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The 56th 500 Mile International Sweepstakes was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday, May 27, 1972. Gary Bettenhausen led 138 laps until his car suffered ignition trouble on lap 176, and coasted to the pits. Jerry Grant took over the lead but pitted for new tires and fuel on lap 188 in teammate Bobby Unser’s pit - for which he would later be disqualified. Bettenhausen's Penske teammate Mark Donohue won the race, after leading the only final 13 laps. It would be owner Roger Penske's first of 16 Indy 500 victories (as of 2015). On the morning of the race, track owner Tony Hulman asked Jim Nabors to sing "Back Home Again in Indiana" during the pre-race ceremonies. Nabors accepted and performed, without rehearsal. It was the beginning of a 36-year tradition, where Nabors performed nearly every year from 1972 to 2014. Al Unser, Sr., who won the race in 1970 and 1971, was looking to become the first driver in history to "three-peat" at the Indianapolis 500. He fell short, but his second-place finish ties for the best three-year span (1st-1st-2nd) in Indy history. The 1972 race was the first to utilize the Electro-PACER Light system to facilitate the yellow light periods. Speedway officials still did not utilize the pace car during cautions, and this enforcement tool would be used at Indy for seven years, albeit not without controversy in subsequent years. After the decade of the 1960s saw numerous drivers from Europe and other nationalities, the 1972 race was the first since 1962 (and the most recent as of 2015) to have an all-American lineup. Mario Andretti who was born in Istria (part of Italy at the time) was a naturalized U.S. citizen at the time of this race. ==Race schedule== Following the pattern set in 1970 and 1971, the race was scheduled for the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. This would be the final Indy 500 scheduled for a Saturday (the 1986 race was held on a Saturday due to a week-long rain delay). Falling on May 27, it was also the earliest calendar date that race had been held up to that point. In 1973, the race would be scheduled for Monday, and starting in 1974, the race would permanently move to the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. On Sunday May 28, the annual 500 Victory Banquet was held at the newly completed Indiana Convention Center for the first time. * activity was significantly limited due to rain |} |} 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「1972 Indianapolis 500」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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