1920 AAA Championship Car season

Last updated

1920 AAA Championship Car season
AAA National Circuit Championship
Season
Races5
Start dateFebruary 28
End dateNovember 25
Awards
National champion Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Gaston Chevrolet
Indianapolis 500 winner Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Gaston Chevrolet
  1919
1921  

The 1920 AAA Championship Car season consisted of 5 races, beginning in Beverly Hills, California on February 28 and concluding in Beverly Hills on November 25. The AAA National Champion and Indianapolis 500 champion was Gaston Chevrolet. The 1920 season later became a source of confusion and misinformation for historians when in 1926 the AAA published a revisionist history, naming another driver as the season's point champion. [1]

Contents

During the final race of the season on November 25 the Beverly Hills event witnessed a tragedy, as that year's Indianapolis 500 winner, and soon-to-be National Champion, Gaston Chevrolet, was killed along with Eddie O'Donnell riding mechanic Lyall Jolls. [2]

Official schedule and results

RndDateRace NameTrackLocationTypePole PositionWinning Driver
1February 28 Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Beverly Hills Race 1 - 250 Los Angeles Motor Speedway Beverly Hills, California Board Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Jimmy Murphy Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Jimmy Murphy
NCMarch 28 Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Beverly Hills Heat 1 - 50 Los Angeles Motor Speedway Beverly Hills, California Board Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Art Klein
Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Beverly Hills Heat 2 - 50 Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Jimmy Murphy
Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Beverly Hills Main - 50 A Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Tommy Milton
2May 31 Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg International 500 Mile Sweepstakes B Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway, Indiana Brick Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Ralph DePalma Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Gaston Chevrolet
NCJune 19 Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Universal Trophy Race - 225 Uniontown Speedway Hopwood, Pennsylvania Board Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Tommy Milton
3July 5 Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Tacoma Race - 200 Pacific Speedway Tacoma, Washington Board Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Tommy Milton Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Tommy Milton
4August 28 Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Elgin National Trophy - 255 C Elgin Road Race Course Elgin, Illinois Road Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Ralph DePalma Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Ralph DePalma
NCSeptember 6 Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg 4th Annual Autumn Classic - 225 Uniontown Speedway Hopwood, Pennsylvania Board Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Tommy Milton
NCSeptember 19 Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Syracuse Race - 50 New York State Fairgrounds Syracuse, New York Dirt Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Ralph DePalma
NCOctober 2 Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg San Joaquin Valley Classic - 200 Fresno Speedway Fresno, California Board Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Eddie O'Donnell Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Jimmy Murphy
5November 25 Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Beverly Hills Race 5 - 250 Los Angeles Motor Speedway Beverly Hills, California Board Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Jimmy Murphy Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Roscoe Sarles
  Dirt/Brick/Board Oval
  Road Course/Hill Climb
  Non-championship race
^A Starters limited to first four finishers for each preliminary race
^B 183 in3 (3.00 L) maximum displacement.
^C Points allocated on the basis of advertised distance of 250 miles.

Controversy over official race schedule

The 5 race schedule has been confirmed as the correct and historically accurate schedule for the championship season of 1920. In the race day program for the final race at Beverly Hills was the points distribution [3] for the championship contenders over the previous four races of the season. The championship was confirmed in the weeks leading up to the race by various newspapers around the country printing the four race championship standings leading to the final race. [4] [5]

Confusion about the season began in 1926 when, for "comparative reasons", Contest Board member Arthur Means reworked the schedule to include 10 races and changed the champion to Tommy Milton. The earliest that the ten race standing occur are in the 27 October 1927 issue of Motor Age. [6] In 1951 Racing Board member Russ Catlin found these retroactive crib sheets and folded the results into official AAA documentation, continuing the confusion about the 1920 season and early AAA history as a whole. The added races to the season were all of the Non-championship races of the above official schedule, excepted the two races at Uniontown Speedway.

In 1961, Al Bloemker attempted to reconcile the two different accounts for the 1920 season. He surmises that there was an issue with sanctioning fees paid by the Uniontown Speedway and their two races held that year were not included in the final season standings. [7] The printed media of the time is silent about any issue with the Uniontown races not being championship events. They did in fact hold two races but they were not part of the championship. If Uniontown did pay for championship level racing but was not credited for them, lawsuits would have surely been filed but no such record exists.

Official final points standings

Note: Drivers had to be running at the finish to score points. Points scored by drivers sharing a ride were split according to percentage of race driven. Starters were not allowed to score points as relief drivers, if a race starter finished the race in another car, in a points scoring position, those points were awarded to the driver who had started the car..
The final standings based on reference. [8]

PosDriver BEV1
Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg
INDY
Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg
TAC
Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg
ELG
Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg
BEV2
Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg
Pts
1 Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Gaston Chevrolet 17861030
2 Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Tommy Milton 1631*211930
3 Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Jimmy Murphy 14634885
4 Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Ralph DePalma 85111DNQ605
5 Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Roscoe Sarles 141751*540
6 Flag of France.svg René Thomas 2520
7 Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Joe Thomas 281075351
8 Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Ralph Mulford 7924350
9 Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Eddie Hearne 663DNQ3345
10 Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Eddie Miller  RY DNP2260
11 Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Ira Vail 312140
12 Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Eddie O'Donnell 514857110
13 Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Art Klein 138462
14 Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Ken Goodson  R 461
15 Flag of France.svg Jean Chassagne 750
16 Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Tom Alley 10736
17 Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Percy Ford 635
18 Canadian Red Ensign (1868-1921).svg Pete Henderson 1014
19 Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg John DePalma 910
20 Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Harry Thicksten  R 82
- Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Jim Crosby80
- Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Joe Boyer 11*12*90
- Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Al Melcher 90
- Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Eddie Pullen 100
- Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg John Thiele  R 100
- Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg John Boling  R 110
- Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Riley Brett  R 110
- Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Cliff Durant 15DNQ12Wth0
- Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Reeves Dutton 120
- Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Aldo Franchi 130
- Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Ray Howard 130
- Flag of France.svg Jules Goux 150
- Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Willie Haupt 160
- Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Wade Morton  R 160
- Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Bennett Hill 1717DNP0
- Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Jerry Wunderlich  R 170
- Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Waldo Stein 18DNQDNP0
- Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Salvatore Barbarino 180
- Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Louis Chevrolet 180
- Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Howdy Wilcox 190
- Flag of France.svg Jean Porporato 220
- Flag of France.svg André Boillot 230
- Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Toland Nicholson DNQ0
- Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg John WhiteDNQ0
- Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Arthur Chevrolet DNQ0
- Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Jules Ellingboe DNQ0
- Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Frank Elliott DNQ0
- Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Kurt Hitke DNQ0
- Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Glenn Howard DNQ0
- Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Jack ScalesDNQ0
- Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Dave Lewis DNQ0
- Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Alton Soules DNQ0
- Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Stuart WilkinsonDNQ0
- Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg Tom Rooney DNS0
- Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg W. H. Seymour DSQ0
PosDriver BEV1
Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg
INDY
Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg
TAC
Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg
ELG
Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg
BEV2
Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg
Pts
ColorResult
GoldWinner
Silver2nd place
Bronze3rd place
Green4th & 5th place
Light Blue6th-10th place
Dark BlueFinished
(Outside Top 10)
PurpleDid not finish
(Ret)
RedDid not qualify
(DNQ)
BrownWithdrawn
(Wth)
BlackDisqualified
(DSQ)
WhiteDid not start
(DNS)
BlankDid not
participate
(DNP)
Not competing
In-line notation
Bold Pole position
ItalicsRan fastest race lap
*Led most race laps
Rookie of the Year
Rookie

See also

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References

  1. Capps, H. Donald (February–March 2010). "John Glenn Printz and the Struggle for the Past: The A.A.A. Catastrophe - Arthur Means, Val Haresnape, Russ Catlin, and Bob Russo" (PDF). Rear View Mirror. 7 (6): 21–38.
  2. "1920 Beverly Hills Race 5".
  3. Beverly Hills race day program "The present standings of the championship contenders who race today" 25 November 1920
  4. Detroit News. 26 September 1920, Sect. II p. 7
  5. L.A. Times. 21 November 1920, Pt. 6 p. 1
  6. Motor Age. 27 October 1927, Pgs. 17 & 20
  7. "500 miles to go; The story of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, New York, Al Bloemker, 1961, p. 153
  8. "1920 AAA National Championship Trail".