1973 American 500

Auto race held at North Carolina Motor Speedway in 1973 February 2025 1973 American 500 Weather information for the 1973 American 500 at The Old Farmers' Almanac NASWINSTON 28 28 Rockingham Speedway.svg Layout of Rockingham Speedway 1973 10 21 American 500 North Carolina Motor Speedway, Rockingham, North Carolina 1.017 1.636 492 500 804 Very hot with temperatures of 81.9 F C; wind speeds of 9.9 mph km/h 117.749 mi/h 48,000 Richard Petty Petty Enterprises 26.970 David Pearson Wood Brothers Racing 396 21 David Pearson Wood Brothers Racing The 1973 American 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on October 21, 1973, at North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham, North Carolina. This event would mark the only instance that a NASCAR Cup Series season would end at Rockingham Speedway. Having a 43-car racing grid was a very infrequent case during this era of NASCAR racing. Today, it forms the mandated standards that NASCAR developed over the years. This is also the earliest in the year a Cup season has finished since the inaugural season in 1949, and the last time there have been no races in November. 1973 would become the "year of the smaller engine" while declining sponsorship interests for the drivers resulted in NASCAR keeping the bigger gas-guzzling engines from being abolished from the sport. Following this race, NASCAR started to tighten up on their pre-race inspections as a precautionary measure to ensure that only legal racing components are being used. Background North Carolina Motor Speedwayhttp://www.jayski.com/pages/tracks/rockingham.htm Jayski's Rockingham Speedway Track Page 2018-06-25 https://web.archive.org/web/20071021032200/http://www.jayski.com/pages/tracks/rockingham.htm 2007-10-21 dead is a closed racetrack located near Rockingham, North Carolina. It is affectionately known as "The Rock". Race report alt=David Pearson in a racing suits hugs another woman who cups his cheeks as both smile. A trophy is visible on the right.|thumb|Pearson celebrating his win David Pearson would defeat Buddy Baker by at least one lap after nearly four hours and fifteen minutes of racing. While the green flag was waved at noon, the checkered flag wasn't officially waved until 4:15 PM.1973 American 500 racing information at Racing Reference Exactly 48,000 people would see 20 different lead changes and five caution flags for a staggering distance of 36 laps. While the average speed of the race was 117.749 mph km/h, Richard Petty would clinch the pole position in qualifying for his amazing run that reached 135.748 mph km/h. Pearson ended the 1973 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season with 18 starts and 11 wins. Every time Pearson was running at the end of a race he finished either 1st, 2nd, or 3rd while leading led 2,658 of 5,338 laps in the process.David Pearson 1973 NASCAR Career information at Racing Reference The complete racing grid was 43 American-born drivers; including the last-place finisher Frank Warren who crashed on lap 13 out of the 492 laps that made up the advertised distance. Benny Parsons would return to the track after being a part of that lap 13 crash which destroyed the whole right side of his car. Travis Carter, his crew and volunteers, including Ralph Moody and his staff of 20 people managed to complete repairs to Parsons's car in an hour and eight minutes. They had to replace a rear axle, rear suspension, sidebars, braking system, and roll bar cage, cannibalizing parts from a car that did not qualify for the race.https://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/nascar-auto-racing/thatsracin/article127304579.html NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Benny Parsons’ lone Cup title almost didn’t happen Higgins Tom 2017-01-18 The Charlotte Observer He was able to return to the race 136 laps down, to cheers. Parsons would encounter some vibration issues on lap 308 that would knock him out of the race. Even with the DNF, he would slide into a comfortable 28th-place finish. Only manual transmission vehicles were allowed to participate in this race; a policy that NASCAR has retained to the present day. Other notable drivers in this race included Darrell Waltrip, Elmo Langley, and Richard Childress (now the owner of Richard Childress Racing). Eddie Bond, John Sears, and Paul Tyler would retire from NASCAR after this racing event.1973 American 500 racing information at Race-Database Souvenir racing programs were sold at the event for the then-inexpensive cost of $2 USD per copy ($ when adjusted for inflation). Benny Parsons would eventually win the Winston Cup Championship after this race by a mere 67 points over runner-up Cale Yarborough.1973 Winston Cup Recap https://web.archive.org/web/20110712225739/http://auto.howstuffworks.com/auto-racing/nascar/season-recaps/1970s/1973-nascar.htm 2011-07-12 at How Stuff Works Even though Parsons would finish in 28th during the race in his Chevrolet Chevelle Laguna machine, Yarborough's third-place finish would not earn him enough points to overtake the championship lead. Individual race winnings for this event varied in grandeur from the winner's share of $16,795 ($ when adjusted for inflation) to the last-place finisher's share of $485 ($ when adjusted for inflation). NASCAR officials allowed a grand total of $99,715 to be given to the finishers of this racing event ($ when adjusted for inflation).Racing information for the 1973 American 500 at Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet Qualifying Grid No. Car number Driver Manufacturer Speed Speed in miles per hourQualifying information https://web.archive.org/web/20170401232355/http://www.racing-reference.info/getqualify/1973-28/W April 1, 2017 at Racing Reference Qualifying time Qualifying time in seconds Owner 1 43 Richard Petty '73 Dodge 135.748 26.970 Petty Enterprises 2 21 David Pearson '71 Mercury 135.352 27.049 Wood Brothers 3 88 Donnie Allison '73 Chevrolet 134.695 27.181 DiGard 4 12 Bobby Allison '73 Chevrolet 134.487 27.223 Bobby Allison 5 72 Benny Parsons '73 Chevrolet 134.398 27.241 L.G. DeWitt 7 88 Lennie Pond '73 Chevrolet 133.040 27.519 Ronnie Elder 8 14 Coo Coo Marlin '72 Chevrolet 132.823 27.564 H.B. Cunningham 8 15 Darrell Waltrip '73 Ford 132.703 27.589 Bud Moore 9 2 Dave Marcis '73 AMC Matador 132.319 27.669 Roger Penske 10 32 Dick Brooks '73 Dodge 132.223 27.689 Dick Brooks Top 10 finishers Pos Grid No. Car number Driver Manufacturer Money Amount of money earned Laps Laps completed Laps led Laps as the lead driver Time/Status 1 2 21 David Pearson Mercury $16,795 492 396 4:14:54 2 16 71 Buddy Baker Dodge $11,050 491 0 +1 laps 3 18 11 Cale Yarborough Chevrolet $7,925 491 85 +1 laps 4 4 12 Bobby Allison Chevrolet $6,525 488 1 +4 laps 5 9 2 Dave Marcis AMC Matador $4,175 484 0 +8 laps 6 3 88 Donnie Allison Chevrolet $2,725 484 0 +8 laps 7 10 32 Dick Brooks Dodge $2,525 483 1 +9 laps 8 13 90 Charlie Glotzbach Mercury $2,625 483 0 +9 laps 9 7 54 Lennie Pond Chevrolet $1,625 481 0 +11 laps 10 8 14 Coo Coo Marlin Chevrolet $1,925 479 1 +13 laps References 1973 National 500 1974 Winston Western 500 NASCAR Winston Cup Series Season 1973-74 1972 1974 American 500 races 1973 American 500 American 500 Category:NASCAR races at Rockingham Speedway