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	Winner	Headline event
1^[1]	Phoenix International Raceway	Avondale, Arizona	18 March	Fred Phillips	Tim Richmond	Jimmy Bryan 150
2^[2]	Trenton International Speedway	Trenton, New Jersey	12 April	Bill Alsup	John Wood	Gabriel 200
3^[3]	Mosport International Raceway	Bowmanville, Ontario	11 June	Bill Alsup	Bill Alsup	Molson Diamond Indy
4^[4]	The Milwaukee Mile	West Allis, Wisconsin	18 June	William Henderson	William Henderson	Rex Mays 150
5^[5]	Texas World Speedway	College Station, Texas	6 August	Harry MacDonald	Harry MacDonald	Texas Grand Prix
6^[6]	The Milwaukee Mile	West Allis, Wisconsin	20 August	Dennis Firestone	Dennis Firestone	Tony Bettenhausen 200
7^[7]	Ontario Motor Speedway	Ontario, California	2 September	Dennis Firestone	Bill Alsup	California 500
8^[8]	Ontario Motor Speedway	Ontario, California	2 September	Tommy Thompson	Dennis Firestone	California 500
9^[9]	Trenton International Speedway	Trenton, New Jersey	23 September	Dennis Firestone	Geoff Brabham	Machinist Union 150
10^[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.^[11]

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

^ "Round 1". Ultimate Racing History. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
^ "Round 2". Ultimate Racing History. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
^ "Round 3". Ultimate Racing History. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
^ "Round 4". Ultimate Racing History. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
^ "Round 5". Ultimate Racing History. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
^ "Round 6". Ultimate Racing History. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
^ "Round 7". Ultimate Racing History. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
^ "Round 8". Ultimate Racing History. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
^ "Round 9". Ultimate Racing History. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
^ "Round 10". Ultimate Racing History. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
^ "Race driver succumbs to N.J. crash injuries". Baltimore Afro-American. Retrieved July 25, 2015.

[1] "Round 1". Ultimate Racing History. Retrieved July 25, 2015.

[2] "Round 2". Ultimate Racing History. Retrieved July 25, 2015.

[3] "Round 3". Ultimate Racing History. Retrieved July 25, 2015.

[4] "Round 4". Ultimate Racing History. Retrieved July 25, 2015.

[5] "Round 5". Ultimate Racing History. Retrieved July 25, 2015.

[6] "Round 6". Ultimate Racing History. Retrieved July 25, 2015.

[7] "Round 7". Ultimate Racing History. Retrieved July 25, 2015.

[8] "Round 8". Ultimate Racing History. Retrieved July 25, 2015.

[9] "Round 9". Ultimate Racing History. Retrieved July 25, 2015.

[10] "Round 10". Ultimate Racing History. Retrieved July 25, 2015.

[11] "Race driver succumbs to N.J. crash injuries". Baltimore Afro-American. Retrieved July 25, 2015.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

v t e Indy NXT seasons
USAC Mini-Indy Series	1977 1978 1979 1980
CART American Racing Series	1986 1987 1988 1989 1990
CART Firestone/Dayton Indy Lights	1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001
IRL Infiniti/Indy Pro Series	2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Firestone Indy Lights Series	2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Indy Lights Series presented by Cooper Tire	2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 ~~2020~~ 2021 2022
Firestone Indy NXT Series	2023 2024 2025