The 1972 USAC Championship Car season consisted of ten races, beginning in
Avondale,
Arizona on March 18 and concluding at the same location on November 4. The
USAC National Champion was
Joe Leonard and the
Indianapolis 500 winner was
Mark Donohue.
Jim Malloy was killed at Indianapolis in practice; he was 40 years old.
After sponsoring the USAC Championship Trail in 1970–1971,
Marlboro dropped out of the sport for 1972. After only two seasons as title sponsor, the company became angered when rival
Viceroy was signed on to sponsor
Vel's Parnelli Jones Racing, at the time dubbed the "super team" of the series. Without any exclusivity clause, managers at Marlboro deemed the situation "impractical and untenable,"[1] and abruptly quit. Marlboro would not return to Indy car racing until 1986.
^A 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,
Brainerd,
Bridgehampton,
Road Atlanta,
Mosport, as well as a return to
Rafaela, Argentina, and a new "Florida 500" at the proposed "Florida International Raceway", were all part of an early press release.[2] However, all road courses were ultimately left off, the Argentina race was discontinued, and the Florida race course was never built.
Harms, Phil; Ferner, Michael; Measures, Gerry; Brown, Allen.
"Indy 500 and USAC racing (1971-1978)". OldRacingCars.com.
Archived from the original on May 6, 2009. Retrieved May 3, 2009.