1972 American 500

Last updated
1972 American 500
Race details [1]
Race 30 of 31 in the 1972 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season
Rockingham Speedway.svg
Layout of Rockingham Speedway
Date October 22, 1972 (1972-October-22)
Official name American 500
Location North Carolina Motor Speedway, Rockingham, North Carolina
Course Permanent racing facility
1.017 mi (1.636 km)
Distance 492 laps, 500 mi (804 km)
Weather Mild with temperatures of 71.1 °F (21.7 °C); wind speeds of 5.1 miles per hour (8.2 km/h)
Average speed 118.245 miles per hour (190.297 km/h)
Attendance 42,000 [2]
Pole position
Driver
 Wood Brothers Racing
Time 26.621
Most laps led
Driver Bobby Allison Howard & Egerton Racing
Laps 217
Winner
No. 12Bobby AllisonHoward & Egerton Racing
Television in the United States
Network untelevised
Announcers none

The 1972 American 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event held on October 22, 1972, at North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham, North Carolina. While not televised, the 1972 American 500 was covered by local radio stations WAYN-AM (900 AM) and WEEB-AM (990 AM).

Contents

Race report

40 American-born drivers qualified for the race. Drivers who failed to qualify were David Ray Boggs, Jimmy Crawford and Elmo Langley. Forty-two thousand people attended. The race's average speed was 118.275 miles per hour (190.345 km/h) in this 253-minute race. David Pearson's qualifying speed of 137.258 miles per hour or 220.895 kilometres per hour won the pole position. There were four cautions for a of 35 laps. 20 different drivers lead the race. Bobby Allison would defeat Richard Petty by two laps; resulting in Richard Petty's 100th runner up finish. [2]

Ron Hutcherson was the last-place finisher of this event; with a racing accident on lap 29 out of 492. Richard Petty, Bobby Allison, and David Pearson dominated the closing laps of this race. [2] Pete Hamilton scored his final top-5 finish. [2] This was his final start of 1972 and he would only make two further starts in 1973, both of which ended in DNFs

Hutcherson's racing career would last throughout the course of the 1970s; ending only after the 1979 running of the World 600. Notable crew chiefs for this race were Harry Hyde, Dale Inman, Tom Vandiver, Vic Ballard, and Herb Nab. [3]

Rewards for this race were $19,400 for the winner ($118,576 when adjusted for inflation) while the last-place finisher brought home $550 ($3,362 when adjusted for inflation). A grand total of $89,450 was offered to the race. ($546,734 when adjusted for inflation). [4]

Bobby Allison's win at this event would become the tenth win of the 1972 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season. [5] Due to the cash crunch of the 1970s, only five individual owners could afford to employ a NASCAR Cup Series driver for the rest; the rest were all "proper" NASCAR teams with more than one person running them. [6]

Qualifying

GridNo.DriverManufacturerQualifying speed [7] Qualifying time [7] Owner
121David Pearson'71 Mercury 137.52826.621Wood Brothers
271Buddy Baker'72 Dodge 136.20226.881Nord Krauskopf
343Richard Petty'72 Plymouth 136.15726.889Petty Enterprises
49Pete Hamilton'72 Plymouth 135.67826.984Jack Housby
512Bobby Allison'72 Chevrolet 135.46727.026Richard Howard
628Cale Yarborough'72 Chevrolet 134.66427.188Hoss Ellington
715Dick Brooks'72 Ford 134.49127.223Bud Moore
817Bill Dennis'72 Chevrolet 133.73027.377H.J. Brooking
927Bobby Isaac'71 Chevrolet 133.04527.518Banjo Matthews
1016Dave Marcis'72 AMC Matador 132.83727.561Roger Penske

Finishing order

  1. Bobby Allison
  2. Richard Petty
  3. Buddy Baker
  4. David Pearson
  5. Pete Hamilton
  6. Cale Yarborough
  7. Dave Marcis
  8. Larry Smith
  9. David Sisco
  10. Buddy Arrington
  11. John Sears
  12. Clarence Lovell
  13. Elmo Langley
  14. Ben Arnold
  15. Walter Ballard
  16. Dean Dalton
  17. Ed Negre
  18. Charlie Roberts
  19. James Hylton
  20. Cecil Gordon
  21. Joe Frasson
  22. Raymond Williams
  23. Jabe Thomas
  24. J.D. McDuffie
  25. Frank Warren
  26. Marty Robbins
  27. Coo Coo Marlin
  28. Bill Champion
  29. Roy Mayne
  30. Jim Vandiver
  31. Neil Castles
  32. Bill Dennis
  33. Ron Keselowski
  34. Dick Brooks
  35. Benny Parsons
  36. Bobby Isaac
  37. Henley Gray
  38. Tiny Lund
  39. Tommy Gale
  40. Ron Hutcherson

Timeline

Section reference: [2]

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References

  1. ↑ Weather information for the 1972 American 500 at The Old Farmers' Almanac
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 1972 American 500 racing information at Racing Reference
  3. ↑ 1972 American 500 crew chiefs information at Racing Reference
  4. ↑ 1972 American 500 at Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet
  5. ↑ 1972 American 500 Archived 2009-06-03 at the Wayback Machine at How Stuff Works
  6. ↑ 1972 American 500 Archived 2014-08-27 at the Wayback Machine racing information at Driver Averages
  7. 1 2 1972 American 500 qualifying information at Racing Reference
Preceded by
1972 National 500 		NASCAR Winston Cup Series Season
1972		Succeeded by
1972 Texas 500
Preceded by
1971 		American 500 races
1972		Succeeded by
1973
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