1973 Talladega 500

1973 Talladega 500

Race details[1]
Race 20 of 28 in the 1973 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season
Layout of Talladega Superspeedway
Date	August 12, 1973 (1973-August-12)
Official name	Talladega 500
Location	Alabama International Motor Speedway, Talladega, Alabama
Course	2.660 mi (4.280 km)
Distance	188 laps, 500.1 mi (804.8 km)
Weather	Very warm with temperatures approaching 95.0 °F (35.0 °C); wind speeds up to 4.2 miles per hour (6.8 km/h)
Average speed	145.454 miles per hour (234.086 km/h)
Attendance	56,000
Pole position
Driver	Bobby Allison	Allison Racing
Most laps led
Driver	David Pearson	Wood Brothers Racing
Laps	40
Winner
No. 22	Dick Brooks	Crawford (Brothers) Racing
Radio in the United States
Radio	MRN
Booth Announcers	Ken Squier
Turn Announcers	Jim Fife, Tracy Dent, Barney Hall

The 1973 Talladega 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that was held on August 12, 1973, at Alabama International Motor Speedway in Talladega, Alabama (AIMS).

The race, won by Dick Brooks, would prove to be his first and only NASCAR career win. It was also the last win recorded for Plymouth as a NASCAR manufacturer. A Plymouth car having won the 1973 Talledega 500 was considered a massive upset.

The race set AIMS racetrack records (at the time of the race) for number of drivers leading in a race (15), number of lead changes in a race (64), and number of caution laps in a race (52). It also was the first race at at the track in which a driver was fatally injured (Larry Smith).

Summary

Larry Smith fatal crash

On lap 13 of the race, as race leaders were making their way around turn 4, the #92 car of Larry Smith (Carling Black Label Racing) struck the outside retaining wall of turn 1 at (by radio broadcast estimates) approximately 180 miles per hour.^[2]

The post collision movement of Smith's was described on the radio broadcast as "(the car) coasting to a stop", and one commentator described the car being "driven down to the inside of turn number two" where the car was parked and track safety crews waited to meet it.

Two different commentators were under the initial belief that Smith had driven the car from the outside wall to the safety apron under his own power, and that the damage from the hit was sufficient to take him out of the race.^[2] Damage to the car was described as the right front wheel having been completely sheared off, and the front end significantly damaged, with the windshield smashed out and glass on the track.

A preliminary report, given during lap 18, indicates that Smith "may have been injured". The caution put in place by Smith's crash was released on lap 27, after Smith's car was towed away and windshield glass from the car was completely cleared from the track.

By the end of the caution period, Smith's crash was described as a hard hit, with heavy damage to his car. Smith was taken by ambulance to the track's hospital on a stretcher, and further reports were awaited.

Larry Smith's death was confirmed to the race's radio broadcast audience at lap 51. He was described as having been dead on arrival to the track's hospital, after the hit his car took on turn 1 of the track. Smith's death was further reported as the first race fatality at Alabama International Motor Speedway.^[2]

Track officials indicated that the headrest of Smith's car had been broken by the wall impact, and that he had died of massive head injuries. It was further reported that he had been running his car on a cut tire for two laps prior to the crash, with only the safety inner liner of the tire keeping the car rolling.^[3]

Lap 174

As a three way fight for the win between Dick Brooks, Buddy Baker, and David Pearson was in progress, Baker's car suddenly began smoking heavily. This was assumed to be a blown engine, and it brought out a caution. Baker circled to the pits and briefly stopped, to have a hole in his oil filter repaired, by having the filter replaced. Baker did not fall off the lead lap; at this point, only Brooks, Baker, and Pearson's cars remained on the lead lap.

Lap 180 and finish

The race resumed under green on lap 180, with Brooks and Pearson battling for the lead. Pearson's car appeared to be lagging as of the restart, and he quickly fell back behind lapped cars to be passed by a still-smoking Buddy Baker car for second position.

Dick Brooks took the checkered flag for the win, with Buddy Baker keeping his heavily smoking car going to finish second. Pearson's pit crew reported that his car was 'missing badly', and he finished third on the lead lap, with a partially disabled engine.

Race results

David Pearson's third-place finish was sufficient to make him the second NASCAR driver to reach the $1,000,000 purse earnings mark. The first to do this was Richard Petty.

Pos	Grid	No.	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status	Points[4]
1	24	22	Dick Brooks	Crawford (Brothers) Racing	Plymouth	188	3:26:17	360
2	21	71	Buddy Baker	Krauskopf Racing	Dodge	188	+7.2 sec	333
3	2	21	David Pearson	Wood Brothers Racing	Mercury	188	lead lap	331
4	25	48	James Hylton	James Hylton Motorsports	Mercury	186	+2 laps	326.5
5	13	05	David Sisco	Sisco Racing	Chevrolet	186	+2 laps	324.5
6	7	11	Cale Yarborough	Howard Racing	Chevrolet	185	+3 laps	321.25
7	27	95	Darrell Waltrip	Waltrip Racing	Mercury	184	+4 laps	318
8	9	24	Cecil Gordon	Gordon Racing	Mercury	184	+4 laps	316
9	17	30	Walter Ballard	Vic Ballard Racing	Mercury	184	+4 laps	314
10	26	02	L. D. Ottinger	Bryant Racing	Chevrolet	183	+5 laps	310.75
11	23	70	J. D. McDuffie	McDuffie Racing	Chevrolet	183	+5 laps	308.75
12	33	2	Dave Marcis	Marcis Racing	Dodge	183	+5 laps	306.75
13	4	15	Bobby Isaac	Moore Racing	Ford	182	+6 laps	303.5
14	3	43	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises	Dodge	181	+7 laps	300.25
15	12	79	Frank Warren	Warren Racing	Dodge	181	+7 laps	298.25
16	37	25	Jabe Thomas	Robertson Racing	Dodge	180	+8 laps	295
17	46	7	Dean Dalton	Dalton Racing	Chevrolet	180	+8 laps	293
18	18	82	Bill Ward	Bennett Racing	Chevrolet	179	+9 laps	289.75
19	34	68	Alton Jones	Hawkersmith Racing	Chevrolet	178	+10 laps	286.5
20	38	74	Randy Tissot	Tissot Racing	Chevrolet	176	+12 laps	282
21	30	64	Elmo Langley	Langley Racing	Ford	175	+13 laps	278.85
22	40	10	Bill Champion	Champion Racing	Mercury	175	+13 laps	276.75
23	44	0	Eddie Bond	Bond Racing	Dodge	171	+17 laps	269.75
24	45	00	Bobby Mausgrover	Mausgrover Racing	Chevrolet	167	+21 laps	262.75
25	42	8	Ed Negre	Negre Racing	Dodge	166	+22 laps	259.5
26	5	88	Donnie Allison	DiGard Motorsports	Chevrolet	157	Engine	246.25
27	20	67	Buddy Arrington	Arrington Racing	Plymouth	156	Engine	243
28	47	19	Henley Gray	Gray Racing	Mercury	156	+32 laps	241
29	1	12	Bobby Allison	Allison Racing	Chevrolet	155	Crash	237.75
30	31	89	Johnny Barnes	Hopper-Crews Racing	Mercury	115	Rear end	185.75
31	14	96	Richard Childress	Garn Racing	Chevrolet	111	Throttle	178.75
32	19	97	Red Farmer	Humphries Racing	Ford	106	Engine	170.5
33	11	61	Ed Sczech	Bierschwale Racing	Chevrolet	94	Oil pump	153.5
34	41	84	Bob Davis	Davis Racing	Dodge	93	Ignition	150.25
35	39	4	Jim Vandiver	Sears Racing	Dodge	88	Engine	142
36	10	42	Marty Robbins	Robbins Racing	Dodge	80	Ignition	130
37	28	90	Jody Ridley	Donlavey Racing	Mercury	77	Transmission	124.25
38	6	72	Benny Parsons	DeWitt Racing	Chevrolet	74	Engine	118.5
39	48	40	D. K. Ulrich	Ulrich Racing	Ford	65	Ignition	105.25
40	22	14	Coo Coo Marlin	H. B. Cunningham	Chevrolet	58	Engine	94.5
41	43	80	Phil Finney	Finney Racing	Chevrolet	55	Oil leak	88.75
42	49	77	Charlie Roberts	Roberts Racing	Ford	52	Engine	83
43	15	18	Joe Frasson	Frasson Racing	Dodge	51	Engine	79.75
44	36	73	Mel Larson	Larson Racing	Dodge	51	Oil leak	77.75
45	8	28	Ramo Stott	Ellington Racing	Chevrolet	46	Transmission	69.5
46	50	47	Raymond Williams	Williams Racing	Ford	33	Engine	51.25
47	32	54	Lennie Pond	Elder Racing	Chevrolet	32	Engine	48
48	29	03	Tommy Gale	Gale Racing	Mercury	18	Ignition	28.5
49	35	92	Larry Smith ✝	Carling (Black Label) Racing	Mercury	13	Fatal crash	20.25
50	16	83	Paul Tyler	Reed Racing	Mercury	10	Ignition	14.5
WD	39*		Richard Brown		Chevrolet		Engine
WD	50*		Ron Keselowski		Dodge		Not competitive
DNQ	-		Neil Bonnett
Source:

* Qualifying position of the driver before withdrawing^[5]

✝ Driver was fatally injured

Aftermath

Plymouth (which had not won a NASCAR race in all of 1973) taking a win was considered a shock by contemporaries and by racing fans. While all cars on track at Talledega had to use restrictor plates (the Crawford Brothers Racing #22 included), it was revealed years later by team co-owner Jimmy Crawford that there was a mechanical reason for the Plymouth's unusual speed and power. His brother, Peter Crawford, designed an induction system to maximize airflow to the car's engine despite the mandatory restrictor plate.

Peter Crawford's mechanical work resulted in a custom intake manifold which fit the rule specifications for 1973 parts, and was approved by NASCAR for the race as long as long as similar manifolds were made available to other participating Plymouth teams. Privately, testing performed by the team demonstrated that the Peter Crawford's intake manifold allowed their engine to produce in excess of 600 horsepower even with the restrictor plate installed.

After the race and the runaway result from the Plymouth, AIMS track owner and then-NASCAR president Bill France Sr. called a meeting with the brothers.

The brothers were informed that Peter's intake manifold design was being outlawed according to the rule stating that "All parts must be NASCAR approved"; simply put, NASCAR was revoking their earlier approval to use it because of its raw effectiveness and the imbalance it introduced.^[6]

References