1973 Press-on-Regardless Rally

The 1973 Press-on-Regardless Rally (formally the 25th Press-on-Regardless Rally) was the eleventh round of the inaugural World Rally Championship season. Run at the outset of November in Michigan in the United States, the rally was run entirely on gravel.

1973 Press-on-Regardless Rally
25th Press-on-Regardless Rally
Round 11 of the 1973 World Rally Championship season
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Host country United States
Rally baseDetroit, Michigan
Dates run31 October 1973 – 4 November 1973
Stages85 (549.15 km; 341.23 miles)
Stage surfaceGravel
Overall distance3,284.15 km (2,040.68 miles)
Statistics
Crews58 at start, 23 at finish
Overall results
Overall winnerCanada Walter Boyce
Canada Doug Woods
Japan Toyota Motorsport
Toyota Corolla

Report edit

Due to a combination of scheduling and location, the event was not attended by most European competitors. Giving teams only two weeks following the preceding Sanremo Rally to travel across the Atlantic Ocean, and then giving even less time for a return to Europe for the following RAC Rally in England, proved unrealistic for most teams, and in the event, only a few teams from Poland made the trip with their domestic Polski Fiat 125p vehicles. As it turned out, the event was primarily a local affair, with a Canadian, Walter Boyce, taking the win ahead of a field of American drivers.

In 1973, and for several years afterward, only manufacturers were given points for finishes in WRC events. With the teams focused on the prestigious RAC Rally upcoming, and with the year's championship already sewn up by Alpine Renault, the works teams did not make an effort to compete in the American leg of the championship. Toyota became the beneficiary as it was a Corolla that carried Boyce to victory, while other makes popular on the North American market filled out the ranks. Datsuns were particularly prevalent—especially the locally popular Datsun 510—and Polski Fiat was rewarded for their effort in making the trip by a finish in the points, but overall, the results factored little into the factory efforts for the championship.

Results edit

1973 Press-on-Regardless Rally results
FinishTotal
time
Car #Driver
Co-driver
CarMfr.
points
16 h : 58 m : 28.2 s110 Walter Boyce
Doug Woods
Toyota Corolla20
27 h : 22 m : 43.2 s116 Jim Walker
Terry Palmer
Volvo 142 S15
37 h : 33 m : 36.0 s105 John Smiskol
Carol Smiskol
Datsun 240Z12
47 h : 39 m : 1.8 s114 John Buffum
Wayne Zitkus
Ford Escort RS160010
57 h : 45 m : 0.6 s127 John Rodgers
Erik Brooks
Datsun 1600 SSS
67 h : 57 m : 30.6 s108 Robert Mucha
Ryszard Żyszkowski
Polski Fiat 125p6
78 h : 5 m : 4.6 s123 Bill Dodd
Rudy Kren
Ford Capri 2600
88 h : 8 m : 12.0 s130 Jim Callon
Gary Hays
Datsun 510
98 h : 9 m : 28.2 s136 Steve Dorr
Rick Andersson
Datsun 510
108 h : 16 m : 12.6 s121 Chuck McLaren
Doug Leverton
Datsun 510
11122 John Chalmers
William Potvin
Datsun 510
128 h : 20 m : 47.4 s117 Andrzej Jaroszewicz
Zbigniew Dziadura
Polski Fiat 125p
13113 Gary Neil
Don Ramsay
Datsun 1600 SSS
148 h : 35 m : 58.8 s160 Edgar Herrmann
Joe LeBeau
Subaru GL
158 h : 39 m : 10.8 s120 Marek Varisella
Janina Jedynak
Polski Fiat 125p
Retired (accident)104 Taisto Heinonen
John Bellefleur
Opel Manta
Retired (mechanical)106 Erhard Dahm
Tom Grishaw
Jeep Wagoneer
Retired (mechanical)107 Gene Henderson
Ken Pogue
Jeep Wagoneer
Retired (excluded)109 Scott Harvey
Ralph Beckman
Dodge Colt
Retired (accident)112 Bob Hourihan
Geraint Phillips
Datsun 1800 SSS
Retired (time barred)147 Randy Graves
Ruth Heidel
Alpine-Renault A110

Source: Independent WRC archive[1]

Championship standings after the event edit

1973 World Rally Championship for Manufacturers points standings after round 11
After round 11TeamSeason end
PositionPointsPositionPoints
1127 Alpine Renault1147
284 Fiat284
346 Ford376
442 Saab542
534 Datsun634
634 Volvo444
733 Citroën733
825 Toyota1025
924 BMW828
1024 Porsche927
1118 Polski Fiat1218
1217 Lancia1317
1315 Wartburg1415
1415 Opel1125
1514 Volkswagen1515
1613 Peugeot1613
174 Mitsubishi174
183 Škoda183
191 Audi202

References edit

  1. ^ "Press-on-Regardless Rally". juwra.com. Independent WRC archive. Retrieved 2017-03-16.

External links edit