Top 25 Lowe's Motor Speedway moments: Buddy Baker's 1973 World 600 win
NASCAR legend Buddy Baker won the 1973 World 600 from the pole. // NASCAR Scene, Archives
By 1973, Buddy Baker had become recognized as one of NASCAR’s best superspeedway drivers. The bigger the track and the higher the speeds, well, that suited him just fine.
In ’73 Baker drove for Nord Krauskopf’s Dodge team, with which Bobby Isaac had won the 1970 Grand National – now Sprint Cup – championship. Krauskopf’s bright orange No. 71 cars were among the elite, especially on superspeedways.
But for various reasons, Baker had not won a race as the May 27 World 600 – today’s Coca-Cola 600 - rolled around.
But he was confident. He had already won the race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the forerunner of Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
Sure enough, almost as soon as the race started, Baker was clearly the man to beat. He was well out front – he ultimately led 222 of 400 laps - and seemed assured of victory.
But then something happened, and victory became far, far less certain.
This month, SceneDaily is looking at 25 of the top moments at Lowe’s Motor Speedway as the track prepares to celebrate the 25th running of the All-Star race, to be followed by the 50th Coca-Cola 600. To mark the moment, LMS has offered fans the chance to vote on top moments at the track, with highlight videos available here. Among the top 25 moments SceneDaily selected is Baker’s come-from-behind victory in the 1973 World 600.
Baker, comfortably in front on lap 264 of 400, felt a shudder in his Dodge, and before he knew it, he spun coming out of Turn 4. He was the victim of a cut tire.
Fortunately, he kept his car off the wall. He was able to turn his car around, drive to the pits and stay on the lead lap.
That would make all the difference in the outcome. If Baker had wrecked, most assuredly the winner would have been David Pearson.
Baker was able to make up his lost positions to challenge Pearson. Then the last of only six caution periods in the race began with 22 laps to go.
Pearson’s crew chief, Leonard Wood, knew the value of track position. So he had only two tires put on Pearson’s Mercury.
That put Pearson in the lead when the race restarted with about 20 laps to go.
However, Baker’s pugnacious crew chief, Harry Hyde, felt his driver could get the most speed out of his Dodge with four fresh tires. He also felt there were enough laps left to get around Pearson.
Turns out there were more than enough.
Baker shot around Pearson on lap 385 and led the rest of the way, beating Pearson to the finish line by 1.8 seconds.
“I drove hard for the early part of the race,” Baker said. “Then I dropped back a bit, then moved up. That’s when the tire thing happened.
“It was a good thing we didn’t lose a lap. And with those four fresh tires I felt I could get the job done.”
It was Baker’s first victory of 1973.
He would win only one other race that year – but it was special.
Baker won the Nashville 420 at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway – a one-half-mile track.
It was the first short-track win in Baker’s 14-year Grand National career.
