United States Automobile Club

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The United States Automobile Club (USAC) is an open-wheel auto racing sanctioning body. From 1956 to 1979 the USAC sanctioned the United States National Championship, and from 1956 to 1997 it sanctioned the Indianapolis 500.

1 History
2 End of Championship car sanctioning
3 CART/IRL split
4 USAC Championship Car Series
5 USAC Silver Crown Series
6 USAC Sprint Car Series
7 USAC National Midget Series
8 External links

[edit] History

It was formed by Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Tony Hulman when the American Automobile Association (AAA) withdrew from auto racing following the 1955 Le Mans disaster. USAC became the arbiter of rules, car design, and other matters for what it termed Championship automobile racing. This term, which sounds rather generic, in fact became a term of art describing a car built to be used in the highest level of USAC racing. For a while there was a separate series of specifications for Championship cars designed to be run on dirt, rather than paved, tracks.

USAC also became the sanctioning body for many lower levels of motor racing, including sports cars, sprint cars, midget cars, and others. Some of these series were used somewhat as a developmental league for Championship racing.

[edit] End of Championship car sanctioning

USAC was not particularly popular with a large segment of drivers, team owners, and crew members, who often found its rules, procedures, and judgements to be rather capricious and arbitrary. This feeling of ill-will came to a head in the late 1970s and led to a break between USAC and most of the Championship team owners and drivers, who formed their own organization, Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART), which began operation in 1979. Unsurprisingly, litigation ensued, in large part over which group had the right to use the term "Championship". This was eventually resolved, in favor of CART. After an attempt to form a new championship, called the Championship Racing League (CRL), was vetoed by Indianapolis Speedway management, the USAC and CART eventually settled into a relatively peaceful co-existence, with the USAC continuing to sanction to Indianapolis 500, and CART including the race in its schedule.

[edit] CART/IRL split

In 1996, when CART and the newly formed Indy Racing League split open-wheel racing into two different series, USAC remained the sanctioning body for the IRL.

At the end of the 1997 Indianapolis 500, a caution flag came out. It was unclear as to whether the race would end under caution or under green flag conditions. The decision was made to go green at lap 199 of 200. When Arie Luyendyk, the race leader, arrived in turn one, the yellow caution lights still flashed even though he had been given the green and white flags by the starter. Runner-up Scott Goodyear claimed that he had assumed the race would end under caution and was surprised to see the green flag.

At the IRL's next race in Texas, Luyendyk was incorrectly scored as being two laps down from the apparent winner Billy Boat. While Boat and car owner A.J. Foyt celebrated in victory lane, Luyendyk walked onto the scene and confronted officials. Foyt slapped Luyendyk, and he fell over a flower bed. In review, Luyendyk was scored as the race winner by nearly a lap, and USAC was subsequently removed as the IRL's sanctioning body.

While the USAC did not disappear, its influence was greatly lessened. It still continues today as a sanctioning body for some of the grassroots levels of motor racing, including the USAC Silver Crown series for tube-framed, alcohol-fueled open-wheel cars racing on dirt and paved ovals, as well as national championships for sprint and midget cars.