1972 Daytona 500

The 1972 Daytona 500, the 14th running of the event, was held on February 20, 1972, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. A. J. Foyt, driving a 1971 Mercury, won the race.

1972 Daytona 500

Race details
Race 2 of 31 in the 1972 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
1972 Daytona 500 program cover
Date	February 20, 1972 (1972-02-20)
Location	Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida, U.S.
Course	Permanent racing facility 2.5 mi (4.023 km)
Distance	200 laps, 500 mi (804.672 km)
Weather	Temperatures reaching up to 57 °F (14 °C); wind speeds approaching 15.9 miles per hour (25.6 km/h)[1]
Average speed	161.55 miles per hour (259.99 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Bobby Isaac	Nord Krauskopf
Qualifying race winners
Duel 1 Winner	Bobby Isaac	Nord Krauskopf
Duel 2 Winner	Bobby Allison	Richard Howard
Most laps led
Driver	A. J. Foyt	Wood Brothers Racing
Laps	167
Winner
No. 21	A. J. Foyt	Wood Brothers Racing
Television in the United States
Network	ABC Wide World of Sports
Announcers	Keith Jackson, Chris Economaki

First Daytona 500 starts for David Sisco and Walter Ballard.^[2] Only Daytona 500 start for Richard D. Brown, George Altheide, David Ray Boggs, Ed Hessert, Larry Dickson, Jimmy Finger, Mark Donohue, and Raymond Williams.^[2] Last Daytona 500 starts for Vic Elford, Henley Grey, Ben Arnold, Bill Seifert, Elmo Langley, and Bill Champion.^[2]

Summary

Foyt drove his number 21 to victory after starting the race from the outside front-row position. There were three cautions flags which slowed the race for a total of 17 laps.^[2] Foyt dominated the event, winning by almost two laps over his closest competitor.^[3] The victory over Charlie Glotzbach was Foyt's first win of the season.^[4]

The 1972 Daytona 500 has the distinction of being the event which had the fewest leaders for a NASCAR race held at Daytona International Speedway; with only Foyt, Richard Petty, and Bobby Allison recorded as leading a lap during the competition.^[5] The Daytona 500 was the second event held during the 1972 season,^[6] and completed in three hours and five minutes with an average speed of 161 mph. There were a total of 13 lead changes between Foyt, Allison, and Petty throughout the race.^[7]

Foyt's victory would earn him a spot on the cover of Sports Illustrated, the first time for a reigning Daytona 500 champion.

Walter Ballard had a huge crash in this race on lap 16 as a result of getting together with Buddy Baker in the tri-oval. Baker himself would disappear from the race on lap 18. Ballard went upside down after climbing the nose of Baker's car. He rolled into the tri-oval grass and barrel rolled 3 times before coming back onto all fours. Both drivers were uninjured.^[2]

Raymond Williams earned the dubious honor of being the only driver ever to both begin and finish in last-place in the same Daytona 500. Also, attrition was through the roof in this race, as only 26 cars even made it 200 miles, just 22 cars ran at least half the race, and just 19 made it 110 laps. Also, the distances between some of the leading finishers were just astounding. Third-place finisher Jim Vandiver (and fourth-place Benny Parsons) was six laps/15 miles behind the winner, fifth-place James Hylton was 9 laps/22.5 miles behind, sixth-place Cale Yarborough was 12 laps/30 miles or 6% of the race distance behind, and 10th-place finisher Vic Elford was 18 laps/45 miles or 9% of the race distance behind Foyt.^[2]

Bobby Isaac won the pole but A.J. Foyt overtook him right at the start although the two fought for the lead on the first lap. As Foyt pulled away Issac's day turned out to be a short one as engine problems put the K&K Insurance Dodge on the trailer before the 10 percent mark of the race.^[2]

Statistics

Reference:^[2]

Finish	Start	Car no.	Driver	Owner/Sponsor	Car make
1	2	21	A. J. Foyt	Purolator (Wood Brothers)	1971 Mercury
2	6	6	Charlie Glotzbach	American Brakeblok / Signal Stat (Cotton Owens)	1971 Dodge
3	8	31	Jim Vandiver	O.L. Nixon	70 Dodge
4	33	72	Benny Parsons	L.G. DeWitt	1970 Mercury
5	35	48	James Hylton	Pop Kola (James Hylton)	1971 Ford
6	16	3	Cale Yarborough	Ray Fox	1971 Plymouth
7	23	5	David Sisco	Charlie McGee	1972 Chevrolet
8	21	25	Jabe Thomas	Don Robertson	1970 Plymouth
9	15	4	John Sears	J. Marvin Mills Heating & Air (J. Marvin Mills)	1970 Plymouth
10	13	23	Vic Elford	Don Robertson	1970 Plymouth
11	26	3	Tommy Gale	Frank Vasko	1971 Mercury
12	38	64	Elmo Langley	Elmo Langley	1971 Ford
13	5	91	Richard D. Brown	Ralph McNabb	1972 Chevrolet
14	37	19	Henley Gray	Henley Gray	1971 Ford
15	34	0	George Altheide	George Altheide	1970 Dodge
16	4	12	Bobby Allison	Coca-Cola (Richard Howard)	1972 Chevrolet
17	20	76	Ben Arnold	Ben Arnold	1971 Ford
18	7	79	Frank Warren	Frank Warren	1970 Dodge
19	25	57	David Ray Boggs	David Ray Boggs	1970 Dodge
20	27	86	Ed Hessert	Neil Castles	1970 Dodge
21	30	44	Larry Dickson	Giachetti Brothers (Richard Giachetti)	1971 Ford
22	9	56	Jim Hurtubise	Richard Hammond	1970 Chevrolet
23	14	90	Bill Dennis	Junie Donlavey	1972 Ford
24	19	70	J. D. McDuffie	J. D. McDuffie	1971 Chevrolet
25	3	14	Coo Coo Marlin	Cunningham-Kelley (H.B. Cunningham)	1972 Chevrolet
26	32	43	Richard Petty	STP (Petty Enterprises)	1972 Plymouth
27	12	2	Dave Marcis	Dave Marcis	1972 Dodge
28	28	88	Ron Keselowski	Roger Lubinski	1970 Dodge
29	36	45	Bill Seifert	Bill Seifert	1971 Ford
30	18	97	Red Farmer	Willie Humphries	1972 Ford
31	17	61	Jimmy Finger	Bierschwale-Haverlah (Don Bierschwale)	1971 Ford
32	22	67	Buddy Arrington	Buddy Arrington	1970 Plymouth
33	1	71	Bobby Isaac	K & K Insurance (Nord Krauskopf)	1972 Dodge
34	31	11	Buddy Baker	STP (Petty Enterprises)	1972 Dodge
35	10	16	Mark Donohue	American Motors (Roger Penske)	1972 Matador
36	29	30	Walter Ballard	Ballard Racing (Vic Ballard)	1971 Ford
37	24	9	Ramo Stott	Housby Racing (Jack Housby)	1972 Dodge
38	39	10	Bill Champion	Bill Champion	1971 Ford
39	11	24	Cecil Gordon	Cecil Gordon	1971 Mercury
40	40	47	Raymond Williams	Raymond Williams	1971 Ford

References

1. "Weather of the 1972 Daytona 500". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved 2014-03-09.
2. "1972 Daytona 500". racing-reference.info. Retrieved 2009-08-16.
3. "1972 NASCAR Grand National Recap". HowStuffWorks, Inc ; Publications International, Ltd. p. 1. Archived from the original on 2009-06-03. Retrieved 2009-08-16.
4. Fleischman, Bill; Al Pearce (2004). "Race Results: 1949–2002; 1960". The Unauthorized NASCAR Fan Guide: 2004. Vol. 2004 (10 ed.). Canton, MI: Checkered Flag Press; Visible Ink Press. pp. 229 of 576. ISBN 0-681-27587-1.
5. DeHaven, Kim (February 16, 2007). "Frontstretch Folio: Daytona 500". The Frontstretch. Archived from the original on 2009-09-30. Retrieved 2009-11-02.
6. "1972 Winston Cup Results". racing-reference.info. Archived from the original on 2012-10-18. Retrieved 2009-11-03.
7. "1972 Daytona 500 Results". Daytona International Speedway. Archived from the original on 2010-12-28. Retrieved 2009-11-03.

Preceded by 1971 Daytona 500	Daytona 500 races 1959-present	Succeeded by 1973 Daytona 500