1973 Mason-Dixon 500 - NASCAR Race

Name of Race:	1973 Mason-Dixon 500
Name of Track:	Dover International Speedway
Date:	June 3rd

Dover International Speedway

Dover International Speedway is a NASCAR race track located near Dover, Delaware.

The Monster Mile

Dover International Speedway is unusual in several respects. It is a concrete track; most NASCAR tracks are asphalt. It is co-located with a horse racing track, Dover Downs, and in fact is sometimes also referred to by this name. It is also exactly one mile long; technically this means that it is neither a superspeedway nor a short track.

The speedway is also notoriously hard on cars, and its standard nickname is The Monster Mile. The horse track is part of an extensive entertainment complex including other forms of gambling; at one time both it and the speedway were owned by the publicly-traded Dover Downs Entertainment, but they have since been split into two separate enterprises, partly at the encouragement of NASCAR.

500 Miles Is Too Long

At one time the NASCAR Cup races held here were 500 miles long until a NASCAR rules change limited 500 mile races to being held only at tracks over a mile in length; the current Nextel Cup races here are 400 miles long.

Dover also hosted Indy Racing League races in 1998 and 1999 won by Scott Sharp and Greg Ray.

Dover International Speedway Ownership

In February 2002, Dover Downs Entertainmnet changed its name to Dover Motorsports following the spin-off of its gaming operations to its existing shareholders. As a result, the name of the track was changed from Dover Downs International Speedway to Dover International Speedway.

Dover Motorsports (formerly Dover Downs Entertainment) which owns Dover International Speedway also owns several other racing facilities, including Nashville Superspeedway. It has been suggested that one of the two current Cup races held there could be shifted to Nashville but this seems unlikely as both current Cup races at Dover are easily sold out.

The Dover ownership is one of only three publicly-held ownership groups of NASCAR tracks, the other two being International Speedway Corporation, controlled by NASCAR's founding France family and owners of the Talladega and Daytona tracks, among others, and Speedway Motorsports, Inc., led by Bruton Smith and H. A. "Humpy" Wheeler, which owns Lowe's Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway, among others. Aside from these three ownership groups, NASCAR tracks are privately held by one or a few individuals.

Courtesy of Wikipedia.

1973 Mason-Dixon 500 NASCAR Race Results

Below are the race results for 1973 Mason-Dixon 500, in order of finishing place.

Fin	Driver	Num	Start	Money	Laps	Status	Sponsor
1	David Pearson	21	1	$14,025	500	running	Purolator
2	Cale Yarborough	11	2	$10,700	500	running	Kar-Kare
3	Bobby Allison	12	3	$6,775	497	running	Coca-Cola
4	Richard Petty	43	13	$5,475	492	running	STP
5	Cecil Gordon	24	6	$2,750	490	running	Gordon Racing
6	Benny Parsons	72	21	$2,245	487	running	DeWitt Racing
7	Buddy Baker	71	5	$3,545	481	running	K & K Insurance
8	Dave Marcis	2	9	$1,920	478	running	AMC
9	Dean Dalton	7	25	$1,820	473	running	Belden Asphalt
12	James Hylton	48	11	$1,660	449	running	Hylton Engineering
13	Henley Gray	19	33	$1,110	449	running	Gray Racing
15	Bill Hollar	29	35	$1,060	419	running	Hollar Racing
16	Jimmy Crawford	22	37	$1,035	415	running	Crawford Racing
17	Elmo Langley	64	12	$1,510	414	running	Langley Racing
18	Richard Childress	96	8	$1,485	407	engine	L.C. Newton Trucking
20	Lennie Pond	54	10	$935	392	engine	Master Chevy Sales
21	Buddy Arrington	67	28	$1,410	359	rear end	Buddy Arrington
28	Walter Ballard	30	16	$1,235	217	engine	Blue Hen Mall
29	Bobby Isaac	15	4	$2,760	202	engine	Sta-Power Industries
31	Bill Champion	10	17	$660	122	engine	Earl Powell Auto Parts
32	Mel Larson	98	40	$635	108	engine	ThermaSol
34	Earle Canavan	1	24	$625	62	engine	Kosin's Auto Parts
36	Richard D. Brown	44	26	$590	34	engine	Brown Racing
37	Neil Castles	6	23	$585	27	engine	Howard Furniture
38	Donnie Allison	88	14	$580	18	engine	DiGard Racing