The 1973 National 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on October 7, 1973, at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. The Yom Kippur war between Israel and the Arabs broke out the day before. The Araboil embargo soon went into effect and resulted in cancellation of the Texas race and shortening of 1974 races by 10%. Charlotte Motor Speedway was already in financial trouble, and with the gasoline shortage that fall there was a very high likelihood that not enough fans would attend to cover costs; eventually reopening in 1976.
Qualifying
The first driver to qualify for pole, Charlie Glotzbach, was found in a post qualifying inspection to have modified his restrictor plate in an illegal fashion. Glotsbach's team was fined $500 and the $1,000 pole bonus he was to receive was rescinded. Glotsbach was forced to re-qualify after changes were made to the car to make it legal, and qualified 34th. Pole was then awarded to David Pearson, who had qualified second. Dean Dalton, whose performance on Saturday did not qualify him for the race, was allowed into the race 41st on the grid, because of the above.
Race report
334 laps took place on a paved track spanning with two cautions given out for sixteen laps. However, the race took three hours and twenty-six minutes to finish with Cale Yarborough defeating Richard Petty by a time of 1.4 seconds. Yarborough and Petty would lap the field three times before retrieving the checkered flag. David Pearson won the official pole position with a speed of - which was equivalent to 34.109 seconds. Sixty-four thousand people attended this live racing event. The race had a mobile home to accompany the drivers and their vehicles on the opening parade lap; which was unusual back then by NASCAR standards and is still considered to be unusual in today's NASCAR. Harry Gant would make his racing debut here; ultimately finishing in 11th place. Dick Trickle also made his debut here, finishing an impressive fifth. Wendell Scott would retire after this race; making a 12th-place finish in this event. Johnny Barnes' 15th-place run was his best in Cup competition. Wayne Andrews would pull out of the race on lap 5 due to engine problems. Buddy Baker retired his car on lap 228, and team owner Nord Krauskopf refused to allow NASCAR to inspect the car after this was done. NASCAR disqualified the team, and therefore, Buddy Baker officially finished 41st. What made this race extra important to drivers was that $100 was given out for every lap that a driver led. Yarborough and Petty were said to have engines in their cars that exceeded the horsepower permitted by NASCAR during that era. Bobby Allison filed a complaint with Bill France, Jr. which resulted in a 6-hour meeting and "satisfactory restitution." Wind speeds at this race would reach an average of. The race was held on a dry circuit; with no precipitation recorded around the speedway.
