The 1973 Atlanta 500 was the sixth race in the

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

1973 Winston Cup Series, held on April 1, 1973, at Atlanta International Raceway in Hampton, Georgia. The race took three hours and thirty-four minutes. Attendance to this event has varying estimates. Many racing statistic archives list it at 46,000 people; the Associated Press reported a figure of 72,000 the day after the race.

Car flip world record

At this event, daredevil Dusty Russell flipped a stock car in the air and landed 157 feet after a five foot ramp, in what was then a world record. He suffered a broken nose.

Race report

No time trials were conducted due to weather. The average speed of the race was . Famous teams like Wood Brothers Racing, Nord Krauskopf's

K&K Insurance Racing Nord Krauskopf (January 26, 1922 – August 3, 1986) was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race car owner whose career spanned from 1966 to 1977. He was the owner of K&K Insurance and a part of the business since its foundation in 1952. This was a ...

along with

Penske Racing South Team Penske (formerly Penske Racing) is an American professional auto racing organization, competing in the NTT IndyCar Series, NASCAR Cup Series, and the FIA World Endurance Championship. Debuting at the 1966 24 Hours of Daytona, the organiza ...

would make their early impressions on the sport with their massive budgets and corporate sponsors paying for new tires and engines instead of an individual owner or driver. There were only five traditional single-car owners at this race. Souvenir programs were sold at this event for $2 USD ($ when adjusted for inflation). David Pearson defeated Bobby Isaac in his 1971 Mercury Cyclone by two laps; Four cautions slowed the race for 31 laps. This would be David Pearson's second win in 1973 when he won 11 races of the 18 he entered.

Tony Bettenhausen Jr. Tony Lee Bettenhausen Jr. (October 30, 1951 – February 14, 2000) was a Champ Car team owner and driver who died in a 2000 plane crash. He was the son of former 14-time Indianapolis 500 competitor Tony Bettenhausen and the brother of 21-time Indy ...

was the last-place finisher due to an oil leak on lap 9 out of 328. After

Darrell Waltrip Darrell Lee Waltrip (born February 5, 1947) is an American motorsports analyst, author, former national television broadcaster, and stock car driver. He raced from 1972 to 2000 in the NASCAR Cup Series (known as the NASCAR Winston Cup Series dur ...

's car was eliminated from the race (he charged to fifth place but was involved in a crash with Richard Petty and Buddy Baker), he substituted for A.J. Foyt. Pete Hamilton and

Mark Donohue Mark Neary Donohue Jr. (March 18, 1937 – August 19, 1975), nicknamed "Captain Nice," and later "Dark Monohue," was an American race car driver and engineer known for his ability to set up his own race car as well as driving it to victories. D ...

would retire from NASCAR after this race while Charles Barrett and Bettenhausen Jr. would make their introductions to the Cup Series during this race. The winner received $16,625 in race winnings ($ when adjusted for inflation) while the last place finisher received $900 ($ when adjusted for inflation). The total prize purse was $103,485 ($ when adjusted for inflation). Notable crew chiefs who participated in this race included

Tim Brewer Timothy Ivan "Tim" Brewer (born February 4, 1955) is an American former stock car racing crew chief and television analyst for ''NASCAR on ESPN''. He was part of ''NASCAR Countdown'', the pre-race show, with host Brent Musburger and fellow analys ...

Jake Elder J. C. "Jake" Elder (November 22, 1936 – February 24, 2010) was a NASCAR Grand National/Winston Cup Series crew chief. He was the championship crew chief for two years and for part of a third season. Elder had these successes despite never pas ...

Travis Carter Travis Carter (born November 21, 1949) is a former car owner and crew chief in the NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known fo ...

, Harry Hyde,

Dale Inman Dale Inman (born August 19, 1936) is a retired NASCAR Grand National/Winston Cup Series crew chief from Level Cross, Randolph County, North Carolina. He is best known for being the crew chief of Richard Petty at Petty Enterprises during three de ...

Tom Vandiver Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

, and Bud Moore.

Starting grid

Failed to qualify: Eddie Bond (#0), Tony Bettenhausen Jr. (#38), John Utsman (#49)

Finishing order

Section reference: # David Pearson (No. 21) # Bobby Isaac (No. 15) # Benny Parsons (No. 72) #

Buddy Baker Elzie Wylie "Buddy" Baker Jr. (January 25, 1941 – August 10, 2015) was an American professional stock car racing driver and commentator. Over the course of his 33-year racing career, he won 19 races in the NASCAR Cup Series, including the 198 ...

(No. 71) #

Cale Yarborough William Caleb "Cale" Yarborough (born March 27, 1939) is an American former NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver and owner, businessman, and farmer. He is one of only two drivers in NASCAR history to win three consecutive championships, winning in 1 ...

(No. 11) # Coo Coo Marlin (No. 14) #

Dick Brooks Richard Brooks (April 14, 1942 – February 1, 2006) was an American NASCAR driver. Born in Porterville, California, he was the 1969 NASCAR Rookie of the Year, and went on to win the 1973 Talladega 500. Brooks held off veteran Buddy Baker b ...

(No. 90) #

Cecil Gordon Cecil Gordon (June 21, 1941 – September 19, 2012) was an American stock car racing driver. A competitor in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series between 1968 and 1985, he competed in 449 events without winning a race. NASCAR Career as driver Gordon d ...

(No. 24) # Clarence Lovell (No. 61) # Jim Vandiver (No. 31) # Gordon Johncock (No. 28) #

Dave Marcis David Alan Marcis (born March 1, 1941) is an American former professional stock car racing driver on the NASCAR Winston Cup circuit whose career spanned five decades. Marcis won five times over this tenure, twice at Richmond, including his final ...

(No. 2) #

Richard Childress Richard Childress (born September 21, 1945 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina) is an American former race car driver in NASCAR. As the owner of Richard Childress Racing (RCR), he became one of the wealthiest men in North Carolina. In 2004, he opene ...

(No. 96) #

Walter Ballard Walter Harvey Ballard Sr. (born January 12, 1933) is a former NASCAR driver from Houston, Texas. In 1971, he won the Rookie of the Year Award in the NASCAR Winston Cup Grand National Series (known as the NASCAR Cup Series as of 2021), in its fir ...

(No. 30) # Buddy Arrington (No. 67) # Frank Warren (No. 79) #

Raymond Williams Raymond Henry Williams (31 August 1921 – 26 January 1988) was a Welsh socialist writer, academic, novelist and critic influential within the New Left and in wider culture. His writings on politics, culture, the media and literature contribu ...

(No. 47) # Charles Barrett (No. 09) #

Johnny Barnes John James Randolf Adolphus Mills (June 23, 1923 – July 9, 2016), known as Johnny Barnes, was a Bermuda, Bermudian native found waving to passing traffic at the Foot of the Lane roundabout in Hamilton, Bermuda, Hamilton, Bermuda, from roughl ...

(No. 89) # Larry Smith (No.92) # James Hylton (No. 48) # Earle Canavan (No. 01) # Dean Dalton* (No. 7) #

Ed Negre Ed Negre (July 16, 1927June 4, 2014) was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver who raced from 1955 to 1979.''E ...

(No. 8) #

Charlie Roberts Charles Roberts (6 April 1883 – 7 August 1939) was an English professional footballer who played as a centre-half in the Football League for Grimsby Town, Manchester United and Oldham Athletic. He spent nine years at United, where he was capta ...

(No. 77) #

Elmo Langley Elmo Harold Langley (August 21, 1928 – November 21, 1996) was a NASCAR driver and owner. Langley primarily used the number 64 on his race cars during his NASCAR career. Racing career Langley began his racing career racing modified cars in Vir ...

(No. 64) # A. J. Foyt* (No. 50) #

Joe Frasson Joseph "Joe" Frasson (September 3, 1935November 21, 2016) was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver.' ...

* (No. 18) # Bill Champion* (No. 10) #

* (No. 16) #

Ron Keselowski Ronald William Keselowski (born September 12, 1946) is a former NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Winston Cup driver who raced from 1970 in NASCAR, 1970 to 1974 NASCAR Winston Cup Series, 1974. He is the uncle of current and retired NASCAR Cup Series driv ...

* (No. 88) #

Roy Mayne Roy Mayne (May 16, 1935 – January 5, 1998) was an American professional stock car racing driver. He was a driver in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Au ...

* (No. 25) #

* (No. 95) # Richard Petty* (No. 43) # Bobby Allison* (No. 12) # John Sears* (No. 4) #

Bobby Mausgrover Bobby or Bobbie may refer to: People * Bobby (given name), a list of names * Bobby (actress), from Bangladesh * Bobby (rapper) (born 1995), from South Korea * Bobby (screenwriter) (born 1983), Indian screenwriter * Bobby, old slang for a consta ...

* (No. 07) #

Tiny Lund DeWayne Louis "Tiny" Lund (November 14, 1929 – August 17, 1975) was an American stock car racer. He was a journeyman racer-for-hire in the top level NASCAR Grand National Series, running partial seasons for a number of years, including a vict ...

* (No. 55) # Pete Hamilton* (No. 22) #

* (No. 84) ''* Driver failed to finish race''

References

{{authority control

Atlanta 500 The Quaker State 400 presented by Walmart is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race that was run annually each March at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia from 1960 to 2010 and as a July race since 2021. The race was the first of two races ...

NASCAR races at Atlanta Motor Speedway