|| *Comments on the 1973 Virginia 500:* View the most recent comment <#12> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. Anonymous posted: 11.29.2008 - 7:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) vic did good, finishing a respectable 9th, one of six top 10s in 18 starts in 73, and one of his last. 2. Anonymous posted: 03.04.2010 - 4:14 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) NASCAR allegedly threw a caution late when someone in the infield had a heart attack. With no tunnel, the yellow came out to allow medical treatment for the spectator. The caution allowed David Pearson to make up a lap and Yarborough would later say NASCAR's decision cost him a win that day. 3. RaceFanX posted: 11.03.2010 - 12:20 am Rate this comment: (3) (0) Given the choice between a win for Cale and someone's life I think NASCAR made the right decision there no matter what the outcome. It's not like Yarborough is lacking in the Cup victory department. 4. myself posted: 01.26.2012 - 1:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (3) 3. RaceFanX posted: 11.03.10 - 12:20 am Given the choice between a win for Cale and someone's life I think NASCAR made the right decision there no matter what the outcome. It's not like Yarborough is lacking in the Cup victory department. Let me ponder this & get back to you......... 5. DozierTheGreat posted: 01.26.2014 - 1:06 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) At some point Richard Brown got in #8 Ed Negre's car, then plowed into the wall. I have pics of him wrecking, then walking down the track, just leaving the #8 parked. Some sponsors: #24-RW Hill & Sons #40-Noel's Auto Sales 6. Walleyewhacker posted: 02.16.2014 - 7:44 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Had Pearson and the Wood Brothers entered all the races in 1973, they would have won 20 some races and David would have another championship. 7. b4il3y posted: 01.18.2016 - 11:54 pm Rate this comment: (2) (1) 3. RaceFanX posted: 11.03.10 - 12:20 am Given the choice between a win for Cale and someone's life I think NASCAR made the right decision there no matter what the outcome. It's not like Yarborough is lacking in the Cup victory department. Let me ponder this & get back to you......... Which a stand up guy like racefanx never did. Thank you. 8. Ivan Balakhonov posted: 12.07.2016 - 3:48 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) A classic 70's race with plenty of controversy. I guess it can be perfectly summed up by quotes of key participants. All of them are taken from "Southern Motor Racing" newspaper and NASCAR yearbook. I give comments to preserve context in some cases. David Pearson about his early struggles: "Once I went back on the track without the gas cap fastened and had to come back to the pits [during quicky caution one of the crew members unscrewed the cap but since the green flag would fly on the next lap there was no time for refueling and in the ensuing chaos the cap was left unsecured. Of course, David was black-flagged] Early in the race the tires started wearing and I dropped off the pace quite a bit. Then a tire went and I was two laps behind [it happenen on lap 315]. And the handling was never right. We changed the chassis every time I pitted. Junior Johnson about the caution for emergency in the infield on lap 374. It happened at the moment when Yarborough was on his green-flag pit stop: "NASCAR cost us that race. They run races like they want to, not the way they should. Their communications aren't worth anything. They didn't tell us they were going to open the gate to let the ambulance out. They just decided to do it. They threw the flag when they saw us coming in." NASCAR official John Burner defending the decision: "In an emergency like that you don't take time to notify the crews. That man could have died over there. It was unfortunate for Cale, but he was making a routine pit stop." Johnson didn't accept the NASCAR position on the subject: "I'm sorry the guy had a heat stroke, but that happened 45 minutes before they called the ambulance crew. NASCAR should have notified us. There was plenty of time". Apparently Yarborough and Johnson didn't believe Pearson got back on the lead lap by himself. However they declined to request a recheck of scorecard. Says Johnson: "That wouldn't do any good. The same fools that threw that yellow flag would be checking the scorecards, so you know how that would turn out." Yarborough also criticized Pearson's defence in the closing stages. The high groove was very slick and filled with asphalt particles so passing on the outside was not an option: "There was no way I could get around Pearson. He would start putting on the brakes at the end of the straight because he knew I would spin out if I tried to pass him on the outside and got into the marbles up there. He wouldn't move over and I didn't want to hit him. I've always been a gentleman in the past, but maybe it's time to change my ways". Pearson's view: "I wasn't just going to pull over and let him by. I put on my brakes going into the turns because I had to slow up. I didn't want to be up there in that loose stuff any more than he did." Yarborough's take on the key episode when he spun on the grass with 12 to go: "Pearson moved up just enough for me to get the nose of the car under him, and then he moved down. There just wasn't enough room for both of us." Pearson: "I didn't mean to leave room for him to pass me on the inside. That's the name of the game. If he wanted to pass, he was supposed to pass on the outside." 9. KW posted: 03.17.2017 - 2:10 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) The Modified division ran a 100 lap race the day before this one. Paul Radford was the winner, Richie Evans was second. 10. RaceFanX posted: 05.29.2018 - 10:16 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Of David Pearson's 105 Winston Cup victories this was the only one in his career that came at Martinsville. While he had 20 top-10s in 28 starts at the Virginia short track this was the only time he got to pull into victory lane there. 11. rm posted: 12.06.2019 - 11:13 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Sponsors: 2 - AMC Matador 10 - Earl Powell Auto Parts 17 - Emrick Chevrolet 47 - Jet Way Products 48 - Henderson Ford 64 - Clyde Lynn Inc. 67 - Billie Carper 90 - Hendrick Construction Co./Truxmore Special The first caution in this race came very early on when Bill Champion grenaded his engine and Rick Newsom spun in the oil & smoke behind him. The drivers avoided the lower side of the frontstretch and the very bottom groove in turn 1 as a result for the rest of the race due to the speedy dry (or whatever the 70s equivalent was) being poured in those spots. Ed Negre appeared to have something suspension- or axle-related break on him coming out of turn 4, and as a result he was along for the ride when he got to turn 1. He smashed the wall pretty solidly and did not finish the race. 12. rateus posted: 02.20.2021 - 2:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) DK Ulrich qualified for Frank Warren. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: