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. The race was won by

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 ...

. 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.

Pre-race

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.

Race

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. He'd race Chevrolets exclusively for the next six seasons before he started running a variety of different cars from GM.

drove an

AMC Matador The AMC Matador is a car model line that was manufactured and marketed by American Motors Corporation (AMC) across two generations, 1971–1973 (mid-size) and 1974–1978 (full-size), in two-door hardtop (first generation) and coupe (second gen ...

featured a set of

disc brake A disc brake is a type of brake that uses the calipers to squeeze pairs of pads against a disc or a "rotor" to create friction. This action slows the rotation of a shaft, such as a vehicle axle, either to reduce its rotational speed or to hol ...

s – new for NASCAR racing at the time – and led 138 laps en route to the win.

David Pearson David or Dave Pearson may refer to: * David Pearson (librarian) (born 1955), British librarian and scholar * David Pearson (racing driver) (1934–2018), American car racing champion * David Pearson (scientist) (born 1942), Canadian scientist, a ...

won the pole but never led and fell out with clutch failure, while

Richard Petty Richard Lee Petty (born July 2, 1937), nicknamed "The King", is an American former stock car racing driver who raced from 1958 to 1992 in the former NASCAR Grand National and Winston Cup Series (now called the NASCAR Cup Series), most notabl ...

started fifth and led 39 laps before his engine failed while leading on Lap 95. Bobby Allison finished second driving a self-fielded Chevrolet following a surprise divorce from the Richard Howard team.

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 ...

, new driver for Howard's team with the cars renumbered to #11, fell out with transmission failure. Finishing a respectable 15th was Gerald Thompson in a '73 Pontiac Grand Am. 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

{{1973 NASCAR Winston Cup Winston Western 500 Winston Western 500 Winston Western 500 NASCAR races at Riverside International Raceway