1918 AAA Championship Car season

1918 AAA Championship Car season
1918 AAA Championship Car season
AAA National Championship Trail
Season
Races	16
Start date	May 16
End date	September 2
Awards
National champion	Ralph Mulford (unofficial)
Indianapolis 500 winner	None
	← 1917 1919 →

The 1918 AAA Championship Car season consisted of 16 races, beginning in Uniontown, Pennsylvania on May 16 and concluding there on September 2. There were also 3 non-championship races. The de facto National Champion as poled by the American automobile journal Motor Age was Ralph Mulford. The Indianapolis 500 was not held this year. Points were not awarded by the AAA Contest Board during the 1918 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	Winning driver
May 16	Liberty Sweepstakes Heat 1 (27)	Uniontown Speedway	Uniontown, Pennsylvania	1.125 mile board oval		Tommy Milton
	Liberty Sweepstakes Heat 2 (27)					Ralph Mulford
	Liberty Sweepstakes Heat 3 (27)					Eddie Hearne
	Liberty Sweepstakes Heat 4 (27)					Louis Chevrolet
	Liberty Sweepstakes Main (27)					Ralph Mulford
June 1	Harkness Handicap (100)	Sheepshead Bay Speedway	Sheepshead Bay, New York	2 mile board oval	Non-championship event	Ralph DePalma
June 22	Chicago 100 (100)	Speedway Park	Maywood, Illinois	2 mile board oval	Non-championship event	Louis Chevrolet
July 4	Liberty Handicap (100)		Sharonville, Ohio	2 mile board oval	Non-championship event	Ralph DePalma
July 4	Tacoma Race 1 (24)	Pacific Coast Speedway	Tacoma, Washington	2 mile board oval		Cliff Durant
	Tacoma Race 2 (50)					Cliff Durant
	Tacoma Race 3 (75)					Eddie Hearne
July 18	Independence Auto Derby (112.5)	Uniontown Speedway	Uniontown, Pennsylvania	1.125 mile board oval		Louis Chevrolet
July 28	Chicago Race 1 (10)	Speedway Park	Maywood, Illinois	2 mile board oval		Ralph DePalma
	Chicago Race 2 (20)					Ralph DePalma
	Chicago Race 3 (30)					Ralph DePalma
August 17	International Sweepstakes Race 1 (20)	Sheepshead Bay Speedway	Sheepshead Bay, New York	2 mile board oval		Ralph DePalma
	International Sweepstakes Race 2 (30)					Ralph DePalma
	International Sweepstakes Race 3 (50)					Ralph DePalma
September 2	Liberty Sweepstakes (112.5)	Uniontown Speedway	Uniontown, Pennsylvania	1.125 mile board oval		Ralph Mulford

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.

#	Driver	Sponsor	Points
1	Ralph Mulford	Frontenac	515
2	Louis Chevrolet	Frontenac	485
3	Eddie Hearne	Duesenberg	350
4	Ralph DePalma	Packard	320
5	Cliff Durant	Chevrolet	230

References[]

http://www.champcarstats.com/year/1918.htm accessed 12/1/15
http://www.teamdan.com/archive/gen/indycar/1918.html accessed 12/1/15

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