The 1973 Capital City 500 was a NASCAR

NASCAR

The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...

 Sprint Cup Series racing event that took place on September 9, 1973 at Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway

Richmond International Raceway

Richmond International Raceway is a 3/4-mile , D-shaped, asphalt race track located just outside Richmond, Virginia in Henrico County. It hosts the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and Nationwide Series...

 (now Richmond International Raceway) in the American

United States

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

 community of Richmond

Richmond, Virginia

Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...

, Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

.

Summary

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...

 defeated Cale Yarborough

Cale Yarborough

William Caleb "Cale" Yarborough , is a farmer, businessman and former NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver and owner. He is one of only two drivers in NASCAR history to win three consecutive championships...

 by at least two laps in front of 18000 live spectators. It took four hours and thirteen minutes to finish the 500-lap race with the track spanning exactly 0.542 mile (0.87226228 km). Bobby Allison

Bobby Allison

Robert Arthur Allison is a former NASCAR Winston Cup driver and was named one of NASCAR's 50 greatest drivers. His two sons, Clifford Allison and Davey Allison followed him into racing, and both died within a year of each other....

 acquired 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 qualifying speed of 90.245 miles per hour (145.2 km/h) while the average race speed was 63.215 miles per hour (101.7 km/h). Five cautions were given out for 123 laps in this racing event. Baxter Price

Baxter Price

Baxter Price is an American racing driver from Monroe, North Carolina who competed in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series.Price made 90 Winston Cup starts beginning in 1973, often as an owner-driver. He competed nearly full-time in 1978, when he finished a career-best 23rd in points, and 1979 when he...

 received the last-place finish due to a crash on lap that also took out nine other guys that were starting lap 4. Out of the 34 races on the grid, 33 were born in the United States while 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:...

 was born in Canada

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...

. J.D. McDuffie

J.D. McDuffie

John Delphus McDuffie was a NASCAR Winston Cup driver. He raced in the top division of NASCAR from 1963 to 1991. McDuffie had 106 top-tens in his Cup Series career...

 and Darrell Waltrip

Darrell Waltrip

Darrell Lee Waltrip is a 3-time NASCAR Cup Series champion , 3-time runner-up , winner of the 1989 Daytona 500 and 5-time winner of the prestigeous Coca-Cola 600 ,...

 were also two notable figures that participated in this race. The future owner of Richard Childress Racing

Richard Childress Racing

RCR Enterprises, LLC, doing business as Richard Childress Racing, is a NASCAR team based in Welcome, North Carolina, and is owned and operated by former driver Richard Childress...

 (Richard Childress

Richard Childress

Richard Childress is a former NASCAR driver and the current team owner of Richard Childress Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series. As a business entrepreneur, Childress became one of the wealthiest men in North Carolina...

) would also make a racing appearance here.

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

Bill Champion

Buford Billy Champion , is a retired American professional baseball player, a right-handed pitcher who played in 202 games in the Major Leagues from -. He would play for the Milwaukee Brewers and Philadelphia Phillies.-External links:...

had to go to the hospital for their respective injuries.