1926 AAA Championship Car season
AAA National Championship Trail
Season
Races	26
Start date	February 22
End date	November 11
Awards
National champion	Harry Hartz
Indianapolis 500 winner	Frank Lockhart
← 1925 1927 →

The 1926 AAA Championship Car season consisted of 24 races, beginning in Miami Beach, Florida on February 22 and concluding in Pineville, North Carolina on November 11. There were also 7 non-championship races. The AAA National Champion was Harry Hartz and the Indianapolis 500 winner was Frank Lockhart.

The season suffered two fatalities. Herbert Jones died at Indianapolis during a practice session. Jack Foley died at Salem during qualifying for the second race.^[1]

Schedule and results

All races running on Dirt/Brick/Board Oval.

Rnd	Date	Race Name	Track	Location	Type	Pole Position	Winning Driver
1	February 22	Carl G. Fisher Trophy - 300	Fulford–Miami Speedway	Miami Beach, Florida	Board	Ralph Hepburn	Peter DePaolo
2	March 21	Culver City Race - 250	Culver City Speedway	Culver City, California	Board	Bob McDonogh	Bennett Hill
NC	April 15	Raisin Day Classic - 50	Fresno Speedway	Fresno, California	Board	—	Peter DePaolo
3	May 1	Atlantic City Race - 300	Atlantic City Speedway	Hammonton, New Jersey	Board	Bob McDonogh	Harry Hartz
4	May 10	Charlotte Race - 250	Charlotte Speedway	Pineville, North Carolina	Board	Harry Hartz	Earl Devore
5	May 31	International 500 Mile Sweepstakes^A	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Speedway, Indiana	Brick	Earl Cooper	Frank Lockhart
6	June 12	Altoona Race 1 - 250	Altoona Speedway	Tyrone, Pennsylvania	Board	Peter DePaolo	Dave Lewis
NC	June 27	Detroit Race 1 - 100	Michigan State Fairgrounds	Detroit, Michigan	Dirt	—	Frank Lockhart
7	July 5	Independence Day Classic Semi - 50	Rockingham Park	Salem, New Hampshire	Board	Peter DePaolo	Peter DePaolo
8	July 5	Independence Day Classic Main - 200	Rockingham Park	Salem, New Hampshire	Board	Peter DePaolo	Earl Cooper
9	July 17	Sesquicentennial Classic Heat 1 - 60	Atlantic City Speedway	Hammonton, New Jersey	Board	—	Harry Hartz
10		Sesquicentennial Classic Heat 2 - 60				—	Norman Batten
11		Sesquicentennial Classic Semi - 60				—	Fred Comer
12		Sesquicentennial Classic Main - 60				—	Harry Hartz
13	August 23	Charlotte Heat 1 - 25	Charlotte Speedway	Pineville, North Carolina	Board	Bob McDonogh	Earl Cooper
14		Charlotte Heat 2 - 25				—	Dave Lewis
15		Charlotte Semi - 50				—	Frank Lockhart
16		Charlotte Main - 150				Dave Lewis	Frank Lockhart
NC	September 4	Syracuse - 50	New York State Fairgrounds	Syracuse, New York	Dirt	—	Ralph DePalma
NC	September 11	Detroit Race 2 - 100	Michigan State Fairgrounds	Detroit, Michigan	Dirt	—	Frank Lockhart
17	September 18	Altoona Race 2 - 250	Altoona Speedway	Tyrone, Pennsylvania	Board	Harry Hartz	Frank Lockhart
NC	October 2	Fresno Heat 1 - 25^B	Fresno Speedway	Fresno, California	Board	—	Peter DePaolo
18		Fresno Heat 2 - 25				—	Bennett Hill
19		Fresno Race - 50				—	Frank Lockhart
20	October 12	Rockingham Race 1 - 25	Rockingham Park	Salem, New Hampshire	Board	—	Bennett Hill
21		Rockingham Race 2 - 25				—	Leon Duray
22		Rockingham Race 3 - 200				—	Harry Hartz
NC	October 24	Detroit Race 3 - 100	Michigan State Fairgrounds	Detroit, Michigan	Dirt	—	Sam Ross
23	November 11	Charlotte Heat 1 - 25	Charlotte Speedway	Pineville, North Carolina	Board	Bennett Hill	Frank Lockhart
24		Charlotte Heat 2 - 25				Harry Hartz	Dave Lewis
25		Charlotte Semi - 50				Bennett Hill	Harry Hartz
26		Charlotte Main - 100				Frank Lockhart	Leon Duray

Non-championship race

Indianapolis 500 was AAA-sanctioned and counted towards the 1926 AIACR World Manufacturers' Championship title.

^A Scheduled for 500 miles, stopped due to rain on the lap 160.

^B The IZOD IndyCar Series 2011 Historical Record Book listed the all time race winners. On the page 77 counted only two of the three October 2, 1926 Fresno races, what won by Bennett Hill and Frank Lockhart.

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 able 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.^[2]

Further information: List of American Championship car racing point scoring systems

Pos	Driver	MIA	CUL	ATL1	CHA1	INDY	ALT1	SAL1	SAL2	ATL2	ATL3	ATL4	ATL5	CHA2	CHA3	CHA4	CHA5	ALT2	FRE1	FRE2	SAL3	SAL4	SAL5	CHA6	CHA7	CHA8	CHA9	Pts
1	Harry Hartz	2	3	1	2	2	11	2	4	1			1		3	2		4			2	2	1*		2*	1	4	2954
2	Frank Lockhart RY					1*	DNS		DSQ	4			10	2		1*	1*	1	2	1	3	3	9	1*		12	7	1830
3	Peter DePaolo	1	2	2	14	5	8	1	3		4			6				DNP	4	4	7	9	16		5	5	6	1500
4	Bennett Hill	5	1*	10	11	12	6		2	2			11		2		6	7	1	2	1	5	8	2		4	DNS	1050
5	Frank Elliott	4	5	16	5	6	7*	4	5		2		8	4		4	2	8			14	12	5	3		6	2	747
6	Fred Comer	14	14	7	3	4	4		4		9	1	2	7				6			12	11	13		4	11	5	659
7	Dave Lewis	17	13			15	1		14	7					1	DNQ	7	14	3	3	5	4	14		1	3	8	645
8	Norman Batten		8	14	4	7	2		6		1		3	5		7	8	18			18	8	15					620
9	Pete Kreis	11	11	4	7	DNS	DNS										DNS	2			13	10	2	5		8		590
10	Earl Devore	6	15	11	1	DNP	15	8	DNQ		5				6		4	11			17		17					585
11	Leon Duray	10*	10			23	DNS		DNQ								DNS	3			11	1*	3	6		2	1	555
12	Earl Cooper	18				16	13	6	1		6	5	12	1		9		16									DNQ	465
13	Bob McDonogh	3	12	3*	12	8	9		10	11				3		6		5			15						DNP	416
14	Cliff Woodbury R		9	13	10	3	12		DNQ	9		3	5		5*	3	9	17			4	6	12		3			360
15	Eddie Hearne		4	6	15	17	5		15	3					7		3	9										305
16	W. E. Shattuc	8	16	9	8	27	DNS	5	8	8		2	13		4	5	5	10			10		6	4		7	3	280
17	John Duff R					9	3		13				Wth															155
18	Ralph Hepburn	16	6	5	16	8	9	3	DNQ		7	6					DNS	DNQ			6	13	11		6	9	9	144
19	Dave Evans	9	7	8	13		DNS		16	6			7				10	DNQ			9	7	4					120
20	Ben Jones R	7		12	9	18	10		11		3		9			8	11											80
21	Phil Shafer					10	DNS	7	9	5			4				DNS	DNP										72
22	Wade Morton					4			7												9		10					67
23	Harlan Fengler					DNP	14		12		8	4	6	8				12										45
24	Zeke Meyer R	13		DNQ	6																							35
25	Tony Gulotta R					11	DNS											15			16		7				DNP	15
-	Daniel O'Brien R					DNP	17		17		10						Wth											0
-	Ernest Eldridge R					19	DNS		DNQ	10																		0
-	Louis Meyer R																									10		0
-	Jerry Wunderlich	12	14																									0
-	Thane Houser					13			18																			0
-	Fred Lecklider R					24												13										0
-	Douglas Hawkes					14	DNS		DNQ				DNQ															0
-	Tommy Milton	15																										0
-	Vladimir Rashevskiy R			15																								0
-	Jack Foley R					DNQ	16		DNQ																			0
-	Cliff Durant					17																						0
-	Herschell McKee R					19																						0
-	L. L. Corum					20																						0
-	Steve Nemesh R					21																						0
-	Jules Ellingboe					22																						0
-	Jack McCarver R					25																						0
-	Bon MacDougall R					26																						0
-	Albert Guyot					28																						0
-	Thomas Pickard					DNQ			DNQ				DNQ					DNQ										0
-	Ralph DePalma			DNQ		DNQ																						0
-	Frank Farmer			DNQ																								0
-	Jean de Marguenat			DNQ																								0
-	Dan Cain					DNQ																						0
-	Herbert Jones					DNQ																						0
-	Ralph Mulford					DNQ																						0
-	Charles Shambaugh					DNQ																						0
Pos	Driver	MIA	CUL	ATL1	CHA1	INDY	ALT1	SAL1	SAL2	ATL2	ATL3	ATL4	ATL5	CHA2	CHA3	CHA4	CHA5	ALT2	FRE1	FRE2	SAL3	SAL4	SAL5	CHA6	CHA7	CHA8	CHA9	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
Rookie of the Year
Rookie

References

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
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.

Schedule and results

Final points standings

References

See also