Next race: Streets of St. Petersburg, March 02

Indy Car history: 1956 - 1979

After the USAC (United States Automobile Club) had replaced the AAA as sanctioning body, the schedule, cars, teams and drivers remained virtually the same. The USAC era was opened with a win of Pat Flaherty at the Indianapolis 500 in 1956, who covered the 500 miles with an average speed of 128 mph.

In addition to racing on the paved ovals of Indianapolis, Milwaukee and Darlington, the 12 race schedule filled by 12 races on dirt tracks. These dangerous dirt tracks would gradually by replaced by paved ovals over the next fifteen years.

Lloyd Ruby, IndianapolisIn this period, two drivers would make their debut in Indy Car racing, who would later become some of the most successful drivers ever. In 1957, A.J. Foyt made his debut on age 22. He would later win a record of 7 Indy Car championships and four Indy 500 victoryies. In 1967, Foyt won the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Indy 500 in the same year, making him the only driver to date to win both legendary races in the same year.

In 1964 Mario Andretti drove his first Indy Car race. An successful career would be ahead of the Italian immigrant, who would win five Indy Car championships. Andretti would also be the first driver to win both an Indy Car and Formula 1 championship, something later only Emerson Fittipaldi, Nigel Mansell and Jacques Villeneuve would be able to repeat. Both drivers kept racing before retiring from racing in the nineties, although Andretti would make a short return in 2003 as replacement driver for Tony Kanaan in Indianapolis on age 63.

The cars began to change significantly in the early sixties. After several attempts, Parnelli Jones won in 1964 at the Milwaukee Mile with a Lotus-Ford, which was the first victory for a car with the engine behind the driver. Also those engines changed from normally aspirated engines to turbo engines. From 1970 to 1997 (when the Indy Racing League started using normally aspirated engines again), all races - except for Mike Mosley's victory at Milwaukee in 1981 – were won by turbocharged engines.

Pikes PeakIn 1965 a remarkable race added to the calendar: The Pikes Peak Hill Climb. This was a 12 mile race to the top of the mountain, something totally different than the road courses, paved ovals and dirt tracks. The Pikes Peak Hill Climb would remain on the schedule until 1969.

The road courses began an come-back during the second half of the sixties, but this trend was only short-lived and like the dirt tracks, also road courses disappeared from the calendar in the early seventies. From 1971 to 1976 the series drove solely on paved ovals. This streak was ended by a race at the Canadian Mosport, on July 3, 1977. A year later the series tried a first trip to Europe, with races at Brands Hatch and Silverstone, but it would be unsuccessful.

Johnny  RutherfordIn the late seventies a conflict was brewing between the USAC and the team owners about which direction to follow as racing series. Because the USAC did not want to listen to the ideas of the team owners, they split off from the USAC and formed and new series called Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART). Most teams and drivers made the transition to the new series, but few remained loyal to the USAC championship.

After the 1979 season, USAC made the right choice and joined CART, making it one strong championship again.