1973 Capital City 500

Last updated
1973 Capital City 500
Race details [1]
Race 23 of 28 in the 1973 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
Richmond International Speedway.png
Layout of Richmond Speedway
Date September 9, 1973 (1973-09-09)
Official name Capital City 500
Location Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway, Richmond, Virginia
Course 0.542 mi (0.872 km)
Distance 500 laps, 271 mi (436 km)
Weather Temperatures reaching of 82 °F (28 °C); wind speeds of 7 miles per hour (11 km/h)
Average speed 63.215 miles per hour (101.735 km/h)
Attendance 18,000 [2]
Pole position
Driver Bobby Allison Motorsports
Most laps led
Driver Richard Petty Petty Enterprises
Laps 429
Winner
No. 43Richard PettyPetty Enterprises

The 1973 Capital City 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race that took place on September 9, 1973, at Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway (now Richmond Raceway) in Richmond, Virginia. Richard Petty won the race by two laps after leading 429 of 500 laps.

Contents

Race report

Richard Petty defeated Cale Yarborough by at least two laps in front of 18000 spectators; five of which were by at least one lap. After running second to Bobby Allison in the spring 1974 race, he won again in the fall 1974 and spring 1975 races, the latter by six laps. [2] [3] [4] It took four hours and thirteen minutes to finish the 500-lap race with the track spanning exactly 0.542 miles (0.872 km). [2] Petty had won six other races at this track before extending his lucky streak to 7 at the end of this event.

Bobby Allison acquired the pole position with a qualifying speed of 90.245 miles per hour (145.235 km/h). The average race speed was 63.215 miles per hour (101.735 km/h). [2] Five cautions slowed the race for 123 laps. [2] Baxter Price finished in last-place due to a crash that also took out nine other cars at the start of lap 4. [2] [4] Out of the 34 races on the grid, 33 were born in the United States while Vic Parsons was born in Canada. [2] J.D. McDuffie, Richard Childress and Darrell Waltrip also participated in this race. [2] [3] [4]

Nearly a quarter of the race was run under the yellow flag despite the fact that there were only five caution periods during the race. There were threatening skies from the green flag; causing most of the race to be done under the yellow flag. No attempt was made to postpone the race or to call it "official." A record amount of 86 laps were done under caution until the skies became blue again. Besides the weather, a red flag also held up the race for 70 minutes as Price and Bill Champion, who was also involved in a fiery crash had to go to the hospital for their respective injuries.

Post-race coverage was done by the local newspaper The Daily Times-News from Burlington, North Carolina. [5]

Qualifying

Grid [2] No.DriverManufacturerOwner
112 Bobby Allison '73 Chevrolet Bobby Allison
215 Darrell Waltrip '73 Ford Bud Moore
311 Cale Yarborough '73 Chevrolet Richard Howard
471 Buddy Baker '73 Dodge Nord Krauskopf
543 Richard Petty '73 Dodge Petty Enterprises
630 Walter Ballard '71 Mercury Vic Ballard
772 Benny Parsons '73 Chevrolet L.G. DeWitt
87 Dean Dalton '71 Mercury Dean Dalton
905 David Sisco '72 Chevrolet Charlie McGee
1090 Dick Brooks '71 Mercury Junie Donlavey

Top 10 finishers

Pos [2] GridNo.DriverManufacturerMoneyLapsLaps ledTime/Status
1543 Richard Petty '73 Dodge$6,7755004294:13:17
2311 Cale Yarborough '73 Chevrolet $4,42549817+2 laps
3112 Bobby Allison '73 Chevrolet $4,15049754+3 laps
4772 Benny Parsons '73 Chevrolet $1,7504920+8 laps
52067 Buddy Arrington '72 Dodge$1,5804820+18 laps
6630 Walter Ballard '71 Mercury$1,2504770+23 laps
71124 Cecil Gordon '72 Chevrolet $1,2104770+23 laps
81418 James Hylton '71 Mercury$1,3004760+24 laps
91619 Henley Gray '71 Mercury$1,2254730+27 laps
102647 Raymond Williams '72 Ford $9754610+39 laps

Timeline

Section reference: [2]

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References

  1. "1973 Capital City 500 weather information". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved 2012-10-24.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "1973 Capital City 500 race information". Racing Reference. Retrieved 2011-04-03.
  3. 1 2 "1973 Capital City 500 race information (second reference)". Everything Stock Car. Retrieved 2011-04-04.
  4. 1 2 3 "1973 Capital City 500 race information (third reference)". Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet. Retrieved 2011-04-06.
  5. "1973 Capital City 500 media coverage". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2017-12-28.
Preceded by
1973 Southern 500
Winston Cup Series races
1971–2004
Succeeded by
1973 Delaware 500
Preceded by
1973 Alamo 500
Richard Petty's Career Wins
1960–1984
Succeeded by
1973 Old Dominion 500