April 1973 Hot Rod, Page 28, 'Steve Kelly's Roundy Round' column. (Bold Headline) WINSTON WESTERN 500 TO DONOHUE Riverside International Raceway is the only road course circuit on the NASCAR Grand National scedule. The big stockers race there twice a year. The first time is in January, and it is also the first race of each Grand national racing year. Then, in June, midway through the season, the predominantly Southern-based racing men head west again for a 400-mile race at Riverside. The inaugural outing is the Winston Western 500, and 500 miles is a long drive. The race usually lasts about 4 hours and that time does take it's toll on men and machines. Depending on the gearing of each car, a driver can look at chang- ing gears about a half dozen times a lap. And there are 191 laps to make to put in 500 miles. Western Grand National racers get a chance to mix with the "bad guys" from the South at Riverside, and some do quite well. Ray Elder, a Califor- nia Dodge-driving racer has done very well there, winning one of the 500-milers and one of the 400-mile chases. But no matter who you are, or where you come from, if you have any doubts about your road course driving expertise, you're better off staying out of a Riverside stock car race. ------------------------------------------- photo, AMC Matador stock car (Mark Donohue, driver) caption: 'It was Donohue's and AM's day.' (see apr73hr1.jpg) ------------------------------------------- Richard Petty is the only NASCAR "regular" to ever win a 500-mile River- side event. Back when it was called the Motor Trend 500, Dan Gurney owned this race, winning it on five occassions. This year, another driver with credentials equal to Gurney's, Mark Donohue, denied victory to a NASCAR "regular" again. Mark drove an American Motors Matador to victory. He shattered some long stand- ing beliefs in winning the Winston Western 500, the name now given to the race. Mark's Penske Racing-built Matador wore a set of disc brakes. While discs are common for street-driven cars, they have never penetrated stock car racing. One reason for this is that Grey-Rock, the only brake company to service Grand National events, has spent the last dozen or so years perfecting drum brakes for racing. And they've done such a terrific job of it that there was no reason for changing. Some attempts at putting discs on GN stockers have proved to be a failure, promarily because of poor pad life due to the weight of the car. But Penske's crew got rid of the heavy drums and used a set of Girling calipers with Raybestos pads. Mark was able to drive with one foot clamped on the brake pedal and the other operating the gas, allowing him to "feather" the 366-cubic-inch- powered Matador through Riverside's succession of left- and right-hand turns much better than would be the case with drum brakes, because drums retain more heat than discs. Mark's crew did have to change the pads on the right brakes, and between this operation and the fact that they had an extra man over the wall servicing the car (Roger Penske was the "extra"), they caused themselves a small time penalty. Since the pit stops are almost always short, NASCAR has a rule that any work taking more than a minute must be done behind the pit wall, not on pit road. Donohue's crew estimated that it'd take them about one minute and 20 seconds to change the pads, and it did. Coupled with the extra pit member over the wall, NASCAR held the car up, after it was ready to leave, for about 30 seconds. Mark redeemed the Matador for its inglorious debut in stock car racing at Riverside in '72. After qualifying well, the car lasted about a dozen laps before the bracket holding the watts link to the body broke loose and Donohue parked his racer. Sunday, January 21, 1973, was Mark's day, and a great day for American Motors. But there's only one winner, and for alook at what happened to the men who didn't quite have Mark's luck that Sunday, read on. Bobby Allison: Brought his '73 Chevelle "Coke machine" all the way from his shop in Alabama for it's debut. First day in California, Bobby and most of his crew got sick with the flu. Ralph Moody came to help set up the car, and did his usual masterful job. Moody had the flu, also. The transmission gave out during the race, didn't want to stay in second, and the case finally split a few laps from the end. Despite difficulties with car, and driver's poor state of health, Bobby finsihed second and therefore assumed the lead in first stage of Winston Cup points contest, since Donohue is not an officially licensed NASCAR driver. Richard Petty: Last year's Winston Western 500 winner was one of this year's non-finishers. Lost ignitiontiming at halfway point. Report is that cam broke, or timing gears failed, or snout fell apart on crank. David Pearson: South carolina road racing ace had Wood Brothers No. 21 Merc running strong until clutch failed. Wood Brothers made a very rare pit stop error during first pit stop. As Delano Wood went over the wall, he lost his grip on new front tire. It rolled across pit road to grassy apron, causing Delano to run after it and to lose valuable time. Also, David came in for this stop on an empty fuel tank. Even the experts, bless 'em, can make mistakes. Benny Parsons: "I was just riding along, looking for a good payday, when the rear suspension broke, and pretty soon, I wasn't running anymore." So said the dejected Parsons at the conclusion of his day. He'd taken his new Monte Carlo to a solid fourth before the trailing arm came off. Ray Elder: Always a solid runner at Riverside, finishing third this year, Elder will have a new Petty Engineering MoPar for balance of season. Jerry Thompson: Drove the No.69 Pontiac Grand Am. This car is built and owned by Herb Adams, a Pontiac employee who does not get factory assist. Car finsihed 15th.