1972 Trans-American Sedan Championship

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 classes 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 Trans-Am Series
Previous: 1971 Next: 1973

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.

Also contributing to the series' decline was the dominance of AMC. Follmer and Donohue had switched to AMC in 1970, ending the Ford vs Chevy rivalry that had made the series famous.

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 (209.30 km) (U2L)
200.43 mi (322.56 km) (O2L)		 AMC Javelin Datsun 510
George Follmer Bob Sharp
2 May 29 Bryar Motorsports Park, Loudon, New Hampshire 112 mi (180 km) (U2L)
152 mi (245 km) (O2L)		 AMC Javelin Datsun 510
George Follmer John Morton
3 June 4 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio 120 mi (190 km) (U2L)
180 mi (290 km) (O2L)		 Pontiac Firebird Datsun 510
Milt Minter Peter Gregg
4 June 17 Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, New York 114.818 mi (184.782 km) (U2L)
192.489 mi (309.781 km) (O2L)		 AMC Javelin Datsun 510
George Follmer Peter Gregg
5 July 2
July 4		 Donnybrooke International Speedway, Brainerd, Minnesota 150 mi (240 km) (U2L)
210 mi (340 km) (O2L)		 AMC Javelin Alfa Romeo GTV
George Follmer Horst Kwech
6 July 16 Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin 108 mi (174 km) (U2L)
200 mi (320 km) (O2L)		 Ford Mustang Datsun 510
Warren Tope John Morton
7 July 30 Sanair Super Speedway, Saint-Pie, Quebec 104 mi (167 km) (U2L)
169 mi (272 km) (O2L)		 Ford Mustang Alfa Romeo GTA
Warren Tope Bert Everett
8 August 19 Road Atlanta, Braselton, Georgia 126 mi (203 km) not contested Datsun 510
John Morton
9 September 17 Portland International Raceway, Portland, Oregon 105.325 mi (169.504 km) not contested Datsun 510
John Morton
10 October 15 Laguna Seca Raceway, Monterey, California 102.5 mi (165.0 km) not contested Datsun 510
John Morton
11 October 28 Riverside International Raceway, Riverside, California 127.5 mi (205.2 km) not contested Datsun 510
John Morton
[1]

Championships

Drivers' championships

The points system was as follows:

1st2nd3rd4th5th6th7th8th9th10th
20 15 12 10 8 6 4 3 2 1

Over 2.5L
Pos Driver Car LRP BRY MDO WGL DON ELK SAN Pts
1 George Follmer AMC Javelin 1 1 2 1 1 25 95
2 Milt Minter Pontiac Firebird 2 1 28 4 2 25 60
3 Warren Tope Ford Mustang 5 7 7 26 28 1 1 56
4 Warren Agor Chevrolet Camaro 2 3 3 12 6 27 6 51
5 Bill Collins AMC Javelin 7 4 29 7 3 2 45
6 Paul Nichter Chevrolet Camaro 6 4 4 20 6 3 44
7 Roy Woods AMC Javelin 4 5 3 3 11 42
8 Jerry Thompson Ford Mustang 28 2 2 41 30
9 Carl Shafer Chevrolet Camaro 11 8 7 4 17
10 Dick Brown Chevrolet Camaro 6 5 16 14
11 Gene Harrington Chevrolet Camaro 8 35 4 21 13
12 Tony DeLorenzo Pontiac Firebird 3 21 12
13 John Gimbel Ford Mustang 21 11 25 5 27 31 8 11
14 Kent Fellows Chevrolet Camaro 26 14 6 7 12 38 15 10
15= J. Marshall Robbins Ford Mustang 5 8
15= Alfred Ruys de Perez Chevrolet Camaro 17 8 29 9 26 8 14 8
15= Steve Bradley Chevrolet Camaro 5 21 8
15= Dick Hoffman Chevrolet Camaro 21 40 5 8
19= Walter Parkins Chevrolet Camaro 9 9 14 30 12 27 4
19= Bob Bienerth Chevrolet Camaro 14 13 13 18 17 7 4
21= Dan Moore Ford Mustang 8 13 3
21= Martin Shook Chevrolet Camaro 23 27 23 8 23 3
21= Jerry Petersen Chevrolet Camaro 31 10 9 30 3
24= Jean-Guy Roy Chevrolet Camaro 9 22 23 13 2
24= Warren Fairbanks Chevrolet Camaro 9 2
24= David Hoselton Ford Mustang 15 9 2
24= Steve Ross Chevrolet Camaro 20 10 12 10 2
28= Fred Kashkork Ford Mustang 10 1
28= Ed Hinchcliff Ford Mustang 11 17 10 16 19 1
28= Joe Chamberlain Chevrolet Camaro 10 33 1
28= J. A. Lagod Chevrolet Camaro 10 1
[1][2]
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 not
participate
(DNP)
Not competing

Under 2.5L
Pos Driver Car LRP BRY MDO WGL DON ELK SAN ATL POR LAG RIV Pts
1 John Morton Datsun 510 DSQ 1 16 2 12 1 1 1 1 1 135
2 Bert Everett Alfa Romeo GTA 4 4 3 5 2 15 1 11 7 3 91
3 Horst Kwech Alfa Romeo GTV 19 17 4 3 1 5 15 2 17 65
4 Mike Downs Datsun 510 2 6 2 4 2 61
5 Peter Gregg Datsun 510 1 1 11 2 55
6 Bob Sharp Datsun 510 1 2 35
7 Ken Schley Alfa Romeo GTA DSQ 6 2 4 10 28 11 32
8 Ed Wachs Alfa Romeo GTA 5 9 4 7 19 DNS 27 20 24
9 John McCollister Volkswagen Super Beetle 21 8 6 14 17 5 9 8 16 25 22
10 Harry Theodorocopulous Alfa Romeo GTV 26 16 17 6 14 13 3 9 10 28 21
11= Lothar Stahlberg Datsun 510 3 13 5 13 20
11= Richard Hull Toyota 1600 5 3 16 20
11= Walt Maas Datsun 510 3 5 14 20
11= Lee Midgley Alfa Romeo GTA
Alfa Romeo GTV		 4 17 12 17 4 12 20
15= John Buffum Ford Escort 15 3 21 7 16
15= Vic Provenzano Alfa Romeo GTA 4 6 19 16
17= Sam Posey Datsun 510 18 2 15
17= Hershel McGriff Datsun 510 2 15
17= Corky Bell Datsun 510 10 9 5 7 15
20= Jerry Thompson Datsun 510 3 12
20= Dave Madison Datsun 510 3 22 12
20= Bobby Allison Datsun 510 3 24 12
23 Tony Rolfe BMW 1600 8 9 12 6 11
24= Ron Shantz Datsun 510 4 10
24= Bob Stevens Datsun 510 15 4 10
26 Ole Anderson Volvo 142 6 8 9
27= Wayne Sherer Alfa Romeo GTA 5 15 20 8
27= Richard Gordon Volvo 142 5 8
27= Bob Burns Alfa Romeo GTA 5 8
30= Jim Lombard Volkswagen Super Beetle 12 10 6 16 7
30= Gary Witzenburg Datsun 510 12 7 15 8 7
32= John Diamanti Alfa Romeo GTV 6 6
32= Don Sobering Austin Cooper 6 6
32= Carl Fredricks BMW 6 6
32= Ed Long Datsun 510 9 7 6
36 Ted Straight Toyota 1600 7 10 5
37= George Alderman Datsun 510 7 18 18 15 4
37= Mickey Cohen Ford Pinto 7 4
37= Jacques Bienvenue Ford Pinto 7 4
37= Douglas Sande Datsun 510 7 4
41= Ed Rogers Alfa Romeo GTA 8 15 3
41= Bob Shafer Datsun 510 8 3
41= Tom Cronin Austin Cooper 8 11 3
41= Monique Proulx BMW 2002 8 3
41= Vic Matthews Toyota 1600 8 3
41= Dave Redding Datsun 510 8 3
47= John Meskauskas Datsun 510 9 14 14 16 2
47= Stephen Sharkey Volvo 122 9 2
47= Robert LaZebnik BMW 1600 22 11 DNS 9 2
47= George Cheyne Ford Pinto DNS 9 26 2
47= Jim Ethridge Alfa Romeo GTA 9 2
52= Paul Choiniere Austin Cooper 10 12 1
52= Art Mollin Volvo 142 13 10 19 1
52= A.L. Entwistle BMW 2002 10 1
52= Werner Gudzus BMW 10 1
52= Jim Fitzgerald Datsun 510 10 14 1
52= Tex Guthrie Lotus Cortina 10 1
[1][2]
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 not
participate
(DNP)
Not competing

Manufacturers' championships

Only the highest-finishing car scored points for the manufacturer. The points system was as follows:

1st2nd3rd4th5th6th
9 6 4 3 2 1

Over 2.5L

Best 6 results count toward the championship.

Pos Manufacturer LRP BRY MDO 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)
[1][2]

Under 2.5L

Best 9 results count towards the championship.

Pos Manufacturer LRP BRY MDO 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
[1][2]

See also

References
  1. "1972 Trans-Am Box Scores" (PDF). Sports Car Club of America. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 April 2011. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  2. de Jong, Frank. "1972 Trans-Am Championship Table". Touring Car Racing History. Archived from the original on 2009-05-02. Retrieved 2 May 2011.
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