Eagle 1973 Indy car-by-car histories
Bobby Unser in his 1973 Eagle at Milwaukee in 1973. Copyright Glenn Snyder 2015. Used with permission.
The 1972 and 1973 model Eagle Indy cars are often confused. AAR continued to produce 1972 model cars for customers in early 1973, but also built four cars to a revised 1973 specification for their own in-house team.
Given the speed of Bobby Unser in the 1972 Eagle, AAR were able to sell a huge number of customer versions, including to major teams such as Leader Card, Patrick Racing, Lindsey Hopkins, and Jerry O'Connell's Sugaripe Prune. 17 of the 33 starters at the 1973 Indy 500 were 1972-series Eagles. For AAR's own team, the company produced an evolved version with a lower centre of gravity. Changes to ther suspension resulted in the hight of the car reducing to 38 inches, the front track increasing by four inches to 65 inches, and the rear track by three inches to 61 inches. These new cars had chassis numbers starting 7301, but the differences between the 1972 and 1973 models can be hard to spot in photographs. The easiest to see are that the cooling vent was further up the front of the cockpit and that the rollhoop leans back slightly. The tub is deeper behind the driver, and is also wider. Fuel ports are not helpful for distinguishing these cars, as both the 1972 and 1973 cars had two fuel ports on the side, but one of these was covered on some - but not all - cars after USAC reduced fuel tank capacity to 40 gallons in mid-1973.
The first 1973 car was tested by Bobby Unser at the start of the year but destroyed in an accident at Ontario Motor Speedway in March. A second car, presumably chassis 7302, was quickly built up, and this became Unser's car for the two early-season races. A third car, chassis 7303, was built for Jerry Grant to drive at the Indy 500, but this car was then sold off to regular customer Patrick Racing for Gordy Johncock to drive. The fourth car, presumably 7304, was Unser's Indy 500 car and then his car at the next few races. Two further cars were built later in the season for customers Fletcher Racing and Patrick Racing, the latter being built for a Ford V8 engine. Unser was again among the quickest drivers but only won once, at Milwaukee in June. Johncock won two races in his ex-Grant car, plus the Indy 500 in his older 1972 car, while teammate Wally Dallenbach won three races that season in his 1972 car.
If you can add to our understanding of these cars, or have photographs that we can use, please email Allen at allen@oldracingcars.com.
The prototype 1973 Eagle was destroyed by Bobby Unser in a testing accident at Ontario Motor Speedway in March 1973 in what Competition Press & Autoweek described as "a grinding and fiery crash".
Driven by: Bobby Unser. First appearance: Ontario Motor Speedway, 21 Mar 1973.
After Bobby Unser destroyed the prototype '73 Eagle while testing at Ontario, AAR had just five days to build up a new car in time for the first race, at Texas World Speedway. This car must have been chassis 7302, and photographs show it was the car he raced at Trenton two weeks later. AAR had two more '73 cars ready for the Indy 500 and if Jerry Grant's car has been correctly identified as 7303, Unser's must have been chassis 7304. Photographs of Unser's car at Milwaukee in June, Pocono in July, and Michigan in July strongly suggest that he raced his Indy 500 car at each race. We then have been unable to find a photograph of Unser's car at Milwaukee in mid-August 1973, where he crashed into Bob Harkey's spinning Vollstedt. George Moore in The Indianapolis Star reported that "The crash eliminated both cars with Unser’s Olsonite Eagle suffering a bent tub (chassis)". The assumption for now is that 7302 was the car he crashed at Milwaukee, and that it was not immediately repaired. What happened to it after that is still to be resolved.
For the car advertised in 2026 as "7302", see 'the second Joe Hunt car'.
Driven by: Bobby Unser. First race: Texas World Speedway (R1), 7 Apr 1973. Total of 3 recorded races.
Bill Puterbaugh's #83 McNamara Eagle '73 at Pocono in June 1975. Copyright David A. Reese 2021. Used with permission.
New for Jerry Grant to race at the 1973 Indy 500 as AAR's #48 Olsonite Eagle. Grant was not entered at the Pocono 500 and the car was sold to Patrick Racing prior to that race. It was raced by Gordy Johncock for the rest of the season as his Indy-winning car was wrecked at Pocono. Raced by teammate Wally Dallenbach in the early races of 1974, then brought to the Indy 500 to replace a '74 car damaged by Johncock in practice. Raced by Johncock at Indy and at Milwaukee in June, and believed to have been his short track car for the rest of the year. Then to Lee Elkins and entered as the #83 McNamara Eagle for Bill Puterbaugh at Indy and at Pocono in 1975, qualifying for both. Retained for the 500-mile races in 1976, when Puterbaugh qualified for the Indy 500 and Ontario, and also in 1977 when, now as the #16 entry, he again qualified for the Indy 500. Immediately after qualifying, the car was acquired by George Walther who wanted to put son Salt into it but after an uproar, Puterbaugh drove it in the race. Then from Walther to Bob Olmstead who fitted a Volker V12 engine for Indy 1978 but did not get the car on track. The car was stored until after Olmstead's death, and was sold to Bill Simpson in the early 1990s. It was restored as a show car for Simpson by Wayne Leary and put on display in North Carolina to represent the Eagle that Simpson had raced at Indy. Sold around 2013 to Jeff Urwin (New York, NY). This car was at Paintergeek Paintworks in Indianapolis, IN, from January to April 2019 being stripped of the Bill Simpson Nikon #38 livery and returned to its original 1973 AAR livery.
Driven by: Jerry Grant, Gordon Johncock, Wally Dallenbach and Bill Puterbaugh. First race: Indianapolis Motor Speedway (R4), 30 May 1973. Total of 20 recorded races.
New for Bobby Unser at the 1973 Indy 500, as AAR's #8 Olsonite entry. Unser qualified second but retired at mid-distance. The car Jerry Grant had raced at the Indy 500 was sold to Patrick Racing, leaving Unser with 7302 and the new 7304. Photographs of Unser's car at Milwaukee in June, where he won from pole position, Pocono in July, and Michigan in July strongly suggest that he raced 7304 again at each race. It has not yet proven possible to find a photograph of Unser's car at Milwaukee in mid-August 1973, where he crashed into Bob Harkey's spinning Vollstedt during practice. The assumption for now is that 7302 was the car he crashed at Milwaukee. After Milwaukee, photographs again suggest he used 7304 at Ontario and Michigan in September. Unser "rapped" the wall at Michigan, and the car he used in the last three races looks different. However, it is assumed for now that the differences are only down to the repairs needed after Michigan, and that he was still using 7304. In the final race, at Phoenix in November, Unser destroyed his car in a massive accident. Autosport reported that this car was repaired and sold to the VPJ team, but photographs show that VPJ had new 1974 cars from the start of the season, so it seems likely that 7304 ended its racing career at Phoenix. Recent reports suggest that the Phoenix wreck is still in existence.
Driven by: Bobby Unser. First race: Indianapolis Motor Speedway (R4), 30 May 1973. Total of 10 recorded races.
Lee Kunzman in the Cobre Tire 1973 Eagle at Michigan in September 1973. Copyright Paul Castagnoli 2020. Used with permission.
The Bob Fletcher team used a pair of 1972 Eagles in early 1973, but after Art Pollard's fatal accident at Indy, Fletcher added a new 1973 Eagle, which was entered as the #55 Cobre Firestone entry for Lee Kunzman from Ontario in August 1973 onwards. It was used for the rest of the 1973 season, but then crashed heavily in testing at Ontario in December when Kunzman hit the wall and needed to be taken to hospital. The 1973 Eagle was not seen in the Fletcher stable after this and is presumed to have been destroyed. However, see 'Bobby Unser's Milwaukee 1976 car', which could be this car.
Driven by: Lee Kunzman. First race: Ontario Motor Speedway (R10), 26 Aug 1973. Total of 6 recorded races.
Jerry Grant's Carrillo Rods Eagle '73 at Pocono in June 1975. Copyright David A. Reese 2021. Used with permission.
After Andy Granatelli's STP merged with Patrick Racing for the 1973 season, his brother, STP Racing Division President Vince Granatelli, had run one of the Ford-powered Lola T270s as the #60 STP entry at the Indy 500 for Wally Dallenbach. After Dallenbach left to join the AAR team, multiple F5000 champion Graham McRae took over the drive, and won Rookie of the Year. In July, STP bought a new 1973 Eagle, to which Vince Granatelli fitted a Ford V8 for McRae to drive at Ontario in early September. McRae failed to qualify after he contracted chicken pox. Dick Simon, who ran his own 1972 Eagle-Ford, volunteered to shake down the STP car, and impressed the Granatelli's sufficiently that they entered him for the Michigan 250s two weeks later, then at the TWS and Phoenix races at the end of the season. In late October, Andy Granatelli was fired by the STP board, and STP's racing division was wound up. The Eagle passed to the Patrick operation and it may have been Steve Krisiloff's intended #60 Patrick entry at Indy in 1974, identified by Hungness as an Eagle "of 1973 vintage", but the car Krisiloff actually qualified was an older 1972 car. The 1973 car finally reappeared when raced by Krisiloff at Pocono and at a few races later in the 1974 season, by which time it had a turbo Offy engine. It was sold by Patrick Racing's crew chief George Bignotti to Fred Carrillo (San Juan Capistrano, CA) and entered as the #73 Spirit of Orange County entry for Jerry Grant at Ontario at the start of 1975. Later in 1975, the car was fitted with a 209 ci AMC stock block V8 engine developed for Carrillo by Dick Jones, and was driven by Grant in late 1975 and early 1976, now with Dave Klym as chief mechanic. Carrillo then acquired a newer Eagle chassis for the AMC engine and the 1973 Eagle was rebuilt in 1977 to Offy specification and sold to Jim McElreath for his son James to drive as the #26 McElreath Racing entry in 1977. After James died in a sprint car race in October 1977, the Eagle was raced by Jim McElreath in 1978. In 1979, McElreath acquired a second Eagle, apparently the ex-O'Connell 1974 car, which was numbered #23 with the older car continuing as #26. The older car continued in use until 1981. In 2017, it was reported that this was chassis 7306, and had remained at Jim McElreath's home in Texas from 1983 until his death in 2017. It was then owned by Angus Russell (Ormond Beach, FL). Still owned by Russell in December 2021. By March 2025, it was in Ray Skillman's collection. Still in the collection in May 2026.
Driven by: Graham McRae, Dick Simon, Steve Krisiloff, Jerry Grant, Jim McElreath, James McElreath, Tony Bettenhausen II and Richard Hubbard. First race: Texas World Speedway (R15), 6 Oct 1973. Total of 29 recorded races.
The mystery cars
As the differences between the 1972, 1973, and 1974 Eagles are quite subtle, it has proved difficult to determine how the surviving 1973 Eagles were used after 1973. One such mystery is the Fletcher team's Leary-modified 1973 Eagle used by Bobby Unser at Milwaukee in 1976. As the Fletcher team's original 1973 car is believed to have been wiped out in a test at the end of 1973, it's not clear what this car could have been.
In the autumn of 1975, Joe Hunt (Torrance, CA) acquired an unrepaired chassis that was sitting on pallets at AAR. It was repaired and recommissioned to replace the team's antique Gerhardt. The Eagle first appeared in Hunt's colours at Phoenix at the end of 1975, where John Martin drove it, then at Indy in 1976, with Rick Muther in the seat. After the 1976 Indy 500 the car was driven by Gary Bettenhausen, Bob Harkey and Phil Krueger in races at Ontario Motor Speedway and at Phoenix up to March 1979. Two years later, it was rebuilt with a 355 ci Chevrolet V8 and entered for Krueger to drive at the 1981 Indy 500. He crashed the car twice during May, on 12 May when he caused "extensive damage to the left side" but Carl Hungness reported that it was likely to be repaired in time for qualifying, and on 17 May when he crashed heavily into the outside wall at Turn 3 during the final day of qualifying. The car exploded in flames and Krueger was hospitalised with his injuries. The car was described as "totally destroyed" by Hungness, but the actual extent of the damage is hard to assess. The team next appeared at Watkins Glen in August, where Krueger drove an Eagle in a significantly different configuration. Whether this was the Indy 500 car repaired or a different car was not reported at the time and remains unknown.
Driven by: John Martin, Rick Muther, Gary Bettenhausen, Bob Harkey and Phil Krueger. First race: Phoenix International Raceway (R13), 9 Nov 1975. Total of 8 recorded races.
Bobby Unser in his mystery Leary-modified 1973 Eagle at Milwaukee in June 1976. Copyright Chuck Barth 2025. Used with permission.
In 1976, Bobby Unser moved to Bob Fletcher's Cobre Tire team, where he had the choice of two 1974 Eagles, one standard and one heavily modified by ex-AAR mechanic Wayne Leary. At Milwaukee in June, photographs show that Unser drove a third Eagle, this being a 1973 Eagle that had been modified in the same way as the 1974 Leary-Eagle, with radiators moved from behind the front wheels to just ahead of the rear wheels. After using the modified 1974 car one more time at Pocono, the team withdrew, and when they returned in August, they focused on the standard 1974 Eagle, so Milwaukee was the only appearance of the 1973 car.
Driven by: Bobby Unser. First race: Milwaukee Mile (R4), 13 Jun 1976. Only one recorded race.
After Phil Krueger wrecked Joe Hunt's Eagle-Chevy during qualifying for the Indy 500 in May 1981, the team reappeared at Riverside at the end of August, again with a Chevrolet-powered Eagle entered by Joe Hunt Magneto as the #89 for Phil Krueger. The Riverside car looked quite different, with the radiators moved to in front of the rear wheels, the modification invented by Wayne Leary for Bob Fletcher's team in 1976. Whether it was the Indy 500 car rebuilt or a different car remains unknown. After retiring at Riverside, Krueger raced the car again in Mexico and at Phoenix in October 1981. It was raced again by Krueger at Atlanta in early 1982 and by Dick Ferguson at Riverside in August. It is presumably the #89 car that Jerry Sneva attempted to qualify at Phoenix in November.
Its history is then unknown until it was acquired by Jack Danko (Laurel Run, PA) in January 2004. It was identified as the second Hunt/Krueger car by Joe Hunt markings, and its Leary-style radiators. A post by Rich Sweigart on pahillclimb.org indicated that it had previously been owned by Jim Cosner. Danko rebuilt the car to be used in Pennsylvania hillclimbs by his son Darryl Danko, starting at the Giants Despair Hillclimb in July 2005, an event he later won in 2011. In August 2014, he set fastest time at the Polish Mountain Hill Climb near Flintstone, PA. Jack Danko died in March 2024, and a few months later the car was being prepared for sale by his son Larry Danko. It was offered for sale on pcarmarket.com in July 2025 and sold to driving-shoe company Piloti, who added their logos to it and then displayed it at a Chicago menswear show later in 2025. Between September 2025 and June 2026, it was refurbished by AJR Restorations in Tavares, Florida. This included repainting it in an approximation of 1973 AAR livery, but it retained its repositioned radiators. It was then offered for sale on Bringatrailer.com in 2026. A photograph of the 7302 chassis plate included in the advert description was removed by the site's administrators.
Driven by: Phil Krueger, Dick Ferguson and Jerry Sneva. First race: Riverside (R6), 30 Aug 1981. Total of 5 recorded races.
Assumptions
These histories initially fitted together deceptively easily, so it is worth reviewing the assumptions that have been made. Firstly, the prototype car wrecked during pre-season testing is assumed to be 7301. The replacement for Unser to drive at the first race in Texas is assumed to be 7302, and photographs show clearly that Unser used that same car at Trenton a week later. Jerry Grant's car at the Indy 500 was reported to have gone to Patrick Racing, and that ex-Patrick car, later owned by Bill Simpson, was identified during restoration as 7303. That in turn means that Bobby Unser's new car for the Indy 500 must logically have been chassis 7304. Photographs indicate that Bobby Unser raced his Indy 500 car at Milwaukee in June, and at Pocono and Michigan in July. So far, we have not been able to find a photograph of the car Unser drove at Milwaukee in August, where it was badly damaged in a practice accident. His car at Ontario and Michigan in September showed significant similarities to his Indy-to-Michigan car, but it's not possible to say with certainty whether it was the same car. If it was the same car, then that would point to the car so badly damaged at Milwaukee in August being a different car, i.e. 7302, perhaps because it was in a short-track setup and Pocono, Michigan and Ontario needed a long-track setup. Unser spun and hit the wall during the race at Michigan in September, so the car would have needed to be repaired at least. The car he then used at Trenton, Texas and at Phoenix in November appears different again, but it is not possible to say from photographs whether that was his Ontario/Michigan car.
The other assumption made in these histories was that the Joe Hunt car was chassis 7302, because the ex-Joe Hunt car owned by Jack Danko was said to have the 7302 chassis plate. It is now known that the 7302 plate is not with that car, leaving this identification in doubt. Implicit in our assumption was that Hunt's 1975-1981 car and his 1981-1982 car were actually one and the same, but even that is now left in doubt. We then went further to assume that if 7302 was the car damaged at Milwaukee and was the car not repaired for two years before Hunt's acquisition, then Unser's late-season car could only really have been 7304. That car's destruction at Phoenix in the final race appeared to explain why 7304 was not to be found today, but now that we know the 7302 chassis plate is not with the ex-Hunt car, we have to consider an alternative hypothesis that Hunt acquired 7304 or even 7301 instead of 7302. In an intriguing development, photographs have recently come to light that indicate that the car crashed at Phoenix still exists, unrepaired. A resolution to this puzzle feels close, but still out of reach for now.
After those first four 1973 Eagles (7301 to 7304) were built for AAR's own use, two customer cars followed which were presumably 7305 and 7306. As the car owned by Jim McElreath has been reported to be 7306, the Fletcher car is assumed here to be 7305. New evidence may show that one of these assumptions is wrong, but for now, the histories seem to work.
The two ex-Unser cars, 7302 and 7304, were reported by Gordon Kirby in his Autosport report of the 1974 California 500 (AS 14 Mar 1974 pp24-26) to have gone to VPJ for 1974. However, photographs clearly show that VPJ had 1974 Eagles for Joe Leonard and Al Unser, not the 1973 cars that Kirby reported. Kirby didn't tend to make mistakes, so this is puzzling, but for now we are forced to conclude that this information was incorrect.
If you can add to our understanding of these cars, or have photographs that we can use, please email Allen at allen@oldracingcars.com.
Acknowledgements
My thanks to Simmo Iskül for his work separating the 1972, 1973 and 1974 Eagles, and then filtering out the histories of the six individual 7300 cars. Thanks also to Michael Ferner, Luis Mateus, and to Bruce Selby, who told the story on Facebook in March 2021 of the purchase of the damaged chassis by Joe Hunt's team from AAR in 1975.
These histories were last updated on .