
USAC	1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95
CART	1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
CCWS	2004 2005 2006 2007 ~~2008~~
IRL	1996 1996–97 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002
IndyCar	2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026
Years marked initalics are not official championship years or upcoming seasons.

v t e USAC Championship Cars (1971–1995)
Seasons	1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95
Indianapolis 500s	1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995
National Champions	Emerson Fittipaldi (twice) A. J. Foyt (twice) Gordon Johncock Joe Leonard (twice) Arie Luyendyk Roger McCluskey Rick Mears (three times) Bobby Rahal Johnny Rutherford Tom Sneva (three times) George Snider Danny Sullivan Al Unser Al Unser Jr. (twice) Bobby Unser Jacques Villeneuve
Tracks	Atlanta Brands Hatch DuQuoin State Fair Illinois State Fair Indianapolis Indiana State Fair Michigan Mid-Ohio Milwaukee Mosport Nazareth Ontario Phoenix Pocono Rafaela Silverstone Texas World Trenton