1912 AAA Championship Car season

1912 AAA Championship Car season
AAA National Championship Trail
Season
Races	18
Start date	May 4
End date	November 5
Awards
National champion	none declared
Indianapolis 500 winner	Joe Dawson
← 1911 1913 →

The 1912 AAA Championship Car season consisted of 18 races, beginning in Santa Monica, California on May 4 and concluding in Brooklyn, New York on November 5. There was also one non-championship event at Milwaukee, Wisconsin. AAA did not award points towards a National Championship during the 1912 season, and did not declare a National Champion. Joe Dawson was the winner of the Indianapolis 500.

The de facto National Champion as polled by the American automobile journal Motor Age, was Ralph DePalma. Points were not awarded by the AAA Contest Board during the 1912 season. DePalma was named the champion by Chris G. Sinsabaugh, an editor at Motor Age, based upon merit and on track performance. A points table was created retroactively in 1927. At a later point, it was recognized by historians that these championship results should be considered unofficial.

Schedule and results

Date	Race Name Distance (miles)	Track	Location	Type	Notes	Pole position	Winning driver
May 4	Chanslor & Lyon Trophy Race* (101)	Santa Monica Road Race Course	Santa Monica, California	8.417 mile road course	Stock chassis, 230 cu in.	Roscoe Anthony	George Joerimann
	Jepsen Trophy Race* (152)				231–300 cu in.	Earl Devore	Ralph DePalma
	Dick Ferris Trophy Race* (303)				Free-for-all	Dave Lewis	Teddy Tetzlaff
May 30	International 500 Mile Sweepstakes	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Speedway, Indiana	2.5 mile brick oval	Qualifications based upon demonstrated 75 mph single-lap speed, 24-car field; Ralph DePalma pushes car across finish line	Gil Andersen	Joe Dawson
July 5	First Montamara Fiesta Race (150)	Tacoma Road Race Course	Tacoma, Washington	5 mile road course	231-300 cu in.		Eddie Pullen
	Tacoma Race 2 (150)				301-450 cu in.		Earl Cooper
	Tacoma Race 3 (200)				Free-for-all	Earl Cooper	Teddy Tetzlaff
July 6	Montamarathon Trophy Race (250)				Free-for-all	Hughie Hughes	Teddy Tetzlaff
August 25	Columbus Race (200)	Driving Park	Columbus, Ohio	1 mile dirt oval	Free-for-all	Charles Elliott	Spencer Wishart
August 30	Aurora Trophy Race (152)	Elgin Road Race Course	Elgin, Illinois	8.47 mile road course	300 cu in.	Eddie Pullen	Hughie Hughes
	Illinois Trophy Race (203)				450 cu in.		Charles Merz
	Jencks Trophy Race (101)				600 cu in.	Harry Endicott	Harry Endicott
August 31	Elgin Race 4* (254)						Ralph DePalma
August 31	Elgin National Trophy Race* (305)				Free-for-all		Ralph DePalma
October 2	William K. Vanderbilt Cup (299)	Wauwatosa Road Race Course	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	7.88 mile road course	301-600 cu in.	Ralph DePalma	Ralph DePalma
October 5	Wisconsin Challenge Trophy Race* (173)				161-230 cu in.	Ray Snyder	Harry Endicott
	Pabst Blue Ribbon Trophy Race* (220)				231-300 cu in.	Louis Nikrent	Mortimer Roberts
	American Grand Prize (410)				ACA sanction; non-championship event; David Bruce-Brown and his riding mechanic Tony Scudellari fatally injured in practice, Ralph DePalma seriously injured in race	Bob Burman	Caleb Bragg
November 5	Brighton Beach Race (100)	Brighton Beach Dirt Track	Brooklyn, New York	1 mile dirt oval	Free-for-all	Neil Whalen	Ralph Mulford

* Events on same date were run simultaneously.

Leading National Championship standings

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.

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

#	Driver	Sponsor	Points
1	Ralph DePalma	Mercedes	2000
2	Teddy Tetzlaff	Fiat	1900
3	Joe Dawson	National	1000
4	Hughie Hughes	Mercer	890
5	Ralph Mulford	Knox	870

References

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.
"Auto racer is killed during speed trial". The Gazette Times. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Associated Press. October 2, 1912.
"Tony Scudellari yields to death". The Chicago Daily Tribune. October 9, 1912.
Ward, Harry (October 6, 1912). "Young millionaire racing driver is winner of classic". The Washington Times. Archived from the original on July 31, 2018.
"Caleb Bragg wins Grand Prize race" (PDF). The New York Times. October 6, 1912. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 1, 2018.

General references

http://www.champcarstats.com/year/1912.htm accessed 8/21/15
http://www.teamdan.com/archive/gen/indycar/1912.html accessed 8/21/15

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.

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
Years marked in italics are not official championship years or upcoming seasons.

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