1973 Winston Western 500


The 1973 Winston Western 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that was held on January 21, 1973, at Riverside International Raceway in Riverside, California.
The race was won by Mark Donohue. It would be his only win of the season. It was AMC's first win in the Grand National/Winston Cup series as a manufacturer since April 1, 1951.

Pre-race

Before race Sunday, there were concerns about the health of Bobby Allison. As the race began, a report from the pits stated that Allison was feeling 'much better' than he had been, and hoped to complete at least half the race on his own, without resorting to a relief driver in his brother, Donnie Allison.
John Hren was the only driver who failed to qualify for the race.

Race

drove an AMC Matador featured a set of disc brakes – new for NASCAR racing at the time – and led 138 laps en route to the win. David Pearson won the pole but never led and fell out with clutch failure, while Richard Petty started fifth and led 39 laps before his engine failed while leading on Lap 95. Bobby Allison finished second driving a self-fielded Chevrolet following a surprise divorce from the Richard Howard team. Cale Yarborough, new driver for Howard's team with the cars renumbered to #11, fell out with transmission failure.