1973 USAC Championship Car season

1973 American Championship Car season
Series  : USAC Championship Car
Champion : Roger McCluskey
Previous: 1972	Next: 1974

The 1973 USAC Championship Car season consisted of 16 races, beginning in College Station, Texas on April 7 and concluding in Avondale, Arizona on November 3. The default first race in Avondale, Arizona on March 17, but the event was postponed by rain and eventually cancelled due to infrastructure damage caused by the rain and scheduling conflicts. Bob Criss was killed in a private test at Phoenix before he could enter another event. Typically he doesn't show up in the stat sheets because he never appeared at an actual race with this Phoenix event being wiped off the schedule. He was 35 years old. The USAC National Champion was Roger McCluskey and the Indianapolis 500 winner was Gordon Johncock. In this tragical season at Indianapolis death Art Pollard in practice, he was 46 years old; and Swede Savage in the 500 miles race, he was 27 years old.

Schedule and results

All races running on Oval/Speedway.

Rnd	Date	Race Name	Length	Track	Location	Pole Position	Winning Driver
1	April 7	Texas 200	200 miles (322 km)	Texas World Speedway	College Station, Texas	Bobby Unser	Al Unser
2	April 15	Trentonian 300 Heat #1	150 miles (241 km)	Trenton International Speedway	Trenton, New Jersey	Gordon Johncock	A. J. Foyt
3		Trentonian 300 Heat #2	150 miles (241 km)			A. J. Foyt	Mario Andretti
4	May 30	International 500 Mile Sweepstakes	332.5 miles (535.1 km)	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Speedway, Indiana	Johnny Rutherford	Gordon Johncock
5	June 10	Rex Mays Classic	150 miles (241 km)	Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway	West Allis, Wisconsin	Bobby Unser	Bobby Unser
6	July 1	Schaefer 500	500 miles (805 km)	Pocono International Raceway	Long Pond, Pennsylvania	Peter Revson	A. J. Foyt
7	July 15	Michigan 200	200 miles (322 km)	Michigan International Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan	Bobby Unser	Roger McCluskey
8	August 12	Tony Bettenhausen 200	200 miles (322 km)	Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway	West Allis, Wisconsin	Wally Dallenbach	Wally Dallenbach
9	August 26	California 500 Qualification Heat 1	100 miles (161 km)	Ontario Motor Speedway	Ontario, California	Gordon Johncock	Wally Dallenbach
10		California 500 Qualification Heat 2	100 miles (161 km)			Johnny Rutherford	Johnny Rutherford
11	September 2	California 500	500 miles (805 km)			Peter Revson	Wally Dallenbach
12	September 16	Michigan Twin 125s #1	126 miles (203 km)	Michigan International Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan	Gordon Johncock	Bill Vukovich II
13		Michigan Twin 125s #2	126 miles (203 km)			Gary Bettenhausen	Johnny Rutherford
14	September 23	Trenton 200	201 miles (323 km)	Trenton International Speedway	Trenton, New Jersey	Gordon Johncock	Gordon Johncock
15	October 6	Texas 200	200 miles (322 km)	Texas World Speedway	College Station, Texas	Mario Andretti	Gary Bettenhausen
16	November 3	Arizona 150	150 miles (241 km)	Phoenix International Raceway	Avondale, Arizona	Gordon Johncock	Gordon Johncock

^A  Scheduled for 500 miles, stopped early due to rain.

Final points standings

Pos Driver TXS1 200 TRE1 150 TRE2 150 INDY 500 MIL1 150 POC 500 MIC1 200 MIL2 200 ONT Q-H1 ONT Q-H2 ONT 500 MIC2 125 MIC3 125 TRE3 200 TXS2 200 PHX 150 Pts 1 Roger McCluskey 7 8 6 3 2 2 1 6 2 4 4 13 18 4 3075 2 Wally Dallenbach DNQ DNQ 24 4 29 6 1 1 1 23 3 6 2 2620 3 Johnny Rutherford 4 15 9 5 5 2 18 1 31 3 1 4 2 DNQ 2595 4 Bill Vukovich, Jr. 15 3 2 2 22 24 3 3 12 24 1 15 6 20 3 2440 5 Mario Andretti 25 4 1 30 8 7 5 19 12 2 5 2 7 17 7 2400 6 Mike Mosley 3 9 8 10 24 4 10 2 5 3 18 14 23 20 2345 7 Gordon Johncock 23 2 21 1 18 14 9 17 5 32 16 1 7 1 2240 8 Gary Bettenhausen 2 6 17 5 3 27 24 20 2 19 2 8 24 1 6 2093 9 Lloyd Ruby DNQ 27 21 3 4 DNQ 8 28 6 4 8 4 11 1610 10 A. J. Foyt 11 1 11 25 Wth 1 13 25 10 13 14 20 10 DNS 1580 11 Lee Kunzman 8 11 9 7 6 20 12 3 13 20 10 3 5 1260 12 Bobby Unser 20 19 15 13 1 10 20 DNQ 7 10 16 2 15 18 1108 13 Al Unser 1 7 3 20 9 33 22 26 4 9 21 25 16 19 1080 14 Mike Hiss 22 14 13 17 10 6 25 5 3 27 9 3 21 11 1050 15 Joe Leonard 5 13 5 18 7 8 23 7 9 21 12 7 9 19 15 1018 16 Mel Kenyon 12 12 10 4 18 8 9 16 DNQ 9 940 17 John Martin 8 13 28 7 13 5 870 18 Steve Krisiloff DNS 18 6 16 22 18 21 6 12 7 6 11 8 21 845 19 Jim McElreath 23 11 11 4 6 20 5 16 650 20 Dick Simon 6 10 7 14 17 12 17 22 11 22 DNS 23 21 8 440 21 Jimmy Caruthers 21 16 21 12 16 19 8 4 15 8 9 22 DNS 9 408 22 Johnny Parsons, Jr. DNQ 30 14 13 9 25 11 5 15 5 22 390 23 Bentley Warren 21 16 DNQ DNQ 16 7 8 DNQ 12 22 10 375 24 Swede Savage 13 5 4 22 330 25 Tom Bigelow DNQ 14 32 15 7 11 160 26 Lee Brayton 10 17 12 DNQ 15 DNQ 15 10 16 12 17 133 27 Sam Sessions 9 DNQ 28 13 11 23 DNQ 120 28 John Hubbard DNQ 19 DNQ 10 14 12 73 29 John Mahler DNQ 8 26 50 30 Jerry Karl 26 23 26 11 18 DNQ 40 31 Tom Sneva 26 DNQ DNQ DNQ 21 14 10 17 19 14 30 32 George Snider 12 25 14 12 29 33 Larry Cannon DNQ DNQ 16 11 17 14 25 34 Jigger Sirois DNQ Wth 12 DNS 13 DNQ 20 - Sam Posey DNQ 9 11 6 0 - John Cannon 10 30 0 - David Hobbs 11 31 13 DNQ 0 - Bob Harkey 29 15 DNQ 13 0 - Eldon Rasmussen DNQ DNQ DNQ 13 0 - Larry McCoy 14 20 14 DNQ DNQ DNQ 26 15 22 26 24 0 - Bill Simpson DNQ 14 DNQ 26 0 - Mark Donohue 15 17 DNQ 29 0 - Al Loquasto DNQ DNQ DNQ 16 24 DNQ 19 18 0 - Salt Walther 16 22 33 0 - Graham McRae 16 DNQ 0 - Dee Jones 17 24 19 DNQ 0 - Rick Muther 18 Wth 19 DNQ DNQ 25 0 - Crockey Peterson 23 18 DNQ 20 0 - Jerry Grant 19 33 0 - Art Pollard 19 DNQ DNQ 0 - Joe Tetz DNQ 20 0 - Peter Revson 31 21 23 0 - Jim Hurtubise DNQ 23 DNQ 0 - Larry Dickson 24 DNQ 0 - Bobby Allison 32 0 - Gig Stephens DNS 0 - Billy Shuman DNQ DNQ 0 - Bruce Jacobi DNQ 0 - Arnie Knepper DNQ 0 - Bill Puterbaugh DNQ 0 - Greg Weld DNQ 0 - Dan Murphy DNQ 0 - Benny Rapp DNQ 0 Pos Driver TXS1 200 TRE1 150 TRE2 150 INDY 500 MIL1 150 POC 500 MIC1 200 MIL2 200 ONT Q-H1 ONT Q-H2 ONT 500 MIC2 125 MIC3 125 TRE3 200 TXS2 200 PHX 150 Pts

Color Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green 4th & 5th place Light Blue 6th-10th place Dark Blue Finished (Outside Top 10) Purple Did not finish (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Brown Withdrawn (Wth) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Blank Did not participate (DNP) Not competing In-line notation Bold Pole position Italics Ran fastest race lap * Led most race laps Rookie of the Year Rookie

Note: Sam Posey, Peter Revson, Mark Donohue, David Hobbs, Jerry Grant, John Cannon, Graham McRae and Bobby Allison not eligible for points. The Rookie of the Year title any driver awarded, because every rookie did not eligible for points.

References

• Åberg, Andreas. "USAC National Championship 1973". Driver Database. Archived

from the original on 2009-05-06. http://www.driverdb.com/standings/980-1973/. Retrieved 2009-05-03. 

• Harms, Phil; Ferner, Michael; Measures, Gerry; Brown, Allen. "Indy 500 and USAC racing (1971-1978)". OldRacingCars.com. Archived

from the original on 2009-05-06. http://www.oldracingcars.com/indy/. Retrieved 2009-05-03. 

• "1973 USAC National Championship Trail". ChampCarStats.com. Archived

from the original on 2009-05-13. http://www.champcarstats.com/year/1973.htm. Retrieved 2009-05-11. 

• Harms, Phil. "1973 Championship Driver Summary". Motorsport.com. Archived

from the original on 2011-05-03. http://old.motorsport.com/stats/champ/data/1973sum.pdf. Retrieved 2011-05-03. 

• http://media.indycar.com/pdf/2011/IICS_2011_Historical_Record_Book_INT6.pdf (p. 225-227)
• http://www.champcarstats.com/drivers/CrissBob.htm

See also

• 1973 Indianapolis 500

Template:USAC Championship Car seasons