AAA and USAC Stock Car

The stock car class began as a division of the AAA Contest Board. AAA decided to stop sanctioning all racing classes after Bill Vukovich's death at the 1955 Indianapolis 500 was followed closely by the 1955 Le Mans disaster.^[1] USAC took over sanction in all of their classes starting in 1956.

From 1963 through 1970, and again in 1972, USAC held one of its most prestigious stock car events at the beginning of the "month of May." The Yankee 300 was held at Indianapolis Raceway Park, and was often frequented by Indy car stars.

USAC continued to sanction the Stock Car division until 1984 but the series had lost some luster as the events were frequently co-sanctioned with ARCA.^[1] The final championship in 1984 was scheduled for three races but only two were run (Springfield and DuQuoin).^[1] The third event, part of the 4 Crown Nationals at Eldora Speedway, was rained out and not rescheduled.^[1]

After the division ended, many of the drivers moved to other Midwestern series such as the American Speed Association (ASA), ARCA, and ARTGO.^[1]

USAC Stock Cars raced on dirt tracks, asphalt ovals and road courses. The Milwaukee Mile was regularly on the schedule.^[3] The variety of tracks included the dirt at DuQuoin State Fairgrounds Racetrack's oval, Indianapolis Raceway Park's asphalt oval, and the asphalt circle at Langhorne Speedway. The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb was even a stop on the schedule during some seasons.^[4] During the 1970s, the series added events at Ontario Motor Speedway, Pocono Raceway, and Michigan International Speedway.