1972 Trans-American Sedan Championship

Motorsport competition August 2023 1972 Trans-Am Series 1971 1973 The 1972 Trans-American Championship was the seventh running of the Sports Car Club of America's Trans-Am Series. The first seven rounds used split classes, while the last four rounds had the Under 2500cc class only. Milt Minter brought Pontiac its first win, at Mid-Ohio. George Follmer and American Motors won the over 2.5L division, while John Morton led Datsun to the championship title of the "Two-Five Challenge". 1972 is considered to be the end of the series' "golden era". From 1973 onward, Trans Am would evolve into a lesser clone of the rival IMSA GT Championship, with similarly modified cars, but with a more conventional focus with vehicles such as the Chevrolet Beretta being used. IMSA GT's focus on exotic cars such as Ferraris and Porsches provided a more adaptable format, in comparison to Trans Am's reliance on domestic performance sedans. Schedule Rnd Date Circuit Distance Over 2.5 Winning Car Under 2.5 Winning Car Over 2.5 Winning Driver(s) Under 2.5 Winning Driver(s) 1 May 6 Lime Rock Park, Lakeville, Connecticut 130.05 mi km on (U2L)200.43 mi km on (O2L) AMC Javelin Datsun 510 USA George Follmer USA Bob Sharp 2 May 29 Bryar Motorsports Park, Loudon, New Hampshire 112 mi km on (U2L)152 mi km on (O2L) AMC Javelin Datsun 510 USA George Follmer USA John Morton 3 June 4 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio 120 mi km on (U2L)180 mi km on (O2L) Pontiac Firebird Datsun 510 USA Milt Minter USA Peter Gregg 4 June 17 Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, New York 114.818 mi km on (U2L)192.489 mi km on (O2L) AMC Javelin Datsun 510 USA George Follmer USA Peter Gregg 5 July 2July 4 Donnybrooke International Speedway, Brainerd, Minnesota 150 mi km on (U2L)210 mi km on (O2L) AMC Javelin Alfa Romeo GTV USA George Follmer AUS Horst Kwech 6 July 16 Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin 108 mi km on (U2L)200 mi km on (O2L) Ford Mustang Datsun 510 USA Warren Tope USA John Morton 7 July 30 Sanair Super Speedway, Saint-Pie, Quebec 104 mi km on (U2L)169 mi km on (O2L) Ford Mustang Alfa Romeo GTA USA Warren Tope USA Bert Everett 8 August 19 Road Atlanta, Braselton, Georgia 126 mi km on not contested Datsun 510 USA John Morton 9 September 17 Portland International Raceway, Portland, Oregon 105.325 mi km on not contested Datsun 510 USA John Morton 10 October 15 Laguna Seca Raceway, Monterey, California 102.5 mi km on not contested Datsun 510 USA John Morton 11 October 28 Riverside International Raceway, Riverside, California 127.5 mi km on not contested Datsun 510 USA John Morton 1972 Trans-Am Box Scores http://cms.scca.com/documents/Pro%20Racing/Archives/Trans-Am/1972.pdf Sports Car Club of America 29 April 2011 https://web.archive.org/web/20110719235510/http://cms.scca.com/documents/Pro%20Racing/Archives/Trans-Am/1972.pdf 19 July 2011 dead Championships Drivers' championships The points system was as follows: 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 20 15 12 10 8 6 4 3 2 1 Over 2.5L Pos Driver Car LRP BRY MOH WGL DON ELK SAN Pts 1 USA George Follmer AMC Javelin 1 1 2 1 1 25 95 2 USA Milt Minter Pontiac Firebird 2 1 28 4 2 25 60 3 USA Warren Tope Ford Mustang 5 7 7 26 28 1 1 56 4 USA Warren Agor Chevrolet Camaro 2 3 3 12 6 27 6 51 5 USA Bill Collins AMC Javelin 7 4 29 7 3 2 45 6 USA Paul Nichter Chevrolet Camaro 6 4 4 20 6 3 44 7 USA Roy Woods AMC Javelin 4 5 3 3 11 42 8 USA Jerry Thompson Ford Mustang 28 2 2 41 30 9 USA Carl Shafer Chevrolet Camaro 11 8 7 4 17 10 CAN Dick Brown Chevrolet Camaro 6 5 16 14 11 USA Gene Harrington Chevrolet Camaro 8 35 4 21 13 12 USA Tony DeLorenzo Pontiac Firebird 3 21 12 13 USA John Gimbel Ford Mustang 21 11 25 5 27 31 8 11 14 USA Kent Fellows Chevrolet Camaro 26 14 6 7 12 38 15 10 15= USA J. Marshall Robbins Ford Mustang 5 8 15= CAN Alfred Ruys de Perez Chevrolet Camaro 17 8 29 9 26 8 14 8 15= CAN Steve Bradley Chevrolet Camaro 5 21 8 15= USA Dick Hoffman Chevrolet Camaro 21 40 5 8 19= USA Walter Parkins Chevrolet Camaro 9 9 14 30 12 27 4 19= USA Bob Bienerth Chevrolet Camaro 14 13 13 18 17 7 4 21= USA Dan Moore Ford Mustang 8 13 3 21= USA Martin Shook Chevrolet Camaro 23 27 23 8 23 3 21= USA Jerry Petersen Chevrolet Camaro 31 10 9 30 3 24= CAN Jean-Guy Roy Chevrolet Camaro 9 22 23 13 2 24= USA Warren Fairbanks Chevrolet Camaro 9 2 24= USA David Hoselton Ford Mustang 15 9 2 24= USA Steve Ross Chevrolet Camaro 20 10 12 10 2 28= USA Fred Kashkork Ford Mustang 10 1 28= USA Ed Hinchcliff Ford Mustang 11 17 10 16 19 1 28= USA Joe Chamberlain Chevrolet Camaro 10 33 1 28= USA J. A. Lagod Chevrolet Camaro 10 1 de Jong Frank 1972 Trans-Am Championship Table http://homepage.mac.com/frank_de_jong/Pages/1972%20Transam%20Class.html Touring Car Racing History 2 May 2011 https://web.archive.org/web/20090502115900/http://homepage.mac.com/frank_de_jong/Pages/1972%20Transam%20Class.html 2009-05-02 dead 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 Black Disqualified(DSQ) White Did not start(DNS) Blank Did notparticipate(DNP) Not competing Under 2.5L Pos Driver Car LRP BRY MOH WGL DON ELK SAN ATL POR LAG RIV Pts 1 USA John Morton Datsun 510 DSQ 1 16 2 12 1 1 1 1 1 135 2 USA Bert Everett Alfa Romeo GTA 4 4 3 5 2 15 1 11 7 3 91 3 AUT Horst Kwech Alfa Romeo GTV 19 17 4 3 1 5 15 2 17 65 4 USA Mike Downs Datsun 510 2 6 2 4 2 61 5 USA Peter Gregg Datsun 510 1 1 11 2 55 6 USA Bob Sharp Datsun 510 1 2 35 7 USA Ken Schley Alfa Romeo GTA DSQ 6 2 4 10 28 11 32 8 USA Ed Wachs Alfa Romeo GTA 5 9 4 7 19 DNS 27 20 24 9 USA John McCollister Volkswagen Super Beetle 21 8 6 14 17 5 9 8 16 25 22 10 USA Harry Theodorocopulous Alfa Romeo GTV 26 16 17 6 14 13 3 9 10 28 21 11= USA Lothar Stahlberg Datsun 510 3 13 5 13 20 11= USA Richard Hull Toyota 1600 5 3 16 20 11= USA Walt Maas Datsun 510 3 5 14 20 11= USA Lee Midgley Alfa Romeo GTAAlfa Romeo GTV 4 17 12 17 4 12 20 15= USA John Buffum Ford Escort 15 3 21 7 16 15= USA Vic Provenzano Alfa Romeo GTA 4 6 19 16 17= USA Sam Posey Datsun 510 18 2 15 17= USA Hershel McGriff Datsun 510 2 15 17= USA Corky Bell Datsun 510 10 9 5 7 15 20= USA Jerry Thompson Datsun 510 3 12 20= USA Dave Madison Datsun 510 3 22 12 20= USA Bobby Allison Datsun 510 3 24 12 23 USA Tony Rolfe BMW 1600 8 9 12 6 11 24= CAN Ron Shantz Datsun 510 4 10 24= CAN Bob Stevens Datsun 510 15 4 10 26 USA Ole Anderson Volvo 142 6 8 9 27= USA Wayne Sherer Alfa Romeo GTA 5 15 20 8 27= USA Richard Gordon Volvo 142 5 8 27= USA Bob Burns Alfa Romeo GTA 5 8 30= USA Jim Lombard Volkswagen Super Beetle 12 10 6 16 7 30= USA Gary Witzenburg Datsun 510 12 7 15 8 7 32= USA John Diamanti Alfa Romeo GTV 6 6 32= CAN Don Sobering Austin Cooper 6 6 32= USA Carl Fredricks BMW 6 6 32= USA Ed Long Datsun 510 9 7 6 36 USA Ted Straight Toyota 1600 7 10 5 37= USA George Alderman Datsun 510 7 18 18 15 4 37= USA Mickey Cohen Ford Pinto 7 4 37= CAN Jacques Bienvenue Ford Pinto 7 4 37= USA Douglas Sande Datsun 510 7 4 41= USA Ed Rogers Alfa Romeo GTA 8 15 3 41= USA Bob Shafer Datsun 510 8 3 41= USA Tom Cronin Austin Cooper 8 11 3 41= CAN Monique Proulx BMW 2002 8 3 41= USA Vic Matthews Toyota 1600 8 3 41= USA Dave Redding Datsun 510 8 3 47= USA John Meskauskas Datsun 510 9 14 14 16 2 47= USA Stephen Sharkey Volvo 122 9 2 47= USA Robert LaZebnik BMW 1600 22 11 DNS 9 2 47= USA George Cheyne Ford Pinto DNS 9 26 2 47= USA Jim Ethridge Alfa Romeo GTA 9 2 52= USA Paul Choiniere Austin Cooper 10 12 1 52= USA Art Mollin Volvo 142 13 10 19 1 52= USA A.L. Entwistle BMW 2002 10 1 52= CAN Werner Gudzus BMW 10 1 52= USA Jim Fitzgerald Datsun 510 10 14 1 52= USA Tex Guthrie Lotus Cortina 10 1 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 Black Disqualified(DSQ) White Did not start(DNS) Blank Did notparticipate(DNP) Not competing Manufacturers' championships Only the highest-finishing car scored points for the manufacturer. The points system was as follows: 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 9 6 4 3 2 1 Over 2.5L Best 6 results count toward the championship. Pos Manufacturer LRP BRY MOH WGL DON ELK SAN Pts 1 American Motors 1 1 2 1 1 3 2 48 (52) 2 Ford 5 5 7 2 2 1 1 34 3 Pontiac 3 2 1 4 2 28 4 Chevrolet 2 3 3 4 5 4 3 24 (26) Under 2.5L Best 9 results count towards the championship. Pos Manufacturer LRP BRY MOH WGL DON ELK SAN ATL POR LAG RIV Pts 1 Datsun 1 1 1 1 3 1 4 1 1 1 1 81 (88) 2 Alfa Romeo 4 4 3 3 1 4 1 4 4 2 3 40 (51) 3 Toyota 5 3 6 4 Ford 3 4 5 Volkswagen 6 6 5 4 6 Volvo 5 2 7 BMW 6 6 2 8 Austin 6 1 See also 1972 Can-Am season References Category:Trans-Am Series Transam Transam