The 1973 Winston 500 was the tenth round of the 1973 NASCAR Winston Cup Series, which was held on May 6, 1973, at Alabama International Motor Speedway (AIMS) – now Talladega Superspeedway – in Talladega, Alabama.

The race was won by David Pearson, with his car being the only one on the lead lap at the end of the race.

Also notable was a fourth-place finish by Clarence Lovell, This was Lovell's best career finish and his only finish in the top five of a NASCAR Cup race. Lovell would die five days later on May 11, in a single vehicle truck accident.

Eddie Yarboro fell out of this race with a mechanical issue in the opening laps before the "Big One." This was Yarboro's only Cup start of the season and his last in the series.Driver Eddie Yarboro 1973 NASCAR Winston Cup Series Results at Racing Reference

Background For the 1973 Winston 500 race, the usual starting field of 50 was expanded to 60 by track management, and this would later prove controversial due to events in the race. Factions in the NASCAR management wanted to have a larger field that'd attract more fans to watch the races, and that a larger field with a bigger purse would catch the eyes of more teams. Of course, they were warned that starting 60 cars would be a strain at the track, and might be potentially hazardous for drivers (even when compared to NASCAR in the 21st century), but the NASCAR management ignored it, and, it resulted in this infamous race.

Summary

Pre-race ceremonies Then Alabama governor George Wallace would be named the grand marshal for the event, while his wife Cornelia Wallace would drive the pace car. Before the race, George, who ten years earlier had tried to lead the Stand in the Schoolhouse Door, put out his hand to the only black driver racing that day, Wendell Scott. The two shook hands, and a photographer took a picture. Scott succinctly said, "Times change."Circle Track magazine article, Aug. 1987

"The Big One"

On lap 9, Ramo Stott's engine let go, dumping oil onto the speedway's asphalt. Wendell Scott, behind him, spun out, and both cars skidded into Talladega's infield, creating a massive cloud of dirt and dust. The combination of oil on the track and suddenly limited visibility caused a massive pileup. 23 cars were involved.

One contemporary recorded film account called it "The worst accident in NASCAR history", in terms of the number of cars involved.

All drivers were able to leave their cars under their own power. Buddy Baker and Cale Yarborough were eliminated, and when they got out of their cars they had to dodge additional cars crashing around them. Some drivers did have injuries. Several received lacerations; Earl Brooks had a broken hand, Joe Frasson had shoulder injuries, and Slick Gardner suffered a knee injury. Wendell Scott, who was covered in blood everywhere on his body, would suffer the worst injuries: a fractured left leg, fractured pelvis in numerous places, broke three ribs, ripped most of the skin from his left forearm, and would seriously injure his right kidney. His arm bone was also visible and poking out, according to Frank Scott, Wendell's son. The crash would ultimately lead to Scott's retirement.

Bobby Allison, one of the drivers eliminated in the lap 9/10 wreck, later ripped the track's management for the field size of 60 set by track management - "They (filled the field) all right, all over the backstretch." Joe Frasson, already bloodied said "I hope to hell France is happy. NASCAR had no business starting 60 cars."

Cleanup from the wreck proceeded under 37 laps of a yellow flag, lasting one hour and five minutes. 19 cars were eliminated outright. A few others, including that of Richard Petty, were repaired and eventually ran more laps.

David Pearson lost the lead draft and Buddy Baker said that Pearson fouled out the spark plugs on his Mercury and then got them replaced under the lengthy yellow.

After the wreck On lap 73, the engine of D. K. Ulrich's car dumped oil onto the track and caused another caution. Before this caution was over, Darrell Waltrip's car was retired due to a blown piston.

Pearson's number 21 car had little competition after the large lap 9 accident. He stretched out a very wide lead by the end of the race.

On lap 185, Vic Parsons' engine failed, and his car slipped in the dumped oil, causing a crash, with the race ending under yellow. Pearson was the only car on the lead lap at the end of the 500 miles.

Race results Cautions: 4 for 54 laps

Margin of victory: 1 lap +

Lead changes: 13 Pos Grid Driver Team ManufacturerLaps Status Points 1221 David PearsonWood Brothers RacingMercury188 3:47:23 360 21708 Donnie AllisonDiGard MotorsportsChevrolet187 +1 lap 331.75 32072 Benny ParsonsDeWitt RacingChevrolet187 +1 lap 329.75 41261 Clarence LovellB & B RacingChevrolet185 +3 laps 325.25 51924 Cecil GordonR. W. Hill & SonsChevrolet184 +4 laps 322 61814 Coo Coo MarlinH. B. CunninghamChevrolet183+5 laps318.75 7525 Dick SimonFaustina RacingDodge182+6 laps315.5 81631 Jim VandiverO. L. Nixon RacingDodge182+6 laps313.5 93345 Vic ParsonsSiefert RacingMercury180Crash309 103009 Charles BarrettElliott RacingFord180+8 laps307 11298 Ed NegreNegre RacingDodge176+12 laps300 12240 Eddie BondBond RacingDodge175+13 laps296.75 133803 Tommy GaleGale RacingMercury172+16 laps291 144652 Earl RossBrooke RacingChevrolet167Ignition282.75 155125 Jabe ThomasRobertson RacingDodge167+21 laps280.75 16417 Dean DaltonDalton RacingMercury163+25 laps273.75 17492 Dave MarcisMarcis RacingDodge152+36 laps258 183170 J. D. McDuffieMcDuffie RacingChevrolet147Oil pan249.75 193764 Elmo LangleyLangley RacingFord142+46 laps241.5 20474 John SearsJ. Marvin Mills RacingDodge141+47 laps238.25 215635 Dick MayWalter Ballard RacingMercury139Engine233.75 222596 Richard ChildressGarn RacingChevrolet109Engine194.25 234822 Dick BrooksCrawford (Brothers) RacingPlymouth107Rear end189.75 243279 Frank WarrenWarren RacingDodge107Engine187.75 251483 Paul TylerReed RacingMercury90Engine164.5 26715 Bobby IsaacMoore RacingFord89Engine161.25 273989 Johnny BarnesHopper-Crews RacingMercury89Engine159.25 284447 Raymond WilliamsWilliams RacingFord84Engine151 294398 Mel LarsonLarson RacingChevrolet84Overheating149 304038 Tony Bettenhausen Jr.Van Liew RacingChevrolet79Windshield140.75 31895 Darrell WaltripWaltrip RacingMercury77Oil leak136.25 321597 Red FarmerHumphries RacingFord76Engine133 334240 D. K. UlrichUlrich RacingFord73Engine127.25 345019 Henley GrayGray RacingMercury68Clutch119 35343 Richard PettyPetty EnterprisesDodge51Crash95.75 362705 David SiscoSisco RacingChevrolet49Engine91.25 372610 Bill ChampionChampion RacingMercury32Engine68 38628 Gordon JohncockEllington RacingChevrolet23Crash54.75 39543 Alton JonesHawkersmith RacingChevrolet14No tires41.5 40171 Buddy BakerKrauskopf RacingDodge10Crash34.541411 Cale YarboroughHoward RacingChevrolet10Crash32.542512 Bobby AllisonAllison RacingChevrolet10Crash30.543918 Joe FrassonFrasson RacingDodge10Crash28.5441390 Ramo StottDonlavey RacingMercury9Engine25.25453448 James HyltonJames Hylton MotorsportsMercury9Crash23.25462354 Lennie PondElder RacingChevrolet9Crash21.25471175 Slick GardnerGardner RacingMercury9Crash19.25483530 Walter BallardVic Ballard RacingMercury9Crash17.25492167 Buddy ArringtonArrington RacingPlymouth9Crash15.25502288 Ron KeselowskiLubinski RacingDodge9Crash13.25511082 Bill WardBennett RacingChevrolet9Crash11.25525376 Ben ArnoldArnold RacingMercury9Crash11.25535977 Charlie RobertsRoberts RacingFord9Crash11.25546053 Bobby MausgroverHopper-Crews RacingFord9Crash11.25555834 Wendell ScottScott RacingMercury8Crash10565526 Earl BrooksBrooks RacingFord8Crash10575785 Ronnie DanielDaniel RacingChevrolet8Crash10583692 Larry SmithCarling (Black Label) RacingMercury8Crash1059286 Eddie YarboroYarboro RacingDodge4Vibration5604544 Richard D. BrownBrown RacingChevrolet1Windshield1.25DNQ -1 Neil BonnettKrauskopf RacingDodge -DNQ -49 John UtsmanSpencer RacingDodge -DNQ -84 Bob DavisDavis RacingDodge -Source:

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