Official name Miller High Life 500 | ||
Date March 5, 1972 (1972-March-05) Location Ontario Motor Speedway, Ontario, California Course Permanent racing facility
2.500 mi (4.023 km) Distance 200 laps, 500 mi (804 km) Weather Warm with temperatures approaching 82 °F (28 °C); wind speeds up to 6 miles per hour (9.7 km/h) | ||
The 1972 Miller High Life 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on March 5, 1972, at Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, California. An inexpensive souvenir magazine was sold to the spectators at $1.50 USD per copy ($8.59 when adjusted for inflation). Bub Strickler would fail to qualify for this race; making it the only time that Strickler has ever failed to qualify for a NASCAR Cup Series race.
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The race car drivers still had to commute to the races using the same stock cars that competed in a typical weekend's race through a policy of homologation (and under their own power). This policy was in effect until roughly 1975. By 1980, NASCAR had completely stopped tracking the year model of all the vehicles and most teams did not take stock cars to the track under their own power anymore.
Summary
Two hundred laps took place on a paved track spanning 2.500 miles (4.023 km); the race was resolved in three hours and fifty-six minutes. With a purse larger than the previous month's Daytona 500, 113 cars were waiting in line to compete in three qualifying sessions to fill the 51-car grid. An unprecedented number of teams failed to qualify for the race. Given the economic outlook of that era, it was amazing that 113 cars would try to earn a spot on the racing grid (with only a 45% chance of actually qualifying for the race). Richard Childress, Charlie Glotzbach and Wendell Scott were three of the Cup Series regulars that failed to qualify along with unknown drivers Ivan Baldwin and Emiliano Zapata (no relation to the Mexican Revolutionary figure).
All of the drivers who qualified were born in the United States. Clem Proctor won the 100-lap Sportsman race that was held the day before this race in a 1963 Thunderbird. The 1971 winner George Follmer withdrew after his owner had a dispute with the way NASCAR was inspecting the cars, seems like only two cars (Follmer's and Sonny Easley's) were being checked with templates as both were 1968 models and everything else was older.
Foyt was ridiculously faster than my Chevy down the straights.
A.J. Foyt defeated Bobby Allison by 4.2 seconds in front of nearly 69,000 live spectators. This victory would be as equally impressive as his wins at the 1964 Firecracker 400 and the 1972 Daytona 500. The pole position was achieved by the race winner qualifying at a speed of 153.217 miles per hour (246.579 km/h). Four cautions were given out for 31 laps and the average racing speed was 127.082 miles per hour (204.519 km/h). Jim Vandiver would earn the last-place finish due to an engine issue on the very first lap of the race. Country music legend Marty Robbins would compete in this race in a 1972 Dodge Charger vehicle; he started in 22nd and ended in 8th place. After the race, Robbins was named as the "Sportsman of the Race." The winner's purse for the 1972 Miller High Life 500 was $31,695 ($181,470.89 when adjusted for inflation).
Drivers that retired from NASCAR after this race were: Cliff Garner, Ron Gautsche, Les Loeser, and Don White. The drivers who commenced their NASCAR Cup Series careers during this race were: Carl Adams, Bill Butts, former USAC Championship Car series driver George Follmer, and Jim Whitt. Follmer would eventually go back to USAC Championship Car racing for its 1974 season.