April 15, 1973 - Darlington's Rebel 400

The eighth race of the 1973 NASCAR Winston Cup season was the Rebel 500 at South Carolina's Darlington Raceway. What better way than to race on tax day! (Cue the tax accountants: Technically, the filing day would likely have been extended to Monday, April 16th because of the weekend. ENOUGH!)

Source: Motor Racing Programme Covers

After a dozen years or so of being known first as the Rebel 300 and then the Rebel 400, the race distance was extended for the first time to 500 miles to match the length of the traditional Labor Day weekend Southern 500.

Though the race distance was extended 100 miles, the track length remained the same. And David Pearson knew how to navigate it. He won the pole in the Wood Brothers' Purolator Mercury just as he'd done in his debut with the team a year earlier. 

Pearson's top speed extended the roll he was on in the early part of the 1973 season. The Wood Brothers team skipped the short tracks at Richmond, Bristol, and North Wilkesboro. But Pearson and the 21 bunch won the previous two races they'd entered at Rockingham and Atlanta.

Cale Yarborough - another Darlington master - qualified second. The Three B's - Bobby Allison, Bobby Isaac, and Buddy Baker - rounded out the top five starters. (Tax accountants return: Technically, we counted eight B's. SHUT UP, Green Shades!)

Forty cars took the green that Sunday afternoon. Four hours later, however, attrition thinned the finishers to about a third of that number. It wasn't the extra 74 laps that did 'em in as more than half the field DNF'd well before the 400-mile mark.

Engines failed on many cars, but others retired early from accidents - some from driver errors according to those caught up in the accidents or near them. 

It didn't take long for the action to begin. Pearson seized the lead at the start. On lap three, however, Dave Marcis collided with Rookie of the Year candidate Lennie Pond. Marcis got the worst end of the deal and finished dead last as Pond continued.

Pond had more issues later in the race. Though he started second, Yarborough never led a lap. He tangled with Pond near lap 40, and Pond's second incident put his Chevy on the trailer. Cale kept a'goin, but a blown engine about three-quarters of the way through the race sent him to his nearby home with a 19th place finish.

For the first half of the race, fans witnessed a number of different leaders. Pearson, Allison, Richard Petty, Benny Parsons, and rookie Darrell Waltrip all had opportunities at the front. 

• As happened with Cale, however, the engine in Waltrip's brown Mercury laid down sending him back to Tennessee with a P24 in his Darlington debut. 
• Petty settled from the lead back into a top five pace; however, the quick pace eventually put him down a couple of laps - with more problems yet to come.
• Parsons ran a pace similar to Petty, contributed to Petty's problems, yet salvaged a good points day.

Allison's self-owned Coke Machine was the only one who could consistently keep pace with Pearson - at least through the first half. Once the second act began, however, it was all Pearson and in a big sort of way.

As was often the case at Darlington, Pearson and the Woods found a remarkable balance of speed, handling, and smoothness in banking lap after lap. For the 15 or so cars remaining on the track, seeing the 21 Mercury lap them time and again may have been equally as painful as loading early. Pearson's run was so dominant that many fans also DNF'd as they headed for the exits. (Tax accountants: What true fan leaves a race early? You never know what might happen. YOU AGA...? Oh OK, finally you make a fair point.)

Those already on the road missed the last couple rounds of drama. First, Allison's Chevy started smoking with about 25 laps to go - all but gift wrapping the presumed win for Pearson. And then The Big One unfolded a couple of laps later. 

Virginia's Buddy Arrington, though laps down, was in the racing groove. He prevented Parsons from getting by - as Petty quickly closed the gap to Parsons. Petty and Parsons remained in the hunt for a top five, and Arrington factored into which one would get the differential pay for the day.

Arrington finally took the hint and moved to the inside. He did so, however, about the same as Parsons had seen enough and dropped to the inside as well. As Parsons popped his brakes to avoid Arrington, Petty plowed into Benny who then pinballed into Arrington anyway. Arrington was turned headfirst into the wall as Petty t-boned him on the right side. Parsons squirted by the two of them and stumbled on the track apron the rest of the way, but Roy Mayne and Dick Brooks joined the fray to really make a mess of things.

As the race concluded, Pearson took the checkers to go back-to-back in the Rebel. Despite his slow crawl, Parsons survived the day for a P2. The effort paid dividends in November 1973 when he captured the Winston Cup title by a scant few points. Allison's car could go no more as the final green waved. Despite pulling off the track with a blown engine and DNF, Allison still managed to finish third. Two independents - Richard Childress and J.D. McDuffie - survived the wrecks, kept their cars in one piece, and had career days by finishing third and fourth, respectively. As crazy as it sounds, Petty had already showered and dressed before learning he still managed to finish seventh.

Pearson earned his 69th career Cup trophy with a 13 lap - THIRTEEN - win over second place Parsons. The margin of victory may be topped as the worst Cup beatdown only by Ned Jarrett's 14-lap win in the 1965 Southern 500.

 

Source: Charlotte News

TMC