1946 AAA Championship Car season

1946 AAA Championship Car season
AAA National Championship Trail
Season
Races	77
Start date	April 14
End date	November 10
Awards
National champion	Ted Horn
Indianapolis 500 winner	George Robson
← 1941 1947 →

The 1946 AAA Championship Car season was the first season of American Championship car racing following World War II. After four years without automobile racing in the United States, the AAA Contest Board was initially concerned about having enough races, enough entrants, and suitable equipment, to contest season on such short notice for 1946. Even the Indianapolis 500 was in doubt, as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway had been fallen into a terrible state of neglect during the war years.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Eddie Rickenbacker sold the track to Tony Hulman in November 1945, by which time it had fallen into a dilapidated state of disrepair.^[1] As the season progressed, it proved to be a success, and marked a triumphant return of the National Championship. Hulman's swift and herculean efforts to renovate Indianapolis in just six months allowed for the 1946 Indianapolis 500 to be run as scheduled on May 30, and it was won by George Robson.

George Robson and George Barringer were killed at Atlanta during the race. Al Putnam died at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Speedway during qualifying.

Previously, only races of over 100 miles (160 km) in length on tracks that were one mile (1.6 km) or longer were permitted to host National Championship events. Due to the concerns about the car counts and participation, the AAA Contest Board included a substantial number of "Big Car" races (today known as Sprint Cars) as part of the championship. The season officially consisted of 77 races (6 Championship Car races and 71 Big Car races), beginning at Mechanicsburg on April 14 and concluding at Richmond on November 10.^[2] Two non-points, exhibition races were also part of the calendar season.

After car counts and participation was better than expected, some confusion arose over as to whether the 71 Big Car events still counted towards the National Championship. Some news publications of the time erroneously reported the points totals from only the six Champ Car events, implying - or incorrectly assuming - that the Big Car races had been, or would be, dropped.^[3] Nevertheless, despite all of the second-guessing and speculation, a full 77-race season was completed.

The Contest Board met after the season, and it was not until then which they declared the Big Car races would be dropped from the National Championship - effective for 1947.^[2][4] The ruling cemented the notion that the 71 Big Car races were indeed recognized as part of the official 1946 season. Furthermore, the prize money and 1947 car number assignments are consistent with the final points standings reflecting the full 77-race schedule.^[2][5][6][7]

Despite later publications suggesting the season was only six races (including official statistical publications released by the league decades later), historians firmly contend that the 1946 season should be recognized as the full 77-race schedule.

The AAA National Champion was Ted Horn, and the Indianapolis 500 winner was George Robson. Incidentally, based on his points totals, Horn would have been declared the champion with or without the 71 "Big Car" races included. This oddity has help contribute to the illusion of a six-race season.

^A Scheduled for 100 miles, stopped early due to fatal accident involving George Robson and George Barringer. Ted Horn was leading at the time of the accident, but after a protest, was found to have been involved in the accident and had his win stripped.

Note: Bill Holland started on the pole position in the Lakewood Race on July 4 and Ted Horn started on the pole position in the DuBois Race on July 20.

† Robson was killed in the race at Lakewood Speedway on September 2

The official IndyCar Series Historical Record Book (2011) listed only the six "Champ Car" in the schedule. (page 72)

Rnd	Date	Race Name	Length	Track	Location	Type	Pole Position	Winning Driver
1	May 30	International 500 Mile Sweepstakes	500 mi (800 km)	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Speedway, Indiana	Paved	Cliff Bergere	George Robson
2	June 30	Langhorne 100	100 mi (160 km)	Langhorne Speedway	Langhorne, Pennsylvania	Dirt	Ted Horn	Rex Mays
3	September 2	Atlanta 100	98 mi (158 km)A	Lakewood Speedway	Atlanta, Georgia	Dirt	Rex Mays	George Connor
NC	September 2	Pikes Peak Auto Hill Climb	12.42 mi (19.99 km)	Pikes Peak Highway	Pikes Peak, Colorado	Hill	Louis UnserB	Louis Unser
4	September 15	Indianapolis 100	100 mi (160 km)	Indiana State Fairgrounds	Indianapolis, Indiana	Dirt	Rex Mays	Rex Mays
5	September 22	Milwaukee 100	100 mi (160 km)	Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway	West Allis, Wisconsin	Dirt	Rex Mays	Rex Mays
6	October 6	George Robson Memorial	100 mi (160 km)	Good Time Park	Goshen, New York	Dirt	Emil Andres	Tony Bettenhausen

^A Scheduled for 100 miles, stopped early due to fatal accident involving George Robson and George Barringer. Ted Horn was leading at the time of the accident, but after a protest, was found to have been involved in the accident and had his win stripped.

^B 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.

Pos Driver INDY LAN ATL ISF MIL GOS Pts 1 Ted Horn 3 3 6 4 2 2 1360 2 Emil Andres 4 4 3 3 3 4 1260 3 George Robson 1 2 7 1220 4 Jimmy Jackson  RY  2 800 5 Rex Mays 30 1 11 1 1 DNQ 620 6 Louis Durant 6 DNS 400 7 Joie Chitwood 5 DNP 372 8 George Connor 24 9 1 7 10 9 370 9 Tony Bettenhausen 20 DNP 5 9 1 340 10 Duke Dinsmore  R  17 10 11 4 3 310 11 Luigi Villoresi  R  7 300 12 Billy Devore 10 5 9 290 13 Frank Wearne 8 250 14 Mauri Rose 23 12 2 6 DNP 240 15 Steve Truchan  R  DNQ DNP 2 9 200 16 Charlie Rogers  R  DNS 5 5 200 17 Bill Sheffler  R  9 DNP 200 18 Bud Bardowski  R  DNS 4 13 12 10 160 19 Joe Langley  R  DNQ 5 14 100 20 Mel Hansen 11 DNP 100 21 Buddy Rusch  R  DNQ 6 80 22 Floyd Davis 6 80 23 Eddie Casterline 6 80 24 Spider Webb 10 8 DNP 80 25 Elbert Booker  R  DNP 12 7 DNP 70 26 George Metzler  R  11 8 70 27 Walt Brown 7 60 28 Fred Carpenter  R  7 60 29 Al Miller DNQ 8 14 DNP 50 30 Hal Robson 25 8 50 31 George Barringer 29 DNP 8 50 32 Russ Snowberger 12 DNP DNS DNP 39 33 Danny Goss  R  10 30 - Lee Wallard 11 0 - Harry McQuinn 13 0 - Walt Ader  R  13 0 - Ralph Hepburn 14 0 - Al Putnam 15 DNQ 0 - Cliff Bergere 16 0 - Chet Miller 18 0 - Jimmy Wilburn  R  19 0 - Danny Kladis  R  21 0 - Duke Nalon 22 DNP 0 - Louis Tomei 26 0 - Henry Banks 27 DNS 0 - Shorty Cantlon 28 0 - Sam Hanks 31 0 - Hal Cole  R  32 0 - Paul Russo 33 0 - Eddie Zalucki  R  DNS 0 - Zora Arkus-Duntov DNQ DNQ 0 - Charles Van Acker DNQ DNP 0 - Robert Arbuthnot DNQ 0 - Harold Bailey DNQ 0 - Gerald Brisko DNQ 0 - Jim Brubaker DNQ 0 - Arvol Brunmeier DNQ 0 - Rudolf Caracciola DNQ 0 - Bruce Denslow DNQ 0 - Louis Gérard DNQ 0 - Tommy Hinnershitz DNQ 0 - Wally Mitchell DNQ 0 - Frank McGurk DNQ 0 - Ray Richards DNQ 0 - Bud Rose DNQ 0 - Harry Schell DNQ 0 - Joel Thorne DNQ 0 - Achille Varzi DNQ 0 - Bus Wilbert DNQ 0 - Doc Williams DNQ 0 - Freddie Winnai DNQ 0 - Charles Crawford DNP 0 - Dioscoride Lanza DNP 0 - Joe Silvia DNP 0 - Raphaël Bethenod DNP 0 Pos Driver INDY LAN ATL ISF MIL GOS 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 not participate (DNP) Not competing In-line notation Bold Pole position Italics Ran fastest race lap * Led most race laps  RY  Rookie of the Year  R  Rookie

Note: 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)

• Åberg, Andreas. "AAA National Championship 1946". Driver Database. Archived from the original on October 19, 2012. Retrieved April 19, 2011.
• "1946 AAA National Championship Trail". ChampCarStats.com. Archived from the original on April 5, 2012. Retrieved April 19, 2011.
• Harms, Phil. "1946 Championship Driver Summary" (PDF). Motorsport.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 10, 2012. Retrieved April 19, 2011.
• http://media.indycar.com/pdf/2011/IICS_2011_Historical_Record_Book_INT6.pdf Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine (p. 72, 315–316)

• 1946 Indianapolis 500