1973 Press-on-Regardless Rally explained

1973 Press-on-Regardless Rally
Native Name:25th Press-on-Regardless Rally
Round:11
Previous Round:1973 Rallye Sanremo
Next Round:1973 RAC Rally
Rallybase:Detroit, Michigan
Startdate:31 October 1973
Enddate:4 November 1973
Stages:85
Stagekm:549.15
Overallkm:3284.15
Surface:Gravel
Championship:1973 World Rally Championship season
Driver1: Walter Boyce
Doug Woods
Team1: Toyota Motorsport
Car1:Toyota Corolla
Teamsstart:58
Teamsfinish:23

The 1973 Press-on-Regardless Rally (formally the 25th Press-on-Regardless Rally) was the eleventh round of the inaugural World Rally Championship season. Run at the outset of November in Michigan in the United States, the rally was run entirely on gravel.

Report

Due to a combination of scheduling and location, the event was not attended by most European competitors. Giving teams only two weeks following the preceding Sanremo Rally to travel across the Atlantic Ocean, and then giving even less time for a return to Europe for the following RAC Rally in England, proved unrealistic for most teams, and in the event, only a few teams from Poland made the trip with their domestic Polski Fiat 125p vehicles. As it turned out, the event was primarily a local affair, with a Canadian, Walter Boyce, taking the win ahead of a field of American drivers.

In 1973, and for several years afterward, only manufacturers were given points for finishes in WRC events. With the teams focused on the prestigious RAC Rally upcoming, and with the year's championship already sewn up by Alpine Renault, the works teams did not make an effort to compete in the American leg of the championship. Toyota became the beneficiary as it was a Corolla that carried Boyce to victory, while other makes popular on the North American market filled out the ranks. Datsuns were particularly prevalent—especially the locally popular Datsun 510—and Polski Fiat was rewarded for their effort in making the trip by a finish in the points, but overall, the results factored little into the factory efforts for the championship.

Results

+ align=center style="background:#BFD7FF"1973 Press-on-Regardless Rally results
width=15%Finishwidth=15%Total
time
width=5%Car #width=25%Driver
Co-driver
width=25%Carwidth=10%Mfr.
points
16 h : 58 m : 28.2 s 110 Walter Boyce
Doug Woods
Toyota Corolla20
27 h : 22 m : 43.2 s 116 Jim Walker
Terry Palmer
Volvo 142 S15
37 h : 33 m : 36.0 s 105 John Smiskol
Carol Smiskol
Datsun 240Z12
47 h : 39 m : 1.8 s 114 John Buffum
Wayne Zitkus
Ford Escort RS160010
57 h : 45 m : 0.6 s 127 John Rodgers
Erik Brooks
Datsun 1600 SSS
67 h : 57 m : 30.6 s 108 Robert Mucha
Ryszard Żyszkowski
Polski Fiat 125p6
78 h : 5 m : 4.6 s 123 Bill Dodd
Rudy Kren
Ford Capri 2600
88 h : 8 m : 12.0 s 130 Jim Callon
Gary Hays
Datsun 510
98 h : 9 m : 28.2 s 136 Steve Dorr
Rick Andersson
Datsun 510
108 h : 16 m : 12.6 s 121 Chuck McLaren
Doug Leverton
Datsun 510
11122 John Chalmers
William Potvin
Datsun 510
128 h : 20 m : 47.4 s 117 Andrzej Jaroszewicz
Zbigniew Dziadura
Polski Fiat 125p
13113 Gary Neil
Don Ramsay
Datsun 1600 SSS
148 h : 35 m : 58.8 s 160 Edgar Herrmann
Joe LeBeau
Subaru GL
158 h : 39 m : 10.8 s 120 Marek Varisella
Janina Jedynak
Polski Fiat 125p
Retired (accident)104 Taisto Heinonen
John Bellefleur
Opel Manta
Retired (mechanical)106 Erhard Dahm
Tom Grishaw
Jeep Wagoneer
Retired (mechanical)107 Gene Henderson
Ken Pogue
Jeep Wagoneer
Retired (excluded)109 Scott Harvey
Ralph Beckman
Dodge Colt
Retired (accident)112 Bob Hourihan
Geraint Phillips
Datsun 1800 SSS
Retired (time barred)147 Randy Graves
Ruth Heidel
Alpine-Renault A110
Source: Independent WRC archive[1]

Championship standings after the event

+ align=center style="background:#BFD7FF"1973 World Rally Championship for Manufacturers points standings after round 11
width=20% colspan=2 After round 11width=60% rowspan=2 Teamwidth=20% colspan=2 Season end
width=10% Positionwidth=10% Pointswidth=10% Positionwidth=10% Points
1127 Alpine Renault1 147
284 Fiat2 84
346 Ford3 76
442 Saab5 42
534 Datsun6 34
634 Volvo4 44
733 Citroën7 33
825 Toyota10 25
924 BMW8 28
1024 Porsche9 27
1118 Polski Fiat12 18
1217 Lancia13 17
1315 Wartburg14 15
1415 Opel11 25
1514 Volkswagen15 15
1613 Peugeot16 13
174 Mitsubishi17 4
183 Škoda18 3
191 Audi20 2

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Press-on-Regardless Rally . juwra.com. Independent WRC archive. 2017-03-16.