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

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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

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1973 Press-on-Regardless Rally results
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 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

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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

References

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