1978 USAC Mini-Indy Series season

The 1978 USAC Mini Indy Series season was the second season of the USAC sanctioned Formula Super Vee championship.

Race calendar and results

Round Circuit Location Date Pole position Fastest lap Winner Headline event 1 Phoenix International Raceway Avondale, Arizona 18 March Fred Phillips Tim Richmond Jimmy Bryan 150 2 Trenton International Speedway Trenton, New Jersey 12 April Bill Alsup John Wood Gabriel 200 3 Mosport International Raceway Bowmanville, Ontario 11 June Bill Alsup Bill Alsup Molson Diamond Indy 4 The Milwaukee Mile West Allis, Wisconsin 18 June William Henderson William Henderson Rex Mays 150 5 Texas World Speedway College Station, Texas 6 August Harry MacDonald Harry MacDonald Texas Grand Prix 6 The Milwaukee Mile West Allis, Wisconsin 20 August Dennis Firestone Dennis Firestone Tony Bettenhausen 200 7 Ontario Motor Speedway Ontario, California 2 September Dennis Firestone Bill Alsup California 500 8 Tommy Thompson Dennis Firestone 9 Trenton International Speedway Trenton, New Jersey 23 September Dennis Firestone Geoff Brabham Machinist Union 150 10 Phoenix International Raceway Avondale, Arizona 28 October Kevin Cogan Kevin Cogan Miller High Life Bobby Ball 150

Teams and drivers

No. Driver Owner Car Engine Note 2 Herm Johnson Austin Johnson Lola Volkswagen 3 Fred Phillips Citation Engineering Zink Volkswagen 10 Dennis Firestone Crosslé Cars Pacific March Volkswagen 12 Dick Ferguson Race Research Inc. Volkswagen 19 John Kalagian Beth Ardisana Lynx Volkswagen 29 Pete Halsmer Simpson Racers Lola Volkswagen 37 Nancy James Citation Engineering Zink Volkswagen 38 Desiré Wilson Citation Engineering Zink Volkswagen 39 Richard Tallon Richard Tallon Lola Volkswagen 41 Bill Alsup William Alsup Jr. Argo Volkswagen 42 Harry MacDonald HCM Racing Ralt Volkswagen 43 John Wood Bill Scott Racing Volkswagen 45 William Henderson Bertil Racing Engines Lola Volkswagen 46 Stuart Moore Janet Moore Lola Volkswagen 48 Dan Park WREP Industries Volkswagen 50 Tommy Thompson Black American Racers Lola Volkswagen Thompson died from injuries sustained in a crash in the ninth round of the championship 55 Geoff Brabham David Psachie Ralt Volkswagen 60 Bob Cicconi Lou Cicconi Lola Volkswagen 70 Syd Demovsky Syd Demovsky Lola Volkswagen 77 Bryan Johnson Fitzpatrick Racing Enterprises Volkswagen 82 Kevin Cogan Ralt American Ltd. Ralt Volkswagen 94 John Sisk Aspen Racing Wheeler Volkswagen 97 Gary Bettenhausen American Eagle Racing Lola Volkswagen 98 Tim Richmond Sale Chevrolet Lola Volkswagen 99 Dave Bruns Linne Enterprises Volkswagen

Death of Tommy Thompson

African-American racing driver Tommy Thompson participated in the ninth round of the championship at Trenton International Speedway. On the final lap of the 42-lap race one of the other competitor slowed down. John Barringer had to swerve to avoid contact. However Thompson hit Barringer. Thompson's left front wheel and Barringer's right rear wheel became locked. Both cars hit the wall head-on. Thompsons car was launched over the wall. Both Barringer and Thompson were transported to St. Francis Medical Center. Thompson succumbed to his injuries on 28 September.

Final standings Color Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green 4th & 5th place Light Blue 6th–10th place Dark Blue 11th place or lower Purple Did not finish Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Brown Withdrawn (Wth) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Blank Did not participate (DNP) Driver replacement (Rpl) Injured (Inj) No race held (NH) Pos. Driver PIR1 TRE1 MOS MIL1 TEX MIL2 ONT1 ONT2 TRE2 PIR2 Points 1 Bill Alsup 21 2 1 23 2 10 1 2 4 12 1046 2 Dennis Firestone 5 24 3 22 6 1 24 1 16 2 894 3 Harry MacDonald DNS 20 4 3 1 26 2 3 23 7 831 4 Herm Johnson 16 5 14 2 7 5 5 22 3 5 773 5 John Wood 1 15 24 3 9 3 5 26 9 674 6 Bob Cicconi 25 21 10 5 27 6 14 19 2 4 506 7 David Bruns 2 6 4 18 3 504 8 Gary Bettenhausen 3 17 4 22 7 9 28 6 453 9 Tim Richmond 1 22 16 7 9 4 428 10 Ken Nichols 4 7 4 18 5 404 11 Kevin Cogan 3 1 340 12 Pete Halsmer 4 9 6 21 24 15 10 10 19 23 318 13 Geoff Brabham 12 6 1 290 13 Fred Phillips 2 4 13 22 25 290 15 Tommy Thompson 8 7 9 9 8 14 245 16 William Henderson 11 18 1 224 17 Syd Demovsky 8 5 19 18 8 208 18 Stuart Moore 2 21 163 19 Tom Bagley 3 140 20 Dan Park 13 6 8 135 21 George Dyer 5 11 16 21 128 22 Jim Giffin 12 10 28 6 13 127 23 Michael Yoder 7 7 15 115 24 John Kalagian 27 10 20 7 21 99 25 Joe Gimpel Jr. 15 11 11 14 9 90 26 Ted Field 13 16 19 8 25 23 11 89 27 Bill Cruse 6 80 27 Eddie Miller 6 80 29 Bryan Johnson 26 24 25 7 20 16 76 30 John Sisk 12 8 18 23 17 18 75 31 Richard Tallon 12 11 9 28 72 32 Dick Simon 14 12 8 20 69 33 Bill Follmer 7 60 34 Heinz Snizek 8 50 35 G. Scott Ovel 9 14 45 36 Butch Meyer 18 28 16 17 17 12 12 27 41 37 Dick Ferguson 24 13 25 10 40 37 Larry Skipsey 11 11 40 39 Rich Vogler 22 10 33 39 Benny Scott 16 20 17 11 33 41 Bill Simpson 10 30 41 Domenick Billera 10 30 43 Gary Passon 13 DNS 15 12 20 28 44 Doug Clark 14 27 13 t 15 24 15 25 45 Mike Frangkiser 11 19 24 46 Roy Kischell 17 28 28 17 16 17 47 Phil Caliva 15 21 13 13 47 Bobby Unser Jr. 22 19 20 26 13 49 Nancy James 25 12 12 49 Bob Larson 19 14 24 12 51 Roger Mears 26 22 15 10 52 Dennis Blackwell 18 23 28 9 52 Ron Banks 29 21 19 9 54 Bert Busby 23 15 8 55 Bubby Jones DNS 17 6 55 Tom D'Eath 23 22 6 57 John Barringer 13 5 57 Bill Thelander 13 5 57 Gene Romero 14 5 57 Don Schoeny 14 5 57 Greg Atwell 16 5 57 Bill Noble 27 24 5 63 Rich Amick 17 4 63 Jan Slesinski 17 4 63 Hank Chapman 18 4 63 Roger Bighouse 20 4 67 Tom Hessert 21 3 67 Bobby Hillin Jr. 23 3 69 Lou Gigliotti 25 2 69 Bobby Olivero 25 2 69 Elliott Forbes-Robinson 26 2 69 Allan Turner 26 2 69 Desiré Wilson 26 2 69 Howdy Holmes 27 2 69 Denny Moothart 27 2 Mike Randol

References