Circle K/Fiesta Bowl 200

This article is about the second Phoenix IndyCar race which was held in the fall at or near the end of the season. For the first Phoenix IndyCar race in the spring, see Jimmy Bryan Memorial.

Circle K/Fiesta Bowl 200

CART PPG Indy Car World Series
Venue	Phoenix International Raceway (1964–1986) Arizona State Fairgrounds (1915, 1950–1963)
First IndyCar Series race	1979
Last race	1986
Distance	200 mi (320 km) 150 mi (240 km) pre-1986
Laps	200 / 150 pre-1986
Previous names	Phoenix 100: 1950–1953 Bobby Ball Memorial: 1964–1968 Bobby Ball 200: 1969 Bobby Ball 150: 1970–1971 Best Western 150: 1972 Arizona 150: 1973 Phoenix 150: 1974–1975 Bobby Ball 150: 1976–1977 Miller High Life Bobby Ball Memorial 150: 1978 Miller High Life 150: 1979–1983 Stroh's 150: 1984 Dana 150: 1985
Most wins (driver)	A. J. Foyt (4) Al Unser (4)
Most wins (team)	Dean Racing Enterprises (5)
Most wins (manufacturer)	Chassis: March (6) Engine: Cosworth (10)

The Circle K/Fiesta Bowl 200 was the final name of a PPG IndyCar World Series race held annually at Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Arizona, from 1979 though 1986; it was known as the Miller High Life 150 for five editions during that period. The race was known by multiple other names, operated under other sanctioning bodies, and was run at other distances during a much longer history before IndyCar.

Race history

Finishing order of the 1915 race as published in The Arizona Republic

Open wheel racing in the Phoenix area dates back to 1915 on a dirt oval at the Arizona State Fairgrounds. Earl Cooper, who competed in the Indianapolis 500 seven times, won the inaugural race—scheduled for 150 laps of the one-mile track, it was ended after 109 miles due to darkness.

The race was revived in 1950 by the AAA, and then passed to the United States Auto Club (USAC) in 1956. USAC moved the race to the newly built Phoenix International Raceway in 1964. The race became a CART event in 1979. During the CART years, two races were scheduled through the mid-1980s, but the track dropped down to one race per year starting in 1987.

Starting in 1954, the race was named for driver Bobby Ball, who died in February 1954 following a racing accident in Los Angeles in January 1953. The race was renamed in 1972 due to sponsorship from Best Western. Bobby Ball naming returned for the 1976–1978 editions, the last of which was title sponsored by Miller High Life. Miller's sponsorship continued through the 1983 edition. The race then had three different title sponsors for its final three editions: Stroh's, Dana, and Circle K.

Over the entire history of the race, A. J. Foyt and Al Unser each won four times, the most of any driver. Foyt's wins came in 1960 at the Fairgrounds and then in 1965, 1971, and 1975 at the Raceway. Unser's wins all came at the Raceway, in 1969, 1976, 1979, and 1985. The most consecutive wins was three, by Tom Sneva in 1980, 1981, and 1982. Sneva's three wins were the most by any driver during the IndyCar era of the race (1979–1986).

Arizona State Fairgrounds

Season	Date	Race Name	Driver	Team	Chassis	Engine	Tire	Race Distance		Race Time	Average Speed (mph)
								Laps	Miles (km)
AAA Championship Car history
1915	November 20		Earl Cooper	Stutz Motor Company	Stutz	Stutz	F	109	109 (175.418)	1:42:30	64.39
1916 – 1949	Not held
1950	November 12	Phoenix 100	Jimmy Davies	Pat Clancy Racing	Ewing	Offenhauser	F	100	100 (160.934)	1:16:54	78.020
1951	November 4	Phoenix 100	Johnnie Parsons	Kurtis Kraft	Kurtis Kraft	Offenhauser	F	100	100 (160.934)	1:10:54	84.626
1952	November 11	Phoenix 100	Johnnie Parsons	Ricketts	Kurtis Kraft	Offenhauser	F	100	100 (160.934)	1:09:52	85.87
1953	November 11	Phoenix 100	Tony Bettenhausen	Belanger Motors	Kurtis Kraft	Offenhauser	F	100	100 (160.934)	1:11:30	83.916
1954	November 7−8*	Bobby Ball Memorial	Jimmy Bryan	Dean Racing Enterprises	Kuzma	Offenhauser	F	100	100 (160.934)	1:10:59	84.524
1955	November 6	Bobby Ball Memorial	Jimmy Bryan	Dean Racing Enterprises	Kuzma	Offenhauser	F	97*	97 (156.106)	1:09:24	83.862
USAC Championship Car history
1956	November 12	Bobby Ball Memorial	George Amick	Lindsey Hopkins Racing	Lesovsky	Offenhauser	F	100	100 (160.934)	1:05:20	91.826
1957	November 11	Bobby Ball Memorial	Jimmy Bryan	Dean Racing Enterprises	Kuzma	Offenhauser	F	100	100 (160.934)	1:09:46	86.001
1958	November 11	Bobby Ball Memorial	Jud Larson	Bignotti-Bowes Racing Associates	Lesovsky	Offenhauser	F	100	100 (160.934)	1:04:42	92.738
1959	October 18	Bobby Ball Memorial	Tony Bettenhausen	Lindsey Hopkins Racing	Kuzma	Offenhauser	F	100	100 (160.934)	1:07:50	88.458
1960	November 20	Bobby Ball Memorial	A. J. Foyt	Bignotti-Bowes Racing Associates	Meskowski	Offenhauser	F	100	100 (160.934)	1:07:21	89.079
1961	November 19	Bobby Ball Memorial	Parnelli Jones	Agajanian Racing	Lesovsky	Offenhauser	F	89*	89 (143.231)
1962	November 18	Bobby Ball Memorial	Bobby Marshman	Lindsey Hopkins Racing	Kuzma	Offenhauser	F	51*	51 (82.076)	0:33:13	92.124
1963	November 17	Bobby Ball Memorial	Rodger Ward	Leader Card Racing	Watson	Offenhauser	F	100	100 (160.934)	1:10:35	85.01

• 1954: Final 65 laps completed on November 8 due to heavy dust and the rough condition of the track.
• 1955: Race shortened due to rough track conditions. Driver Jack McGrath was killed in an accident during this race.
• 1961: Race shortened due to darkness.
• 1962: Race shortened due to crash.
• Bolded driver indicates this was their first USAC Championship Car win

Phoenix International Raceway

Season	Date	Race Name	Driver	Team	Chassis	Engine/Aero Kit	Tires	Race Distance		Race Time	Average Speed (mph)
								Laps	Miles (km)
USAC Championship Car history
1964	November 22	Bobby Ball Memorial	Lloyd Ruby	Bill Forbes Racing	Halibrand RE	Offenhauser	F	200	200 (321.868)	1:51:23	107.736
1965	November 21	Bobby Ball Memorial	A. J. Foyt	Anstead-Thompson Racing	Lotus RE	Ford	G	200	200 (321.868)	2:00:01	99.99
1966	November 20	Bobby Ball Memorial	Mario Andretti	Dean Racing Enterprises	Brawner Hawk	Ford	F	200	200 (321.868)	1:54:38	104.697
1967	November 19	Bobby Ball Memorial	Mario Andretti	Dean Racing Enterprises	Brawner Hawk	Ford	F	200	200 (321.868)	1:49:13	109.872
1968	November 17	Bobby Ball Memorial	Gary Bettenhausen	Gerhardt Racing	Gerhardt	Offenhauser	F	200	200 (321.868)	1:54:19	104.972
1969	November 15	Bobby Ball 200	Al Unser	Vel's Parnelli Jones Racing	Lola	Ford	F	200	200 (321.868)	1:48:59	110.109
1970	November 21	Bobby Ball 150	Swede Savage	All American Racers	Eagle	Ford	G	150	150 (241.401)	1:17:30	116.807
1971	October 23	Bobby Ball 150	A. J. Foyt	Anstead-Thompson Racing	Coyote 71	Ford	G	150	150 (241.401)	1:21:18	110.333
1972	November 4	Best Western 150	Bobby Unser	All American Racers	Eagle	Offenhauser	G	150	150 (241.401)	1:10:31	127.618
1973	November 3	Arizona 150	Gordon Johncock	STP-Patrick Racing	Eagle	Offenhauser	G	150	150 (241.401)	1:18:15	115.015
1974	November 2	Phoenix 150	Gordon Johncock	STP-Patrick Racing	Eagle	Offenhauser	G	150	150 (241.401)	1:12:28	124.202
1975	November 9	Phoenix 150	A. J. Foyt	Gilmore-Foyt Racing	Coyote	Foyt TC	G	150	150 (241.401)	1:21:02	111.055
1976	November 7	Bobby Ball 150	Al Unser	Vel's Parnelli Jones Racing	Parnelli	Cosworth DFX	G	150	150 (241.401)	1:23:34	107.695
1977	October 29	Bobby Ball 150	Gordon Johncock	Patrick Racing	Wildcat	Drake Goosen Sparks	G	150	150 (241.401)	1:22:53	108.597
1978	October 28	Miller High Life Bobby Ball Memorial 150	Johnny Rutherford	Team McLaren	McLaren	Cosworth DFX	G	150	150 (241.401)	1:14:24	120.974
CART Championship Car history
1979	October 20	Miller High Life 150	Al Unser	Chaparral Cars	Chaparral	Cosworth DFX	G	150	150 (241.401)	1:13:03	123.203
1980	November 8	Miller High Life 150	Tom Sneva	Jerry O'Connell Racing	Phoenix	Cosworth DFX	G	150	150 (241.401)	1:30:04	99.925
1981	October 31	Miller High Life 150	Tom Sneva	Bignotti-Cotter Racing	March	Cosworth DFX	G	150	150 (241.401)	1:20:10	112.266
1982	November 6	Miller High Life 150	Tom Sneva	Bignotti-Cotter Racing	March 82C	Cosworth DFX	G	150	150 (241.401)	1:21:05	110.997
1983	October 29	Miller High Life 150	Teo Fabi	Forsythe Racing	March 83C	Cosworth DFX	G	150	150 (241.401)	1:11:03	126.671
1984	October 13	Stroh's 150	Bobby Rahal	Truesports	March 84C	Cosworth DFX	G	150	150 (241.401)	1:31:47	98.048
1985	October 13	Dana 150	Al Unser	Team Penske	March 85C	Cosworth DFX	G	150	150 (241.401)	1:14:35	120.644
1986	October 19	Circle K/Fiesta Bowl 200	Michael Andretti	Kraco Racing	March 86C	Cosworth DFX	G	200	200 (321.868)	1:29:06	134.676

• F = Firestone
• G = Goodyear
• Bolded driver indicates this was the drivers first IndyCar win.

Support races

Season	Date	Winning Driver	Chassis	Engine
ARS / Indy Lights Series
1986	October 19	Fabrizio Barbazza	March	Buick

Season	Date	Winning Driver	Chassis	Engine
USAC Mini-Indy Series
1977	October 29	Herm Johnson	Lola	Volkswagen
1978	October 28	Kevin Cogan	Ralt	Volkswagen

Season	Date	Winning Driver
SCCA Super Vee Series
1980	November 8	Al Unser Jr.
1981	October 31	Pete Halsmer
1982	November 6	Michael Andretti
1983	October 29	Ludwig Heimrath Jr.
1985	October 13	Jeff Andretti
1986	October 19	Mike Groff

Selected race summaries

• 1980: Johnny Rutherford led the first 37 laps, then on lap 71 was chasing leader Tom Sneva. Dicing through slower traffic, Rutherford slipped by Sneva in turn three to take the lead. He then suffered a spectacular crash. Coming out of turn four, he touched wheels with Dennis Firestone and spun into the outside wall. Then the car flipped up in the air and landed upside-down on its roll bar. Rutherford escaped with a concussion and only minor cuts and lacerations.
• 1985: In the second-to-last race of the season at Phoenix, Al Unser Sr. and Al Unser Jr. finished first-second, and ended the day within three points of each other going into the season finale. The father and son battle for the 1985 championship is famous in Indy car lore.

External links

• Champ Car Stats: Fairgrounds archive, PIR archive, Indy Lights archive
• Ultimate Racing History: Fairgrounds archive, Phoenix archive