Official name World 600 | Course 1.500 mi (2.414 km) | |
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Date May 27, 1973 (1973-05-27) Distance 334 laps, 500 mi (804 km) Weather Temperatures reaching up to 75.9 °F (24.4 °C); wind speeds up to 11.1 miles per hour (17.9 km/h) | ||
The 1973 World 600, the 14th running of the event, was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that was held on May 27, 1973, at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina.
Contents
The race car drivers still had to commute to the races using the same stock cars that competed in a typical weekend's race through a policy of homologation (and under their own power). This policy was in effect until roughly 1975. By 1980, NASCAR had completely stopped tracking the year model of all the vehicles and most teams did not take stock cars to the track under their own power anymore.
Summary
The racing grid consisted of 40 drivers. Alton Jones would finish in last place due to an engine problem on lap 2 out of the 400 laps that made up the race. Buddy Baker defeated David Pearson by 1.8 seconds in front of 85,000 live audience members. This would become Pearson's first victory of 1973; with his only other victory that year at the 1973 Nashville 420. Six cautions were waved for 48 laps along with 23 different leaders made the race last four hours and twenty-six seconds long. Baker would qualify for the pole position with a top speed of 158.051 miles per hour (254.358 km/h) while the average race speed was 134.890 miles per hour (217.084 km/h) - exactly 23.161 miles per hour (37.274 km/h) slower than the best qualifying speed. Other drivers in the top ten included: Cale Yarborough, Bobby Isaac, Benny Parsons, Jim Vandiver, Darrell Waltrip, Cecil Gordon, Dick Brooks, and David Sisco.
Cotton Owens would retire as a NASCAR race car owner after this race. David Pearson would be prevented from tying Richard Petty's record of ten consecutive wins at this race. This would eventually lead to Pearson's downfall in the NASCAR Cup Series. Pearson would end up racking a "mere" 105 victories compared to Petty's 200 career wins. Bobby Allison skipped this race to do the 1973 Indianapolis 500; which was the most horrific Indianapolis 500 race in its 100+ year history.
Introductions to NASCAR
Peter Gregg would make his only NASCAR Cup Series start at this event. Billy Scott-Union,S.C. BD 8/9/1935 and Charlie Blanton would start their respective NASCAR careers at this race and would race for several others.