Sam Posey's mechanic, Jack McCormack, was the first to put down a deposit with Dan Gurney's All American Racers on one of the new 1972 winged Eagles, and they leveraged this into sponsorship with Norris Industries. Posey had failed to qualify at Indianapolis in previous years, but this time he knew he had the team, budget, and car to compete for a top-ten finish, not just "make the show." Running with modest turbo-boost, Posey qualified at 184.379 mph, the fastest ever by a rookie at the Brickyard® and good for the 7th starting spot.

Let Sam Posey describe the start himself, from his wonderful book, The Mudge Pond Express:

"My engine stumbled, and I fell back a hundred years before the turbocharger came on. Now the leaders had slowed and I was catching them. I glanced down the track at the starter, Pat Vidan, and there was a tenseness in his posture which made me suspect he was about to wave the green flag in spite of the pace car's signal for another lap. So... I kept my foot down and when he did wave the flag I rushed up among the leaders, who had been caught off guard. I was on the left, on the inside, but I moved across to my right and went into the first turn from the middle of the track. Bobby Unser, Donohue, Bettenhausen, Revson, and Andretti peeled off the wall and crossed in front of me, diving into the turn..."

On the second lap, Posey's engine developed a misfire, and he dropped back from 6th place right behind the leaders to "the terrible letdown" [of] mid-pack. The misfire distracted Posey from switching to the second fuel tank, and he coasted into the pits out of fuel on Lap 23, thinking his day was over. Resuming his race, Posey for a while enjoyed a duel with Lloyd Ruby, until Ruby's mastery of outside passing in the turns allowed Ruby to move ahead. Posey moved up into 9th, and Bettenhausen's retirement advanced him to 8th. A pass took him to 7th, then Mario Andretti retired and Posey was 6th. Briefly he thought that was his finish, but Jerry Grant was dropped to 12th for a refueling violation, Mark Donohue won, and Sam Posey had achieved fifth place in the 1972 Indianapolis 500®.

Started 7th

Finished 5th