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1976 California 500
The 1976 California 500, the seventh running of the event, was held at the Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, California, on Sunday, September 5, 1976. The event was race number 10 of 13 in the 1976 USAC Championship Car season. The race was won by Bobby Unser, becoming the first man to win the California 500 twice. The race was also the first Indy Car race for Rick Mears. Background Ontario Motor Speedway was built using public bonds and the bond-owners were represented by the non-profit Ontario Motor Speedway Corporation. Beginning in 1973, a group led by Parnelli Jones and Tony Hulman leased Ontario Motor Speedway and promoted racing events there. 15 days after the 1975 California 500, Jones announced that the group would terminate their lease with the non-profit group. Jones said, "We have lost a lot of money and the future doesn't look any better. There is too much politics involved in the speedway. We have to answer to the non-profit board that oversees the track, to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Danny Ongais
Danny Ongais (May 21, 1942 – February 26, 2022) was an American racing driver. Ongais was the only Hawaiian born driver to compete in the Indianapolis 500. He competed professionally in motorcycle, sports car, CART, IndyCar, Formula One, and drag racing. A fearless figure on the racing circuit, Ongais was nicknamed "On-the-Gas" and "The Flyin' Hawaiian." He is the only driver to have won the NHRA U.S. Nationals and the 24 Hours of Daytona. In the 1960s he won multiple drag racing championships and was named one of the National Hot Rod Association’s Top 50 Drivers for 1951-2000. In the 1970s he moved to competing in sports cars and Indy cars, winning races in both types, including the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1979 and several Indy car races in 1977 and 1978. He also raced in Formula One from 1977-78, in six Grands Prix, recording a best result of seventh. He was known as a fast and daring driver, but he experienced multiple crashes in his career, some resulting in injury. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
California 500 (IndyCar)
The California 500 was a USAC, and later CART, race held at Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, California. The event represented a continuous lineage of open wheel oval racing in Southern California that dates back to 1970. History Open wheel oval racing in southern California dated back to the USAC California 500 at Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, California, held from 1970 to 1978. The race was part of IndyCar racing's "triple crown," and at its inception, was held in high prestige. The inaugural running was considered a huge success, with 187,000 in attendance. However, it became a CART A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by draught animals such as horses, donkeys, mules and oxen, or even smaller animals such as goats or large dogs. A handcart ... event in 1979 and the track fell into financial troubles in 1980, closing at the end of that year. Subsequent runnings were never able to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al Unser
Alfred Unser (May 29, 1939 – December 9, 2021) was an American automobile racing driver, the younger brother of fellow racing drivers Jerry and Bobby Unser, and father of Al Unser Jr. He was the second of four men ( A. J. Foyt, himself, Rick Mears and Hélio Castroneves) to have won the Indianapolis 500 four times (1970, 1971, 1978, 1987), the fourth of six to have won the race in consecutive years, and the winner of the National Championship in 1970, 1983, and 1985. The Unser family has won the Indy 500 a record nine times. He was the only person to have both a sibling (Bobby) and child (Al Jr.) as fellow Indy 500 winners. Al's nephews Johnny and Robby Unser have also competed in that race. In 1971, he became the only driver to date to win the race on his birthday (his 32nd). After his son Al Unser Jr. joined the national championship circuit in 1983, Unser was generally known professionally by the retronym "Al Unser Sr." He was also nicknamed "Big Al", and Al Unser J ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salt Walther
David "Salt" Walther (November 22, 1947 – December 27, 2012) was a driver in the USAC and CART Championship Car series. He also drove NASCAR stock cars and unlimited hydroplane boats, and was a car owner in USAC. Walther is best remembered for a crash at the start of the 1973 Indianapolis 500 that left him critically injured. He recovered from his injuries, returned in 1974, and placed 9th in the 1976 race. He also co-drove a car with Bob Harkey to 10th place in 1975. He was the son of George Walther Jr., owner of Dayton Steel Foundry, who fielded Indy 500 cars for Juan Manuel Fangio in 1958 and Mike Magill in 1959. His German-born grandfather George Walther Sr. established the foundry and was a prominent inventor and industrialist. His brother, George "Skipp" Walther III, was fatally injured while trying to qualify as an Unlimited driver at Miami Marine Stadium, in 1974. David Walther was given the nickname "Salt" during his teen years, owing to his boat racing. He ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pancho Carter
Duane Claude Carter Jr. (born June 11, 1950), nicknamed "Pancho," is an American former open-wheel racing driver. Best known for his participation in Championship car racing, he won the pole position for the 1985 Indianapolis 500, and won the Michigan 500 in 1981. Racing career Midget cars Carter's national career began while racing in a midget car. He won the 1972 USAC midget car championship. He won the 1972 and 1975 Hut Hundred. He had 23 midget car feature wins by the time he left the series in 1978. Sprint cars Carter won the 1974 and 1976 national USAC sprint car championships. He was the first driver to win the two USAC championships – midgets and sprint cars. He has wins in three USAC divisions – midgets, sprints and Silver Crown (formerly known as dirt cars). On May 30, 1977, Carter won two USAC Midget features, one USAC sprint feature and finished second in the second USAC sprint feature at Salem Speedway on a day the temperatures were near 100 degrees. Thi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billy Scott (racing Driver)
Billy Scott (October 10, 1948 – April 28, 2017 San Bernardino, California), was an American race car driver. Scott competed in a number of disciplines, including open wheel car, stock car, and drag racing. In 1974–1976, he competed in four races in the United States Automobile Club, USAC American Championship car racing, Championship Car series, including the 1976 Indianapolis 500 where he finished 23rd in a car owned by Warner W. Hodgdon and named the Spirit of Public Enterprise. Indianapolis 500 results External links * 1948 births 2017 deaths Indianapolis 500 drivers Champ Car drivers Racing drivers from California Sportspeople from San Bernardino, California {{US-autoracing-bio-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jim McElreath
Jimmie Earl McElreath (February 18, 1928 – May 18, 2017) was an American open-wheel racing driver, known for competing in the USAC Championship car series. He won the inaugural California 500 in 1970, driving a spare car owned by A. J. Foyt. Racing career Jim began his racing career in 1945 at the age of 17. He raced stock cars in Dallas, Texas. Jim would race in the local Texas bullrings for the next fifteen years while working as a bricklayer. It was in 1960 when he and fellow Texan racer Johnny Rutherford decided to race in the Midwest. Both would eventually find super modified rides in the International Motor Contest Association (IMCA). Jim did well enough that by late-summer 1961 that he was offered a ride by fame car owner Lindsey Hopkins in the Hoosier Hundred, a race at the Indiana State Fairgrounds on the United States Auto Club (USAC) National Championship Trail. He finished third in this race, an impressive start to his Indy Car career. He raced in the 1961 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1970 California 500
The 1970 California 500, the inaugural running of the event, was held at the Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, California, on Sunday, September 6, 1970. The event was race number 12 of 18 in the 1970 USAC Championship Car season. The race was won by Jim McElreath, his final Indy Car victory. The race commenced an 11-year history of the California 500 being a part of IndyCar racing's Triple Crown. Background Plans for Ontario Motor Speedway were announced on February 16, 1966. Its primary financial backers were the Stolte Construction Company and Filmways Inc., a film production company that produced television shows such as ''The Beverly Hillbillies'', ''Petticoat Junction'', ''Green Acres'', and ''The Addams Family''. Upon the announcement, USAC agreed to sanction a pair of 500-mile races for Indy cars and stock cars. The inaugural race was scheduled for December 1, 1968. Advertised as the "Indianapolis of the West", the track was similar in design to the Indianapolis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tom Sneva
Thomas Edsol Sneva (born June 1, 1948) is an American former race car driver who won the Indianapolis 500 in 1983. He primarily raced in Indy cars, and was named to the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2005. A former math teacher and junior high principal from Spokane, Washington, Sneva's win at Indianapolis came after three runner-up finishes and a spectacular crash in 1975. Nicknamed "the Gas Man," he was an outstanding qualifier, winning the pole position three times (1977, 1978, 1984). In 1977, he won the pole position with a new track record, becoming the first driver to break the 200 mph barrier at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He was also the fastest qualifier on a fourth occasion in 1981, but because of qualifying rules did not start the race from the pole position that year. Sneva won two consecutive USAC National Championships for Indy cars in 1977 and 1978. Career Born in Spokane, to Edsol "Ed" and Joan, Sneva's first powered vehicle was a go-kart, which he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roger McCluskey
Roger McCluskey (August 24, 1930 – August 29, 1993) was an American IndyCar driver. He was raised in Tucson, Arizona. He won championship titles in three divisions of the United States Auto Club: Sprints, Stocks, and Champ Cars. He won the USAC Sprint Car title in 1963 and 1966, the USAC Stock Car title in 1969 and 1970. The Champ Car title in 1973. His first USAC Stock Car start resulted in a runner-up finish in Phoenix, Arizona in January 1968, when he drove as a substitute driver for Norm Nelson. McCluskey earned four USAC Midget Car wins, 23 USAC Sprint Car wins, 23 USAC Stock Car wins and five USAC Championship Car (national championship) wins (including his last start at Milwaukee in 1979, which is a rarity since most drivers don't win their last race in their career). He was the USAC national champion in 1973. He started every Indianapolis 500 race from 1961 to 1979 except 1964, with a best finish of 3rd in 1973. He also made four NASCAR Grand National Series sta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1972 California 500
The 1972 California 500, the third running of the event, was held at the Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, California, on Sunday, September 3, 1972. The event was race number 8 of 10 in the 1972 USAC Championship Car season. The race was won by Roger McCluskey, his first 500-mile American open-wheel car racing, Indy Car victory. In qualifying, Jerry Grant became the first IndyCar driver to ever break to 200 mile per hour barrier. Background Mark Donohue won the 1972 Indianapolis 500. On July 3, 1972, Donohue] suffered injuries to his left knee and thigh in a Can-Am testing crash at Road Atlanta. Donohue required surgery to repair torn ligaments and would miss the California 500. He was replaced at Team Penske by Mike Hiss, who himself drove wearing a leg brace to recuperate a broken leg suffered in a motorcycle accident. Practice and Time Trials Practice began on Saturday, August 19. With a speed of 175.155 mph, Denny Zimmerman was the fastest of only three car that c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vel's Parnelli Jones Racing
Vel's Parnelli Jones Racing, commonly referred to simply as Parnelli or VPJ, was a motor racing constructor and team from the United States. The team was formed in 1969 by former USAC racer Parnelli Jones and his business partner Velko "Vel" Miletich. Parnelli was initially solely concerned with USAC racing, where success came quickly; their driver Al Unser won the Indianapolis 500 race in 1970, driving a VPJ Colt, after leading 190 of the 200 racing laps. Unser went on to win the USAC championship. Unser repeated the Indy 500 win in 1971 with a new Colt built without the left side chassis offset that had been made illegal by 1971 rules, ending the season in fourth place in the USAC drivers points while teammate Joe Leonard won the championship. Racing Parnelli secured the services of ex-Team Lotus designer Maurice Philippe and driver Mario Andretti for USAC racing in the early 1970s, and in 1974 decided to move into Formula One racing, with financial support from tire manuf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
