Photo courtesy of Patricia Littrell

The 1972 season marks the beginning of a new team for Swede as he joins up with car owner Pat Patrick and new teammate Johnny Rutherford. The team was housed in the two car garage shown above which at that time was the home of Patrick Racing.

March 18, 1972 - Cracked oil coolers took out both Patrick cars in the Phoenix 150. Swede started the race 12th and ends up 19th after only 36 miles. (JR finished 13th)

April 23, 1972 - In the Trenton 200 Swede's luck hadn't changed. This time he was forced out of the race with a broken crankshaft and was credited with 16th place after only 37 laps. Swede started the race in the 13th starting position.

Photo courtesy of the Savage Family Collection

April/May 1972 - On April 30, 1972, Swede passed his 20 lap refresher test in the Michner-Patrick entry #42. Swede received a steak dinner compliments of Sider's Charcoal Steak House for having the day's fastest recorded speed of the day which was 164.77 mph.

On May 2nd, Swede recorded the day's 5th fastest speed with a lap of 172.645. Swede was ranked second fastest rookie so far behind Mike Hiss who ran a 173.410. Teammate Johnny Rutherford brought out the yellow when his #18 Brabham suffered a broken cam stud causing plenty of smoke. In practice on May 5th, Swede ran a lap of 177.410 mph making him the fastest rookie of the month so far. On May 10th Swede raised his fastest speed of the month with a lap of 178.041 mph. Although it was Swede's personal best... it was now the second fastest rookie speed of the month as Mike Hiss joined the fabled "180 Club" with a lap of 180.578 mph. On the final practice day before Pole qualifying, Swede finally became a member of the "180 Club" with a lap of 181.600 mph.

Pole day was rained out and rescheduled for Sunday. On Sunday only 12 cars were able to qualify due to intense frustration brought on by rain, blown engines and crashes. The most tragic of the crashes occured in the Sunday morning practice session. 36 year old Jim Malloy of Denver, Colorado, who was consistently the fastest in the first week of practice, slammed the turn 3 wall in the #16 Therm-King Special and caught fire. Jim was unconcious and suffered two broken arms, two broken legs and second degree burns to his face, hands and feet. He was rushed to Methodist Hospital and was placed in the intesive care unit in critical condition. Malloy never regained conciousness and passed away from his injuries at 10:35 a.m. on May 18th. Finally, at 2:45 pm qualifications for the Indy 500 got under way. Billy Vukovich was the first car to roll out. On Vuky's first lap he officially broke Peter revson's year old track record turning an official lap of 185.797 mph. On the next lap, he crashed in turn one. Vuky was uninjured. Next was Mosley, but his car stalled on the backstretch on his fourth lap. Then it rained! Finally at 4:14 pm Joe Leonard rolled onto the track.Swede becomes one step closer to realizing his childhood dream of competing in the Indianapolis 500 by qualifying a 1970 Eagle with an Antares nose into the 9th starting spot with a speed of 181.726 mph average for four laps.

May 27, 1972 - Swede FINALLY gets into the Indy 500 (above) and the team gets a chance to unwind a bit as depicted in the team photo (below) taken after the names were painted on the pit wall.
Unfortunately the gremlins came with him... This time Swede had a connecting rod break after only 5 laps. He started 9th and was credited with 32nd. (BTW...teammate JRs connecting rod also broke and he finished 27th)

June 4, 1972 - Has Swede's luck turned around? Swede starts 6th and finishes 6th in the Milwaukee 150. (JR is no longer with the team and Swede's now sporting the #18 on his Michner-Eagle?Brabham?)

Photo courtesy of Rick Ockomon

July 16, 1972 - Marks the first time Swede Savage competes in an Indy Car that is not an Eagle chassis according to Motorsports.com. Swede qualifies his #18 Michner Petroleum Brabham 4th but finished a disappointing 17th with a dropped valve after only 50 laps.

July 29, 1972 - Placing the #42 back on Swede's car at Pocono still didn't seem to help matters as the Brabham only qualifies in the 27th spot and finishes 23rd with a broken gearbox after 63 laps.

August 13, 1972 - Top 10 at Milwaukee as Swede drives the Eagle to a 9th place finish. He started 6th.

Photo courtesy of Bob Sager

August 27, 1972 - Swede qualifies qualifies the #18 Michner Industies Brabham (above) 19th for the 3rd Annual California 500.

Photo & Bio from the 1972 CAL 500 Program

September 3, 1972 - Back home again (above) in California for the California 500. Swede finished 20th after his turbocharger let go on lap 149.

September 24, 1972 - Trenton 300, Swede qualifies 10th but finishes 19th after 91 laps when another turbocharger problem plagues the team.

November 4, 1972 - Phoenix 150, this time a broken piston stopped the #18 Brabham after 64 laps. Swede started 16th and was credited with 19th.

1972 - Swede finshed 25th in the points and competed in all 10 events.