The 1972 Carolina 500 is a NASCAR

NASCAR

The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...

 Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on March 12, 1972 at North Carolina Motor Speedway (Rockingham Speedway) in the American community of Rockingham

Rockingham, North Carolina

Rockingham is a city in Richmond County, North Carolina, United States named after the Marquis of Rockingham. The population was 9,672 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Richmond County...

, North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

.

Summary

While the race took place on a paved track spanning 1.017 miles (1.6 km), it took four hours and twenty-three minutes to complete all 492 laps of the race. Bobby Isaac

Bobby Isaac

Bobby Isaac is a former NASCAR Grand National champion.-Early life:Isaac grew up on a farm near Catawba, North Carolina, the second youngest of nine children...

 defeated Richard Petty

Richard Petty

Richard Lee Petty is a former NASCAR driver who raced in the Strictly Stock/Grand National Era and the NASCAR Winston Cup Series...

 by at least one lap in front of 42500 people. Isaac would earn the pole position

Pole position

The term "pole position", as used in motorsports, comes from the horse racing term where the number one starter starts on the inside next to the inside pole. The term made its way, along with several other customs, to auto racing. In circuit motorsports, a driver has pole position when he or she...

 with a qualifying speed of 137.539 miles per hour (221.3 km/h). Meanwhile, the average race speed was 113.895 miles per hour (183.3 km/h). Eight cautions were given out for 57 laps. British

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

-born competitor Jackie Oliver

Jackie Oliver

Keith Jack Oliver, better known as Jackie Oliver, is a British former Formula One driver and team-owner from England...

 finished in last place due to an engine

Engine

An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert energy into useful mechanical motion. Heat engines, including internal combustion engines and external combustion engines burn a fuel to create heat which is then used to create motion...

 issue on the first lap while Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

-born Les Covey would fail to finish due to a clutch

Clutch

A clutch is a mechanical device which provides for the transmission of power from one component to another...

 problem on lap 127. The rest of the 40-car grid would have American-born drivers.

Matt Kenseth

Matt Kenseth

Matthew Roy "Matt" Kenseth is an American stock car driver. Kenseth currently drives the No. 17 Crown Royal Ford Fusion in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for Roush Fenway Racing...

 would be born two days before this race on March 10, 1972.

Finishing order

1. Bobby Isaac
2. Richard Petty
3. Jim Vandiver
   Jim Vandiver
   Jim Vandiver is a retired NASCAR Winston Cup driver that raced from 1968 to 1983.-Summary:...
   
   
4. LeeRoy Yarbrough
   LeeRoy Yarbrough
   Lonnie "LeeRoy" Yarbrough was a NASCAR racer. His best season was 1969 when he won seven races, tallied 21 finishes in the top-ten and earned $193,211...
   
   
5. Dave Marcis
   Dave Marcis
   Dave Marcis is a retired driver on the NASCAR Winston Cup circuit whose career spanned five decades. Marcis won five times over this tenure, twice at Richmond, including his final win in 1982...
   
   
6. James Hylton
   James Hylton
   James Harvey Hylton is a part-time race car driver. He is a two-time winner in NASCAR and competes in the ARCA RE/MAX Series,finishing 16th in points in 2006. He made headlines while attempting to qualify for the 2007 Daytona 500 at age 72...
   
   
7. Benny Parsons
   Benny Parsons
   Benjamin Stewart Parsons was an American NASCAR driver, and later an announcer/analyst on TBS, ESPN, NBC and TNT...
   
   
8. Buddy Arrington
   Buddy Arrington
   Buddy Arrington is a retired NASCAR Grand National/Winston Cup driver.- Biography :...
   
   
9. Elmo Langley
   Elmo Langley
   Elmo Langley was a NASCAR driver and owner. Langley primarily used the number "64" on his race cars during his NASCAR career.-Racing career:...
   
   
10. Neil Castles
    Neil Castles
    Neil "Soapy" Castles is a retired NASCAR Grand National and Winston Cup Series driver that participate from 1957 to 1976.-History:...
    
    
11. Larry Smith
12. Joe Frasson
    Joe Frasson
    Joseph "Joe" Frasson is a retired NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver with four finishes in the top five and nineteen finishes in the top ten under his belt. He has experienced 20284 laps of racing and an overall career windfall of $148,930...
    
    
13. Jabe Thomas
    Jabe Thomas
    Cerry Ezra "Jabe" Thomas is a retired NASCAR Grand National and Winston Cup Series driver who competed from the mid 1960s through the late 1970s. His son Ronnie was also a NASCAR Cup Series driver; competing from 1977 to 1989.-Career:Thomas drove 75243 laps of racing and earned $295,497 in total...
    
    
14. Ed Negre
    Ed Negre
    Ed Negre is a retired NASCAR Grand National and Winston Cup Series driver who raced from 1955 to 1979....
    
    
15. Ben Arnold
16. John Sears
17. David Ray Boggs
18. Dean Dalton
19. Frank Warren
    Frank Warren (NASCAR driver)
    Frank Warren is a retired NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver who raced from 1963 to 1980.Out of 88863 laps finished in his career, Warren had led 72 of them. Warren's total career earnings were $625,886 and while his average finish was 20th place in his entire career. The total amount of miles...
    
    
20. Henley Gray
    Henley Gray
    Henley Gray is a retired NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver whose career spanned from 1964 to 1977.-Summary:...
    
    
21. H.B. Bailey
22. George Altheide
23. Richard D. Brown
24. Charlie Roberts
    Charlie Roberts
    Charles "Charlie" Roberts was an English footballer.-Playing career:Born in Darlington, Roberts started his football career with Bishop Auckland, but soon moved to Grimsby Town....
    
    
25. Ron Keselowski
    Ron Keselowski
    Ron Keselowski was a NASCAR Winston Cup driver who raced from 1970 to 1974. He is the uncle of current NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers Brad and Brian Keselowski along with being the brother of retired NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver Bob Keselowski.-History:As a driver, Keselowski would...
    
    
26. Cecil Gordon
    Cecil Gordon
    Cecil Gordon was a NASCAR driver. He is not related to Sprint Cup driver Jeff Gordon although the two drivers drove in car number 24....
    
    *
27. Bobby Allison
    Bobby Allison
    Robert Arthur Allison is a former NASCAR Winston Cup driver and was named one of NASCAR's 50 greatest drivers. His two sons, Clifford Allison and Davey Allison followed him into racing, and both died within a year of each other....
    
    *
28. Johnny Halford
    Johnny Halford
    Johnny Halford is a retired NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver who raced from 1969 to 1978.-Summary:He would earn one top ten finish in the 1972 Firecracker 400 while leading 16 laps out of 6924 - the equivalent of . Halford's average starting position would be 24th while he would finish 21st on...
    
    *
29. Bill Champion
    Bill Champion
    Buford Billy Champion , is a retired American professional baseball player, a right-handed pitcher who played in 202 games in the Major Leagues from -. He would play for the Milwaukee Brewers and Philadelphia Phillies.-External links:...
    
    *
30. G.C. Spencer
    G.C. Spencer
    G. C. Spencer July 9, 1925 in Owensboro, Kentucky – September 20, 2007 in Johnson City, Tennessee was a NASCAR driver who competed in 415 Grand National/Winston Cup races from 1958 to 1977...
    
    *
31. Bill Shirey
    Bill Shirey
    Bill Shirey is a retired NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver who accomplished three finishes in the "top ten" and has driven for 9588 laps - the equivalent of . He started 24th on average and also finished an average of 24th place...
    
    *
32. Walter Ballard
    Walter Ballard
    Walter Ballard is a former NASCAR Winston Cup driver from Houston, Texas.He made a single Grand National start in 1966 and did not return to the series until 1971 when he ran a nearly full season in a car owned by his father Vic capturing 11 top tens on his way to Rookie of the Year honors and a...
    
    *
33. Les Covey*
34. Buddy Baker
    Buddy Baker
    Elzie Wylie Baker, Jr. , nicknamed "Leadfoot" or more famously Buddy, is a former American NASCAR racecar driver.-Early life:...
    
    *
35. Raymond Williams*
36. Buck Baker
    Buck Baker
    Elzie Wylie Baker Sr. , better known as Buck Baker, was an American race car driver.-Racing career:...
    
    *
37. Richard Childress
    Richard Childress
    Richard Childress is a former NASCAR driver and the current team owner of Richard Childress Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series. As a business entrepreneur, Childress became one of the wealthiest men in North Carolina...
    
    *
38. Dub Simpson*
39. Bobby Mausgrover*
40. Jackie Oliver*

* Driver failed to finish race