1973 USAC Championship Car season

Sports season April 2024 August 2023 USAC Championship Car 1973 USAC National Championship Trail 16 April 7 November 3 National champion United States Roger McCluskey United States Gordon Johncock 1972 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 first race of the season, in Avondale, Arizona on March 17, 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. He was 35 years old. The USAC National Champion was Roger McCluskey and the Indianapolis 500 winner was Gordon Johncock. In this tragic season, two drivers were killed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Art Pollard died in an accident while practicing for the Indy 500 while Swede Savage, who crashed during the race, died by complications one month later. Another driver, Salt Walther, suffered serious burns surviving a crash at the start of the race. In response to those accidents, USAC revised the rules in time for the Pocono 500. The rear wing width was cut back from 64 inches to 55, fuel tank capacity was drastically reduced (from 75 gallons to 40) and the allowable fuel to be consumed in a 500-mile race was reduced from 375 gallons to 340. Entrants (partial list) TeamChassisEngineDriversRounds United States A.J. Foyt EnterprisesCoyoteFoytUS A.J. Foyt 1-4, 6-8, 11-15 United States All American RacersEagleOffenhauserUS Wally Dallenbach 4EagleOffenhauserUS Bobby Unser 1-8, 11-16 United States Bob FletcherEagleOffenhauserUS Lee Kunzman 10-12, 14-16 United States Commander Racing TeamEagleOffenhauserUS Lloyd Ruby 1, 4-8, 10-16 United States Andy GranatelliEagleOffenhauserUS Wally Dallenbach 1-2, 5-9, 11-12, 14-16 United States GerhardtEagleOffenhauserUS Mike Hiss 1-9, 11-15 United States Jerry O"Connell RacingEagleOffenhauserUS Bill Vukovich II 1-9, 11-16 United States Leader Card RacingEagleOffenhauserUS Mike Mosley 1-8, 10-16 United States Lindsey Hopkins RacingMcLarenOffenhauserUS Roger McCluskey 1-9, 11-12, 14-16EagleOffenhauserUS Lee Kunzman 1-7 United Kingdom McLarenMcLarenOffenhauserUS Johnny Rutherford 1-2, 4-8, 10-16 United States Patrick RacingEagleOffenhauserUS Gordon Johncock 1-9, 11-12, 14-16 United States Team PenskeMcLarenOffenhauserUS Gary Bettenhausen 1-8, 10-16 United States Vel's Parnelli Jones RacingParnelliOffenhauserUS Mario Andretti 1-8, 10-16ParnelliOffenhauserUS Al Unser 1-8, 10-12, 14-16ParnelliOffenhauserUS Joe Leonard 1-9, 11-16 Schedule and results All races running on Oval/Speedway. Rnd Date Race name Track Location Pole position Winning driver - March 17 & 31A A Phoenix 150 Phoenix International Raceway Avondale, Arizona Race postponed twice; eventually cancelled 1 April 7 Texas 200 Texas World Speedway College Station, Texas USA Bobby Unser USA Al Unser 2April 15 Trentonian 300 Heat #1Trenton International SpeedwayTrenton, New Jersey USA Gordon Johncock USA A. J. Foyt 3 Trentonian 300 Heat #2 USA A. J. Foyt USA Mario Andretti 4 May 28, 29 & 30A B International 500 Mile Sweepstakes Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway, Indiana USA Johnny Rutherford USA Gordon Johncock 5 June 10 Rex Mays Classic Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway West Allis, Wisconsin USA Bobby Unser USA Bobby Unser 6 July 1 Schaefer 500 Pocono International Raceway Long Pond, Pennsylvania USA Peter Revson USA A. J. Foyt 7 July 15 Michigan 200 Michigan International Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan USA Bobby Unser USA Roger McCluskey 8 August 12 Tony Bettenhausen 200 Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway West Allis, Wisconsin USA Wally Dallenbach Sr. USA Wally Dallenbach Sr. 9August 26 California 500 Qualification Heat 1Ontario Motor SpeedwayOntario, California USA Gordon Johncock USA Wally Dallenbach Sr. 10 California 500 Qualification Heat 2 USA Johnny Rutherford USA Johnny Rutherford 11 September 2 California 500 USA Peter Revson USA Wally Dallenbach Sr. 12September 16 Michigan Twin 125s #1Michigan International SpeedwayBrooklyn, Michigan USA Gordon Johncock USA Bill Vukovich II 13 Michigan Twin 125s #2 USA Gary Bettenhausen USA Johnny Rutherford 14 September 23 Trenton 200 Trenton International Speedway Trenton, New Jersey USA Gordon Johncock USA Gordon Johncock 15 October 6 Texas 200 Texas World Speedway College Station, Texas USA Mario Andretti USA Gary Bettenhausen 16 November 3 Arizona 150 Phoenix International Raceway Avondale, Arizona USA Gordon Johncock USA Gordon Johncock A A Postponed due to infrastructure damage, and again on March 28 due to continued flooding. Eventually cancelled due to scheduling conflicts. A B Scheduled for 500 miles, stopped early due to rain. See 1973 Indy 500 Final points standings Note: Sam Posey, Peter Revson, Mark Donohue, David Hobbs, Jerry Grant, John Cannon, Graham McRae and Bobby Allison are not eligible for points. The Rookie of the Year was not awarded, because every rookie was not eligible for points.List of American Championship car racing point scoring systems Pos Driver TWS TRE INDY MIL POC MIS MIL ONT MIS TRE TWS PHX Pts 200 150 500 150 500 200 200 Q-H1 Q-H2 500 125 200 200 150 1USA Roger McCluskey 7 8 6 3 2 2 1 6 2 4 4 13 18 4 3705 2USA Wally Dallenbach Sr. DNQ DNQ 24 4 29 6 1 1 1 23 3 6 2 2620 3USA Johnny Rutherford 4 15 9 5 5 2 18 1 31 3 1 4 2 Wth 2595 4USA Bill Vukovich II 15 3 2 2 22 24 3 3 12 24 1 15 6 20 3 2440 5USA Mario Andretti 25 4 1 30 8 7 5 19 12 2 5 2 7 17 7 2400 6USA Mike Mosley 3 9 8 10 24 4 10 2 5 3 18 14 23 20 2345 7USA Gordon Johncock 23 2 21 1 18 14 9 17 5 32 16 1 7 1 2240 8USA Gary Bettenhausen 2 6 17 5 3 27 24 20 2 19 2 8 24 1 6 2093 9USA Lloyd Ruby DNQ 27 21 3 4 DNQ 8 28 6 4 8 4 11 1610 10USA A. J. Foyt 11 1 11 25 1 13 25 10 13 14 20 10 1580 11USA Lee Kunzman 8 11 9 7 6 20 12 3 13 20 10 3 5 1260 12USA Bobby Unser 20 19 15 13 1 10 20 DNQ 7 10 16 2 15 18 1108 13USA Al Unser 1 7 3 20 9 33 22 26 4 9 21 25 16 19 1080 14USA Mike Hiss 22 14 13 17 10 6 25 5 3 27 9 3 21 11 1050 15USA Joe Leonard 5 13 5 18 7 8 23 7 9 21 12 7 9 19 15 1018 16USA Mel Kenyon 12 12 10 4 18 8 9 16 DNQ 9 940 17USA John Martin 8 13 28 7 13 5 870 18USA Steve Krisiloff DNS 18 6 16 22 18 21 6 12 7 6 11 8 21 845 19USA Jim McElreath 23 11 11 4 6 20 5 16 650 20USA Dick Simon 6 10 7 14 17 12 17 22 11 22 DNS 23 21 8 440 21USA Jimmy Caruthers 21 16 21 12 16 19 8 4 15 8 9 22 DNS 9 408 22USA Johnny Parsons DNQ 30 14 13 9 25 11 5 15 5 22 390 23USA Bentley Warren 21 16 DNQ DNQ 16 7 8 DNQ 12 22 10 375 24USA Swede Savage 13 5 4 22 330 25USA Tom Bigelow DNQ 14 32 15 7 11 160 26USA Lee Brayton 10 17 12 DNQ 15 DNQ 15 10 16 12 17 133 27USA Sam Sessions 9 DNQ 28 13 11 23 DNQ 120 28USA John Hubbard DNQ 19 DNQ 10 14 12 73 29USA John Mahler Wth 8 26 50 30USA Jerry Karl 26 23 26 11 18 DNQ 40 31USA Tom Sneva orange R silver 26 DNQ DNQ DNQ 21 14 10 17 19 14 30 32USA George Snider 12 25 14 12 29 33USA Larry Cannon DNQ DNQ 16 11 17 14 25 34USA Jigger Sirois DNQ Wth 12 DNS 13 DNQ 20 -USA Sam Posey DNQ 9 11 6 0 -CAN John Cannon 10 30 0 -GBR David Hobbs 11 31 13 DNQ 0 -USA Bob Harkey 29 15 DNQ 13 0 -CAN Eldon Rasmussen DNQ DNQ 13 0 -USA Larry McCoy 14 20 14 DNQ DNQ DNQ 26 15 22 26 24 0 -USA Bill Simpson DNQ 14 DNQ 26 0 -USA Mark Donohue 15 17 DNQ 29 0 -USA Al Loquasto DNQ DNQ DNQ 16 24 DNQ 19 18 0 -USA Salt Walther 16 22 33 0 -NZL Graham McRae orange R silver 16 DNQ 0 -USA Dee Jones 17 24 19 Wth 0 -USA Rick Muther 18 DNQ 19 DNQ DNQ 25 0 -USA Crockey Peterson 23 18 20 0 -USA Jerry Grant 19 33 0 -USA Art Pollard 19 DNQ Wth 0 -USA Joe Tetz DNQ 20 0 -USA Peter Revson 31 21 23 0 -USA Jim Hurtubise DNQ 23 DNQ 0 -USA Larry Dickson 24 Wth 0 -USA Bobby Allison orange R silver 32 0 -USA Gig Stephens DNS 0 -USA Billy Shuman DNQ 0 -USA Arnie Knepper DNQ 0 -USA Bill Puterbaugh DNQ 0 -USA Greg Weld DNQ 0 -USA Dan Murphy DNQ 0 -USA Benny Rapp DNQ 0 Pos Driver TWS1200 TRE1150 TRE2150 INDY500 MIL1150 POC500 MIS1200 MIL2200 ONTQ-H1 ONTQ-H2 ONT500 MIS2125 MIS3125 TRE3200 TWS2200 PHX150 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 notparticipate(DNP) Not competing In-line notationBoldPole positionItalicsRan fastest race lap*Led most race lapsgold RY silver Rookie of the Yearorange R silver Rookie References http://www.driverdb.com/standings/980-1973/ USAC National Championship 1973 Åberg, Andreas Driver Database 2009-05-03 https://web.archive.org/web/20080325034408/http://www.driverdb.com/standings/980-1973/ 2008-03-25 live http://www.oldracingcars.com/indy/ Indy 500 and USAC racing (1971-1978) Harms, Phil Ferner, Michael Measures, Gerry Brown, Allen OldRacingCars.com 2009-05-03 https://archive.today/20120906023507/http://www.oldracingcars.com/indy/ 2012-09-06 live http://www.champcarstats.com/year/1973.htm 1973 USAC National Championship Trail ChampCarStats.com 2009-05-11 https://web.archive.org/web/20081122112401/http://www.champcarstats.com/year/1973.htm 2008-11-22 live http://old.motorsport.com/stats/champ/data/1973sum.pdf 1973 Championship Driver Summary Harms Phil Motorsport.com 2011-05-03 https://web.archive.org/web/20120810003609/http://www.motorsport.com/stats/champ/data/1973sum.pdf 2012-08-10 dead http://media.indycar.com/pdf/2011/IICS_2011_Historical_Record_Book_INT6.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20160304053905/http://media.indycar.com/pdf/2011/IICS_2011_Historical_Record_Book_INT6.pdf 2016-03-04 (p. 225-227) http://www.champcarstats.com/drivers/CrissBob.htm https://www.champcarstats.com/year/1973.htm Retrieved August 9, 2025 https://www.oldracingcars.com/indy/1973/ Retrieved August 9, 2025 See also 1973 Indianapolis 500 * USAC Championship Car season Category:USAC Championship Car Category:1973 in American motorsport