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AJ Foyt in the Coyote at Milwaukee in 1975.  Copyright Glenn Snyder 2009.  Used with permission.

Indy 500 and USAC racing 1975

AJ Foyt took further advantage of USAC's boost rules in 1975 and his Coyote, the sole car powered by the Ford-designed quad cam engine, dominated the season.

McLaren built a further evolution of their M16 series, the M16E being driven by Johnny Rutherford to second place in the title race - again - but no new Eagles were built for 1975 and this started a rethink in many team owners' minds about building their own cars. Lindsey Hopkins had already built his own car in 1974, another Bob Riley design on similar lines to the Coyote, but the Silver Floss Sauerkraut Special did not prove competitive. Despite this, George Bignotti at Patrick Racing asked Riley to build a third Indy design, to be known as the Wildcat Mk I, for regular drivers Gordon Johncock and Wally Dallenbach. It was equipped with the new Bignotti-inspired DGS engine, an evolution of the ancient Offy turbo. Parnelli had moved up to Formula 1 but were running a 1974 Eagle for Al Unser and also exploring their own new engine, a turbo-charged version of the Formula 1 Cosworth DFV. Unser gave this engine its debut in the back of a new Parnelli VPJ6 before the end of the season.

Also running competitive cars in 1975 were Penske (Norton Spirit McLarens), AAR (Jorgensen Steel Eagles), Jerry O'Connell (Sugaripe Prune Eagles) and Bob Fletcher (Cobre Tire Eagles); all using 1974 cars.

The races

02 Mar 1975 > California 500 Qualification Heat 1 at Ontario Motor Speedway

02 Mar 1975 > California 500 Qualification Heat 2 at Ontario Motor Speedway

09 Mar 1975 > California 500 at Ontario Motor Speedway

16 Mar 1975 > Phoenix 150 at Phoenix International Raceway

06 Apr 1975 > Trentonian 200 at Trenton International Speedway

25 May 1975 > Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

08 Jun 1975 > Rex Mays Classic at Milwaukee Mile

29 Jun 1975 > Pocono 500 at Pocono International Raceway

20 Jul 1975 > Michigan 200 at Michigan International Speedway

17 Aug 1975 > Tony Bettenhausen 200 at Milwaukee Mile

13 Sep 1975 > Michigan 150 at Michigan International Speedway

21 Sep 1975 > Trenton Times 200 at Trenton International Speedway

09 Nov 1975 > Phoenix 150 at Phoenix International Raceway

1975 USAC National Championship table

1AJ FoytCoyote 74 - Foyt turbo
Coyote 75 - Foyt turbo
4920 pts7 wins
2Johnny RutherfordMcLaren M16E - Offy 159 ci turbo2900 pts1 win
3Bobby UnserEagle 74 - Offy 159 ci turbo2480 pts1 win
4Wally DallenbachEagle 74 - Offy 159 ci turbo
Wildcat Mk 1 - DGS 158ci turbo
2305 pts1 win
5Billy VukovichEagle 74 - Offy 159 ci turbo2080 pts0 wins

Points table by Phil Harms.