1914 AAA Championship Car season

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1914 AAA Championship Car season
AAA National Championship Trail
Season
Races15
Start dateFebruary 26
End dateNovember 26
Awards
National championUnited States Ralph DePalma (unofficial)
Indianapolis 500 winnerFrance René Thomas
← 1913
1915 →

The 1914 AAA Championship Car season consisted of 15 races, beginning in Santa Monica, California on February 26 and concluding in Corona, California on November 26. The de facto National Champion as poled by the American automobile journal Motor Age was Ralph DePalma and the winner of the Indianapolis 500 was René Thomas. Points were not awarded by the AAA Contest Board during the 1914 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
February 26 William K. Vanderbilt Cup (295) Santa Monica Road Race Course Santa Monica, California 8.417 mile road course In practice, Dave Lewis skidded, crashed into a crowd, and overturned, crushing to death a spectator, Lewis Smith, and seriously hurting himself and four other attendants.[1] Harry Grant Ralph DePalma
February 28 American Grand Prize (404) ACA sanction Eddie Pullen Teddy Tetzlaff
May 30 International 500 Mile Sweepstakes Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway, Indiana 2.5 mile brick oval 450 cu in., Qualifications based upon demonstrated 75 mph single-lap speed, 30-car field Arthur Duray René Thomas
July 3 Golden Potlach Trophy Race (200) Pacific Coast Speedway Tacoma, Washington 2 mile dirt oval 600 cu in. Hughie Hughes
July 4 Montamarathon Trophy Race (250) Free-for-all Earl Cooper
July 4 Sioux City Race (300) North Sioux City, South Dakota 2 mile dirt oval Gil Andersen Eddie Rickenbacker
July 30 Galveston Race 1 (50) Galveston, Texas 5 mile beach course Ralph Mulford
August 1 Galveston Race 2 (50) 2.5 mile beach course Ralph Mulford
August 3 Galveston Race 3 (50) Ralph Mulford
August 21 Chicago Auto Club Trophy Race (301) Elgin, Illinois 8.384 mile road course Ralph DePalma
August 22 Elgin National Trophy Race (301) Spencer Wishart and his riding mechanic Jack Jenter fatally injured[2][3] Ralph DePalma
September 26 Kalamazoo Race (100) Kalamazoo, Michigan 1 mile dirt oval Free-formula Bob Burman
October 22 Galesburg Race (100) Galesburg, Illinois 1 mile dirt oval Fritz Walker, riding mechanic for , fatally injured[4][5] Ralph Mulford
October 24 St. Paul Race (100) Minnesota State Fair Speedway St. Paul, Minnesota 1 mile dirt oval Tom Alley
November 26 Corona Race (302) Grand Boulevard Corona, California 2.768 mile road course Barney Oldfield Eddie Pullen

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 2045
2 Eddie Pullen Mercer 1720
3 René Thomas Delage 1000
4 Barney Oldfield Stutz 990
5 Ralph Mulford Peugeot 780

References[]

  1. ^ "One killed and five hurt at practice spin". San Francisco Chronicle. February 17, 1914. Archived from the original on 2018-07-31.
  2. ^ Parker, Reed L. (August 23, 1914). "Wishart killed at Elgin in race won by DePalma". The Chicago Sunday Tribune.
  3. ^ "Jenter is dead". The Milwaukee Journal. August 26, 1914.
  4. ^ Parker, Reed L. (October 23, 1914). "Ralph Mulford victor in 100 mile motor race". The Chicago Daily Tribune.
  5. ^ "'Mercedes Fritz' dead; motor car race victim". The Milwaukee Sentinel. October 28, 1914.

General references[]

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