Bench Racing From the Volunteer State: March 18, 1973

Thursday, March 18, 2021

March 18, 1973 - Rockingham's Carolina 500

The 1973 NASCAR Winston Cup season opened in January at Riverside International Raceway. Mark Donohue won his first and only Cup race in the Winston Western 500. The victory earned Roger Penske his first Cup win as a car owner.

The King, Richard Petty, captured the next two races on tracks that couldn't have been more different. He won his fourth Daytona 500 and followed up a week later with a win on Richmond, Virginia's half-mile bullring.

The tour then headed for the sandhills of North Carolina for the fourth race of the season, the Carolina 500 at Rockingham.

David Pearson and the Wood Brothers #21 Mercury team stumbled out of the gate in 1973. Pearson won the pole at Riverside but finished 22nd. A month later, the team returned to Stuart, Virginia with a 33rd place finish at Daytona after losing an engine.

Leonard Wood knew how to build power plants, however, and the car returned with a fast one at Rockingham. Pearson won the pole - his second of the young season. Benny Parsons qualified on the front row alongside Pearson in L.G. DeWitt's Chevrolet. Coincidentally, DeWitt also owned the Rockingham track. The King, Bobby Allison, and Buddy Baker comprised the rest of the top five starters.

The annual Union 76 pit crew championship was held on Saturday before Sunday's Cup race. Baker's crew led by the crusty and crafty Harry Hyde won the competition. Though Hyde's #71 Dodges were historically lightning quick on the track, his crew often received criticism for slow stops during races - mistakes that may have cost his drivers various races. So to nail the quickest time during the crew contest was sweet as apple jack shine to Hyde.

Source: Charlotte Observer

Some suggested Baker's crew win may have needed as asterisk as the Wood Brothers team did not participate. For years before the 1973 contest - and for years to follow, the Woods were known as the most consistently quick crew on pit road. In March 1973, however, the team opted to have the crew arrive on race morning vs. the day before in order to compete in the crew contest. In the current Cup era - even before the arrival of COVID, it has become common for several teams to fly their crews in on race day or perhaps the night before. In the early 1970s, however, most pit crews had dual (or more) roles to get the car ready for practice, qualifying, and the race.

When the green flag flew on Sunday, the 21 crew was in their stall as Pearson took off from his top starting spot. Petty launched from his third starting spot to latch on to the bumper of Pearson's Mercury. It quickly became apparent the Wood Brothers had put Riverside and Daytona behind them and only looked forward.

Petty's STP Dodge rolled lap after lap in the tire tracks of Pearson's car, but he never could muster a pass. Pearson ceded the lead to Bobby Allison on lap 71 as the Woods' crew went to work. After a single lap, however, Pearson went back to the point with Petty still dogging him.

The top two got a bit of a scare a few laps shy of the race's halfway mark. Independent Dave Sisco from Hohenwald, Tennessee spun right in front of Pearson and Petty. Both jumped to the high line to scoot past Sisco.

As Pearson regained his mojo after the near miss, he made a motion to wipe his "brow" across his helmet as he came down the front straightaway. After the race, car owner Glen Wood quipped, "That's the first time a driver of mine ever flashed me a sign like that, but I know what it means."

Pearson was eventually able to lap Petty, yet the 43 continued to apply the pressure. With about 120 laps to go, however, the Dodge's Hemi could no longer handle the pressure. Water poured from the 43 as Petty pulled his car behind the wall with a DNF.

With Petty done for the day, Pearson was able to relax a bit - at least for a while. Late in the race though, his crew let him know Cale Yarborough was on the charge in Junior Johnson's Chevrolet.

Despite Yarborough getting within range, Pearson maintained a comfortable lead and capped off a dominating win. The box score showed that Pearson led 491 of the race's 492 laps. Baker, Allison, and Dick Brooks rounded out the top five finishers.

Source: Gaffney Ledger

Cale's rally was truly impressive as he raced much of the day with a broken seat. In truly a different era for NASCAR, the safety issue was the least of the team's concerns - or even NASCAR for that matter. Johnson tried to wedge the seat with a block of wood during a pit stop but without much success. Yarborough simply hung on as best he could and strong armed the #11 Chevy through the corners. Once the race was over, Johnson was more upset at the crewmen responsible for the seat than he was at Yarborough's narrow loss.