The 1973 Winston Western 500 was a NASCARWinston Cup Series racing event that was held on January 21, 1973, at Riverside International Raceway in Riverside, California. There were 191 laps; which was very hardcore at a road course for the early-1970s. The time of the race was almost 5 hours long; which made it the equivalent of 2.5 regulation-length Formula One races.
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.[1][2]
Pre-raceEdit
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.
RaceEdit
For the first five years of his NASCAR career Cecil "Flash" Gordon was a stalwart FoMoCo racer but for 1973 he made the big switch to General Motors. This race marked the debut for his brand-new #24 Chevrolet and while he went out with transmission failure here Gordon would remain in the GM stable throughout almost all of his remaining NASCAR starts.[1] He'd race Chevrolets exclusively for the next six seasons before he started running a variety of different cars from GM.
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.[1]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.[1]Bobby Allison finished second driving a self-fielded Chevrolet following a surprise divorce from the Richard Howard team.[1]Cale Yarborough, new driver for Howard's team with the cars renumbered to #11, fell out with transmission failure.[1]
Finishing a respectable 15th was Gerald Thompson in a '73 Pontiac Grand Am.[1] Unfortunately after losing a engine in their Daytona qualifier the following month, the team apparently packed it in due to lack of funding. If so, it was a shame, because the Grand Am made for a very cool looking stock car.
ReferencesEdit
^ abcdefgh"1973 Winston Western 500 - Racing-Reference.info". www.racing-reference.info. Retrieved 2016-03-28.
^"Herald-Journal - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
1973, winston, western, nascar, winston, series, racing, event, that, held, january, 1973, riverside, international, raceway, riverside, california, there, were, laps, which, very, hardcore, road, course, early, 1970s, time, race, almost, hours, long, which, m. 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 There were 191 laps which was very hardcore at a road course for the early 1970s The time of the race was almost 5 hours long which made it the equivalent of 2 5 regulation length Formula One races 1973 Winston Western 500Race detailsRace 1 of 28 in the 1973 NASCAR Winston Cup SeriesLayout of Riverside International Raceway 1969 1988 version DateJanuary 21 1973 1973 01 21 Official nameWinston Western 500LocationRiverside International Raceway Riverside CaliforniaCourse2 620 mi 4 216 km Distance153 laps 400 9 mi 645 1 km Average speed104 055 mph 167 460 km h Attendance51 000 1 Pole positionDriverDavid PearsonWood Brothers RacingMost laps ledDriverMark DonohuePenske RacingLaps138WinnerNo 16Mark DonohuePenske RacingRadio in the United StatesRadioMRNBooth AnnouncersKen Squier Marvin PanchTurn AnnouncersBill Scott Bob Steinbrink Fritz Duda 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 1 2 Pre race EditBefore 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 EditFor the first five years of his NASCAR career Cecil Flash Gordon was a stalwart FoMoCo racer but for 1973 he made the big switch to General Motors This race marked the debut for his brand new 24 Chevrolet and while he went out with transmission failure here Gordon would remain in the GM stable throughout almost all of his remaining NASCAR starts 1 He d race Chevrolets exclusively for the next six seasons before he started running a variety of different cars from GM 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 1 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 1 Bobby Allison finished second driving a self fielded Chevrolet following a surprise divorce from the Richard Howard team 1 Cale Yarborough new driver for Howard s team with the cars renumbered to 11 fell out with transmission failure 1 Finishing a respectable 15th was Gerald Thompson in a 73 Pontiac Grand Am 1 Unfortunately after losing a engine in their Daytona qualifier the following month the team apparently packed it in due to lack of funding If so it was a shame because the Grand Am made for a very cool looking stock car References Edit a b c d e f g h 1973 Winston Western 500 Racing Reference info www racing reference info Retrieved 2016 03 28 Herald Journal Google News Archive Search news google com Retrieved 2016 03 29 Preceded bynone NASCAR Winston Cup Season1973 Succeeded by1973 Daytona 500Preceded by1972 Winston Western 500 races1973 Succeeded by1974 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title 1973 Winston Western 500 amp oldid 1063771287, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
