Bill Alsup

Bill Alsup (July 15, 1938 in Honolulu – August 9, 2016) was an American race car driver. He was the first Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) Rookie of the Year in 1979 and competed in the 1981 Indianapolis 500, finishing 11th. He made 57 CART & USAC Champ Car starts in his career. His best race finish of third came 3 times and he was the 1981 CART Championship runner-up, putting in a winless but consistent season for Penske Racing, his only effort with a top-level team. He returned to his own team the next year and struggled until leaving Champ Car following the 1984 Sanair Super Speedway race.

Alsup made his CART debut at the Arizona Republic/Jimmy Bryan 150 at Phoenix International Raceway driving the #41 WASP Racing Mclaren-Offenhauser for WASP Racing starting twenty fourth (last) and finishing eleventh. He attempted to qualify for the Indianapolis 500, first driving the #67 WASP Racing McLaren-Offenhauser, but the car was not fast enough to make a qualifying run. He then attempted the #19 Sta-On Eagle 74-Offenhauser for Gehlhausen Racing but the engine failed. The final car he attempted to qualify was the #68 CAM 2 Motor Oil Penske PC7-Cosworth DFX for Team Penske. He qualified for the race but USAC officials ruled that the car used the engine from Penske teammate Bobby Unser's car and Alsup was disqualified. He drove the remainder of the CART season for WASP Racing. He had a best finish of ninth in the second heat of the Trenton Indy at Trenton Speedway, the Kent Oil 150 at Watkins Glen International, the first heat of the Norton Twin 125s and the Gould Grand Prix, the latter two at Michigan International Speedway, and finished the season fifteenth in points to win the first CART Rookie of the Year Award.

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