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1973 Winston Western 500

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Official name
  
Winston Western 500

Course
  
2.620 mi (4.216 km)

1973 Winston Western 500

Date
  
January 21, 1973 (1973-01-21)

Location
  
Riverside International Raceway, Riverside, California

Distance
  
153 laps, 400.9 mi (645.1 km)

Average speed
  
104.055 mph (167.460 km/h)

The 1973 Winston Western 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that was held on January 21, 1973, at Riverside International Raceway in Riverside, California.

Contents

The race was won by Mark Donohue. It would be his only win of the season. It was AMC's first win in the Grand National/Winston Cup series as a manufacturer since April 1, 1951.

Pre-race

Before race Sunday, there were concerns about the health of Bobby Allison (who had been ill with the flu). As the race began, a report from the pits stated that Allison was feeling 'much better' than he had been, and hoped to complete at least half the race (if not all of the race) on his own, without resorting to a relief driver in his brother, Donnie Allison.

Race

Mark Donohue drove an AMC Matador featured a set of disc brakes – new for NASCAR racing at the time – and led 138 laps en route to the win. David Pearson won the pole but never led and fell out with clutch failure, while Richard Petty started fifth and led 39 laps before his engine failed while leading on Lap 95. Bobby Allison finished second driving a self-fielded Chevrolet following a surprise divorce from the Richard Howard team. Cale Yarborough, new driver for Howard's team with the cars renumbered to #11, fell out with transmission failure.

References

1973 Winston Western 500 Wikipedia