1973 World 600
Race details[1]
Race 12 of 28 in the 1973 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
1973 World 600 program cover
1973 World 600 program cover
Date May 27, 1973 (1973-05-27)
Official name World 600
Location Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord, North Carolina
Course 1.500 mi (2.414 km)
Distance 334 laps, 500 mi (804 km)
Weather Temperatures reaching of 75.9 °F (24.4 °C); wind speeds of 11.1 miles per hour (17.9 km/h)
Average speed 134.890 mph (217.084 km/h)
Attendance 85,000[2]
Pole position
Driver
Nord Krauskopf
Most laps led
Driver Buddy Baker Nord Krauskopf
Laps 220
Winner
No. 71 Buddy Baker Nord Krauskopf

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.[2]

Summary

The 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.[2] Buddy Baker defeated David Pearson by 1.8 seconds in front of 85,000 spectators. [2] Baker made history as he became the first driver to both win this race two years in a row and win the race three times.[3] Six cautions slowed the race for 48 laps. There were 23 different leaders. The race lasted four hours and twenty-six seconds.[2]

Baker would qualify for the pole position with a 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). [4] Other drivers in the top ten included: Cale Yarborough, Bobby Isaac, Benny Parsons, Jim Vandiver, Darrell Waltrip, Cecil Gordon, Dick Brooks, and David Sisco.[2] Ed Negre (#08), David Ray Boggs (#8) and Charlie Roberts failed to qualify for the race.[4]

Peter Gregg had a terrible crash early in the race in the final race for Cotton Owens' famous red #6 Dodges, then Vic Parsons would have had hard crash later on in the race.[2]

Notable crew chiefs in the race were Tim Brewer, Jake Elder, Travis Carter, Harry Hyde, Dale Inman, Vic Ballard, Tom Vandiver, and Bud Moore.[5]

On the day of the race, 0.01 inches of precipitation would be recorded around the speedway.[6] It would be enough rain to delay the race from lap 241 to lap 256.[2]

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. Pearson would end up racking a 105 victories. Bobby Allison skipped this race to do the 1973 Indianapolis 500.

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.[7]

Race results

Source: [8]
Fin St # Driver Sponsor Make Laps Led Status
1 1 71 Buddy Baker K & K Insurance '73 Dodge 400 220 running
2 2 21 David Pearson Purolator '71 Mercury 400 29 running
3 4 11 Cale Yarborough Kar-Kare '73 Chevrolet 399 15 running
4 15 15 Bobby Isaac Sta-Power Industries '73 Ford 397 0 running
5 8 72 Benny Parsons Union 76 Racing Oil '73 Chevrolet 393 1 running
6 16 31 Jim Vandiver Bradford Enterprises '72 Dodge 392 0 running
7 13 95 Darrell Waltrip Kmart, Terminal Transport '71 Mercury 391 0 running
8 6 24 Cecil Gordon Panasonic '72 Chevrolet 384 0 running
9 26 90 Dick Brooks Truxmore Industries '73 Ford 378 0 engine
10 32 05 David Sisco Sisco Racing '72 Chevrolet 378 0 running
11 28 96 Richard Childress L.C. Newton Trucking '73 Chevrolet 373 0 engine
12 25 48 James Hylton Hylton Engineering '71 Mercury 373 0 running
13 3 43 Richard Petty STP '73 Dodge 370 134 running
14 34 64 Elmo Langley Langley Racing '72 Ford 368 0 running
15 21 92 Larry Smith Carling Black Label '71 Mercury 368 0 running
16 30 10 Bill Champion Earl Powell Auto Parts '71 Ford 366 0 running
17 40 47 Raymond Williams Jet Way Wax '72 Ford 366 0 running
18 10 30 Walter Ballard Ballard Racing '71 Mercury 354 0 running
19 31 4 Ed Negre Mills Air Conditioning '71 Dodge 354 0 running
20 19 5 Charlie Blanton TravelLodge Motels '73 Dodge 351 0 engine
21 20 70 J.D. McDuffie McDuffie Racing '72 Chevrolet 350 0 running
22 23 1 Billy Scott Big Chance Special, Ranger Motor Homes '73 Chevrolet 340 0 running
23 35 79 Frank Warren Warren Racing '73 Dodge 287 0 engine
24 5 28 Charlie Glotzbach Lemon Tree Inn '73 Chevrolet 281 0 engine
25 9 18 Joe Frasson Pizza Hut '73 Dodge 278 1 engine
26 39 45 Vic Parsons Seifert Rent-A-Racer '71 Ford 241 0 crash
27 22 09 Charles Barrett Dahlonega Ford Sales '71 Ford 241 0 overheating
28 12 2 Dave Marcis AMC '73 Matador 204 0 engine
29 17 49 G.C. Spencer Spencer Racing '72 Dodge 163 0 steering
30 37 7 Dean Dalton Belden Asphalt '71 Mercury 145 0 driveshaft
31 27 25 Jabe Thomas Robertson Racing '73 Dodge 117 0 oil leak
32 24 67 Buddy Arrington Cherokee Construction '72 Plymouth 100 0 transmission
33 14 14 Coo Coo Marlin Cunningham-Kelley '72 Chevrolet 71 0 engine
34 38 06 Neil Castles Howard Furniture '73 Dodge 64 0 rear end
35 18 83 Paul Tyler Smithville Farms '71 Mercury 52 0 alternator
36 29 55 Tiny Lund Price Construction '72 Chevrolet 50 0 engine
37 7 6 Peter Gregg Jacksonville Dealers, Owens Racing '72 Dodge 34 0 crash
38 11 54 Lennie Pond Master Chevy Sales '73 Chevrolet 14 0 engine
39 36 44 Richard D. Brown Brown Racing '72 Chevrolet 4 0 transmission
40 33 3 Alton Jones Crimson Dale Nursery '73 Chevrolet 2 0 engine

References

  1. ^ "1973 World 600 weather information". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved 2012-09-18.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h "1973 World 600 racing information". Racing Reference. Retrieved 2012-03-24.
  3. ^ "Buddy Baker win information". Scene Daily. Retrieved 2012-03-24.
  4. ^ a b "1973 World 600 qualifying information". Racing Reference. Retrieved 2017-04-09.
  5. ^ "1973 World 600 crew chiefs information". Racing Reference. Retrieved 2018-08-26.
  6. ^ Climatology information Archived 2018-09-08 at the Wayback Machine at SERCC
  7. ^ "Introductions to NASCAR". Race Database. Retrieved 2012-09-21.
  8. ^ "1973 World 600 - The Third Turn". www.thethirdturn.com. Retrieved 2021-05-06.
Preceded by1973 Music City 420 NASCAR Winston Cup Series Season 1973 Succeeded by1973 Mason-Dixon 500
Preceded by1972 World 600 races 1973 Succeeded by1974
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