1948 AAA Championship Car season

1948 AAA Championship Car season
1948 AAA Championship Car season
AAA National Championship Trail
Season
Races	12
Start date	April 25
End date	October 10
Awards
National champion	Ted Horn
Indianapolis 500 winner	Mauri Rose
	← 1947 1949 →

Last updated October 24, 2025

The 1948 AAA Championship Car season consisted of 12 races, beginning in Arlington, Texas on April 25 and concluding in Du Quoin, Illinois on October 10. The AAA National Champion was Ted Horn, and the Indianapolis 500 winner was Mauri Rose. Ralph Hepburn was killed at Indianapolis in practice, and Ted Horn was killed at the last race in DuQuoin.

Schedule and results

Rnd	Date	Race name	Track	Location	Type	Pole position	Winning driver
1	April 25	H. H. Wheler Memorial Cup	Arlington Downs Raceway	Arlington, Texas	Dirt	Paul Russo	Ted Horn
2	May 31	International 500 Mile Sweepstakes	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Speedway, Indiana	Paved	Rex Mays	Mauri Rose
3	June 6	Milwaukee 100	Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway	West Allis, Wisconsin	Dirt	Johnny Mantz	Emil Andres
4	June 20	National Convention Sweepstakes	Langhorne Speedway	Langhorne, Pennsylvania	Dirt	Tony Bettenhausen	Walt Brown
5	August 15	Milwaukee 100	Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway	West Allis, Wisconsin	Dirt	Myron Fohr	Johnny Mantz
6	August 21	Springfield 100	Illinois State Fairgrounds	Springfield, Illinois	Dirt	Myron Fohr	Ted Horn
7	August 29	Milwaukee 200	Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway	West Allis, Wisconsin	Dirt	Paul Russo	Myron Fohr
7	August 29	Milwaukee 200	Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway	West Allis, Wisconsin	Dirt	Paul Russo	Tony Bettenhausen ^A
8	September 4	DuQuoin 100	DuQuoin State Fairgrounds	Du Quoin, Illinois	Dirt	Rex Mays	Lee Wallard
9	September 6	Atlanta 100	Lakewood Speedway	Atlanta, Georgia	Dirt	Ted Horn	Mel Hansen
10	September 6	Pikes Peak Auto Hill Climb	Pikes Peak Highway	Pikes Peak, Colorado	Hill	Al Rogers ^B	Al Rogers
11	September 19	Springfield 100	Illinois State Fairgrounds	Springfield, Illinois	Dirt	Lee Wallard	Myron Fohr
12	October 10	DuQuoin 100	DuQuoin State Fairgrounds	Du Quoin, Illinois	Dirt	Rex Mays	Johnnie Parsons

Paved/Dirt Oval

Road Course/Hill Climb

^A Both Bettenhausen and Fohr were credited with wins for the race as Bettenhausen relieved Fohr on Lap 118 of 200.

^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.

Final points standings

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)

Pos	Driver	ARL	INDY	MIL1	LAN	MIL2	SPR1	MIL3	DUQ1	ATL	PIK	SPR2	DUQ2	Pts
1	Ted Horn	1	4	3	9	3	1	3	3	12		3	17	1880
2	Myron Fohr		DNQ	4	DNS	7	3	1	2	2		1	4	1159
3	Mauri Rose		1											1000
4	Bill Sheffler	17	18	8	8	10	7	5	5	3		4	3	924.8
5	Duke Nalon	3	3	11	DNP	8	17	DNQ		DNP				910
6	Lee Wallard		7		6	5	20	11	1	8		6	9	865.5
7	Bill Holland	DNS	2	9	11	DNQ								840
8	Mack Hellings RY		5	2	2	14	19							820
9	Emil Andres	DNP	31	1	3	2	18	16	8	5		2	13	810
10	Charles Van Acker		11	5	7	9	5	6	4	9		12	10	760
11	Johnnie Parsons R		DNQ				2	2	11			13	1	700
12	Hal Cole		6	6	DNQ								5	580
13	Rex Mays	16	19	17	16	4	4	7	17	10		14	18	360
14	Johnny Mauro		8								3			355
15	Tony Bettenhausen		14	15	15	6	6	20	10					324
16	Walt Brown	DNQ	DNQ	13	1	13	8	12				8		320
17	Paul Russo	7	32	18	18			9	18	11		15	2	300
18	Johnny Mantz R		13	12	13	1	9	13				9	16	290
19	George Connor		28	DNQ	5	DNQ	11	17				5	DNQ	287
20	Hal Robson		15	DNQ		12	10	14	6	4		DNS	14	269
21	Ted Duncan R							4				17		240
22	Mel Hansen		25	14	DNS	18	16	15	16	1		11	11	220
23	Eddie Zalucki	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ		15		DNS				7	6	216
24	Al Rogers		DNQ	DNQ							1			200
25	Tommy Hinnershitz		9											200
26	Duke Dinsmore	2		16					13				15	172.5
27	Johnny Byrne	6					12	18	DNQ	6		DNQ	DNQ	170
28	Herb Bryers R										2			160
29	Jimmy Jackson		10											150
30	Joie Chitwood	4	17	DNQ	DNP									120
31	Duane Carter R		22		4									120
32	Russ Snowberger										4			120
33	Spider Webb		27	10	14	17	13	10	DNQ	DNQ		10		116
34	Manuel Ayulo R	5	DNQ	DNQ										100
35	Buster Hammond										5			100
36	Floyd Davis								9	7				87.5
37	Hugh Thomas										6			80
38	Ken Fowler		DNS			16	DNQ	8				DNQ	8	74
39	George Lynch R		DNQ			19		19	15				7	60
40	William Cantrell R		16						7					60
41	Johnny Shackleford		DNS	7										60
42	Louis Unser										7			60
43	Mike Salay R	8	30		17		15	DNQ				16	12	50
44	J.C. Shoemaker										8			50
45	Billy Devore	14	12											50
46	Wayne Sankey R										9			40
47	Louis Durant		DNS											35
48	Red Hodges R	10												30
49	Delmar Desch										10			30
50	Jackie Holmes		DNQ	DNQ		11	14					DNQ		20
51	Walt Killinger										11			20
52	Charlie Rogers	12			DNQ	DNS			12			DNQ		10
53	Art Hillis										12			10
54	Jack McGrath R	9	21		DNQ									5.2
-	Walt Ader		DNQ		10									0
-	Les Anderson	11	24	DNQ										0
-	Buster Warke			DNQ	12									0
-	Henry Banks	13	DNQ											0
-	George Hammond										13			0
-	Steve Truchan	15		DNQ				21	14			18	DNQ	0
-	Jimmy Good R										14			0
-	Bill Milliken										15			0
-	Chet Miller		20											0
-	Fred Agabashian		23											0
-	Sam Hanks		26											0
-	Doc Williams		29											0
-	Harry McQuinn		33											0
-	Joel Thorne		DNQ								DNS			0
-	Cliff Bergere		DNS											0
-	Louis Tomei		DNS											0
-	Keith Andrews										DNS			0
-	Russ Chabot										DNS			0
-	Milt Fankhauser		DNQ	DNQ										0
-	Red Byron		DNQ		DNQ									0
-	Paul Craver			DNQ			DNQ							0
-	Johnny McDowell					DNQ		DNQ						0
-	Johnny Dietz					DNQ							DNQ	0
-	Jim Brubaker		DNQ											0
-	Bob Droeger		DNQ											0
-	Roland Free		DNQ											0
-	Andy Granatelli		DNQ											0
-	Art Hartsfeld		DNQ											0
-	Ralph Hepburn		DNQ											0
-	Ronney Householder		DNQ											0
-	George Metzler		DNQ											0
-	Al Miller		DNQ											0
-	Cowboy O'Rourke		DNQ											0
-	Joe Perkins		DNQ											0
-	Ralph Pratt		DNQ											0
-	Pete Romcevich		DNQ											0
-	Loral Tansy		DNQ											0
-	Jerry Kubik			DNQ										0
-	Chick Barbo				DNQ									0
-	Orville Epperley				DNQ									0
-	Bob Baity									DNQ				0
-	Norm Houser												DNQ	0
Pos	Driver	ARL	INDY	MIL1	LAN	MIL2	SPR1	MIL3	DUQ1	ATL	PIK	SPR2	DUQ2	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)
Blank	Not competing

In-line notation
Bold	Pole position
Italics	Ran fastest race lap
*	Led most race laps
RY Rookie of the Year
R Rookie

References

Åberg, Andreas. "AAA National Championship 1948". Driver Database. Archived from the original on October 19, 2012. Retrieved April 18, 2011.
"1948 AAA National Championship Trail". ChampCarStats.com. Archived from the original on January 8, 2012. Retrieved April 18, 2011.
Harms, Phil. "1948 Championship Driver Summary" (PDF). Motorsport.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 10, 2012. Retrieved April 18, 2011.
http://media.indycar.com/pdf/2011/IICS_2011_Historical_Record_Book_INT6.pdf Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine (p. 310-312)

v t e American Championship car racing (Indy car) seasons
AAA	1905 1906–1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942–1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955
USAC	1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95
CART	1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
CCWS	2004 2005 2006 2007 ~~2008~~
IRL	1996 1996–97 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002
IndyCar	2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026
Years marked in italics are not official championship years or upcoming seasons.

v t e AAA Championship Cars (1905–1955)
Seasons	1905 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942–1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955
Indianapolis 500s	1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 ~~1942~~ 1943–1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955
National Champions	Billy Arnold Henry Banks Tony Bettenhausen Jimmy Bryan Bob Carey Gaston Chevrolet Bill Cummings Pete DePaolo (twice) Sam Hanks Harry Hartz Eddie Hearne Ted Horn (three times) Rex Mays (twice) Louis Meyer (three times) Tommy Milton Jimmy Murphy (twice) Barney Oldfield Johnnie Parsons Kelly Petillo Dario Resta Floyd Roberts Mauri Rose Louis Schneider Wilbur Shaw (twice) Chuck Stevenson Bob Sweikert
AAA Contest Board Years marked in italics are not official championship years.

1948 AAA Championship Car season

Contents

Schedule and results

Final points standings

References

See also