SEASON IN REVIEW
Claremont, North Carolina driver Richard D. Brown picked up his first LASTCAR Cup Series Championship in 1973, scoring two last-place finishes in thirteen starts during a twenty-eight-race season. Brown won in a three-way bottom-five tiebreaker over Bill Champion and Dave Marcis, 10-6.
Brown was competing in his third season on the NASCAR Cup Series tour. On April 30, 1972, he scored a career-best 5th at Martinsville, Virginia, driving the #91 Ralph McNabb-prepared 1972 Chevrolet that he raced in all but one of his starts that season. 1973 saw Brown make his season debut for owner Bill Strong at Richmond, Virginia on February 25, where his #51 1972 Chevrolet came home 20th. In his next start at Bristol on March 25, Brown moved to the Jerry Brown team with which he’d race for all but one of his remaining twenty career starts, including the two last-place finishes of his LASTCAR campaign.
Brown’s two finishes came in the first half of the 1973 campaign, both while driving Brown Racing’s #44 1972 Chevrolet. The first occurred in the Winston 500 at Talladega, Alabama on May 6, where Brown fell out after the opening lap because of a loose windshield. The bizarre exit had one big advantage, however, as he avoided the terrifying 21-car pileup that dwindled the 60-car field just seven laps later. The crash injured at least four drivers, most seriously Wendell Scott, who broke three ribs and his pelvis when his fast #34 1971 Mercury was consumed in the wreck. Scott made just one more Cup start at Charlotte on October 7, finishing 12th, before he retired from NASCAR with 495 career starts.
Brown’s other finish came six races after Talladega in the Motor State 400 at Brooklyn, Michigan on June 24, an oil leak the listed cause of his exit after three laps.
Brown competed in just eight more races after 1973, the last of which coming at North Wilkesboro, North Carolina on October 3, 1976, where he finished last for the seventh and final time in his Cup Series career, his #44 Bush Olds Pontiac flagged off the track after 65 laps. In all, Brown made 50 career starts. He passed away on August 27, 2015.
OTHER LASTCAR HEADLINES
Another two-time last-place finisher in 1973 was young Darrell Waltrip. The future three-time NASCAR Cup Series Champion finished last for the first time at the same Bristol race where Brown made his debut with the #44 team on March 25. Waltrip’s #95 1971 Mercury qualified 13th that day, but fell out with engine problems after 51 laps.
Three years after his upset triumph in the 1970 Daytona 500, Pete Hamilton picked up his first last-place finish in the 1973 running when his #9 Housby Racing 1972 Plymouth started on the outside-pole only to lose the engine after just 33 laps.
Richard Childress, who would go on to become one of NASCAR’s most successful car owners, also scored his first last-place finish as a driver in 1973. Childress trailed the 40-car field in the Southern 500 in Darlington, South Carolina on September 3 where his #96 Tom Garn 1973 Chevrolet lost the engine after 19 laps. It was the first of only two last-place runs for Childress - the other took place in the 1974 Daytona 500, following another engine failure after 22 laps. Both last-place runs came with the Tom Garn team - Childress never once finished last in his seven seasons as an owner-driver.
On August 12, Paul Tyler picked up his first and only last-place finish in the Talladega 500 in Talladega, Alabama when his #83 Norris Reed 1971 Mercury had an ignition failure after ten laps. Four laps later, defending Rookie of the Year Larry Smith was killed in a single-car accident entering turn three. The race was won by 1972 LASTCAR Cup Champion Dick Brooks.
On October 7, Buddy Baker’s #71 K&K Insurance 1973 Dodge was disqualified from the National 500 in Concord, North Carolina. Baker finished 24th, having pulled out of the race after 228 laps due to an argument team owner Nord Krauskopf had with NASCAR over their restrictor plate rules. When Krauskopf then refused to let NASCAR inspect the car after the race, Baker was disqualified, relegating him to the 41st and final finishing position.
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1st) Buddy Arrington [2 B5s], Richard D. Brown [10 B5s], Bill Champion [6 B5s], Dave Marcis [6 B5s], Darrell Waltrip [4 B5s] (2)
2nd) Buddy Baker, Charles Barrett, Tony Bettenhousen, Robert Brown, Richard Childress, Jimmy Crawford, Dean Dalton, Pete Hamilton, Alton Jones, J.D. McDuffie, Rick Newsom, Vic Parsons, Eddie Pettyjohn, Bobby Poole, Baxter Price, Paul Tyler, Frank Warren (1)
