June 3, 1973 - Dover's Mason-Dixon 500

As NASCAR's shortest season since 1950 near the halfway point, the Winston Cup circuit headed to Dover, Delaware for the 1973 Mason-Dixon 500.

Source: Motor Racing Progamme Covers

From mid-April through early-June, the Cup drivers raced on a variety of tracks yet with a familiar face up front at many of them:

• egg-shaped Darlington - winner: David Pearson
• Martinsville's half-mile paperclip - winner: David Pearson
• the 2.66-mile Alabama International Motor Speedway aka Talladega - winner: David Pearson
• Nashville's fairgrounds speedway and its funky 1/4 mile pit arrangement - winner: Cale Yarborough (with Pearson at home)
• the 600 mile test of man and machine at Charlotte - winner: Buddy Baker

As the tour turned early laps on the one-mile, asphalt Dover Downs International Speedway, the Wood Brothers Purolator Mercury continued to be fast. Pearson captured the pole. In the five races in which Pearson and the Woods competed from Darlington through Dover, the car started on the front row in all of them including three poles.

The top five starters are all now in the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Cale Yarborough qualified second followed by Bobby Allison, Bobby Isaac, and Buddy Baker. Coincidentally, the next five starters have not made the HOF (as drivers). Independent racers Cecil Gordon and G.C. Spencer timed sixth and seventh. Richard Childress, Dave Marcis, and eventual 1973 Rookie of the Year Lennie Pond rounded out the top 10 starters.

Pearson seized the lead at the start and controlled about half of the race's first 150 laps. Allison and Yarborough split the other half. Yarborough was the lap bully over the next 100 laps as he paced the field for a stretch of 85 laps.

Once the second half of the race began, however, it was Pearson all the way.  Except for two brief times when Baker's and Yarborough's numbers were posted P1, Pearson's #21 Mercury showed the way by leading 241 of the final 250 laps.

Pearson experienced a little bit of drama with about 100 laps to go. The car's handling went away a bit, and the team went to work trying to diagnose the problem as Pearson continued to hold a lead over Yarborough. 

In an era before in-car radios were common, Delano Wood used a pit board to first signal Pearson that his clutch may be the source of the problem. After Pearson apparently conveyed all was OK with it, the team changed the message to TIRES - perhaps an indication of worn out Goodyears or maybe a loose wheel. Again, Pearson (or perhaps the stopwatch) noted diagnosis #2 wasn't valid. 

The team finally deduced the 21's alternator had soured. Pearson began toggling switches to shut down as much power draw as he could. All hoped he could go the distance on the battery without any recharging efforts from the alternator, and that's precisely what happened.

Source: Wilmington Morning News

Pearson's 72nd career win extended a jaw-dropping 1973 performance. In the seven races in which the 21 team competed from Rockingham in mid-March through Dover in June, Pearson and the Woods captured six wins. Their lone blemish was a *gasp* P2 to Baker in the World 600 at Charlotte. Pearson also won back-to-back races at Dover after having led 350 laps to win the Delaware 500 the previous September.

A caution with 50 to go erased Pearson's lead over Yarborough. In a matter of laps, however, Yarborough watched helplessly as #21 pulled away yet again. Cale hung in there to go home with a P2 lead-lap finish. Allison finished third, three laps down; and Richard Petty left with P4, five laps in arrears. 

Source: Philadelphia Daily News

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May 21, 1978 - Dover's Mason-Dixon 500

The middle third of the 30-race, NASCAR Winston Cup Series 1978 schedule opened with the Mason-Dixon 500 at Dover.

Source: Motor Racing Programme Covers

Buddy Baker captured the pole in M.C. Anderson's Chevy. Baker always had a reputation for running fast in small bursts - such as in qualifying. Yet his top spot at Dover was his first pole since the next-to-last race of the 1976 season at Atlanta. Baker's run also made him eligible for the inaugural Busch Clash scheduled for the following February.

Credit: Bryant McMurray / UNCC

Benny Parsons timed second in L.G. DeWitt's Chevy. Coincidentally, Parsons would move to Anderson's team in 1979 as Baker moved to Harry Ranier's team. David Pearson qualified third followed by Lennie Pond in the Ranier ride that would soon belong to Baker.

In an interesting twist on qualifying, drivers participated in some sort of drawing. Only the top 16 numbers were eligible to qualify on the first day. Richard Petty didn't draw high enough to lay down a first day lap. Pearson and his Wood Brothers team also missed the drawing as they were addressing an engine issue before their expected qualifying session. Yet the top 16 first-day qualifiers weren't locked in to their spots. Pearson returned on the second day, posted the third quickest lap over the two days, and knocked down the starters behind him by one spot.

Baker took off at the start to lead the first 24 laps before being passed by Pearson who led 10 of his own. Seventh place starter Darrell Waltrip then got around both of them and set sail out front for a stretch of nearly 50 laps.

Waltrip's career finishes at Dover had been nothing to boast about. He'd averaged around a P30 result for the first few years of his career. In 1977, however, the #88 Gatorade DiGard team found a little sump'n sump'n. DW finished fifth and sixth in Dover's two 1977 races, and the team looked to improve even more in 1978. 

Through a couple of cautions and cycling of pit stops, Baker, Pond, Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough, and Dave Marcis all took turns leading a lap or two. Waltrip, however, rallied back each time to lead sizable chunks of laps.

After leading a stretch of nearly 100 laps, Waltrip pitted during a caution on lap 333. By that point, he'd lapped most of the field and was on his way to going +1 on all of the field. 

He hit pit road for routine service. A stop that should have been a quick tire change and fresh supply of fuel instead turned disastrous. A wheel stud snapped during a left front tire change. The crew hastily replaced the stud and sent Waltrip back on track. In making the change, however, a brake line was not reconnected. After Waltrip nearly ran through another car, he eased his way back to the pits for the additional repair. After leading about 300 laps and gaining a one-lap advantage on just about everyone, Waltrip lost three laps and eventually settled for a bitter tasting P6. He had to wait two more seasons before capturing his first of two career wins at the Monster Mile.

Source: The Tennessean

Shortly after Waltrip had his woes, Baker had even greater ones. His engine failed, and he returned home with a P23. With the fastest car three laps down and the pole-winner loaded on the trailer, Pearson found his groove and led 137 of the final 150 laps.

Pearson's 101st career Cup win was his first of the 1978 season. It was also his fifth and final Dover win - all earned in the Woods' Purolator Mercury. The 21 team notched two more Dover wins with Neil Bonnett in 1979 and 1981. 

Source: Philadelphia Daily News

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May 19, 1975 - Dover's Mason-Dixon 500

The 12th race of the 30-race, NASCAR Winston Cup Series 1975 schedule was the Mason-Dixon 500 slated for Sunday, May 18th at Dover Downs International Speedway.

Coming off his fifth championship season in 1974 and third title in four seasons, Richard Petty kept the mojo rolling in '75. He'd already won five of the season's eleven races. And despite some engine hiccups in the Daytona 500, his STP Dodge had the strength to draft with Benny Parsons and help BP win it. Having won four times at Dover - including three of the track's first four Cup races between 1969 and 1971 - the King certainly ranked among the favorites to win once more.

David Pearson was also a previous Dover winner with three consecutive victories from 1972-1973. After three stellar seasons with the Wood Brothers from 1972-1974; however, Pearson had gone winless through the first third of the 1975 season. Though many believed he and the 21 team could contend for the win at Dover, it was anyone's guess if he would do so.

Having said that - and to the surprise of no one, Pearson plopped his Purolator Mercury on the pole. In seven previous Dover starts, Pearson had four poles and started no worse than fifth. Buddy Baker qualified second in Bud Moore's Ford. The King, Cale Yarborough, and Dick Brooks rounded out the top five starters. 

Darrell Waltrip laid down the eighth quickest time - and was perhaps aided by full flowing adrenalin. Ol' DW was a week removed from his first career Cup win at his home track, Nashville's fairgrounds speedway.

As the race got underway, Pearson seized the hole shot and led the first ten laps. Once Baker got Bud's Ford wound up though, he roared past Pearson and led the next eleven laps.

When the first caution flew around lap 20, the leaders hit pit road for an early stop. Good ol' Coo Coo Marlin stayed on the track and found himself scored as the leader for a handful of laps. After he surrendered the lead to pit and the race returned the green, Baker went back to the point - but only for a lap. 

Fourth place starter Yarborough in his white, Junior Johnson Monte Carlo - recently adorned with Holly Farms Chicken as a sponsor - shot past Baker to grab the top spot. Yarborough had won the previous year's Mason-Dixon 500 after leading 200+ laps but winning only because the King inexplicably ruptured an engine while leading with three laps to go. 

Credit: Lee Greenawalt

Once out front, Cale found his groove and intended to make short work of the the 500-mile marathon. He led a stretch of 70+ laps before making an emergency stop for a cut tire. As he pitted, Pearson took over for a couple of laps before the handling suddenly soured forcing him to pit road as well.

Benny Parsons, who'd started way back in 23rd spot, had worked his way into the top 10 during the first 100 laps and found himself out front as Cale and Pearson made their stops. Ten laps later, rain arrived.

Cale returned to the attention of his crew as did Pearson, Petty, and pretty much everyone else. Parsons, however, stayed on track. Light rain persisted, the field continued under caution, and BP remained in the lead lap after lap after slow lap.

NASCAR wasn't quite ready to stop the race and instead allowed the field to continue circling the track. As the average race pace fell precipitously, the Wood Brothers crew had plenty of time to diagnose their handling woes. As it turns out, the 21 had a broken shock mount. Over the next 30 laps, Pearson pitted eleven times to make the needed repair.

After those 30 laps when the rain wouldn't relent and Parsons wouldn't pit, NASCAR threw in the towel for the day. When the red flag was displayed, soggy fans headed for the parking lots as the cars headed for the garage at lap 140 - well short of halfway and an official race.

Source: Wilmington Morning News

Drivers, crews, and much of the crowd returned on Monday to give it another go. Parsons picked up where he left off on Sunday afternoon by leading the opening five laps of chapter two - albeit under caution before the race returned to green. Pearson had new life after believing his handling issues were resolved by replacing the broken shock mount. And Cale looked to remind the field that despite the overnight delay he still had the the car to beat.

Instead of returning to his dominating way, Yarborough struggled throughout the new day. He didn't lead another lap and puked a motor just before lap 300. Shortly before Cale's exit, Petty had his own issues - though they didn't result in a DNF as happened to Yarborough.

Independent Dean Dalton blew a right front tire and spun into the fence between turns one and two. Rather than go low, Petty guessed Dalton may slide down the track and took the high line. The King then whipped his wheel hard left but nonetheless clipped Dalton and slid himself to the muddy apron. Safety crews pushed the 43 from the mud but not before Petty had lost valuable track position. He fell further behind as the Petty Enterprises crew made a few battlefield repairs. Though he soldiered on, the four time Dover winner could only muster a third place finish, ten laps down to the winner.

As the race made its way into the second half on the second day, Parsons' #72 Monte Carlo continued to hang with Pearson's Mercury. Pearson led big chunks of laps, but Parsons occasionally made his way back out front.

With 140 to go, however, Parsons suffered the same fate as Yarborough: engine failure. Buddy Baker inherited P2 with Parsons out of the picture. Yet he too lost an engine - but in more spectacular fashion than Parsons or Yarborough. With about 30 laps to go, Baker's engine let go as he sailed through turn one. His Ford swapped ends, it side slapped the wall, and flames erupted from underneath the car as Baker rolled down the banking to a stop.

With virtually every other name driver out of the race, Pearson led the final 140 laps and won by seven laps over second place Cecil Gordon. The P2 was a career best for the independent race who later worked for Richard Childress Racing during Dale Earnhardt's Goodwrench era.

As Pearson celebrated his 85th career Cup win, fourth Dover victory, and first of 1975, a reporter asked him how his motor lasted the full 500 miles when much of his competition broke one engine after another. The Silver Fox replied "I guess they didn't have the right oil filter."

Audio of Universal Racing Network's radio broadcast of the race is available on Appalachian State's library website. 

Source: Philadelphia Inquirer

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May 5, 1974 - Talladega's Winston 500

NASCAR's Cup teams were back in Talladega for the 10th race of the 1974 season. Though the race was billed as the Winston 500, it was in reality a 450-mile race. NASCAR agreed to cut its races by 10 percent in response to the country's energy crisis.

Source: Motor Racing Programme Covers

David Pearson, the two-time defending winner of the race, won the pole in his Wood Brothers' Purolator Mercury. Indy Car regular Gary Bettenhausen qualified alongside Pearson in Roger Penske's AMC Matador. Bettenhausen raced in three NASCAR events in 1967 for car owner H.B. Ranier, father of Harry Ranier who had great success with drivers such as Cale Yarborough and Davey Allison. After spending the late 1960s and early 1970s in Indy Car, Bettenhausen returned to NASCAR in 1974 with a limited schedule in Penske's car.

As Cup began a transition from big-block engines with restrictor plates to small-block engines whose design generally remains in today's racing, the starting lineups of several races had several interesting names up front. Several drivers could lay down a fast lap with their small-block vs. the established teams still running an inventory of proven big-blocks.

With that in mind, Bettenhausen was joined near the front by a couple of other head-scratching names to many race fans - George Follmer and Dan Daughtry - who started third and fourth. Follmer was an accomplished racer in his first season with long-time owner and NASCAR Hall of Famer Bud Moore. Daughtry qualified for only his third Cup start after finishing 38th in the Daytona 500 and 32nd at Atlanta earlier in the season. 

Other notable drivers in the 50-car field included:

• Red Famer - The 2021 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee made only 36 Cup starts in his career. After the 1974 Winston 500, he started only three more Cup races - Talladega's '74 summer race and both Talladega races in 1975.
• Neil Bonnett - A member of the Alabama Gang along with Farmer and the Allison brothers, Bonnett made his Cup debut that day. It was a less than ideal start, however, as he suffered engine failure and finished 45th.
• Marty Robbins - The country music crooner qualified and finished a respectable 15th in his purple and yellow Dodge.
• Johnny Ray - The race was Ray's Cup debut. He eventually participated in eight Cup races, four of which were at Talladega. For many years, he was better known for hauling the American flag around Talladega attached to his big diesel rig.

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One driver not in in the field was second-year Cup driver, Darrell Waltrip. He blew an engine in qualifying and missed his third consecutive race. The weekend in general was dismal for DW as he dominated a 50-lap LMS race at Nashville the night before - only to helplessly fade as a tire's valve stem came loose eight laps from the finish with a half-lap lead over second place.

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To keep the 188-lap count consistent with other Talladega 500-mile races, the first 18 laps (50 miles) were neither run nor scored. As the field took the green for the first time to begin lap 19. Bettenhausen seized the lead followed the next lap by Daughtry.  

That two lap exchange set the tone for the rest of the afternoon, and it was the type of racing Talladega fans have grown to expect. The race featured 53 lead changes among 14 drivers. Many name drivers as well as many independents or so-called backmarkers got an opportunity to pace the field for a lap or two at a time.

Of the race's 170 laps, 60 were run under caution primarily because of a couple of rain showers - plus a blown engine that nearly had tragic consequences. 

Tennessee's Dave Sisco blew an engine on lap 105 resulting in a caution. As he made his way around the track and into the garage, Sisco left a trail of oil - including on the rain-slickened pit road. Bettenhausen, still in the hunt after leading 35 laps, pitted during the caution. As his Penske team serviced the Matador, rookie Grant Adcox slipped in an oily puddle and crashed into the back of Bettenhausen's car.

The collision crushed volunteer crewman Don Miller between the cars and injured two other crew members. One of Buddy Baker's crewmen and future NASCAR crew chief, Buddy Parrott, ran to Miller's aid and immediately used his belt as a tourniquet high on Miller's shattered leg. Upon realizing the severity of the accident, Adcox withdrew from the remainder of the race. 

Though Miller survived, he lost his right leg in the accident. Miller became an integral part of Penske's NASCAR operations in the decades to follow, and he was instrumental in pairing Penske with driver Rusty Wallace.

Even after the near-tragic pit road accident and two extended delays for rain, the drivers still mixed it up in the second half of the race. Follmer showed folks he was no slouch by leading off-and-on for 26 laps. Benny Parsons, the defending Winston Cup champion from 1973, also jumped in the fray and led nine laps. 

As Follmer, Parsons, and a couple of others cycled to the lead one or two laps at a time, the driver who generally took the lead back was Pearson. Shortly after taking the lead back from Parsons, Pearson made his final stop with 20 laps to go. 

Pearson was leading as he made his final pit stop with just a handful of laps remaining. Though he seemed slow exiting the pits, he quickly amp'd his speed down the backstretch. In seemingly no time at all, he sailed by Parsons and led the remaining 17 laps. Parsons finished a close second followed by Petty. After having a solid day, Follmer's engine blew with about 20 to go dooming him to P28.

With his 79th career win, Pearson three-peated in the Winston 500 after also winning in 1972 and 1973. The victory was the fourth consecutive Winston 500 for the Wood Brothers as Donnie Allison won the race for them in 1971.

Source: Montgomery Advertiser

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May 6, 1973 - Talladega's Winston 500

On Sunday, May 6th, NASCAR's Winston Cup Series rolled into Talladega for the Winston 500 as the 10th race of the 1973 season. How Cinco de Mayo may have been celebrated on Saturday - if at all - in the Talladega infield is unknown. What is known, however, is the infield crowd would not have needed a made-up holiday to party as they've always done there. 

Source: Motor Racing Programme Covers

David Pearson and the Wood Brothers team arrived riding a remarkable streak. Pearson and his Purolator Mercury had won the four previous events in which the team raced: Rockingham, Atlanta, Darlington, and Martinsville. The team didn't enter the car at Bristol or North Wilkesboro, but it's entirely possible they could've swept them too if they had!

Harry Hyde's well-tuned, red Dodge Charger won the pole for the second consecutive year. Bobby Isaac laid down the hot lap in 1972, and Buddy Baker captured the top spot in 1973. Pearson, the defending race winner, qualified on the front row alongside Baker. Richard Petty timed third in his Hemi-powered STP Dodge, and Cale Yarborough and Bobby Allison rounded out the top five starters.

 

When Sunday's start rolled around, 60 cars took the green - SIXTY! Though the race didn't represent the largest starting field for a NASCAR race (see Darlington in the early 1950s and Daytona in the early 1960s), it certainly was the largest for the fastest track ever to occupy a slot on the Cup tour.

Baker seized the lead and pulled Yarborough and Allison with him. Pearson lagged back just a tick as the early pace developed. 

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With the 60-car field, Baker needed only a few laps to catch the rear of the field and begin lapping cars. The caution waved as the leaders crossed the start-finish line to complete the 10th lap. Ramo Stott had blown an engine coming off turn two. Though he coasted to the grass off the backstretch to get out of the way, he left a long trail of oil. NASCAR's policy in that era was to not only race back to the caution but to also continue doing so until they caught up to the pace car. Before drivers could react and crack the throttle, about 20 cars spun in Stott's oil and wrecked badly enough to send up a curtain of impenetrable dust and smoke. 

Contemporary fans have come to expect The Big One during races at Daytona and Talladega. To that point in only Talladega's fifth season, however, no one had seen the hot mess that unfolded on the backstretch. The wreck wiped out pole-winner Baker, Yarborough, and Allison from the top five starters. It also ensnared 1973 rookie of the year candidate (and eventual winner) Lennie Pond, Ron Keselowski (Brad's uncle), and several independents. 

Wendell Scott got the worst of it with a broken leg, pelvis, and ribs. He was hospitalized for over a month, and the wreck effectively ended his racing career. He returned just once more to race in the National 500 at Charlotte that fall. 

Petty avoided the wreck, but he ran over some debris and damaged the underside of his car. Though he returned to make a few more laps, the King parked it for good around lap 50. 

Pearson took over the lead when the thinned field returned to racing. He had wriggled through the wreck but knew many of his fellow competitors had been involved in the wreck. His Wood Brothers crew didn't volunteer any information - and Pearson didn't ask. He raced the rest of the day not knowing who may have been injured or worse.

After Pearson surrendered the lead after 15 laps to pit, Charles Barrett took over the lead in only his second career Cup start. Barrett raced a Ford fielded by George Elliott, father of Bill Elliott and grandfather of Chase Elliott. Barrett's short-lived lead was followed by nice showings from drivers unaccustomed to time at the front including J.D. McDuffie, Coo Coo Marlin, and Cecil Gordon. 

Rookie Darrell Waltrip then found his way to the lead and paced the field for an impressive 26 laps before his Mercury's engine failed well shy of the race's halfway mark. Though he led a sizable chunk of laps in 1973, DW's frustration grew as his streak of engine failures and poor Talladega finishes grew to three. (As an aside, Waltrip finished P7 in that summer's Talladega 500.)

 

With most of the big dogs wrecked or otherwise on their trailers early, Pearson took over to dominate the relatively-quiet second half of the race. Perhaps fittingly though, the race finished under caution when Vic Parsons wrecked with three laps to go. 

Pearson led 96 of the race's final 102 laps - including the final three under caution. He notched his 71st career win, won his second consecutive Winston 500, and extended his 1973 winning streak to five.

Source: Winston Cup Museum

Source: Anniston Star

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April 29, 1973 - Martinsville's Virginia 500

The ninth race of NASCAR's 1973 Winston Cup season was the Virginia 500 at the iconic Martinsville Speedway.

Source: Motor Racing Programme Covers

Two weeks earlier, David Pearson won the Rebel 400 at Darlington. After the tour skipped the next weekend for Easter, Pearson picked up where he left off by winning the pole at Martinsville in the Wood Brothers Mercury. 

Donnie Allison qualified alongside Pearson in the #88 DiGard Chevy. Independent Cecil Gordon timed third - a start that was his second career best and topped only by a P2 start at Bristol a few weeks earlier. Bobby Allison and Richard Petty rounded out the top five starters.

The King made his first Martinsville start in a Dodge. A year earlier at Martinsville, Petty Enterprises announced Petty would begin a switch from Plymouth to Dodge. The 43 team continued to run a Plymouth on short tracks the rest of 1972 and began using the Dodge Charger on superspeedways. The team went all-in with the Charger in 1973.  

The year got off to a pretty good start with three wins in the first eight races - including King's fourth Daytona 500 victory. The team, however, also had three DNFs due to engine failures in that same time span.

When the green dropped, Pearson hugged the inside and led the first 60 or so laps. The Allisons never had a shot at keeping pace with him. Bobby fell out on lap 31 with engine woes followed by Donnie about 15 laps later with a similar issue.

Sixth place starter Cale Yarborough's engine, however, was just fine. After Pearson's initial stint, Cale went to the point and paced the field for 311 of the next 333 laps.

As short a day as the Allison's had, Richard Brown's day was even worse. The independent driver lost power after only 15 laps and loaded his car for the trip home. Brown himself wasn't done though - but perhaps he should have been. Fellow independent Ed Negre needed a relief driver around the midpoint of the race, and Brown belted in to the #8 Mercury to assist. Shortly after returning to the track, however, Brown stuck the car in the fence. 

Credit: Bryant McMurray / UNC Charlotte Murrey Atkins Library

The official reason for Negre's DNF was "suspension", but it's unclear if the suspension failure happened before or after Brown walloped the wall. Two years later, Negre put another driver with far less experience than Brown in his car at Charlotte. That driver was Dale Earnhardt who made his Cup debut in the 1975 World 600.

Edit: Negre's son, Norman Negre recalled this great story from that day via Twitter.

Dad was driving. It started smoking, and he came in and tried to fix it. He then went to the garage and told me to fix it. Valve covers were cracked, and I replaced them. Then I couldn’t find Dad. Richard was out of the race so I asked him to make a lap see if the smoke was gone. He stuck it right in the wall.

I walked around to the car. Richard got out and said the throttle stuck. Walking back to the pits, Dad was standing there with his arms crossed - mad - and he started chewing me out. Richard said "Ed, it’s not his fault. The throttle stuck."

Dad said "It’s been sticking. I’ve been flipping the switch all day." I said "you didn’t tell me the throttle had been sticking, Besides that, where were you???" He said "I was in the bathroom." His story is he was sitting there, heard the wreck, and then "Ed Negre is in the wall!!!" Dad thinks to himself "I’m in the bathroom. They must have the wrong guy."

That’s the story why Richard Brown was driving the car at Martinsville!

As Cale led lap after lap, Pearson's day started to come unwound. Around the time Brown shortened up Negre's car, Pearson's gas cap came off - a safety no-no. For a few decades, NASCAR has mandated a dump can connection system. In the early 1970s, however, teams still used conventional filler necks and gas caps which had to remain in place. The loss of Pearson's gas cap resulted in an unscheduled stop and loss of a lap to Yarborough. Shortly thereafter, Pearson lost a second lap when he cut a tire and made another unscheduled stop.

About the time Yarborough's long stretch of leading ended for a moment, Petty's day ended for good. The King had won 11 of the previous 14 races at Martinsville, but the Dodge debut didn't go well. Instead of adding a fourth win to his 1973 resume, the record books reflect a fourth DNF due to engine failure.

Credit: Bryant McMurray / UNC Charlotte Murrey Atkins Library

Pearson earned back one of his two laps under a caution, but Yarborough's dominance began to suggest he would not get a shot at unlapping himself a second time. But then...

As Cale was prepared to make a green flag stop, the seventh yellow flag of the day flew. The caution was needed to allow an ambulance to cross the track with a fan showing signs of heat stroke, a heart attack or some related medical emergency. 

Yarborough and car owner Junior Johnson were incensed at the timing of the caution. Though they likely didn't have all the facts at the moment, they believed the timing was suspect and were beyond frustrated that NASCAR didn't give the teams a heads-up so they could plan pit strategy accordingly.

Pearson was able to get back on the lead lap during the caution but still needed to get around Yarborough to take the lead. Twenty or so laps later, he did just that. As it did to start the race, the #21 Mercury led another sizable stretch of laps until about 60 laps to go. 

Following the final caution of the day, Yarborough got the jump on Pearson as the racing resumed. He led a lap but then washed up in turn one allowing Pearson to slide back under him for the lead. For the rest of the day, Cale's #11 Chevy rolled in the tire tracks of Pearson in an effort to close a race in which he'd dominated.

Credit: Bryant McMurray / UNC Charlotte Murrey Atkins Library

With about eight laps to go, Yarborough made his final move. He dove to Pearson's inside, but he clipped the grass and spun. By the time he gathered his car to head in the right direction, he was a half-lap behind. Pearson cruised the rest of the way to notch his 70th career win - and his only one at Martinsville.

His win earned the Wood Brothers their second Martinsville victory. In a coincidental bit of trivia, their first one was claimed in 1968 with Yarborough at the wheel with Pearson finishing second in his Holman Moody Ford.

Cale could not be convinced he gave back two laps to Pearson with the way he ran all day. And to add insult to injury, the trophy presented to him for leading the most laps was from the Dogwood 500 modified race scheduled a month earlier. The race had been rained out and rescheduled for May, and the track may have mixed the trophies following April's Cup race. One has to wonder if Jerry Cook got Cale's trophy when he led the most laps en route to winning the modified race.

Credit: Bryant McMurray / UNC Charlotte Murrey Atkins Library

Source: Spartanburg Herald

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April 15, 1973 - Darlington's Rebel 500

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

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April 11, 1976: Darlington's Rebel 500

The eighth race of NASCAR's 1976 Winston Cup Series schedule was the Rebel 500 at Darlington Raceway.

Though the season was seven races old, the story to that point was the Wood Brothers team with David Pearson. The team entered only four of the first seven races, yet Pearson won three of the four at Riverside, the Daytona 500, and Atlanta. Pearson arrived in Darlington having also won three of the past four Rebel 500 races.

Richard Petty, grew a beard in conjunction with the year-long celebration of the United States' bicentennial. After growing and showing in the legendary finish of the '76 Daytona 500 with Pearson and in victory lane two weeks later at Rockingham, The King caved and shaved during the week before Darlington.

To the surprise of ... well, no one actually, Pearson won the pole. He won it for the third consecutive Darlington race and the fourth of the five previous Rebel races. Bobby Allison, the winner of both of Darlington's races in 1975, timed alongside Pearson in Roger Penske's CAM2 Mercury.

Fans were treated to a great race from the jump. Pearson led the first lap but was soon passed by Allison. Pearson battled back a couple of laps later to regain the lead, but his time there was once again short lived. 

Others soon battled past Pearson and Allison to take their own turns at the point. Buddy Baker, Donnie Allison, Lennie Pond, Darrell Waltrip, Dave Marcis, Benny Parsons, Cale Yarborough and Petty all muscled their way to join Pearson and Bobby Allison at the front at some point during the first two-thirds of the race. Throughout the day, fans witnessed 32 lead changes - a stat generally expected at other tracks such as Daytona or Talladega.

The race featured a couple of brutal accidents - though fortunately none of the drivers involved were seriously injured. Shortly past the 80th lap, independent racer James Hylton spun and was clipped by Buddy Baker. As Hylton's car swapped ends, Waltrip had nowhere to go and drilled the nose of Hylton's 48 hard enough to launch his Gatorade Chevy a bit. Both were done for the day. 

Early leader Bobby Allison also nicked Hylton. He was able to continue but was no longer competitive. Baker damaged the nose and hood of his Bud Moore Ford, but the team made some battlefield repairs that allowed the car to remain competitive the rest of the way.

About a hundred laps later, Jerry Sisco lost it coming off turn four. He popped the outside wall along the front straightway, crossed the track near the flag stand, drilled the inside pit wall, and came to a stop as flames began to emerge from the car.

Credit: Gerald Medford

Sisco's car came to rest near the Petty pit stall. Crew chief Dale Inman and crewman (and future crew chief) Barry Dodson instinctively rushed to Sisco's aid. They leapt the pit wall and pulled Sisco to safety before rescue crews arrived.

Credit: Don Hunter / Smyle Media

Sisco, the brother of Cup racer and 1969 Nashville late model sportsman champion Dave Sisco, had only three Cup starts on his resume prior to Darlington. With the hit and near miss, his Cup days ended after his fourth one. 

Though Sisco did not return to NASCAR, his racing days continued. He returned in the early 1980s to race in the Grand American Division at Nashville's Fairgrounds Speedway. Sterling Marlin's streak of consecutive track championships ended at three when Sisco won the title himself in 1983. He was later inducted into Nashville's Hall of Fame in 2012.

Car owner Wayne Day, Nashville PR Director Tom Roberts, and
1983 Grand American track champion Jerry Sisco
Source: Tom Roberts

By the time the race reached it's final 100 laps, the Track Too Tough To Tame had taken its toll on many. Ol' DW was nursing some bruises from his tough hit on James Hylton. Bobby Allison hung in as best he could after also tangling with Hylton. Cale Yarborough's engine failed around lap 170, and Richard Petty's Dodge suffered the same fate about 30 laps later.

Buddy Baker, however, was still up on the wheel. Despite the damage suffered in the Hylton crash, he remained in the hunt. He and Pearson swapped the lead several times in the second half of the race - with Baker leading most of them. 

With about 20 laps, Parsons looped his car to bring out the final caution of the day. At the time of the yellow, Baker had once again gone to the front, led a sizable chunk of laps, and gapped second place running Pearson a bit. 

As the race returned to green, Pearson had a renewed opportunity. With about 10 to go, he eased the Purolator Mercury past Baker's Ford and continued to win yet another time at Darlington. Though Baker wasn't happy with P2, he had to be pleased at leading over 200 of the race's 367 laps - most of them with a damaged car.

Pearson's 91st career win was also his sixth at Darlington and fourth of the past five Rebel races.

 

Embed from Getty Images

Source: Charlotte Observer

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April 7, 1974 - Darlington's Rebel 500

NASCAR's seventh race of its 1974 season was the Rebel 500 at Darlington Raceway - except it wasn't.

Source: Motor Racing Programme Covers

As was the case for about the first half of the 1974 season, NASCAR trimmed its race distances by 10 percent in response to the US energy crisis. Darlington's spring race, therefore, was only 450  miles - though it remained billed as the Rebel 500. 

Donnie Allison captured the pole in a DiGard Chevy recently purchased from Banjo Matthews. The pole was his second in three races after also starting first at Bristol. Donnie's top spot was a mild surprise as he bumped David Pearson to the second spot in the legendary Wood Brothers Mercury. Pearson had won the pole in three of the past four Darlington races - including both races in 1973.

Bobby Allison and Buddy Baker comprised the second row, and Dave Marcis completed the top five starters in Roger Penske's AMC Matador.

Richard Petty timed tenth - not the best starting spot but certainly not the worst. Hershel McGriff entered the race in a second Petty Enterprises-prepared Dodge Charger. McGriff raced in Darlington's first race in 1950. After a couple of days of practice that didn't yield the speed needed to be competitive, the team withdrew from the race without making a legit qualifying run. 

The Allison brothers tag-teamed to lead the first 25 laps. Pearson soon rose to the occasion to pocket 25 laps of his own out front. Baker banked about 15 laps for himself as the race neared its one-third mark.

The race featured three pretty frightening accidents. Around lap 60, 1973 Winston Cup Champion Benny Parsons spun and was drilled by Bobby Isaac. Fortunately, neither were injured.

The second major incident happened about 60 laps later when journeyman racer Johnny Barnes lost an engine. James Hylton hammered Barnes in the driver's side door. After being briefly knocked out, Barnes was treated and released from a nearby hospital without any serious injuries. Just rub some dirt on that noggin, son. It'll be a'ight. 

The third major accident occurred around lap 215 when Lennie Pond, the 1973 Rookie of the Year, blew an engine and wiped out about 20 feet of guardrail including six fence posts. Pond was OK, but NASCAR red-flagged the race for about 40 minutes as safety crews made repairs to the railing.

After the three major hits, Joe Frasson brought a good bit of levity to everyone as the red flag was lifted. The long-time independent racer made a beeline for Pearson's #21 Mercury rather than return to his own car. Pearson had to wrangle the sizable Frasson from his seat so everyone could return to racing action.

The second half of the race featured great racing action between the Allison brothers, Buddy Baker, and Pearson. Though they raced for different teams and manufacturers, the one thing they had in common - at least the Allisons and Pearson - was a smaller engine. 

As Detroit's engines changed in passenger cars, NASCAR began a similar transition. Dodge racers such as Petty and Baker continued to race the famed Hemi engine. NASCAR, however, mandated the engines be fitted with a restrictor plate. The Allisons and Pearson; however, raced with smaller cubic-inch engines - but without a plate. It became apparent the smaller, unrestricted engine - along with less nose weight - made a big difference.

Though Petty's Hemi had been a powerful beast for 10 years, it gave up the ghost just past the race's two-thirds mark.

With 50 laps to go, Donnie Allison and Baker faded a bit. The battle narrowed to just Bobby Allison and Pearson. Each took a turn leading a double-digit number of laps before the other returned - all as both managed their fuel mileage. Pearson re-assumed the lead for the final time with 11 laps to go when Bobby's engine sputtered a bit as he sought every last fuel drop. Allison barely held onto P2 as Baker charged hard in a failed effort to pass him for the position.

Pearson's 78th career win was also his third Rebel win in a row and fourth in five years.

Audio of Universal Racing Network's radio broadcast of the race is available on Appalachian State's library website. 

Source: Sumter Daily Item

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April 1, 1973 - Atlanta 500

NASCAR's 1973 Winston Cup season opened with wins by its heavy hitters, although one was a veteran of only five Cup starts. 

• Mark Donohue - a superstar driver but with only a handful of NASCAR starts - won the season opening race on Riverside, California's road course giving Roger Penske his first win as a NASCAR Cup owner. 
• Richard Petty won the next two races - the Daytona 500 and Richmond 500.
• David Pearson dominated the Carolina 500 at Rockingham by leading 491 of 492 laps.
• Cale Yarborough topped Pearson by one lap by leading all 500 laps of the Southeastern 500 at Bristol. 

The circuit remained in the south for the sixth race of the season, the Atlanta 500, at Atlanta International Raceway.

 

As has frequently been the case at Atlanta over the decades, the story of the first couple of days of race week was rain. The first round of qualifying was scheduled for Thursday, but rain negated all on-track activities. The drivers returned Friday, and the cars were pushed to pit road even though the prospects of completing the round seemed bleak. Sure enough, rain arrived again after only a couple of cars made their laps. The rest of the day was scratched as was the final attempt on Saturday. 

Unlike today's era where NASCAR has an established policy for setting a race's line-up when qualifying cannot be held, no such procedure existed in 1973. Instead, NASCAR divided the entrants into two buckets and randomly drew the starting order from each. The first group included the 17 drivers NASCAR viewed as the quickest. Not so coincidentally, the "quickest" also included the most popular drivers, those most likely to win, those with more prominent sponsors, etc. 

The remaining entrants were put in a second drawing which didn't exactly go over well with some of the group who believed they deserved consideration for the first group. The driver most notably upset about the ad-hoc process was a rookie originally from Owensboro, Kentucky named Darrell Waltrip.

Waltrip was especially bent after drawing the 39th starting spot and thinking he should have started no worse than 17th. Through some off-track dealing with another driver, Waltrip took the green flag from the 18th spot. 

Following the draw, NASCAR official Lin Kuchler acknowledged Waltrip should have been in the first group. Once the line-up was set though, it was too late to make the change. To borrow a line from Goodfellas: 

We had a problem, and we tried to do everything we could. And we couldn't do nothing about it. That's it.

Source: The Tennessean

As the drivers found ways to spend three days watching rain, The King made some use of his extra time. He crafted makeshift heel pads for his boots from a Styrofoam cup. Petty burned his heels the previous Sunday as he pursued Cale all day at Bristol.

With that, Richard ... dismounted from the big, Petty-blue tractor cab, heading for the track's infield restaurant, the Caution Café, where the lunch menu offered country fried steak, turnip greens and cherry cobbler for only $2. Petty limped as he walked, favoring his right leg.

"Yep," he said, "burned my heel good up at Bristol, Tennessee last weekend. Engine exhaust through the floorboards. Nothin' I could do about it - it was like some cat was down there with a blowtorch, treatin' me to a blister. A lot of folks, they sort of think race drivers aren't athaletes, that the car does all the work. Now in a pro football game, the ball's in play for only about six or seven minutes, and there's two squads to split the time, offense and defense. A race driver's workin' for three or four hours with no time-outs, and his life is on the line every second. Oh, they get bunged up good, those ballplayers, but I don't believe they ever get a hotfoot like this un."

Then, while the rain still poured down on the blossoming dogwoods of northwest Georgia, Richard cut out a couple of pads from a Styrofoam coffee cup to protect his sore heel and sat back to await [Andy] Granatelli's arrival. If he winced at all while he waited, it was probably his heel talking. - Sports Illustrated

USAC Indy Car regular Gordon Johncock drew the top starting spot. Johncock piloted Hoss Ellington's Chevy with a one-time, unique sponsor: L'eggs panty hose. Bobby Isaac started second in Bud Moore's Ford. Jim Vandiver, Yarborough, and Benny Parsons rounded out the top five starters.

Isaac, Yarborough, and Parsons were regular NASCAR competitors and consistently ran up front. Ellington's car was always quick even though its Atlanta driver had few NASCAR starts on his resume. Vandiver, however, wasn't neither a Cup regular or a consistently quick car. Yet he was included in the 17-driver group for the first drawing. His inclusion, along with a couple of others, likely added to DW's bitterness of having to sit at the kid's table for the second drawing. 

The driver with whom Waltrip swapped spots was Charles Barrett who was making his Cup debut. Barrett, a Georgia late model racer, started the race in a George Elliott-owned #09 Ford. A few years later, Elliott began fielding Fords with his sons, Bill, Ernie, and Dan.

When the race got underway on a rainless Sunday afternoon, Yarborough was the early lap bully. He seized the lead on lap one and pulled the field around the 1.5 mile oval for the next 40 laps. Pearson, Petty, and Isaac then took turns at the point before Cale returned to lead another 30 laps or so. 

Pearson began to tip the laps led ledger a bit more his way as he led a stretch of 43 of 50 laps as the race neared the one-third mark.

As Pearson and Yarborough jousted at the front, Petty hung around with plans to seize the lead again if the top two couldn't hang at the front. Instead, it was the 43's engine that left the party early. Petty puked a motor a few laps shy of halfway. His STP Dodge swapped ends, and he drilled the guardrail as former teammate Buddy Baker and Waltrip spun behind him. Petty nearly sailed over the fence and seemed headed for nearby McDonough, GA as Baker and Waltrip continued. 

With the King out of the picture, the Timmonsville Flash and Silver Fox continued to wage battle over the next 100 laps. For the most part, neither driver could hold the lead for more than a few laps before the other returned to the point. 

As the race entered its final triad, Yarborough's Chevrolet gained the upper hand. He overtook Pearson and returned to the lead with about 100 laps to go and stayed there for the next 40+ laps.

With just a bit more than 50 laps to go, however, Yarborough blew a hammy - in a manner of speaking. Smoke began to bellow from his car, and he faded from the front. Pearson once again reassumed the lead, and he cruised the remaining laps in his Wood Brothers Mercury to capture his 68th career victory. 

Isaac finished the day as he started it - in second place. Parsons finished third - a finish that paid big dividends as he eventually won the 1973 Winston Cup title. Baker recovered from the spin in Petty's wreck to finish fourth in his Harry Hyde-prepared Dodge. And despite all his late race woes, Yarborough still managed to hang around long enough to eke out a P5.

Other finishers of note:

• After winning the season-opener at Riverside, the Atlanta race turned out to be Mark Donahue's final Cup start. He finished a less-than-memorable 30th after losing an engine. Sadly, he died two years later following an accident during a practice session for the Austrian Grand Prix.
• The race was also the final Cup start for Pete Hamilton, the 1968 NASCAR Grand National Rookie of the Year. Hamilton won three races in 1970 - all in the #40 Petty Enterprises Plymouth Superbird - and his 125-mile qualifying race for the Daytona 500 in 1971 for long-time owner Cotton Owens. He continued to be involved in motorsports over the years - particularly with southern late model drivers.
• Charles Barrett finished 18th in his Cup debut - right where he would have started had he not traded spots with Waltrip. 

Source: Atlanta Constitution

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