The 1973 Daytona 500

Daytona 500

The Daytona 500 is a -long NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held annually at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is one of four restrictor plate races on the Cup schedule....

was won by Richard Petty

Richard Petty

Richard Lee Petty is a former NASCAR driver who raced in the Strictly Stock/Grand National Era and the NASCAR Winston Cup Series...

 after three hours, ten minutes, and fifty seconds of racing on February 18, 1973 at Daytona International Raceway in Daytona Beach

Daytona Beach, Florida

Daytona Beach is a city in Volusia County, Florida, USA. According to 2008 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the city has a population of 64,211. Daytona Beach is a principal city of the Deltona – Daytona Beach – Ormond Beach, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, which the census bureau estimated had...

, Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, USA

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Four cautions were given out over a period of 28 laps. A crowd of over one hundred thousand people came to see a field of 38 American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and two Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

s (Earl Ross

Earl Ross

Earl Ross is a Canadian race car driver who competed in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series from 1973 to 1976 driving the Carling Red Cap #52...

 and Vic Parsons

Vic Parsons

Vic Parsons is a retired NASCAR driver from Willowdale, Ontario, Canada . He competed in nineteen Winston Cup Series events in his career with seven top-tens.-Cup career:...

). The average speed achieved was 157.205 mi/h while Buddy Baker

Buddy Baker

Elzie Wylie Baker, Jr. , nicknamed "Leadfoot" or more famously Buddy, is a former American NASCAR racecar driver.-Early life:...

 achieved the pole position

Pole position

The term "pole position", as used in motorsports, comes from the horse racing term where the number one starter starts on the inside next to the inside pole. The term made its way, along with several other customs, to auto racing. In circuit motorsports, a driver has pole position when he or she...

 with a speed of 185.662 mi/h. Bobby Isaac

Bobby Isaac

Bobby Isaac is a former NASCAR Grand National champion.-Early life:Isaac grew up on a farm near Catawba, North Carolina, the second youngest of nine children...

would lose to Richard Petty by more than two laps.