The 1973 USAC Championship Car season consisted of 16 races, beginning in College Station, Texas on April 7 and concluding in Avondale, Arizona on November 3. The first race of the season, in Avondale, Arizona on March 17, was postponed by rain and eventually cancelled due to infrastructure damage caused by the rain and scheduling conflicts. Bob Criss was killed in a private test at Phoenix before he could enter another event. He was 35 years old. The USAC National Champion was Roger McCluskey and the Indianapolis 500 winner was Gordon Johncock.
In this tragic season, two drivers were killed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Art Pollard died in an accident while practicing for the Indy 500 while Swede Savage, who crashed during the race, died by complications one month later. Another driver, Salt Walther, suffered serious burns surviving a crash at the start of the race. In response to those accidents, USAC revised the rules in time for the Pocono 500. The rear wing width was cut back from 64 inches to 55, fuel tank capacity was drastically reduced (from 75 gallons to 40) and the allowable fuel to be consumed in a 500-mile race was reduced from 375 gallons to 340.
Entrants (partial list)
TeamChassisEngineDriversRounds A.J. Foyt EnterprisesCoyoteFoyt A.J. Foyt 1-4, 6-8, 11-15 All American RacersEagleOffenhauser Wally Dallenbach 4EagleOffenhauser Bobby Unser 1-8, 11-16 Bob FletcherEagleOffenhauser Lee Kunzman 10-12, 14-16 Commander Racing TeamEagleOffenhauser Lloyd Ruby 1, 4-8, 10-16 Andy GranatelliEagleOffenhauser Wally Dallenbach 1-2, 5-9, 11-12, 14-16 GerhardtEagleOffenhauser Mike Hiss 1-9, 11-15 Jerry O"Connell RacingEagleOffenhauser Bill Vukovich II 1-9, 11-16 Leader Card RacingEagleOffenhauser Mike Mosley 1-8, 10-16 Lindsey Hopkins RacingMcLarenOffenhauser Roger McCluskey 1-9, 11-12, 14-16EagleOffenhauser Lee Kunzman 1-7 McLarenMcLarenOffenhauser Johnny Rutherford 1-2, 4-8, 10-16 Patrick RacingEagleOffenhauser Gordon Johncock 1-9, 11-12, 14-16 Team PenskeMcLarenOffenhauser Gary Bettenhausen 1-8, 10-16 Vel's Parnelli Jones RacingParnelliOffenhauser Mario Andretti 1-8, 10-16ParnelliOffenhauser Al Unser 1-8, 10-12, 14-16ParnelliOffenhauser Joe Leonard 1-9, 11-16
Schedule and results All races running on Oval/Speedway.
Rnd Date Race name Track Location Pole position Winning driver - March 17 & 31 Phoenix 150 Phoenix International Raceway Avondale, Arizona Race postponed twice; eventually cancelled 1 April 7 Texas 200 Texas World Speedway College Station, Texas Bobby Unser Al Unser 2April 15 Trentonian 300 Heat #1Trenton International SpeedwayTrenton, New Jersey Gordon Johncock A. J. Foyt 3 Trentonian 300 Heat #2 A. J. Foyt Mario Andretti 4 May 28, 29 & 30 International 500 Mile Sweepstakes Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway, Indiana Johnny Rutherford Gordon Johncock 5 June 10 Rex Mays Classic Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway West Allis, Wisconsin Bobby Unser Bobby Unser 6 July 1 Schaefer 500 Pocono International Raceway Long Pond, Pennsylvania Peter Revson A. J. Foyt 7 July 15 Michigan 200 Michigan International Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan Bobby Unser Roger McCluskey 8 August 12 Tony Bettenhausen 200 Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway West Allis, Wisconsin Wally Dallenbach Sr. Wally Dallenbach Sr. 9August 26 California 500 Qualification Heat 1Ontario Motor SpeedwayOntario, California Gordon Johncock Wally Dallenbach Sr. 10 California 500 Qualification Heat 2 Johnny Rutherford Johnny Rutherford 11 September 2 California 500 Peter Revson Wally Dallenbach Sr. 12September 16 Michigan Twin 125s #1Michigan International SpeedwayBrooklyn, Michigan Gordon Johncock Bill Vukovich II 13 Michigan Twin 125s #2 Gary Bettenhausen Johnny Rutherford 14 September 23 Trenton 200 Trenton International Speedway Trenton, New Jersey Gordon Johncock Gordon Johncock 15 October 6 Texas 200 Texas World Speedway College Station, Texas Mario Andretti Gary Bettenhausen 16 November 3 Arizona 150 Phoenix International Raceway Avondale, Arizona Gordon Johncock Gordon Johncock
Postponed due to infrastructure damage, and again on March 28 due to continued flooding. Eventually cancelled due to scheduling conflicts. Scheduled for 500 miles, stopped early due to rain. See 1973 Indy 500
Final points standings
Note: Sam Posey, Peter Revson, Mark Donohue, David Hobbs, Jerry Grant, John Cannon, Graham McRae and Bobby Allison are not eligible for points. The Rookie of the Year was not awarded, because every rookie was not eligible for points.
Pos Driver TWS TRE INDY MIL POC MIS MIL ONT MIS TRE TWS PHX Pts 200 150 500 150 500 200 200 Q-H1 Q-H2 500 125 200 200 150 1 Roger McCluskey 7 8 6 3 2 2 1 6 2 4 4 13 18 4 3705 2 Wally Dallenbach Sr. DNQ DNQ 24 4 29 6 1 1 1 23 3 6 2 2620 3 Johnny Rutherford 4 15 9 5 5 2 18 1 31 3 1 4 2 Wth 2595 4 Bill Vukovich II 15 3 2 2 22 24 3 3 12 24 1 15 6 20 3 2440 5 Mario Andretti 25 4 1 30 8 7 5 19 12 2 5 2 7 17 7 2400 6 Mike Mosley 3 9 8 10 24 4 10 2 5 3 18 14 23 20 2345 7 Gordon Johncock 23 2 21 1 18 14 9 17 5 32 16 1 7 1 2240 8 Gary Bettenhausen 2 6 17 5 3 27 24 20 2 19 2 8 24 1 6 2093 9 Lloyd Ruby DNQ 27 21 3 4 DNQ 8 28 6 4 8 4 11 1610 10 A. J. Foyt 11 1 11 25 1 13 25 10 13 14 20 10 1580 11 Lee Kunzman 8 11 9 7 6 20 12 3 13 20 10 3 5 1260 12 Bobby Unser 20 19 15 13 1 10 20 DNQ 7 10 16 2 15 18 1108 13 Al Unser 1 7 3 20 9 33 22 26 4 9 21 25 16 19 1080 14 Mike Hiss 22 14 13 17 10 6 25 5 3 27 9 3 21 11 1050 15 Joe Leonard 5 13 5 18 7 8 23 7 9 21 12 7 9 19 15 1018 16 Mel Kenyon 12 12 10 4 18 8 9 16 DNQ 9 940 17 John Martin 8 13 28 7 13 5 870 18 Steve Krisiloff DNS 18 6 16 22 18 21 6 12 7 6 11 8 21 845 19 Jim McElreath 23 11 11 4 6 20 5 16 650 20 Dick Simon 6 10 7 14 17 12 17 22 11 22 DNS 23 21 8 440 21 Jimmy Caruthers 21 16 21 12 16 19 8 4 15 8 9 22 DNS 9 408 22 Johnny Parsons DNQ 30 14 13 9 25 11 5 15 5 22 390 23 Bentley Warren 21 16 DNQ DNQ 16 7 8 DNQ 12 22 10 375 24 Swede Savage 13 5 4 22 330 25 Tom Bigelow DNQ 14 32 15 7 11 160 26 Lee Brayton 10 17 12 DNQ 15 DNQ 15 10 16 12 17 133 27 Sam Sessions 9 DNQ 28 13 11 23 DNQ 120 28 John Hubbard DNQ 19 DNQ 10 14 12 73 29 John Mahler Wth 8 26 50 30 Jerry Karl 26 23 26 11 18 DNQ 40 31 Tom Sneva 26 DNQ DNQ DNQ 21 14 10 17 19 14 30 32 George Snider 12 25 14 12 29 33 Larry Cannon DNQ DNQ 16 11 17 14 25 34 Jigger Sirois DNQ Wth 12 DNS 13 DNQ 20 - Sam Posey DNQ 9 11 6 0 - John Cannon 10 30 0 - David Hobbs 11 31 13 DNQ 0 - Bob Harkey 29 15 DNQ 13 0 - Eldon Rasmussen DNQ DNQ 13 0 - Larry McCoy 14 20 14 DNQ DNQ DNQ 26 15 22 26 24 0 - Bill Simpson DNQ 14 DNQ 26 0 - Mark Donohue 15 17 DNQ 29 0 - Al Loquasto DNQ DNQ DNQ 16 24 DNQ 19 18 0 - Salt Walther 16 22 33 0 - Graham McRae 16 DNQ 0 - Dee Jones 17 24 19 Wth 0 - Rick Muther 18 DNQ 19 DNQ DNQ 25 0 - Crockey Peterson 23 18 20 0 - Jerry Grant 19 33 0 - Art Pollard 19 DNQ Wth 0 - Joe Tetz DNQ 20 0 - Peter Revson 31 21 23 0 - Jim Hurtubise DNQ 23 DNQ 0 - Larry Dickson 24 Wth 0 - Bobby Allison 32 0 - Gig Stephens DNS 0 - Billy Shuman DNQ 0 - Arnie Knepper DNQ 0 - Bill Puterbaugh DNQ 0 - Greg Weld DNQ 0 - Dan Murphy DNQ 0 - Benny Rapp DNQ 0 Pos Driver TWS1200 TRE1150 TRE2150 INDY500 MIL1150 POC500 MIS1200 MIL2200 ONTQ-H1 ONTQ-H2 ONT500 MIS2125 MIS3125 TRE3200 TWS2200 PHX150 Pts 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(Ret) Red Did not qualify(DNQ) Brown Withdrawn(Wth) Black Disqualified(DSQ) White Did not start(DNS) Blank Did notparticipate(DNP) Not competing In-line notationBoldPole positionItalicsRan fastest race lap*Led most race laps Rookie of the Year Rookie
References
http://media.indycar.com/pdf/2011/IICS_2011_Historical_Record_Book_INT6.pdf (p. 225-227) http://www.champcarstats.com/drivers/CrissBob.htm https://www.champcarstats.com/year/1973.htm Retrieved August 9, 2025 https://www.oldracingcars.com/indy/1973/ Retrieved August 9, 2025
See also 1973 Indianapolis 500