page_title: American open-wheel car racing
section_title: National champions
hierarchical_section_title: American open-wheel car racing / National champions
caption_attribution_description: English: Rick Mears at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday, March 20, 2011.
context_page_description: American open-wheel car racing, also known as Indy car racing, is a category of professional automobile racing in Northern America. As of 2019, the top-level American open-wheel racing championship is sanctioned by IndyCar.
  Competitive events for professional-level, single-seat open-wheel race cars have been conducted under the auspices of several different sanctioning bodies since 1902. A season-long, points-based, National Championship of drivers has been officially recognized in 1905, 1916, and since 1920. The Indianapolis 500, which debuted in 1911, is the premier event of Indy car racing.
  The open-wheeled, winged, single-seater cars have generally been similar to those in Formula One, though there are important differences. The fame of the Indianapolis 500 leads many to colloquially refer to the cars that compete on the American Championship circuit as "Indy cars".
  This form of racing has experienced high levels of popularity over the years, particularly in the post-World War II time frame. The "golden era" of the 1950s was followed by a decade of transition and innovation in the 1960s, which included increased international participation.
context_section_description: From 1979 to 1995 the Indianapolis 500 and the national championship were sanctioned by separate organizations, USAC and CART, respectively. USAC continued to sanction their own national championship series until 1981, when they formed the USAC Gold Crown Championship.
  From 1985 to 1995 the USAC Gold Crown Championship consisted solely of the Indianapolis 500, thus making such championship winners indistinguishable from Indianapolis winners. IndyCar does not recognize winners of the USAC Gold Crown Championship as full season champions.
caption: Rick Mears; 1979, 1981, & 1982 IndyCar Champion
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