1926 AAA Championship Car season

The 1926 AAA Championship Car season consisted of 24 races, beginning in Miami Beach, Florida on February 22 and concluding in Pineville, North Carolina on November 11. There were also 7 non-championship races. The AAA National Champion was Harry Hartz and the Indianapolis 500 winner was Frank Lockhart.

1926 AAA Championship Car season
AAA National Championship Trail
Season
Races	26
Start date	February 22
End date	November 11
Awards
National champion	Harry Hartz
Indianapolis 500 winner	Frank Lockhart
← 1925 1927 →

The season suffered two fatalities. Herbert Jones died at Indianapolis during a practice session. Jack Foley died at Salem during qualifying for the second race.^[1]

Schedule and results

All races running on Dirt/Brick/Board Oval.

Rnd	Date	Race Name	Track	Location	Type	Pole Position	Winning Driver
1	February 22	Carl G. Fisher Trophy - 300	Fulford–Miami Speedway	Miami Beach, Florida	Board	Ralph Hepburn	Peter DePaolo
2	March 21	Culver City Race - 250	Culver City Speedway	Culver City, California	Board	Bob McDonogh	Bennett Hill
NC	April 15	Raisin Day Classic - 50	Fresno Speedway	Fresno, California	Board	—	Peter DePaolo
3	May 1	Atlantic City Race - 300	Atlantic City Speedway	Hammonton, New Jersey	Board	Bob McDonogh	Harry Hartz
4	May 10	Charlotte Race - 250	Charlotte Speedway	Pineville, North Carolina	Board	Harry Hartz	Earl Devore
5	May 31	International 500 Mile SweepstakesA	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Speedway, Indiana	Brick	Earl Cooper	Frank Lockhart
6	June 12	Altoona Race 1 - 250	Altoona Speedway	Tyrone, Pennsylvania	Board	Peter DePaolo	Dave Lewis
NC	June 27	Detroit Race 1 - 100	Michigan State Fairgrounds	Detroit, Michigan	Dirt	—	Frank Lockhart
7	July 5	Independence Day Classic Semi - 50	Rockingham Park	Salem, New Hampshire	Board	Peter DePaolo	Peter DePaolo
8		Independence Day Classic Main - 200				Peter DePaolo	Earl Cooper
9	July 17	Sesquicentennial Classic Heat 1 - 60	Atlantic City Speedway	Hammonton, New Jersey	Board	—	Harry Hartz
10		Sesquicentennial Classic Heat 2 - 60				—	Norman Batten
11		Sesquicentennial Classic Semi - 60				—	Fred Comer
12		Sesquicentennial Classic Main - 60				—	Harry Hartz
13	August 23	Charlotte Heat 1 - 25	Charlotte Speedway	Pineville, North Carolina	Board	Bob McDonogh	Earl Cooper
14		Charlotte Heat 2 - 25				—	Dave Lewis
15		Charlotte Semi - 50				—	Frank Lockhart
16		Charlotte Main - 150				Dave Lewis	Frank Lockhart
NC	September 4	Syracuse - 50	New York State Fairgrounds	Syracuse, New York	Dirt	—	Ralph DePalma
NC	September 11	Detroit Race 2 - 100	Michigan State Fairgrounds	Detroit, Michigan	Dirt	—	Frank Lockhart
17	September 18	Altoona Race 2 - 250	Altoona Speedway	Tyrone, Pennsylvania	Board	Harry Hartz	Frank Lockhart
NC	October 2	Fresno Heat 1 - 25B	Fresno Speedway	Fresno, California	Board	—	Peter DePaolo
18		Fresno Heat 2 - 25				—	Bennett Hill
19		Fresno Race - 50				—	Frank Lockhart
20	October 12	Rockingham Race 1 - 25	Rockingham Park	Salem, New Hampshire	Board	—	Bennett Hill
21		Rockingham Race 2 - 25				—	Leon Duray
22		Rockingham Race 3 - 200				—	Harry Hartz
NC	October 24	Detroit Race 3 - 100	Michigan State Fairgrounds	Detroit, Michigan	Dirt	—	Sam Ross
23	November 11	Charlotte Heat 1 - 25	Charlotte Speedway	Pineville, North Carolina	Board	Bennett Hill	Frank Lockhart
24		Charlotte Heat 2 - 25				Harry Hartz	Dave Lewis
25		Charlotte Semi - 50				Bennett Hill	Harry Hartz
26		Charlotte Main - 100				Frank Lockhart	Leon Duray

  Non-championship race

• Indianapolis 500 was AAA-sanctioned and counted towards the 1926 AIACR World Manufacturers' Championship title.

^A Scheduled for 500 miles, stopped due to rain on the lap 160.

^B The IZOD IndyCar Series 2011 Historical Record Book listed the all time race winners. On the page 77 counted only two of the three October 2, 1926 Fresno races, what won by Bennett Hill and Frank Lockhart.

Final points standings

Note: Drivers had to be running at the finish to score points. Points scored by drivers sharing a ride were split according to percentage of race driven. Starters were not able to score points as relief drivers, if a race starter finished the race in another car, in a points scoring position, those points were awarded to the driver who had started the car.
The final standings based on reference.^[2]

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

Pos Driver MIA CUL ATL1 CHA1 INDY ALT1 SAL1 SAL2 ATL2 ATL3 ATL4 ATL5 CHA2 CHA3 CHA4 CHA5 ALT2 FRE1 FRE2 SAL3 SAL4 SAL5 CHA6 CHA7 CHA8 CHA9 Pts 1 Harry Hartz 2 3 1 2 2 11 2 4 1 1 3 2 4 2 2 1* 2* 1 4 2954 2 Frank Lockhart  RY  1* DNS DSQ 4 10 2 1* 1* 1 2 1 3 3 9 1* 12 7 1830 3 Peter DePaolo 1 2 2 14 5 8 1 3 4 6 DNP 4 4 7 9 16 5 5 6 1500 4 Bennett Hill 5 1* 10 11 12 6 2 2 11 2 6 7 1 2 1 5 8 2 4 DNS 1050 5 Frank Elliott 4 5 16 5 6 7* 4 5 2 8 4 4 2 8 14 12 5 3 6 2 747 6 Fred Comer 14 14 7 3 4 4 4 9 1 2 7 6 12 11 13 4 11 5 659 7 Dave Lewis 17 13 15 1 14 7 1 DNQ 7 14 3 3 5 4 14 1 3 8 645 8 Norman Batten 8 14 4 7 2 6 1 3 5 7 8 18 18 8 15 620 9 Pete Kreis 11 11 4 7 DNS DNS DNS 2 13 10 2 5 8 590 10 Earl Devore 6 15 11 1 DNP 15 8 DNQ 5 6 4 11 17 17 585 11 Leon Duray 10* 10 23 DNS DNQ DNS 3 11 1* 3 6 2 1 555 12 Earl Cooper 18 16 13 6 1 6 5 12 1 9 16 DNQ 465 13 Bob McDonogh 3 12 3* 12 8 9 10 11 3 6 5 15 DNP 416 14 Cliff Woodbury  R  9 13 10 3 12 DNQ 9 3 5 5* 3 9 17 4 6 12 3 360 15 Eddie Hearne 4 6 15 17 5 15 3 7 3 9 305 16 W. E. Shattuc 8 16 9 8 27 DNS 5 8 8 2 13 4 5 5 10 10 6 4 7 3 280 17 John Duff  R  9 3 13 Wth 155 18 Ralph Hepburn 16 6 5 16 8 9 3 DNQ 7 6 DNS DNQ 6 13 11 6 9 9 144 19 Dave Evans 9 7 8 13 DNS 16 6 7 10 DNQ 9 7 4 120 20 Ben Jones  R  7 12 9 18 10 11 3 9 8 11 80 21 Phil Shafer 10 DNS 7 9 5 4 DNS DNP 72 22 Wade Morton 4 7 9 10 67 23 Harlan Fengler DNP 14 12 8 4 6 8 12 45 24 Zeke Meyer  R  13 DNQ 6 35 25 Tony Gulotta  R  11 DNS 15 16 7 DNP 15 - Daniel O'Brien  R  DNP 17 17 10 Wth 0 - Ernest Eldridge  R  19 DNS DNQ 10 0 - Louis Meyer  R  10 0 - Jerry Wunderlich 12 14 0 - Thane Houser 13 18 0 - Fred Lecklider  R  24 13 0 - Douglas Hawkes 14 DNS DNQ DNQ 0 - Tommy Milton 15 0 - Vladimir Rashevskiy  R  15 0 - Jack Foley  R  DNQ 16 DNQ 0 - Cliff Durant 17 0 - Herschell McKee  R  19 0 - L. L. Corum 20 0 - Steve Nemesh  R  21 0 - Jules Ellingboe 22 0 - Jack McCarver  R  25 0 - Bon MacDougall  R  26 0 - Albert Guyot 28 0 - Thomas Pickard DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ 0 - Ralph DePalma DNQ DNQ 0 - Frank Farmer DNQ 0 - Jean de Marguenat DNQ 0 - Dan Cain DNQ 0 - Herbert Jones DNQ 0 - Ralph Mulford DNQ 0 - Charles Shambaugh DNQ 0 Pos Driver MIA CUL ATL1 CHA1 INDY ALT1 SAL1 SAL2 ATL2 ATL3 ATL4 ATL5 CHA2 CHA3 CHA4 CHA5 ALT2 FRE1 FRE2 SAL3 SAL4 SAL5 CHA6 CHA7 CHA8 CHA9 Pts

Color Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green 4th & 5th place Light Blue 6th-10th place Dark Blue Finished (Outside Top 10) Purple Did not finish (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Brown Withdrawn (Wth) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Blank Did not participate (DNP) Not competing In-line notation Bold Pole position Italics Ran fastest race lap * Led most race laps Rookie of the Year Rookie