The 1913 AAA Championship Car season featured 14 races across the United States, running from January 1 in San Diego, California, to September 9 in Corona, California. These events included a variety of formats like road courses, dirt ovals, and other tracks, testing drivers’ endurance in the early days of American motorsport under AAA sanctioning. No official points system existed that year, so the AAA did not declare a formal national champion. However, Earl Cooper, driving for Stutz, dominated with five race wins across his starts and was widely recognized as the de facto champion—later confirmed retroactively in historical records with 2710 points.
The season’s highlight was the Indianapolis 500 on May 30, where Frenchman Jules Goux piloted a Peugeot to victory, becoming the first non-American and first European winner of the event. He led 138 laps and finished with a massive margin of over 13 minutes—the largest in Indy 500 history at the time—averaging about 75.9 mph. This win showcased growing European influence in U.S. racing. Other top performers included Ralph Mulford and Ralph DePalma, but Cooper’s consistency earned him the unofficial title in this transitional era of American auto competition.
May 30, 1913
