, less than a block from the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway (visible behind the headquarters) (TORC) event When the
American Automobile Association (AAA) withdrew from auto racing after the 1955 season, citing the
Le Mans disaster and the death of
Bill Vukovich at
Indianapolis as contributing factors, both the
SCCA and
NASCAR were mentioned as its potential successor. Ultimately, USAC was formed by
Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner
Tony Hulman. It became the arbiter of rules, car design, and other matters for what it termed
championship auto racing, 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. Today, USAC sanction
open-wheel racing series such as the Silver Crown Series,
National Sprint Car Series,
National Midget Series, and
Quarter Midgets.
Triple crown The "triple crown" is earned in USAC racing when a driver claims all three national championships (Silver Crown, sprint car, and midget car). Only two drivers,
Tony Stewart (1995) and
J. J. Yeley (2003), have achieved the triple crown in a single season. Six other drivers,
Pancho Carter (1972–78),
Dave Darland (1997–2001),
Jerry Coons Jr. (2006–08),
Tracy Hines (2000, 2002, 2015),
Chris Windom (2016, 2017, 2020), and
Logan Seavey (2023–2024) have claimed each of the three championships at least once in their careers. In 2012
Mike Curb and
Cary Agajanian became the only car owners to win the triple crown by winning all three championships in the same year.
National championship USAC awarded a national championship until
A. J. Foyt won his seventh title in 1979. It resumed awarding a national championship in 2010. Killed were: • Ray Marquette, USAC's vice-president of public affairs and a former sportswriter for
The Indianapolis Star • Frank Delroy, chairman of USAC technical committee • Shim Malone, starter for USAC races and head of its midget racer division • Judy Phillips, graphic artist and publication director of USAC's newsletter • Stan Worley, chief registrar • Ross Teeguarden, assistant technical chairman • Don Peabody, head of the sprint division • Dr. Bruce White, assistant staff doctor • Don Mullendore, owner and pilot of the plane.
Arthur W Graham III, Director of Timing & Scoring, was scheduled to be on the flight, but decided last-minute to drive back with the timing equipment. The incident closely followed the death of Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Tony Hulman. Though some think the plane crash was used as an opportunistic way to force change in the sport, it was merely an unfortunate coincidence. The seed of dissent had been growing for several years before the accident, and claims the crash was an immediate cause for the 1979 CART/USAC "split" are considered for the most part unfounded. Also unpopular were the attempts of USAC to keep the aging
Offenhauser engine competitive with the newer, and much more expensive,
Cosworth DFX engine using boost-limiting "pop off valves" and limiting the amount of fuel that could be used. Finally, most car owners banded together to form
Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) in 1978, with the first race to be run in
1979. USAC tried unsuccessfully to ban all CART owners from the
1979 Indianapolis 500, finally losing in court before the race began. Both the USAC and CART ran multi-race schedules in 1979. Indianapolis Motor Speedway president John Cooper was instrumental in forming a joint body of CART and USAC with the creation of the Championship Racing League (CRL) in March 1980. However, in mid-1980, Cooper forced USAC to renounce their agreement with the CRL if they wanted to keep officiating the Indy 500. After USAC's attempt at a 500-mile race at
Pocono Raceway – which was boycotted by the CART teams, forcing USAC to fill the field with Silver Crown cars – USAC and CART eventually settled into a relatively peaceful co-existence, with USAC continuing to sanction the Indianapolis 500 and no other Championship car races, and CART including the race in its schedule between other CART-sanctioned races. When the
Indy Racing League (IRL) split with CART in 1996, USAC served as the sectioning body for IRL races, including the Indy 500, until terminated the sanctioning agreement following officiating errors at the
1997 Indianapolis 500 and
1997 True Value 500; subsequent Indy 500s have been sanctioned by IRL—renamed the
IndyCar Series in 2003—itself.
Road racing expansion Since 2022, the United States Auto Club has sanctioned the
USF Juniors,
USF2000 Championship, and
USF Pro 2000 Championship series, which serve as a ladder series to Indy NXT, along with the
Radical Sportscars North American Championships,
Skip Barber Racing School, as well as continued sanctioning of the
GT World Challenge America and
Porsche Sprint Challenge North America under the newly formed Road Racing Division under the direction of
Randy Hembrey. ==Active series==