1982–83 USAC Championship Car season

1982–83 USAC Championship Car season
1982–83 USAC Championship Car season
USAC Gold Crown Championship
Season
Races	4
Start date	August 14, 1982
End date	May 29, 1983
Awards
National champion	Tom Sneva
Indianapolis 500 winner	Tom Sneva
	← 1981–82 1983–84 →

Last updated October 24, 2025

The 1982–83 USAC Championship Car season consisted of four races, beginning in Springfield, Illinois, on August 14, 1982, and concluding in Speedway, Indiana, on May 29, 1983. The USAC National Champion and Indianapolis 500 winner was Tom Sneva.

Schedule and results

All races were run on Oval/Speedway courses.

Rnd	Date	Race name	Length	Track	Location	Type	Pole position	Winning driver
1	August 14	Tony Bettenhausen 100	100 mi (160 km)	Illinois State Fairgrounds	Springfield, Illinois	Dirt	Sheldon Kinser	Bobby Olivero
2	September 6	Ted Horn Memorial	100 mi (160 km)	DuQuoin State Fairgrounds	Du Quoin, Illinois	Dirt	Gary Bettenhausen	Gary Bettenhausen
3	December 4	Nazareth 100	100 mi (160 km)	Nazareth National Speedway	Nazareth, Pennsylvania	Dirt	Bob Cicconi	Keith Kauffman
4	May 29	Indianapolis 500-Mile Race	500 mi (800 km)	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Speedway, Indiana	Paved	Teo Fabi	Tom Sneva

Final points standings

Note: Drivers who failed to enter the Indy 500 were not eligible for points.

Pos	Driver	SPR	DQSF	NAZ	INDY	Pts
1	Tom Sneva				1*	1000
2	Al Unser				2	800
3	Rick Mears				3	700
4	Geoff Brabham				4	600
5	Mark Alderson	4	7	5	DNQ	560
6	Kevin Cogan				5	500
7	Joe Saldana	2	8	30	DNP	422
8	Gary Bettenhausen		1	24	DNQ	406
9	Howdy Holmes				6	400
10	Ken Schrader	8	12	4	DNQ	360
11	Larry Rice	6	6		DNQ	320
12	Pancho Carter				7	300
13	Rich Vogler	20	19	3	DNQ	296
14	Sheldon Kinser	3	20	DNS	DNQ	288
15	Bobby Olivero	1	3	26	DNQ	284
16	Chip Ganassi				8	250
17	Al Unser Jr.				10	150
18	Steve Chassey		2	19	11	100
19	George Snider		15	9	32	95
20	Chris Kneifel				12	50
21	Mike Mosley				13	25
22	Gordon Johncock				14	25
23	Dick Simon				15	25
24	Michael Chandler				16	25
25	Tony Bettenhausen Jr.				17	20
26	Bill Whittington				18	20
27	Derek Daly				19	20
28	Bobby Rahal				20	20
29	Jerry Nemire	21	18	19	DNP	16
30	Danny Ongais				21	15
31	Johnny Parsons				22	15
32	Mario Andretti				23	15
33	Josele Garza				25	10
34	Don Whittington				27	10
35	Roger Mears				28	10
36	Gary Irvin	22				6
37	Steve Krisiloff				29	5
38	A. J. Foyt				31	5
39	Roger Rager	26			DNQ	4
-	Keith Kauffman	18	16	1		0
-	Bill Engelhart	9	4	2		0
-	Rick Hood	7	5			0
-	Ron Shuman	5	24	12		0
-	Paul Koch			6		0
-	Steve Siegel			7		0
-	Gary Hieber			8		0
-	Scott Brayton				9	0
-	Mike Peters	11	9			0
-	Jerry Weeks		10	28		0
-	Walt Kennedy	10				0
-	Danny Frye Jr.			10		0
-	Steve Kinser		11	17		0
-	Tracy Potter			11		0
-	Dana Carter	12	21	23		0
-	Joe McCarthy		13	16		0
-	Ron Burke	13				0
-	Ed Angle			13		0
-	Bob Cicconi	23	14	22		0
-	Doug Wolfgang	14				0
-	Bobby Allen			14		0
-	Larry Dickson	DNQ		15		0
-	Arnie Knepper	15				0
-	Elvin Felty	16				0
-	Chuck Amati	17	21	DNS		0
-	Mike Gregg		17			0
-	Smokey Snellbaker			18		0
-	Mike Winblad	19				0
-	Manny Rockhold			20		0
-	Duke Cook		22			0
-	Barry Camp			23		0
-	Emmitt Hahn	24				0
-	Dennis Firestone				24	0
-	Steve Cannon	25		27		0
-	Tom Bigelow		25		DNQ	0
-	Brian Seidel			25		0
-	Teo Fabi				26	0
-	Patrick Bedard				30	0
-	Chet Fillip				33	0
-	Bill Alsup				DNQ	0
-	Jim Buick				DNQ	0
-	Phil Caliva				DNQ	0
-	Larry Cannon				DNQ	0
-	Steve Chassey				DNQ	0
-	Chuck Ciprich				DNQ	0
-	Dick Ferguson				DNQ	0
-	Bob Frey				DNQ	0
-	Amber Furst				DNQ	0
-	Spike Gehlhausen				DNQ	0
-	Pete Halsmer				DNQ	0
-	Bob Harkey				DNQ	0
-	Doug Heveron				DNQ	0
-	Herm Johnson				DNQ	0
-	Jerry Karl				DNQ	0
-	Phil Krueger				DNQ	0
-	Bob Lazier				DNQ	0
-	Greg Leffler				DNQ	0
-	Al Loquasto				DNQ	0
-	Harry MacDonald				DNQ	0
-	John Mahler				DNQ	0
-	Mack McClellan				DNQ	0
-	Graham McRae				DNQ	0
-	John Paul Jr.				DNQ	0
-	Dave Peperak				DNQ	0
-	Teddy Pilette				DNQ	0
-	Johnny Rutherford				DNQ	0
-	Jerry Sneva				DNQ	0
-	Bill Tempero				DNQ	0
-	Bill Vukovich II				DNQ	0
-	Desiré Wilson				DNQ	0
-	Jorge Koechlin				DNP	0
-	Lee Kunzman				DNP	0
-	Dave McMillan				DNP	0
-	Chip Mead				DNP	0
-	Bill Puterbaugh				DNP	0
-	Harry Sauce				DNP	0
Pos	Driver	SPR	DQSF	NAZ	INDY	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
Rookie of the Year
Rookie

References

Åberg, Andreas. "USAC National Championship 1983". Driver Database. Archived from the original on July 28, 2008. Retrieved May 11, 2009.
"1982-83 USAC Gold Crown Championship". ChampCarStats.com. Archived from the original on September 8, 2008. Retrieved May 11, 2009.
http://media.indycar.com/pdf/2011/IICS_2011_Historical_Record_Book_INT6.pdf Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine (p. 195-197)

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 USAC Championship Cars (1971–1995)
Seasons	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
Indianapolis 500s	1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995
National Champions	Emerson Fittipaldi (twice) A. J. Foyt (twice) Gordon Johncock Joe Leonard (twice) Arie Luyendyk Roger McCluskey Rick Mears (three times) Bobby Rahal Johnny Rutherford Tom Sneva (three times) George Snider Danny Sullivan Al Unser Al Unser Jr. (twice) Bobby Unser Jacques Villeneuve
Tracks	Atlanta Brands Hatch DuQuoin State Fair Illinois State Fair Indianapolis Indiana State Fair Michigan Mid-Ohio Milwaukee Mosport Nazareth Ontario Phoenix Pocono Rafaela Silverstone Texas World Trenton

1982–83 USAC Championship Car season

Contents

Schedule and results

Final points standings

References

See also