1917 AAA Championship Car season

1917 AAA Championship Car season
AAA National Championship Trail
Season
Races	21
Start date	March 4
End date	November 29
Awards
National champion	none declared
Indianapolis 500 winner	event not held
← 1916 1918 →

The 1917 AAA Championship Car season consisted of 21 races, beginning in Los Angeles, California on March 4 and concluding there on November 29. AAA did not award points towards a National Championship during the 1917 season, and did not declare a National Champion.

The de facto National Champion as polled by the American automobile journal Motor Age, was Earl Cooper. Cooper 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
March 4	George Washington Sweepstakes (100)	Ascot Speedway	South Los Angeles, California	1 mile dirt oval		Joe Boyer	Earl Cooper
May 10	Universal Trophy Race (113)	Uniontown Speedway	Uniontown, Pennsylvania	1.125 mile board oval	300 cu in.	Louis Chevrolet	William Taylor
May 30	Sharonville Sweepstakes (250)	Cincinnati Motor Speedway	Sharonville, Ohio	2 mile board oval		Ralph DePalma	Louis Chevrolet
June 16	War Derby (250)	Speedway Park	Maywood, Illinois	2 mile board oval		Louis Chevrolet	Earl Cooper
July 4	Omaha Derby (150)	Omaha Speedway	Omaha, Nebraska	1.25 mile board oval		Louis Chevrolet	Ralph Mulford
July 14	Minneapolis Race 1 (50)	Twin City Motor Speedway	Minneapolis, Minnesota	2 mile concrete oval	300 cu in.	Dave Lewis	Earl Cooper
July 14	Minneapolis Race 2 (100)	Twin City Motor Speedway	Minneapolis, Minnesota	2 mile concrete oval		Dave Lewis	Ira Vail
September 3	Army Post Sweepstakes (100)	Pacific Coast Speedway	Tacoma, Washington	2 mile board oval			Earl Cooper
September 3	Chicago Race 2 (50)	Speedway Park	Maywood, Illinois	2 mile board oval			Ralph DePalma
September 3	Chicago Race 3 (100)	Speedway Park	Maywood, Illinois	2 mile board oval			Louis Chevrolet
September 3	1st Annual Autumn Classic (113)	Uniontown Speedway	Uniontown, Pennsylvania	1.125 mile board oval			Frank Elliott
September 15	Providence Race 1 (5)	Narragansett Park Speedway	Cranston, Rhode Island	1 mile concrete oval	300 cu in.		Ralph Mulford
	Providence Race 2 (25)						Tommy Milton
	Providence Race 3 (100)						Tommy Milton
September 22	Harkness Trophy Race (100)	Sheepshead Bay Speedway	Sheepshead Bay, New York	2 mile board oval	300 cu in.		Louis Chevrolet
October 13	Chicago Race 4 (20)	Speedway Park	Maywood, Illinois	2 mile board oval			Tom Alley
	Chicago Race 5 (50)				300 cu in.		Ralph Mulford
	Chicago Race 6 (50)				300 cu in.		Pete Henderson
October 29	Uniontown Race 3 (169)	Uniontown Speedway	Uniontown, Pennsylvania	1.125 mile board oval	300 cu in.	Eddie Hearne	Eddie Hearne
November 29	Ascot Race 2 (10)	Ascot Speedway	South Los Angeles, California	1 mile dirt oval	300 cu in.		Louis Chevrolet
November 29	Ascot Race 3 (50)	Ascot Speedway	South Los Angeles, California	1 mile dirt oval	Free formula		Eddie Hearne

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	Earl Cooper	Stutz	1095
2	Louis Chevrolet	Frontenac	1046
3	Ralph Mulford	Frontenac	868
4	Eddie Hearne	Duesenberg	848
5	Tommy Milton	Duesenberg	771

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.

http://www.champcarstats.com/year/1917.htm accessed 8/21/15
http://www.teamdan.com/archive/gen/indycar/1917.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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