The 1972 Canadian-American Challenge Cup was the seventh season of the Can-Am auto racing series. It was contested by FIA Group 7 racing cars running two-hour sprint events. The series began June 11, 1972, and ended October 29, 1972, after nine rounds. It was jointly sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America and the Canadian Automobile Sports Club.[1]
The series was won by George Follmer driving a Porsche 917/10 for Penske Racing.
| Rnd | Race | Circuit | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Labatt's Blue Trophy | Mosport Park | June 11 | |
| 2 | Road Atlanta Can-Am | Road Atlanta | July 9 | |
| 3 | Watkins Glen Can-Am | Watkins Glen International | July 23 | |
| 4 | Buckeye Can-Am | Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course | August 6 | |
| 5 | Road America Can-Am | Road America | August 27 | |
| 6 | Minneapolis Tribune Grand Prix | Donnybrooke International Raceway | September 17 | |
| 7 | Klondike 200 | Edmonton Speedway Park | October 1 | |
| 8 | Monterey Castrol GTX Grand Prix | Laguna Seca Raceway | October 15 | |
| 9 | Los Angeles Times Grand Prix | Riverside International Raceway | October 29 |
| Rnd | Circuit | Winning Team | Results |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winning Driver | |||
| 1 | Mosport |  #5 Bruce McLaren Motor Racing | Results |
 Denny Hulme | |||
| 2 | Road Atlanta |  #6 Penske Racing | Results |
| George Follmer | |||
| 3 | Watkins Glen | #5 Bruce McLaren Motor Racing | Results |
| Denny Hulme | |||
| 4 | Mid-Ohio | #6 Penske Racing | Results |
| George Follmer | |||
| 5 | Road America | #6 Penske Racing | Results |
| George Follmer | |||
| 6 | Donnybrooke | #22 Young American Racing | Results |
 François Cevert | |||
| 7 | Edmonton | #6 Penske Racing | Results |
| Mark Donohue | |||
| 8 | Laguna Seca | #7 Penske Racing | Results |
| George Follmer | |||
| 9 | Riverside | #7 Penske Racing | Results |
| George Follmer |
Points are awarded to the top ten finishers in the order of 20-15-12-10-8-6-4-3-2-1.[1] For classification, the four best results of the first five races and all four results of the last four races were retained.[2]
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Engine | Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 3 | Rd 4 | Rd 5 | Rd 6 | Rd 7 | Rd 8 | Rd 9 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | George Follmer | Penske Racing | Porsche 917/10 | Porsche | 20 | 8 | 20 | 20 | 10 | 12 | 20 | 20 | 130 | ||
| 2 | Denny Hulme | Bruce McLaren Motor Racing | McLaren M20 | Chevrolet | 20 | 20 | 10 | 15 | 65 | ||||||
| 3 | Milt Minter | Vasek Polak Racing Team | Porsche 917/10 | Porsche | 10 | 12 | 6 | 12 | (4) | 15 | 10 | 65 | |||
| 4 | Mark Donohue | Penske Racing | Porsche 917/10 | Porsche | 15 | 20 | 15 | 12 | 62 | ||||||
| 5 | François Cevert | Young American Racing Team | McLaren M8F | Chevrolet | 12 | 15 | 20 | 12 | 59 | ||||||
| 6 | Peter Revson | Bruce McLaren Motor Racing | McLaren M20 | Chevrolet | 12 | 15 | 6 | 15 | 48 | ||||||
| 7 | David Hobbs | Carl Haas | Lola T310 | Chevrolet | 4 | 10 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 8 | 39 | ||||
| 8 | Jackie Oliver | Advanced Vehicle Systems | Shadow Mk.3 | Chevrolet | 15 | 12 | 10 | 37 | |||||||
| 9 | Peter Gregg | Peter Gregg | Porsche 917/10 | Porsche | 8 | 8 | 12 | 6 | 34 | ||||||
| 10 | Charlie Kemp | Bobby Rinzler | Lola T222 | Chevrolet | 2 | 10 | 8 | 1 | 6 | 27 | |||||
| 11 | Lothar Motschenbacher | Motschenbacher Racing | McLaren M8D | Chevrolet | 6 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 26 | |||||
| 12 | Gregg Young | Young American Racing Team | McLaren M8F | Chevrolet | 15 | 8 | 23 | ||||||||
| 13 | Jean-Pierre Jarier | North American Racing Team | Ferrari 712M | Ferrari | 1 | 10 | 11 | ||||||||
| 14 | Bob Nagel | Bob Nagel | Lola T222 | Chevrolet | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 11 | |||||
| 15 |  José Carlos Pace | Advanced Vehicle Systems | Shadow Mk.3 | Chevrolet | 10 | 10 | |||||||||
| 16 | Gary Wilson | Gary Wilson | McLaren M8E | Chevrolet | 3 | 6 | 1 | 10 | |||||||
| 17= |  John Cordts | William Overhauser Racing | Lola T163 McLaren M8D | Chevrolet | 8 | 8 | |||||||||
| 17= | Sam Posey | Vasek Polak Racing Team | Porsche 917PA | Porsche | 8 | 8 | |||||||||
| 19 | Scooter Patrick | Otto Zipper Alfa Racing | Alfa Romeo T33/4 | Alfa Romeo | 2 | 4 | 2 | 8 | |||||||
| 20 | Gordon Dewar | JNO Racing | McLaren M8C | Chevrolet | 3 | 4 | 7 | ||||||||
| 21 | Tom Heyser | Albert Heyser | Lola T260 | Chevrolet | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | |||||||
| 22= | Steve Durst | Steve Durst | McLaren M8E/D | Chevrolet | 4 | 4 | |||||||||
| 22= | Ed Felter | Ed Felter | McLaren M8E | Chevrolet | 4 | 4 | |||||||||
| 22= | Mike Hiss | Mike Hiss | McLaren M8F | Chevrolet | 4 | 4 | |||||||||
| 25 | Warren Agor | Warren Agor | McLaren M8B McLaren M8F | Chevrolet | 2 | 2 | 4 | ||||||||
| 26= | Chuck Parsons | William Overhauser Racing Robert McCaig | Lola T163 McLaren M8FP | Chevrolet | 3 | 3 | |||||||||
| 26= |  Hans Wiedmer | Wiedmer Racing Team | McLaren M8F | Chevrolet | 3 | 3 | |||||||||
| 26= | Willi Kauhsen | Willi Kauhsen Racing Team | Porsche 917/10 | Porsche | 3 | 3 | |||||||||
| 29= | Tony Dean | A.G. Dean Racing | Porsche 908/02 | Porsche | 2 | 2 | |||||||||
| 29= | Pete Sherman | Pete Sherman | McLaren M12 | Chevrolet | 2 | 2 | |||||||||
| 31 | Roger McCaig | Roger McCaig | McLaren M8FP | Chevrolet | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||
| 32 | Bob Peckham | Peckham Racing | McLaren M8C | Chevrolet | 1 | 1 |