1915 AAA Championship Car season

The 1915 AAA Championship Car season consisted of 27 races, beginning in San Diego, California on January 9 and concluding in San Francisco, California on November 25. AAA did not award points towards a National Championship during the 1915 season, and did not declare a National Champion.^[1] Ralph DePalma was the winner of the Indianapolis 500.

1915 AAA Championship Car season
AAA National Championship Trail
Season
Races	27
Start date	January 9
End date	November 25
Awards
National champion	none declared
Indianapolis 500 winner	Ralph DePalma
← 1914 1916 →

The de facto National Champion as polled by the American automobile journal Motor Age, was Earl Cooper. Points were not awarded by the AAA Contest Board during the 1915 season. 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
January 9	San Diego Exposition Road Race (305)	Point Loma Road Race Course	San Diego, California	5.982 mile road course			Earl Cooper
February 3	Tropico Road Race (101)	Tropico Road	Tropico, California	1.906 mile road course			Eddie O'Donnell
February 7	Ascot Race (100)	Ascot Speedway	South Los Angeles, California	1 mile dirt oval	Jack Callaghan fatally injured[2][3]		Eddie O'Donnell
February 27	American Grand Prize (406)	Panama–Pacific International Exposition	San Francisco, California	3.905 mile road course	ACA sanction	Earl Cooper	Dario Resta
March 6	William K. Vanderbilt Cup (301)			3.849 mile road course	600 cu in.	Barney Oldfield	Dario Resta
March 17	Venice Race (301)	Venice Road Race Course	Venice, California	3.105 mile road course		Cliff Durant	Barney Oldfield
March 20	Tucson Race (103)	Tucson Road Race Course	Tucson, Arizona	4.298 mile road course			Barney Oldfield
April 29	Southern Sweepstakes Road Race (200)	Oklahoma City Road Race Course	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma	2.404 mile road course		John Raimey	Bob Burman
May 31	International 500 Mile Sweepstakes	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Speedway, Indiana	2.5 mile brick oval	24-car field	Howdy Wilcox	Ralph DePalma
June 9	Galesburg Race (100)	Galesburg District Fairgrounds	Galesburg, Illinois	1 mile dirt oval		Tom Alley	Eddie O'Donnell
June 26	Chicago Race (500)	Speedway Park	Maywood, Illinois	2 mile board oval		Dario Resta	Dario Resta
July 3	Sioux City Race (300)	Sioux City Speedway	North Sioux City, South Dakota	2 mile dirt oval	450 cu in.; C. C. Cox fatally injured[4]		Eddie Rickenbacker
July 4	Montamarathon Trophy Race (250)	Pacific Coast Speedway	Tacoma, Washington	2 mile board oval	650 cu in.; Billy Carlson and his riding mechanic Paul Franzen fatally injured[5][6]		Glover Ruckstell
July 5	Golden Potlach Trophy Race (200)						Eddie Pullen
July 5	Omaha Race (300)	Omaha Speedway	Omaha, Nebraska	1.25 mile board oval		Eddie O'Donnell	Eddie Rickenbacker
July 9	Burlington Race (100)	Tri-State Fair Grounds	Burlington, Iowa	0.5 mile dirt oval			Bob Burman
August 7	Des Moines Race (300)	Des Moines Speedway	Valley Junction, Iowa	1 mile board oval	300 cu in.; Joe Cooper and Maurice Keeler, riding mechanic for Billy Chandler, fatally injured[7]		Ralph Mulford
August 7	Challenge Cup Match Race (100)	Speedway Park	Maywood, Illinois	2 mile board oval	600 cu in.	Barney Oldfield	Dario Resta
August 20	Chicago Auto Club Trophy Race (300)	Elgin Road Race Course	Elgin, Illinois	8.384 mile road course	300 cu in.		Earl Cooper
August 21	Elgin National Trophy Race (300)				450 cu in.		Gil Andersen
August 28	Kalamazoo Race (100)	Recreation Park	Kalamazoo, Michigan	1 mile dirt oval	Free-for-all		Ralph DePalma
September 4	Minneapolis Race (500)	Twin City Motor Speedway	Minneapolis, Minnesota	2 mile concrete oval	300 cu in.	Dario Resta	Earl Cooper/Johnny Aitken
September 18	Providence Race (100)	Narragansett Park Speedway	Cranston, Rhode Island	1 mile concrete oval			Eddie Rickenbacker
October 9	Astor Cup (350)	Sheepshead Bay Speedway	Sheepshead Bay, New York	2 mile board oval	300 cu in.; Harry Grant fatally injured in practice[8][9]	Dario Resta	Gil Andersen
November 2	Harkness Gold Medal Race (100)					Ralph DePalma	Dario Resta
November 20	Phoenix Race (109)	Arizona State Fairgrounds	Phoenix, Arizona	1 mile dirt oval	Scheduled for 150 miles; ended early due to darkness.[10]		Earl Cooper
November 25	San Francisco Race 3 (100)	Panama–Pacific International Exposition	San Francisco, California	1 mile dirt oval			Earl Cooper

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	3780
2	Dario Resta	Peugeot	3320
3	Gil Andersen	Stutz	2590
4	Eddie O'Donnell	Duesenberg	2285
5	Eddie Rickenbacker	Maxwell	1765

References

1. 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.
2. "Callaghan badly hurt in Los Angeles race". The Milwaukee Sentinel. February 8, 1915.
3. "Jack Callaghan dies; was hurt on Sunday". The Milwaukee Sentinel. February 9, 1915.
4. "Cincinnati driver meets death in auto race at Sioux City". The Cincinnati Enquirer. July 4, 1915. Archived from the original on July 31, 2018.
5. "Franzen killed in race" (PDF). The New York Times. July 5, 1915. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 1, 2018.
6. "Auto driver dies" (PDF). The New York Times. July 6, 1915. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 1, 2018.
7. "Joe Cooper and a mechanician killed in race". The Gazette Times. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. August 8, 1915.
8. "Auto driver Grant severely burned" (PDF). The New York Times. September 28, 1915. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 1, 2018.
9. "Harry Grant dies of burns" (PDF). The New York Times. October 8, 1915. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 1, 2018.
10. "Earl Cooper Wins Race at Phoenix". San Francisco Chronicle. November 21, 1915. p. 43. Retrieved May 30, 2021 – via newspapers.com.

General references

• http://www.champcarstats.com/year/1915.htm accessed 8/21/15
• http://www.teamdan.com/archive/gen/indycar/1915.html accessed 8/21/15