List of American Championship Car winners

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A. J. Foyt has the most career victories in Championship Car racing with 67.
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The following is a list compiling the total number of career victories in open wheel American Championship car racing. The list recognizes “Indy car” or “Champ car” victories under the following auspices:

Sanctioning bodies[edit]

The AAA Contest Board began sanctioning races as early as 1904. In the early years of the sport, only two seasons (1905 and 1916) an official national championship was recognized and awarded. Individual events from 1904, 1906–1915, and 1917–1919 are specifically excluded from the table below, due to the fact that they were not part of an official “championship” season.

The national championship was re-instated by AAA for 1920 and beyond. Retroactively awarded titles for the other years were later researched, although most historians consider them to be revisionist, and do not deem them as suitable for official record. All racing was suspended from 1942 to 1945, due to WWII. The 1946 season is a source of a statistical anomaly. The AAA Contest Board included a substantial number of “Big Car” races in the national championship for 1946, swelling the season to 77 events (6 Champ Car races and 71 Big Car races). Some later texts chose to dismiss the 71 Big Car races from record, but reliable records and historians contend that the season should be regarded as the full 77-race schedule.

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Note that victories in the Indianapolis 500 from 1979 to 1995 are listed under the heading of USAC. While CART sanctioned the primary year-long season of races, the Indianapolis 500 itself remained under the sanctioning of USAC.

For 1996–1997, victories in the Indianapolis 500 and Indy Racing League are listed solely under the heading of IndyCar. For the first nine races of its existence (five in 1996 and four in 1997), the Indy Racing League fell under the sanctioning umbrella of USAC. After two controversial races in early 1997, sanctioning abruptly switched to in-house oversight by the IRL. In 2010, the series retired the term “IRL” in favor of “IndyCar.”

Non-points races such as the Race of Two Worlds, Marlboro Challenge, and the 2008 Nikon Indy 300 are not reflected in the totals below.

National Championships chart[edit]

Notes[edit]

  • The retroactively-awarded (unofficial) champions published by Haresnape & Means, and later Russ Catlin, are not reflected in the totals.
  • Winners of the largely ceremonial USAC Gold Crown Championship (awarded from 1981 to 1995) are not included. During that period, the CART series conducted the national championship. Except for a dwindling “rump” period from 1980 to 1982, the Gold Crown title consisted of only the Indianapolis 500. Therefore, the Indy 500 winner was the de facto Gold Crown champion.
  • Due to sanctioning body splits in the sport of American Open Wheel racing from 1979 to 2007, several years saw two separate champions awarded for separately sanctioned championship circuits. It is reflected in the table for 1979, and 1996–2007.
  • Buzz Calkins and Scott Sharp tied for the three-race 1996 Indy Racing League championship. No rule existed to provide for a tiebreaker, and the two were declared co-champions.

Race wins chart[edit]

  Indicates active driver.

Winners of non-championship events[edit]

A substantial number of non-championship races were sanctioned by the AAA Contest Board, namely from the periods from 1902–1904, 1906–1915, and 1917–1920. That includes the Indianapolis 500 in 1911, 1912, 1913, 1914, 1915, and 1919. Various other non-championship races have been conducted over the years by AAA, USAC, CART, and IRL from 1920–2008. The winners from those races are specifically not included in the main table above. Below is an abridged list of race winners from non-championship AAA races.

Notes

  • The USAC Race of Two Worlds was considered a non-championship event. Likewise, the 1966 event at Fuji was a non-championship event. In some seasons, the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb was a championship event, and in some seasons it was not.
  • CART conducted the Marlboro Challenge all-star race from 1987–1992. This was considered a non-championship event.
  • Two INDYCAR races were abandoned as they were stopped before the legal definition of an official race by the sanctioning body, half distance plus one lap, unlike the FIA Code, which requires three green flag laps to be conducted for an official race. The 1999 IRL VisionAire 500K at Charlotte Motor Speedway was cancelled after 79 laps, and struck from record, with no winner officially declared following a Lap 62 crash where a tire went into the grandstand, killing three spectators. Buddy Lazier was leading at the time of the Lap 61 caution, while Greg Ray was leading at the formal race abandonment after Lap 79. The 2011 IZOD IndyCar World Championship at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was halted and formally abandoned after 11 laps as a result of a multiple-car crash that involved the death of Dan Wheldon, with Tony Kanaan leading. Therefore, the total number of IRL/IndyCar races reflected in the chart is two fewer than the number of actual events. Both races are recognised as “cancelled events” with the box scores listed based on standings at the time of abandonment on Racing Reference.
  • In the aftermath of the open wheel unification in early 2008, due to a scheduling conflict, the 2008 Long Beach Grand Prix was contested with former Champ Car teams and chassis. It was uniquely regarded as the “final” Champ Car race. However, it was officially contested under IndyCar sanction, awarded points towards the IndyCar championship, and race winner Will Power is credited with an IndyCar victory to his credit from the event. Furthermore, the Nikon Indy 300 was included on the 2008 schedule as a non-points exhibition race. Therefore, race winner Ryan Briscoe was not credited with an official victory for that event.
  • In 1952, another open wheel series was formed alongside the AAA, the NASCAR Speedway Division. Only one full season, along with a second partial season, was held, and the division folded after only ten points races. Of the ten race winners, none of the drivers (seven total) managed to win any races under AAA or USAC sanctioning.

Race wins at different tracks[edit]

This is an overview of which drivers have achieved a win on which race track. Only the number of different racetracks is displayed. Several victories on a particular track are not highlighted. The number of wins per driver is therefore smaller than the total number of career victories.

Paved Ovals[edit]

Driver Total AMS CHA CHI CMS DOV FON GAT HMS IMS IOW KAN KEN LAU LVS MIL MIS MOT NAZ NHS NSS ONT PHX POC PPR RIO RIR ROC SAN TMS TWS TRE WDW
Scott Dixon 14 X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Tony Kanaan 12 X X X X X X X X X X X X
Dario Franchitti 11 X X X X X X X X X X X
Hélio Castroneves 11 X X X X X X X X X X X
Johnny Rutherford 10 X X X X X X X X X X
Sam Hornish Jr. 10 X X X X X X X X X X
Dan Wheldon 9 X X X X X X X X X
A.J. Foyt 8 X X X X X X X X
Bobby Rahal 8 X X X X X X X X
Kenny Bräck 8 X X X X X X X X
Scott Sharp 8 X X X X X X X X
Juan Pablo Montoya 8 X X X X X X X X
Bobby Unser 7 X X X X X X X
Al Unser 7 X X X X X X X
Rick Mears 7 X X X X X X X
Michael Andretti 7 X X X X X X X
Al Unser Jr. 7 X X X X X X X
Gil de Ferran 7 X X X X X X X
Mario Andretti 6 X X X X X X
Gordon Johncock 6 X X X X X X
Tom Sneva 6 X X X X X X
Buddy Lazier 6 X X X X X X
Will Power 6 X X X X X X
Danny Sullivan 5 X X X X X
Jimmy Vasser 5 X X X X X
Arie Luyendyk 5 X X X X X
Adrián Fernández 5 X X X X X
Ryan Hunter-Reay 5 X X X X X
Joe Leonard 4 X X X X
Danny Ongais 4 X X X X
Emerson Fittipaldi 4 X X X X
Nigel Mansell 4 X X X X
Paul Tracy 4 X X X X
Greg Moore 4 X X X X
Eddie Cheever Jr. 4 X X X X
Ryan Briscoe 4 X X X X
Josef Newgarden 4 X X X X
Mark Donohue 3 X X X
Wally Dallenbach 3 X X X
Mike Mosley 3 X X X
André Ribeiro 3 X X X
Scott Goodyear 3 X X X
Tony Stewart 3 X X X
Greg Ray 3 X X X
Sébastien Bourdais 3 X X X
Buddy Rice 3 X X X
Ed Carpenter 3 X X X
Simon Pagenaud 3 X X X
Roger McCluskey 2 X X
Teo Fabi 2 X X
John Paul Jr. 2 X X
Alex Zanardi 2 X X
Robbie Buhl 2 X X
Cristiano da Matta 2 X X
Alex Barron 2 X X
Tomas Scheckter 2 X X
Bryan Herta 2 X X
Graham Rahal 2 X X
Alexander Rossi 2 X X
Takuma Sato 2 X X
Pato O’Ward 2 X X
Gary Bettenhausen 1 X X
Bill Vukovich Jr. 1 X
Pancho Carter 1 X
Mike Mosley 1 X
Kevin Cogan 1 X
Roberto Guerrero 1 X
Robby Gordon 1 X
Jacques Villeneuve 1 X
Scott Pruett 1 X
Buzz Calkins 1 X
Richie Hearn 1 X
Jim Guthrie 1 X
Eliseo Salazar 1 X
Mark Blundell 1 X
Billy Boat 1 X
Sam Schmidt 1 X
Mark Dismore 1 X
Max Papis 1 X
Christian Fittipaldi 1 X
Patrick Carpentier 1 X
Jaques Lazier 1 X
Bruno Junqueira 1 X
Jeff Ward 1 X
Airton Dare 1 X
Felipe Giaffone 1 X
Michel Jourdain Jr. 1 X
Danica Patrick 1 X
Justin Wilson 1 X
Marcus Ericsson 1 X

Permanent Road Courses[edit]

Driver Total ASS BAR BHA COA IGB LAG MEX MDO MOS MTT NOL POR ROA RIV SIL SNM WGL ZOL
Will Power 7 X X X X X X X
Sébastien Bourdais 6 X X X X X X
Mario Andretti 6 X X X X X X
Rick Mears 5 X X X X X
Scott Dixon 5 X X X X X
Michael Andretti 4 X X X X
Alex Zanardi 4 X X X X
Paul Tracy 4 X X X X
Simon Pagenaud 4 X X X X
Josef Newgarden 4 X X X X
Bobby Rahal 4 X X X X
Colton Herta 4 X X X X
Alexander Rossi 4 X X X X
Álex Palou 4 X X X X
Dan Gurney 3 X X X
Emerson Fittipaldi 3 X X X
Danny Sullivan 3 X X X
Cristiano da Matta 3 X X X
Hélio Castroneves 3 X X X
Justin Wilson 3 X X X
Dario Franchitti 3 X X X
Ryan Hunter-Reay 3 X X X
A.J. Foyt 2 X X
Bobby Unser 2 X X
Teo Fabi 2 X X
Al Unser Jr. 2 X X
Gil de Ferran 2 X X
Max Papis 2 X X
Patrick Carpentier 2 X X
Adrián Fernández 2 X X
A. J. Allmendinger 2 X X
Ryan Briscoe 2 X X
Takuma Sato 2 X X
Scott McLaughlin 2 X X
Danny Ongais 1 X
Johnny Rutherford 1 X
Héctor Rebaque 1 X
Roberto Guerrero 1 X
Jacques Villeneuve Sr. 1 X
Jacques Villeneuve Jr. 1 X
Mark Blundell 1 X
Jimmy Vasser 1 X
Bryan Herta 1 X
Christian Fittipaldi 1 X
Juan Pablo Montoya 1 X
Bruno Junqueira 1 X
Kenny Bräck 1 X
Alex Tagliani 1 X
Robert Doornbos 1 X
Tony Kanaan 1 X
Marco Andretti 1 X
Charlie Kimball 1 X
Graham Rahal 1 X
James Hinchcliffe 1 X
Felix Rosenqvist 1 X
Rinus VeeKay 1 X
Pato O’Ward 1 X

Temporary Street Courses[edit]

Driver Total Baltimore Cleveland Denver Detroit Edmonton Houston Las Vegas Long Beach Miami Monterrey Montreal Nashville New York San Jose São Paulo St. Petersburg Surfers Paradise Toronto Vancouver
INH BLA CIV PEP DET BEL EDM GBC NRG CPL FRE LBH TAM BIC BAY FUN CGV NAS MEA SJO SAO AWA SUR EXH CPP1 CPP2
Sébastien Bourdais 12 X X X X X X X X X X X X
Michael Andretti 9 X X X X X X X X X
Paul Tracy 9 X X X X X X X X X
Dario Franchitti 9 X X X X X X X X X
Will Power 9 X X X X X X X X X
Al Unser Jr. 7 X X X X X X X
Scott Dixon 6 X X X X X X
Danny Sullivan 5 X X X X X
Alex Zanardi 5 X X X X X
Ryan Hunter-Reay 5 X X X X X
Simon Pagenaud 5 X X X X X
Mario Andretti 4 X X X X
Emerson Fittipaldi 4 X X X X
Juan Pablo Montoya 4 X X X X
Cristiano da Matta 4 X X X X
Hélio Castroneves 4 X X X X
Bruno Junqueira 4 X X X X
Josef Newgarden 4 X X X X
Bobby Rahal 3 X X X
Jimmy Vasser 3 X X X
A. J. Allmendinger 3 X X X
Mike Conway 3 X X X
James Hinchcliffe 3 X X X
Marcus Ericsson 3 X X X
Jacques Villeneuve 2 X X
Adrián Fernández 2 X X
Roberto Moreno 2 X X
Gil de Ferran 2 X X
Mario Domínguez 2 X X
Graham Rahal 2 X X
Colton Herta 2 X X
Al Unser 1 X
Tom Sneva 1 X
John Andretti 1 X
Nigel Mansell 1 X
Robby Gordon 1 X
Scott Pruett 1 X
Greg Moore 1 X
Mark Blundell 1 X
Maurício Gugelmin 1 X
Patrick Carpentier 1 X
Michel Jourdain Jr. 1 X
Justin Wilson 1 X X
Dan Wheldon 1 X
Oriol Servià 1 X
Nelson Philippe 1 X
Robert Doornbos 1 X
Tony Kanaan 1 X
Ryan Briscoe 1 X x
Takuma Sato 1 X
Carlos Huertas 1 X
Carlos Muñoz 1 X
Alexander Rossi 1 X
Pato O’Ward 1 X
Scott McLaughlin 1 X

Notes[edit]

Track Colors
Track is part of 2023 season
Track was part of the CART/IndyCar Series between 1979 and 2021
Track was part of the USAC Championship Car Series between 1971 and 1981
Key
X – at least one win in a points race x – at least one win in a non-points race – participation, but no win no entry = no participation

Race wins by nationality[edit]

Race wins by teams[edit]

Total all-time victories for Indy car teams (selected teams & active teams). All figures current through the 2023 PPG 375.

External links[edit]

See also[edit]



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