| Year: | 1973 |
| Race Name: | Capital City 500 |
| Details Ref: | [1] |
| Type: | NASWINSTON |
| Race No: | 23 |
| Season No: | 28 |
| Official Name: | Capital City 500 |
| Location: | Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway, Richmond, Virginia |
| Course Mi: | 0.542 |
| Course Km: | 0.872 |
| Distance Laps: | 500 |
| Distance Mi: | 271 |
| Distance Km: | 436 |
| Weather: | Temperatures reaching of 82F; wind speeds of 7mph |
| Attendance: | 18,000[2] |
| Pole Driver: | Bobby Allison |
| Pole Team: | Bobby Allison Motorsports |
| Most Driver: | Richard Petty |
| Most Team: | Petty Enterprises |
| Most Laps: | 429 |
| Car: | 43 |
| First Driver: | Richard Petty |
| First Team: | Petty Enterprises |
The 1973 Capital City 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race that took place on September 9, 1973, at Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway (now Richmond Raceway) in Richmond, Virginia. Richard Petty won the race by two laps after leading 429 of 500 laps.
Richard Petty defeated Cale Yarborough by at least two laps in front of 18000 spectators; five of which were by at least one lap. After running second to Bobby Allison in the spring 1974 race, he won again in the fall 1974 and spring 1975 races, the latter by six laps.[2] [3] [4] It took four hours and thirteen minutes to finish the 500-lap race with the track spanning exactly 0.542miles.[2] Petty had won six other races at this track before extending his lucky streak to 7 at the end of this event.
Bobby Allison acquired the pole position with a qualifying speed of 90.245mph. The average race speed was 63.215mph.[2] Five cautions slowed the race for 123 laps.[2] Baxter Price finished in last-place due to a crash that also took out nine other cars at the start of lap 4.[2] [4] Out of the 34 races on the grid, 33 were born in the United States while Vic Parsons was born in Canada.[2] J.D. McDuffie, Richard Childress and Darrell Waltrip also participated in this race.[2] [3] [4]
Nearly a quarter of the race was run under the yellow flag despite the fact that there were only five caution periods during the race. There were threatening skies from the green flag; causing most of the race to be done under the yellow flag. No attempt was made to postpone the race or to call it "official." A record amount of 86 laps were done under caution until the skies became blue again. Besides the weather, a red flag also held up the race for 70 minutes as Price and Bill Champion, who was also involved in a fiery crash had to go to the hospital for their respective injuries.
Post-race coverage was done by the local newspaper The Daily Times-News from Burlington, North Carolina.[5]
| Grid | Driver | Manufacturer | Owner | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 | Bobby Allison | |||
| 2 | 15 | Bud Moore | |||
| 3 | 11 | Richard Howard | |||
| 4 | 71 | Nord Krauskopf | |||
| 5 | 43 | Petty Enterprises | |||
| 6 | 30 | Vic Ballard | |||
| 7 | 72 | L.G. DeWitt | |||
| 8 | 7 | Dean Dalton | |||
| 9 | 05 | Charlie McGee | |||
| 10 | 90 | Junie Donlavey |
| Pos | Grid | Driver | Manufacturer | Time/Status | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | 43 | '73 Dodge | $6,775 | 500 | 429 | 4:13:17 | ||
| 2 | 3 | 11 | $4,425 | 498 | 17 | +2 laps | |||
| 3 | 1 | 12 | $4,150 | 497 | 54 | +3 laps | |||
| 4 | 7 | 72 | $1,750 | 492 | 0 | +8 laps | |||
| 5 | 20 | 67 | '72 Dodge | $1,580 | 482 | 0 | +18 laps | ||
| 6 | 6 | 30 | '71 Mercury | $1,250 | 477 | 0 | +23 laps | ||
| 7 | 11 | 24 | $1,210 | 477 | 0 | +23 laps | |||
| 8 | 14 | 18 | '71 Mercury | $1,300 | 476 | 0 | +24 laps | ||
| 9 | 16 | 19 | '71 Mercury | $1,225 | 473 | 0 | +27 laps | ||
| 10 | 26 | 47 | $975 | 461 | 0 | +39 laps |
Section reference: [2]