1973 American 500
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 28 of 28 in the 1973 NASCAR Winston Cup Series | |||
Layout of Rockingham Speedway
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| Date | October 21, 1973 | ||
| Official name | American 500 | ||
| Location | North Carolina Motor Speedway, Rockingham, North Carolina | ||
| Course | 1.017 mi (1.636 km) | ||
| Distance | 492 laps, 500 mi (804 km) | ||
| Weather | Warm with temperatures reaching a maximum of 81.9 °F (27.7 °C); wind speeds up to 9.9 miles per hour (15.9 km/h) | ||
| Average speed | 117.749 miles per hour (189.499 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 48,000 | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Petty Enterprises | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | David Pearson | Wood Brothers Racing | |
| Laps | 396 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 21 | David Pearson | Wood Brothers Racing | |
The 1973 American 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on October 21, 1973, at North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham, North Carolina. This event would mark the only instance that a NASCAR Cup Series season would end at Rockingham Speedway. Having a 43-car racing grid was a very infrequent case during this era of NASCAR racing. Today, it forms the mandated standards that NASCAR developed over the years.
1973 would become the "year of the smaller engine" while declining sponsorship interests for the drivers resulted in NASCAR keeping the bigger gas-guzzling engines from being abolished from the sport. Following this race, NASCAR started to tighten up on their pre-race inspections as a precautionary measure to ensure that only legal racing components are being used.
David Pearson would defeat Buddy Baker by at least one lap after four hours of racing. An incredible amount of people would show up for the race; exactly 48,000 people would see 20 different lead changes and five caution flags for a staggering distance of 36 laps. While the average speed of the race was 117.749 miles per hour (189.499 km/h), Richard Petty would clinch the pole position in qualifying for his amazing run that reached 135.748 miles per hour (218.465 km/h). The complete racing grid was 43 American-born drivers; including the last-place finisher Frank Warren who crashed on lap 11 out of the 492 laps that made up the advertised distance. Only manual transmission vehicles were allowed to participate in this race; a policy that NASCAR has retained to the present day.
Other notable drivers in this race included Darrell Waltrip, Elmo Langley, and Richard Childress (now the owner of Richard Childress Racing).Eddie Bond, John Sears, and Paul Tyler would retire from NASCAR after this racing event.
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