The 1972 USAC Championship Car season consisted of ten races, beginning in Avondale,

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on March 18 and concluding at the same location on November 4. The USAC National Champion was

Joe Leonard Joe Leonard (August 4, 1932 in San Diego, California – April 27, 2017 in San Jose, California) was an American professional motorcycle racer and racecar driver. Biography Motorcycle career Leonard won the first A.M.A. Grand National Champion ...

and the

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...

winner was Mark Donohue.

Jim Malloy James Malloy (May 23, 1932 – May 18, 1972), was an American racecar driver. Born in Columbus, Nebraska, Malloy's family moved to Englewood, Colorado, where he attended grade school and high school. Malloy lettered in football and baseba ...

was killed at Indianapolis in practice; he was 40 years old. After sponsoring the USAC Championship Trail in 1970-1971,

Marlboro Marlboro (, ) is an American brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by Philip Morris USA (a branch of Altria) within the United States and by Philip Morris International (now separate from Altria) outside the US. The largest Mar ...

dropped out of the sport for 1972. After only two seasons as title sponsor, the company became angered when rival

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was signed on to sponsor

Vel's Parnelli Jones Racing Vel's Parnelli Jones Racing, commonly referred to simply as Parnelli or VPJ, was a motor racing constructor and team from the United States. The team was formed in 1969 by former USAC racer Parnelli Jones and his business partner Velko "Vel" Mil ...

, at the time dubbed the "super team" of the series. Without any exclusivity clause, managers at Marlboro deemed the situation "impractical and untenable," and abruptly quit. Marlboro would not return to Indy car racing until 1986.

Schedule and results

All races running on Oval/Speedway. : Originally scheduled for July 2, postponed because of rain. In the fall of 1971, a tentative schedule held the possibility of returning road courses to the championship schedule. Races at

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, Donnybrook, Bridgehampton,

Road Atlanta Road Atlanta (known for sponsorship reasons as Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta) is a road course located just north of Braselton, Georgia, United States. The facility is utilized for a wide variety of events, including professional and amateur spo ...

Mosport Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (formerly Mosport Park and Mosport International Raceway) is a multi-track motorsport venue located north of Bowmanville, in Ontario, Canada, east of Toronto. The facility features a , 10-turn road course; a adva ...

, as well as a return to

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, and a new "Florida 500" at the proposed "Florida International Raceway", were all part of an early press release. However, all road courses were ultimately left off, the Argentina race was discontinued, and the Florida race course was never built.

Final points standings

Note: Peter Revson is not eligible for points.

References

* * * * * http://media.indycar.com/pdf/2011/IICS_2011_Historical_Record_Book_INT6.pdf (p. 228-229)

Schedule and results

Final points standings

References

See also