1915 AAA Championship Car season

1915 AAA Championship Car season

AAA National Championship Trail
Season
Races	27
Start date	January 9
End date	November 25
Awards
National champion	Earl Cooper (unofficial)
Indianapolis 500 winner	Ralph DePalma
Chronology
Previous season	Next season
1914	1916

The 1915 AAA Championship Car season consisted of 27 races, beginning in San Diego, California on January 9 and concluding in San Francisco, California on November 25. The de facto National Champion as poled by the American automobile journal Motor Age was Earl Cooper and the winner of the Indianapolis 500 was Ralph DePalma. Points were not awarded by the AAA Contest Board during the 1915 season. Champions of the day were decided by Chris G. Sinsabaugh, an editor at Motor Age, based on merit and on track performance. The points table was created retroactively in 1927 – all championship results should be considered unofficial.

Schedule and results

Date	Race Name Distance (miles)	Track	Location	Type	Notes	Pole position	Winning driver
January 9	San Diego Exposition Road Race (305)	Point Loma Road Race Course	San Diego, California	5.982 mile road course			Earl Cooper
February 3	Tropica Race (101)	Tropica Road	Glendale, California	1.906 mile road course			Eddie O'Donnell
February 7	Ascot Race (100)	Ascot Park	Los Angeles, California	1 mile dirt oval	Jack Callaghan fatally injured^[1]^[2]		Eddie O'Donnell
February 27	American Grand Prize (406)	Panama–Pacific International Exposition	San Francisco, California	3.905 mile road course	ACA sanction	Earl Cooper	Dario Resta
March 6	William K. Vanderbilt Cup (301)	Panama–Pacific International Exposition	San Francisco, California	3.849 mile road course	600 cu in.	Barney Oldfield	Dario Resta
March 17	Venice Race (301)	Venice Road Race Course	Venice, California	3.105 mile road course		Cliff Durant	Barney Oldfield
March 20	Tucson Race (103)	Tucson Road Race Course	Tucson, Arizona	4.298 mile road course			Barney Oldfield
April 29	Southern Sweepstakes Road Race (200)	Oklahoma City Road Race Course	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma	2.404 mile road course		John Raimey	Bob Burman
May 31	International 500 Mile Sweepstakes	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Speedway, Indiana	2.5 mile brick oval	24-car field	Howdy Wilcox	Ralph DePalma
June 9	Galesburg Race (100)	Galesburg District Fairgrounds	Galesburg, Illinois	1 mile dirt oval		Tom Alley	Eddie O'Donnell
June 26	Chicago Race (500)	Speedway Park	Maywood, Illinois	2 mile board oval		Dario Resta	Dario Resta
July 3	Sioux City Race (300)	Sioux City Speedway	North Sioux City, South Dakota	2 mile dirt oval	450 cu in.; Charles Cox fatally injured^[3]		Eddie Rickenbacker
July 4	Montamarathon Trophy Race (250)	Pacific Coast Speedway	Tacoma, Washington	2 mile board oval	650 cu in.; Billy Carlson and his riding mechanic Paul Franzen fatally injured^[4]^[5]		Glover Ruckstell
July 5	Golden Potlach Trophy Race (200)	Pacific Coast Speedway	Tacoma, Washington	2 mile board oval			Eddie Pullen
July 5	Omaha Race (300)	Omaha Speedway	Omaha, Nebraska	1.25 mile board oval		Eddie O'Donnell	Eddie Rickenbacker
July 9	Burlington Race (100)	Tri-State Fair Grounds	Burlington, Iowa	0.5 mile dirt oval			Bob Burman
August 7	Des Moines Race (300)	Des Moines Speedway	Valley Junction, Iowa	1 mile board oval	300 cu in.; Joe Cooper and Morris Kessler, riding mechanic for William Chandler, fatally injured^[6]		Ralph Mulford
August 7	Challenge Cup Match Race (100)	Speedway Park	Maywood, Illinois	2 mile board oval	600 cu in.	Barney Oldfield	Dario Resta
August 20	Chicago Auto Club Trophy Race (300)	Elgin Road Race Course	Elgin, Illinois	8.384 mile road course	300 cu in.		Earl Cooper
August 21	Elgin National Trophy Race (300)	Elgin Road Race Course	Elgin, Illinois	8.384 mile road course	450 cu in.		Gil Andersen
August 28	Kalamazoo Race (100)	Recreation Park	Kalamazoo, Michigan	1 mile dirt oval	Free-for-all		Ralph DePalma
September 4	Minneapolis Race (500)	Twin City Motor Speedway	Minneapolis, Minnesota	2 mile concrete oval	300 cu in.	Dario Resta	Earl Cooper/Johnny Aitken
September 18	Providence Race (100)	Narragansett Park Speedway	Cranston, Rhode Island	1 mile concrete oval			Eddie Rickenbacker
October 9	Astor Cup (350)	Sheepshead Bay Speedway	Sheepshead Bay, New York	2 mile board oval	300 cu in.; Harry Grant fatally injured in practice^[7]^[8]	Dario Resta	Gil Andersen
November 2	Harkness Gold Medal Race (100)	Sheepshead Bay Speedway	Sheepshead Bay, New York	2 mile board oval		Ralph DePalma	Dario Resta
November 20	Phoenix Race (109)	Arizona State Fairgrounds	Phoenix, Arizona	1 mile dirt oval			Earl Cooper
November 25	San Francisco Race 3 (100)	Panama-Pacific Exhibition Track	San Francisco, California	1 mile dirt oval			Earl Cooper

Leading National Championship standings

#	Driver	Sponsor	Points
1	Earl Cooper	Stutz	3780
2	Dario Resta	Peugeot	3320
3	Gil Andersen	Stutz	2590
4	Eddie O'Donnell	Duesenberg	2285
5	Eddie Rickenbacker	Maxwell	1765

The points paying system for the 1909–1915 and 1917–1919 season were retroactively applied in 1927 and revised in 1951 using the points system from 1920. Points were awarded as follows:

Miles/ Position	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
40	80	45	25	15	10	X	X	X	X	x
50	100	55	30	20	10	5	X	X	X	X
60	120	65	35	25	15	X	X	X	X	X
80	160	80	45	30	20	X	X	X	X	X
100	200	110	60	35	20	15	10	5	X	X
150	300	160	90	50	30	20	15	10	X	X
200	400	210	110	60	40	25	15	10	X	X
250	500	260	140	80	50	35	25	15	10	5
300	600	420	220	120	70	45	35	25	15	10
400	800	420	220	120	70	45	35	25	15	10
500	1000	520	270	140	90	60	50	40	35	30

References

↑ "Callaghan badly hurt in Los Angeles race". The Milwaukee Sentinel. February 8, 1915. Archived from the original on December 7, 2015.
↑ "Jack Callaghan dies; was hurt on Sunday". The Milwaukee Sentinel. February 9, 1915. Archived from the original on December 7, 2015.
↑ "Cincinnati driver meets death in auto race at Sioux City". The Cincinnati Enquirer. July 4, 1915. Archived from the original on December 7, 2015.
↑ "Franzen killed in race". The New York Times. July 5, 1915. Archived from the original on July 6, 2014.
↑ "Auto driver dies". The New York Times. July 6, 1915. Archived from the original on July 6, 2014.
↑ "Joe Cooper and a mechanician killed in race". The Gazette Times (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). August 8, 1915. Archived from the original on December 7, 2015.
↑ "Auto driver Grant severely burned". The New York Times. September 28, 1915. Archived from the original on July 6, 2014.
↑ "Harry Grant dies of burns". The New York Times. October 8, 1915. Archived from the original on July 6, 2014.

General references

http://www.champcarstats.com/year/1915.htm accessed 8/21/15
http://www.teamdan.com/archive/gen/indycar/1915.html accessed 8/21/15

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 Peter 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.

American Championship car racing (IndyCar) 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

NASCAR	1952 1953

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 / CCWS	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 2004 2005 2006 2007 ~~2008~~

INDYCAR	1996 1996–97 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Years marked in italics are not official championship years.

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