1973 USAC National Championship - History

Thought some of ya'll might be interested in this, the people at Old Racing Cars have compiled th ehistory of every 1972 Eagle Chassis that was built.

So, find your car and read it's history, it's really interesting.

http://www.oldracingcars.com/eagle/72

Thank you for posting Jason 

That's awesome!
So if I'm correct, my #9 car is chassis numer 7201?
That's really a great site, thanks for posting it here!

Two very cool Trenton items from 1973 on eBay!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-USAC-TRENTON-SPEEDWAY-RACING-1973-George-A-Hamid-NEW-JERSEY-Auto-Track-/191773941681?hash=item2ca69e1fb1:g:eYoAAOSwLN5WiT8c

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-TRENTON-SPEEDWAY-RACING-1973-SEASON-PARKING-PASS-NEW-JERSEY-TRACK-/191773373908?hash=item2ca69575d4:g:IDkAAOSwL7VWiC9g

Photos from Trenton in April, 1973.


Mario Andretti alongside his Parnelli in the pit lane.  Al Unser's sister car is parked behind it.


Johnny Rutherford in the works McLaren #7.


Gary Bettenhausen in the Roger Penske McLaren M16B. He would upgrade to the M16C at Indy.
You can see the positive camber on his left front tire, intended to help the car grip best in left turns.


Mario Andretti's Parnelli sits on the starting grid.

The Samsonite Parnelli featured in a 1973 Firestone ad.

Dick Simon's Travelodge Eagle featured in a 1973 ad.

Martin Lacina uh sorry Mike Hiss in Playgirl 1973 (centerfold!)

Alberto Ibañez wrote:

Martin Lacina uh sorry Mike Hiss in Playgirl 1973 (centerfold!)

HAhA. Jason said something about this playboy during Trenton briefing but i dindn understand until i found this photo on google.:-)

I want to smoke his weed chest hair

I like how they used his helmet to hide his helmet...

looking at the trenton pictures ( some detailes i see for the track ) the mclaren suspension setup is fully postive camber! (all 4 tires are set to positive camber)

What happens is that these cars had such a big suspension travel (Soft springs to get grip plus not as much downforce as modern ones) that they gained lots of camber and ended with slight negative one at racing speeds, when pushed against the ground. Also, these fat bias ply tires didnt like much camber and worked better upright, which we also tried to accomplish in our physics

François Remmen wrote:

looking at the trenton pictures ( some detailes i see for the track ) the mclaren suspension setup is fully postive camber! (all 4 tires are set to positive camber)

Uh, no.  That would be suicide.

I love the primitive little diffuser in that last shot!

1973 Indianapolis 500 Time Trials  |  Traditional photos taken after qualifying runs


#1 Joe Leonard


#2 Billy Vukovich


#3 Roger McCluskey


#4 Al Unser with team


#6 Mike Hiss


#9 Sammy Sessions


#11 Mario Andretti


#14 AJ Foyt


#16 Lee Kunzman


#18 Lloyd Ruby


#19 Mel Kenyon


#20 Gordon Johncock, the eventual winner


#21 Jimmy Caruthers


#24 Steve Krisiloff (by race day, this car was blue and yellow)


#28 Bob Harkey with team


#30 Jerry Karl


#35 Jim McElreath


#40 Swede Savage


#44 Dick Simon


#48 Jerry Grant


#60 Graham McRae


#62 Wally Dallenbach


#66 Mark Donohue


#73 David Hobbs


#77 David "Salt" Walther


#84 George "Ziggy" Snider


#89 John Martin


#98 Mike Mosley

A.J didn't want to pose for a qualifying photo? 

Jacob Fredriksson wrote:

A.J didn't want to pose for a qualifying photo? 

He did, I just can't find it at the mo

Interview with Johncock some years ago. Beware, he doesn't exactly love foreign drivers and won't be shy of speaking his mind

http://morefrontwing.com/2011/05/13/cis-gordon-johncock/

EDIT: Many more interesting interviews there, check them also

UPDATED

Jason White wrote:

1973 Indianapolis 500 Time Trials  |  Traditional photos taken after qualifying runs


#1 Joe Leonard


#2 Billy Vukovich


#3 Roger McCluskey


#4 Al Unser with team


#6 Mike Hiss


#9 Sammy Sessions


#11 Mario Andretti


#14 AJ Foyt


#16 Lee Kunzman


#18 Lloyd Ruby


#19 Mel Kenyon


#20 Gordon Johncock, the eventual winner


#21 Jimmy Caruthers


#24 Steve Krisiloff (by race day, this car was blue and yellow)


#28 Bob Harkey with team


#30 Jerry Karl


#35 Jim McElreath


#40 Swede Savage


#44 Dick Simon


#48 Jerry Grant


#60 Graham McRae


#62 Wally Dallenbach


#66 Mark Donohue


#73 David Hobbs


#77 David "Salt" Walther


#84 George "Ziggy" Snider


#89 John Martin


#98 Mike Mosley

I was wondering how Loquasto's car could be run by Penske without wearing a single Sunoco sticker and found the answer: it wasn't!

Quote :

Did not qualify at the 1973 Schaefer 500. He ended up being the first alternate with an avg. speed of 174.970 in the ex Mark Donohue 1972 Indy winning car. The Loquasto's purchased the car from Roger Penske before the Indy 500 in 1973 were he crashed in practice trying to get up to speed at indy. Chief mechanic on the car was Buster Warke local Indy car Mechanic from Coopersburg Pa.

Source

Well, at least you have ex-Roger Penske equipment

Al's 73 season was a bit of an odd one. He or his father, owned the car outright however, there was some kind of deal with Penske. I've variously seen the car entered under the Penske team, such as in the Mod. I've also seen it entered under other names.

That Penske was involved in some aspect is obvious, Roger would've NEVER allowed someone whom he sold a car to continue to run it in, what was then, the iconic Penske Sunoco Livery and Pin striping. Penske, or at least Mark thrashed all over Al's car during the 73 500 trying to get him into the field. There's a famous picture of Mark, tape measure in hand checking the rear wing of Al's car during practice. I think Mark even took the car out once or twice to try and help.

Loquasto had an interesting career in IndyCars. He ran 61 races from 1969 through 1983 with a year off in 1981 to run in NASCAR.

He attempted the 500 from 1970 - 1980 and 1982 - 1984. In those 14 attempts he only made the race 3 times and only ran in it twice. He qualified in 1976 and 1977 and finished 25th and 18th respectively. He successfully qualified for the last time in 1984, however he sold his ride to a "young" Brazilian Rookie called Emerson Fittipaldi. After that he seems to have quit racing, or at least big time professional racing.

Of his 61 total starts his best finish was 7th at Ontario in 1975, and he 11 Top Tens. Most of his cars were #86 and in the last half of the 70's he was usually sponsored by Frostie's Root Beer.

I've been told he was similar to Hector Rebaque in Formula 1 at the time, was well meaning, probably had the talent to eventually race at that level, but was just never really ready for it. But I've also heard he was a helluva racer who just didn't have the financial backing needed to be successful.

Either way, he's one of the more interesting footnotes, thast probably not the correct wording, of the 500's history.

The Donohue connection certainly adds value.

Especially with how unremarkable Loquasto's season was: one DNQ, two DNF, 16th, 18th.

Jason Fitch wrote:

Penske, or at least Mark thrashed all over Al's car during the 73 500 trying to get him into the field. There's a famous picture of Mark, tape measure in hand checking the rear wing of Al's car during practice. I think Mark even took the car out once or twice to try and help.

Interesting! Now I'm eager to track down that photo. I read back through the Indy bits of The Unfair Advantage when I was assigned the car and Loquasto didn't even rate a mention.