Due to the demanding nature of the course and high attrition, particularly in the 500-mile races, Michigan produced numerous surprise winners and was the site of several first-time winners on the Indy car circuit. During the USAC era, Michigan was site of the only championship car wins for Ronnie Bucknum and Bill Vukovich II, as well as the first career wins for Tom Sneva and Danny Ongais. In the CART era, the Michigan 500 was the site of the first career wins for Pancho Carter (only career win), John Paul Jr., Emerson Fittipaldi, Scott Goodyear, Scott Pruett, Tony Kanaan, and Patrick Carpentier. Furthermore, Tomas Scheckter notched his first career IndyCar win while the race was under IRL sanctioning.