1951 AAA Championship Car season

The 1951 AAA Championship Car season consisted of 15 races, beginning in Speedway, Indiana on May 30 and concluding in San Mateo, California on November 11. There was also one non-championship event in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. The AAA National Champion was Tony Bettenhausen, and the Indianapolis 500 winner was Lee Wallard.

Schedule and results

Rnd Date Race name Track Location Type Pole position Winning driver 1 May 30 International 500 Mile Sweepstakes Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway, Indiana Paved Duke Nalon Lee Wallard 2 June 10 Rex Mays Classic Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway West Allis, Wisconsin Dirt Jack McGrath Tony Bettenhausen 3 June 24 Langhorne 100 Langhorne Speedway Langhorne, Pennsylvania Dirt Jack McGrath Tony Bettenhausen 4 July 4 Darlington 250 Darlington Raceway Darlington, South Carolina Paved Johnny McDowell Walt FaulknerNC July 29 Indianapolis Sweepstakes Williams Grove Speedway Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania Dirt Troy Ruttman Troy Ruttman 5 August 18 Springfield 100 Illinois State Fairgrounds Springfield, Illinois Dirt Paul Russo Tony Bettenhausen 6 August 26 Milwaukee 200 Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway West Allis, Wisconsin Dirt Johnny McDowell Walt Faulkner 7 September 1 Ted Horn Memorial DuQuoin State Fairgrounds Du Quoin, Illinois Dirt Johnnie Parsons Tony Bettenhausen 8 September 3 Du Quoin 150 DuQuoin State Fairgrounds Du Quoin, Illinois Dirt Tony Bettenhausen Tony Bettenhausen 9 September 3 Pikes Peak Auto Hill Climb Pikes Peak Highway Pikes Peak, Colorado Hill Louis Unser Al Rogers 10 September 8 Syracuse 100 Syracuse Mile Syracuse, New York Dirt Tony Bettenhausen Tony Bettenhausen 11 September 9 Detroit 100 Michigan State Fairgrounds Speedway Detroit, Michigan Dirt Johnny McDowell Paul Russo 12 September 23 Denver 100 Centennial Race Track Littleton, Colorado Dirt Tony Bettenhausen Tony Bettenhausen 13 October 21 San Jose 100 San Jose Speedway San Jose, California Dirt Tony Bettenhausen Tony Bettenhausen 14 November 4 Phoenix 100 Arizona State Fairgrounds Phoenix, Arizona Dirt Henry Banks Johnnie Parsons 15 November 11 Bay Meadows 150 Bay Meadows Race Track San Mateo, California Dirt Jack McGrath Johnnie Parsons

Indianapolis 500 was AAA-sanctioned and counted towards the 1951 FIA World Championship of Drivers title. Race stopped after 101 laps due to rain. No pole is awarded for the Pikes Peak Hill Climb, in this schedule on the pole is the driver who started first. No lap led was awarded for the Pikes Peak Hill Climb, however, a lap was awarded to the drivers that completed the climb. Race stopped after 67 laps due to wreck.

Final points standings

Note1: The points became the car, when not only one driver led the car, the relieved driver became small part of the points. Points for driver method: (the points for the finish place) / (number the lap when completed the car) * (number the lap when completed the driver) Note2: There were scoring omissions in the AAA records regarding laps completed for eight drivers in the Darlington and Milwaukee races in 1951. The statistics shown include the most accurate representation of those races that is available.

Pos Driver INDY MIL1 LHS DAR SPR MIL2 DQSF1 DQSF2 PIK SYR MSF CEN SJS ASF BME Pts 1 Tony Bettenhausen 9 1 1 2 1 10 1 1 1 4 1 1 13 2 2556 2 Henry Banks 6 11 10 7 4 5 6 5 6 9 2 3 2 3 1856.6 3 Walt Faulkner 15 1 DNQ 1 4 2 2 2 18 DNQ 6 DNS 1513.6 4 Jack McGrath 3 18 7 5 2 2 16 11 7 3 4 14 18 1460.4 5 Mike Nazaruk 2 8 9 8 16 18 3 15 16 18 15 1143 6 Johnnie Parsons 21 DNQ DNS 23 3 2 16 17 14 7 1 1 1012 7 Lee Wallard 1 1000 8 Manuel Ayulo DNS 10 4 6 17 17 6 12 6 7 DNQ 9 11 997.5 9 Andy Linden 4 15 8 12 DNQ 22 9 7 11 DNQ 5 911 10 Paul Russo DNQ 4 13 14 9 3 15 1 13 2 DNQ 16 700 11 Bill Schindler 13 16 2 21 3 4 12 8 DNP 8 9 693.5 12 Cecil Green 22 2 3 3 650 13 Bobby Ball 5 DNQ 5 11 15 13 620 14 Chuck Stevenson 20 DNQ 9 5 6 10 4 9 DNP 538 15 Duane Carter 8 3 15 DNS 11 17 13 8 10 505 16 Sam Hanks 12 5 3 DNQ 5 10 DNQ 421.4 17 Jimmy Davies 16 14 24 18 13 13 17 5 3 8 315 18 Gene Force 11 7 15 13 19 10 18 DNQ DNQ 6 310.3 19 Cliff Griffith 28 9 11 11 7 8 9 DNQ 308.4 20 Neal Carter DNQ 18 20 16 DNQ 13 14 4 4 300 21 Bill Mackey 19 13 4 300 22 Carl Forberg 7 DNQ 300 23 Bill Vukovich 29 DNQ 14 26 15 21 7 DNQ 3 7 11 18 DNQ 291.8 24 Joe James 33 17 12 28 12 15 DNQ 14 16 15 4 8 5 DNQ 283 25 Fred Agabashian 17 DNS 6 DNQ 6 6 17 12 278.2 26 Jim Rigsby DNS 10 11 14 12 DNS 12 10 11 7 233.1 27 Johnny McDowell 32 16 16 9 8 15 15 17 9 9 12 DNP 230 28 Gordon Reid DNQ 6 17 17 7 20 18 13 DNQ 14 16 13 7 14 204 29 Al Rogers 1 200 30 Rodger Ward 27 5 13 DNS DNQ 8 17 10 17 192 31 Johnny Mauro 2 160 32 Duke Nalon 10 150 33 Louis Unser 3 140 34 Pete Woods 4 DNQ DNQ DNQ 120 35 Harry King DNQ DNQ DNQ 8 5 DNQ 117.5 36 Eddie Johnson 4 11 100.4 37 Ray Knepper DNQ DNQ 5 22 100 38 Herb Bryers 5 100 39 Troy Ruttman 23 6 15 80 40 Charles Bryant 6 80 41 Joe Garson 8 DNQ 11 18 DNQ DNQ DNQ 70 42 Bob Finney 7 60 43 Shelby Hill 8 50 44 Mack Hellings 31 DNQ 9 DNQ 40 45 Johnnie Tolan DNQ 12 DNS DNQ 14 DNQ DNQ 10 DNQ 40 46 Jimmy Good 10 30 47 Roy Sherman DNQ DNS DNS 28 48 Buzz Barton 10 20.1 49 Delmar Desch 11 20 50 George Connor 30 DNQ DNS 25 DNQ 12 DNQ DNQ DNQ 20 51 Walt Brown 26 DNQ 10 17 52 Frank Armi DNQ DNQ DNQ 17 12 16 DNQ 10 53 Hugh Thomas 12 10 - Buster Warke DNS 12 0 - Wayne Sankey 13 0 - Kenny Eaton DNQ 14 0 - Tommy Hinnershitz DNQ 14 0 - Mauri Rose 14 0 - Glenn Harrison 14 0 - Walt Moffatt 15 0 - Jimmy Jackson 16 0 - Johnny Fedricks 16 0 - Wayne England 17 0 - Duke Dinsmore 24 DNQ 18 DNQ DNQ 0 - Carl Scarborough 18 DNQ DNQ 27 DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ 0 - Dick Fraizer DNQ 18 DNQ DNQ 0 - Roger Barlow 18 0 - Rex Easton DNQ 19 DNQ 0 - D. R. Atkinson 19 0 - Malcolm Brazier 20 0 - Walt Killinger 21 DNS 0 - Phil Shafer 21 0 - Milton Mabe 22 0 - Buster Hammond 23 0 - Richard DeMark 24 0 - Chet Miller 25 0 - George Hammond 25 0 - Art McKee 26 0 - T. E. Russell 27 DNP 0 - Andy Cimino 28 0 - Joel Thorne DNQ DNS 0 - Clarence Doley DNS 0 - Clifford Foltz DNS 0 - Jim Hammond DNS 0 - Red Lawrence DNS 0 - Billy Ryan DNS 0 - Ray Shadbolt DNS 0 - Curt Stockwell DNS 0 - Harry Syer DNS 0 - Doc Shanebrook DNQ DNQ DNQ 0 - Joe Barzda DNQ DNQ DNQ 0 - Dick Page DNQ DNQ DNQ 0 - Bob Scott DNQ DNQ DNQ 0 - Myron Fohr DNQ DNQ 0 - George Lynch DNQ DNQ 0 - Jud Larson DNQ DNQ 0 - Joe Sostilio DNQ DNQ 0 - Mark Light DNQ DNQ 0 - Potsy Goacher DNQ DNQ 0 - Bill Boyd DNQ DNQ 0 - Del Fanning DNQ DNQ 0 - Jimmy Bryan DNQ 0 - Bill Cantrell DNQ 0 - Jimmy Daywalt DNQ 0 - George Fonder DNQ 0 - Jackie Holmes DNQ 0 - Norm Houser DNQ 0 - Jerry Hoyt DNQ 0 - Bill Johnson DNQ 0 - Danny Kladis DNQ 0 - Bayliss Levrett DNQ 0 - Roscoe Rann DNQ 0 - Mike Salay DNQ 0 - Bud Sennett DNQ 0 - Bob Sweikert DNQ 0 - Leroy Warriner DNQ 0 - Frank Burany DNQ 0 - John Crone DNQ 0 - Bobby Barker DNQ 0 - Eddie Sachs DNQ 0 - Bill Doster DNQ 0 - Slim Roberts DNQ 0 - Dempsey Wilson DNQ 0 - Jean Achard DNP 0 Pos Driver INDY MIL1 LHS DAR SPR MIL2 DQSF1 DQSF2 PIK SYR MSF CEN SJS ASF BME Pts Color Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green 4th & 5th place Light Blue 6th-10th place Dark Blue Finished(Outside Top 10) Purple Did not finish(Ret) Red Did not qualify(DNQ) Brown Withdrawn(Wth) Black Disqualified(DSQ) White Did not start(DNS) Blank Did notparticipate(DNP) Not competing In-line notationBoldPole positionItalicsRan fastest race lap*Led most race laps Rookie of the Year Rookie

References

http://media.indycar.com/pdf/2011/IICS_2011_Historical_Record_Book_INT6.pdf (p. 299-302)

See also 1951 Indianapolis 500