1973 Medal of Honor Firecracker 400

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1973 Medal of Honor Firecracker 400
Race details [1]
Race 17 of 28 in the 1973 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
1973 Medal of Honor Firecracker 400 program cover and logo.png
1973 Firecracker 400 program cover
Date July 4, 1973 (1973-07-04)
Official name Medal of Honor Firecracker 400
Location Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Florida
Course 2.500 mi (4.023 km)
Distance 160 laps, 400 mi (643 km)
Weather Temperatures between 72.9 °F (22.7 °C) and 89.1 °F (31.7 °C); wind speeds of 11.8 miles per hour (19.0 km/h)
Average speed 158.468 mph (255.030 km/h)
Attendance 60,000 [2]
Pole position
Driver
  • Bobby Allison
Allison Racing
Most laps led
Driver David Pearson Wood Brothers Racing
Laps 51
Winner
No. 21David PearsonWood Brothers Racing

The 1973 Medal of Honor Firecracker 400 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race that took place on July 4, 1973, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Contents

This race - and the 1969 and 1971 runnings of this race - was actually called the "Medal of Honor Firecracker 400", in an effort to honor Congressional Medal of Honor winners. [3]

Race report

This was the first race with new rules regarding carburetor restrictors. It was widely assumed that these rules helped volume production wedge engines, especially that used by Chevrolet.

This race eventually became Marty Robbins' most iconic race during his career in NASCAR. While he would start in 36th place (out of the 40 drivers who made up the racing grid), he would finish the race in eighth place, seven laps down. J.D. McDuffie ended up being the last-place finisher of this race due to an engine problem on lap 2 of 160. It took more than 160 minutes and two caution flags for David Pearson to defeat Richard Petty in front of sixty thousand fans. Six car lengths was the distance between Petty and Pearson. Bobby Allison secured the pole position at 179.619 miles per hour (289.069 km/h) during qualifying. [2]

The race averaged 158.468 miles per hour (255.030 km/h). Engine problems took numerous other drivers out of the race. All competitors (except for Canadian-born Vic Parsons) were born in the United States. Mercury, Dodge, and Chevrolet made up the majority of the grid. Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough, Richard Petty and David Pearson were the only lap leaders. The Chevrolet vehicles dominated the race, but after Yarborough and Allison retired it was David Pearson's show. [2]

Notable crew chiefs in the race were Tim Brew, Jake Elder, Travis Carter, Harry Hyde, Dale Inman, Tom Vandiver, and Bud Moore. [4]

Vic Parsons scored his best NASCAR finish in seventh place. [2] Gordon Johncock, fresh from his Indy 500 win, finished 4th at this race. [2]

The winner of the race won $16,100 ($110,503.45 when considering inflation) while the last-place winner received $1,270 ($8,716.73 when considering inflation). All the prize winnings from this race were $105,080 ($721,223.75 when considering inflation). [5]

Qualifying

GridNo.DriverManufacturerOwner
112Bobby Allison'73 Chevrolet Bobby Allison
211Cale Yarborough'73 Chevrolet Richard Howard
315Bobby Isaac'73 Ford Bud Moore
443Richard Petty'73 Dodge Petty Enterprises
514Coo Coo Marlin'72 Chevrolet H.B. Cunningham
621David Pearson'71 Mercury Wood Brothers
772Benny Parsons'73 Chevrolet L.G. DeWitt
831Jim Vandiver'72 Dodge O.L. Nixon
995Darrell Waltrip'71 Mercury Darrell Waltrip
1088Donnie Allison'73 Chevrolet DiGard

Finishing order

  1. David Pearson
  2. Richard Petty
  3. Buddy Baker
  4. Gordon Johncock
  5. Benny Parsons
  6. Dave Marcis
  7. Vic Parsons
  8. Marty Robbins
  9. Dick Brooks
  10. Joe Frasson
  11. David Sisco
  12. James Hylton
  13. Cecil Gordon
  14. G.C. Spencer
  15. Roy Mayne
  16. Elmo Langley
  17. Dean Dalton
  18. Buddy Arrington
  19. Frank Warren
  20. Lennie Pond
  21. Larry Smith
  22. Raymond Williams
  23. Henley Gray
  24. Bill Champion
  25. Darrell Waltrip
  26. Walter Ballard
  27. Richard Childress
  28. Donnie Allison
  29. Ed Negre
  30. Bobby Allison
  31. Jabe Thomas
  32. Jim Vandiver
  33. John Sears
  34. Ed Sczech
  35. Dick Simon
  36. Cale Yarborough
  37. A. J. Foyt
  38. Coo Coo Marlin
  39. Bobby Isaac
  40. J.D. McDuffie

Timeline

Section reference: [2]

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References

Preceded by NASCAR Winston Cup Series races
1973		Succeeded by
Preceded by Firecracker 400 races
1973		Succeeded by
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