The 1973 Richmond 500 was a NASCAR

NASCAR

The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...

 Winston Cup Series (now Sprint Cup Series) racing event that took place on February 25, 1973 at Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway

Richmond International Raceway

Richmond International Raceway is a 3/4-mile , D-shaped, asphalt race track located just outside Richmond, Virginia in Henrico County. It hosts the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and Nationwide Series...

 (now Richmond International Raceway) in the American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 community of Richmond

Richmond, Virginia

Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...

, Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

.

Five hundred laps took place on a paved oval track spanning 0.542 mile (0.87226228 km) for a grand total of 271 miles (436.1 km). It took three hours and thirty-seven minutes for the race to reach its full conclusion in front of eighteen thousand audience members. Richard Petty

Richard Petty

Richard Lee Petty is a former NASCAR driver who raced in the Strictly Stock/Grand National Era and the NASCAR Winston Cup Series...

 defeated Buddy Baker

Buddy Baker

Elzie Wylie Baker, Jr. , nicknamed "Leadfoot" or more famously Buddy, is a former American NASCAR racecar driver.-Early life:...

 by 13.6 seconds. Eight cautions were given for seventy-eight laps. The other drivers in the top ten were: Cale Yarborough

Cale Yarborough

William Caleb "Cale" Yarborough , is a farmer, businessman and former NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver and owner. He is one of only two drivers in NASCAR history to win three consecutive championships...

, Bobby Isaac

Bobby Isaac

Bobby Isaac is a former NASCAR Grand National champion.-Early life:Isaac grew up on a farm near Catawba, North Carolina, the second youngest of nine children...

, Dave Marcis

Dave Marcis

Dave Marcis is a retired driver on the NASCAR Winston Cup circuit whose career spanned five decades. Marcis won five times over this tenure, twice at Richmond, including his final win in 1982...

, Bill Dennis

Bill Dennis

Bill Dennis is a former NASCAR driver and rookie of the year in the Grand National Series .-Racing career:...

, Lennie Pond

Lennie Pond

Lennie Pond is a former NASCAR driver. He won NASCAR Winston Cup Rookie of the Year honors in 1973, and won his only race at Talladega Superspeedway in 1978 for Ronnie Elder and Harry Ranier....

, Cecil Gordon

Cecil Gordon

Cecil Gordon was a NASCAR driver. He is not related to Sprint Cup driver Jeff Gordon although the two drivers drove in car number 24....

, James Hylton

James Hylton

James Harvey Hylton is a part-time race car driver. He is a two-time winner in NASCAR and competes in the ARCA RE/MAX Series,finishing 16th in points in 2006. He made headlines while attempting to qualify for the 2007 Daytona 500 at age 72...

, and Benny Parsons

Benny Parsons

Benjamin Stewart Parsons was an American NASCAR driver, and later an announcer/analyst on TBS, ESPN, NBC and TNT...

. Notable speeds were: 74.764 mi/h as the average speed and 90.952 mi/h as the pole position

Pole position

The term "pole position", as used in motorsports, comes from the horse racing term where the number one starter starts on the inside next to the inside pole. The term made its way, along with several other customs, to auto racing. In circuit motorsports, a driver has pole position when he or she...

 speed. Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 driver Vic Parsons

Vic Parsons

Vic Parsons is a retired NASCAR driver from Willowdale, Ontario, Canada . He competed in nineteen Winston Cup Series events in his career with seven top-tens.-Cup career:...

 started in 27th place and ended the race in 30th place (out of 30 drivers).

Total winnings for this race were $35,600 ($ in today's money).

Finishing order

1. Richard Petty
2. Buddy Baker
3. Cale Yarborough
4. Bobby Isaac†
5. Dave Marcis
6. Bill Dennis
7. Lennie Pond
8. Cecil Gordon
9. James Hylton
10. Benny Parsons†
11. Walter Ballard
    Walter Ballard
    Walter Ballard is a former NASCAR Winston Cup driver from Houston, Texas.He made a single Grand National start in 1966 and did not return to the series until 1971 when he ran a nearly full season in a car owned by his father Vic capturing 11 top tens on his way to Rookie of the Year honors and a...
    
    
12. Elmo Langley
    Elmo Langley
    Elmo Langley was a NASCAR driver and owner. Langley primarily used the number "64" on his race cars during his NASCAR career.-Racing career:...
    
    †
13. Jabe Thomas
    Jabe Thomas
    Cerry Ezra "Jabe" Thomas is a retired NASCAR Grand National and Winston Cup Series driver who competed from the mid 1960s through the late 1970s. His son Ronnie was also a NASCAR Cup Series driver; competing from 1977 to 1989.-Career:Thomas drove 75243 laps of racing and earned $295,497 in total...
    
    
14. Bill Champion
    Bill Champion
    Buford Billy Champion , is a retired American professional baseball player, a right-handed pitcher who played in 202 games in the Major Leagues from -. He would play for the Milwaukee Brewers and Philadelphia Phillies.-External links:...
    
    
15. Bobby Allison
    Bobby Allison
    Robert Arthur Allison is a former NASCAR Winston Cup driver and was named one of NASCAR's 50 greatest drivers. His two sons, Clifford Allison and Davey Allison followed him into racing, and both died within a year of each other....
    
    
16. Henley Gray
    Henley Gray
    Henley Gray is a retired NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver whose career spanned from 1964 to 1977.-Summary:...
    
    
17. Buddy Arrington
    Buddy Arrington
    Buddy Arrington is a retired NASCAR Grand National/Winston Cup driver.- Biography :...
    
    
18. Charlie Roberts
    Charlie Roberts
    Charles "Charlie" Roberts was an English footballer.-Playing career:Born in Darlington, Roberts started his football career with Bishop Auckland, but soon moved to Grimsby Town....
    
    
19. John Sears†
20. Richard D. Brown*
21. Sonny Hutchins
    Sonny Hutchins
    Ernest Lloyd "Sonny" Hutchins was a stock car driver who raced in NASCAR's Grand National/Winston Cup Series from 1955 to 1974. He died in 2005.-External links:*...
    
    *†
22. Frank Warren
    Frank Warren (NASCAR driver)
    Frank Warren is a retired NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver who raced from 1963 to 1980.Out of 88863 laps finished in his career, Warren had led 72 of them. Warren's total career earnings were $625,886 and while his average finish was 20th place in his entire career. The total amount of miles...
    
    *†
23. Tiny Lund
    Tiny Lund
    DeWayne Louis "Tiny" Lund was a NASCAR driver. He was ironically nicknamed "Tiny" due to his rather large and imposing size.-Background:...
    
    *†
24. Neil Castles
    Neil Castles
    Neil "Soapy" Castles is a retired NASCAR Grand National and Winston Cup Series driver that participate from 1957 to 1976.-History:...
    
    *
25. Donnie Allison
    Donnie Allison
    Dunkiny "Donnie" Allison is a former driver on the NASCAR Grand National/Winston Cup circuit, who won ten times during his racing career, which spanned the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s. He was part of the "Alabama Gang," and is the brother of 1983 champion Bobby Allison and uncle of Davey Allison...
    
    *
26. Ray Hendrick
    Ray Hendrick
    Ray Hendrick , was known as "Mr. Modified" during his 36-year career in motorsports mainly in the modified stock car racing class....
    
    *†
27. Dean Dalton*
28. David Sisco
    David Sisco
    David Sisco is a retired NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver who has led 98 laps out of the 33668 that he raced in his entire career. Sisco also managed to earn $251,359 in his seven-year NASCAR career . His average starting position is 22nd place while he managed to finish in 19th place on average...
    
    *
29. J.D. McDuffie
    J.D. McDuffie
    John Delphus McDuffie was a NASCAR Winston Cup driver. He raced in the top division of NASCAR from 1963 to 1991. McDuffie had 106 top-tens in his Cup Series career...
    
    *†
30. Vic Parsons*

* Driver failed to finish race

† signifies that the driver is known to be deceased