1973 Press-on-Regardless Rally

25th Press-on-Regardless Rally
Round 11 of the 1973 WRC for Manufacturers
Host country  United States
Rally base Detroit, Michigan
Dates run 31 October 1973 – 4 November 1973
Stages 85
Stage surface Gravel
Overall distance 2735 km
Results
Overall winner Walter Boyce
Teams 58 at start, 23 at finish

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

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.

Contents

Results

1973 25th Press-on-Regardless Rally
Finish Total
time
Car # Driver
Co-driver
Car Mfr.
points
1 6 h : 58 m : 28.2 s 110 Walter Boyce
Doug Woods
Toyota Corolla 20
2 7 h : 22 m : 43.2 s 116 Jim Walker
Terry Palmer
Volvo 142 S 15
3 7 h : 33 m : 36.0 s 105 John Smiskol
Carol Smiskol
Datsun 240Z 12
4 7 h : 39 m : 1.8 s 114 John Buffum
Wayne Zitkus
Ford Escort RS1600 10
5 7 h : 45 m : 0.6 s 127 John Rodgers
Erik Brooks
Datsun 1600 SSS
6 7 h : 57 m : 30.6 s 108 Robert Mucha
Ryszard Żyszkowski
Polski Fiat 125p 6
7 8 h : 5 m : 4.6 s 123 Bill Dodd
Rudy Kren
Ford Capri 2600
8 8 h : 8 m : 12.0 s 130 Jim Callon
Gary Hays
Datsun 510
9 8 h : 9 m : 28.2 s 136 Steve Dorr
Rick Andersson
Datsun 510
10 8 h : 16 m : 12.6 s 121 Chuck McLaren
Doug Leverton
Datsun 510
11 122 John Chalmers
William Potvin
Datsun 510
12 8 h : 20 m : 47.4 s 117 Andrzej Jaroszewicz
Zbigniew Dziadura
Polski Fiat 125p
13 113 Gary Neil
Don Ramsay
Datsun 1600 SSS
14 8 h : 35 m : 58.8 s 160 Edgar Herrmann
Joe LeBeau
Subaru GL
15 8 h : 39 m : 10.8 s 120 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 Backman
Dodge Colt
Retired (accident) 112 Bob Hourihan
Geraint Phillips
Datsun 1800 SSS
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Championship standings

1973 World Rally Championship for Manufacturers points standings after round 11
After round 11 Team Season end
Position Points Position Points
1 127 Alpine Renault 1 147
2 84 Fiat 2 84
3 46 Ford 3 76
4 42 Saab 5 42
5 34 Datsun 6 34
6 34 Volvo 4 44
7 33 Citroën 7 33
8 25 Toyota 10 25
9 24 BMW 8 28
10 24 Porsche 9 27
11 18 Polski Fiat 12 18
12 17 Lancia 13 17
13 15 Wartburg 14 15
14 15 Opel 11 25
15 14 Volkswagen 15 15
16 13 Peugeot 16 13
17 4 Mitsubishi 17 4
18 3 Škoda 18 3
19 1 Audi 20 2

See also

World Rally Championship
Current season summary

2011 WRC season

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