1973 Charlotte Motor Speedway Events

1973 National 500
The images in this collection document events associated with the 1973 National 500, a NASCAR Winston Cup series event that was held on October 7, 1973, at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. Cale Yarborough, driver of the no. 11 Chevrolet for Richard Howard, finished first in the race, beating Richard Petty by only 1.4 seconds. Yarborough led 257 of 334 laps in the event. Other finishers in the top ten were Bobby Allison, Benny Parsons, Dick Trickle, Lennie Pond, Buddy Arrington, Elmo Langley, Cecil Gordon, and Henley Gray. The time of race was 03:26:58. The margin of victory was 1.4 seconds. The average speed of the event was 145.24 mph. The pole winning speed was 158.315 mph. After it was discovered that Charlie Glotzbach, the first driver to qualify for first pole position, had improperly modified his restrictor plate, Glotzbach's team was fined $500. David Pearson, who had initially qualified second, was then awarded first pole. Glotzbach appears in several images in the collection.
1973 World 600
The images in this collection document events associated with the 1973 World 600, a Winston Cup Series event that was held on May 27, 1973, at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, with 85,000 spectators in attendance. 40 drivers participated. The average speed of the race was 134.89 mph, while the pole speed was 158.051 mph. There were 23 lead changes. Buddy Baker won the race, outpacing David Pearson by 1.8 seconds. Other drivers finishing in the top ten were Cale Yarborough, Bobby Isaac, Benny Parsons, Jim Vandiver, Darrell Waltrip, Cecil Gordon, Dick Brooks, and David Sisco. Peter Gregg made his only NASCAR Cup Series start in this event.