Tiny Lund won the Buddy Shuman Memorial 276 at Hickory Speedway in convincing style and in doing so scored the Grand National East driving championship for 1973. Lund from Cross, S.C., started on the second row and took the lead from Bobby Isaac on the 113th lap after Bobby Allison had led the first 67 laps. By lap 276 Tiny had lapped the field in the Blanton Racing #55 1973 Camaro. Bobby Isaac finished second followed by Bobby Allison, Buddy Baker and Neil "Soapy" Castles, GNE champion in 1972, in fifth.
A native of Harlan, Iowa, Lund received $10,000 in Winston Cup awards for claiming his fourth national driving title in a six year span. He was also 1968 Grand Touring Champion and won back to back Grand American titles in 1970 and 1971. The 41 year old Lund started 14 of the 15 events on the schedule, winning 5 of them. He recorded 11 top tens with 10 top five finishes to total 1294 points. His money winnings for the year was $18,330. Tiny began big league racing in 1955 and is most well known for his 1963 Daytona 500 win in the Wood Brothers Ford in relief of Marvin Panch. Tiny tallied over 50 (56 if I counted right) Nascar top division wins.
Final Grand National East Point Standings 1973
Driver Points
1. Tiny Lund................................ 1294.00
2. Neil Castles............................ 1238.50
3. Bob Fleming........................... 1111.75
4. Wayne Andrews.................... 1101.00
5. Ernie Shaw............................ 1085.00
6. Elmo Langley......................... 838.75
7. Bobby Allison........................ 775.50
8. Vic Parsons........................... 730.00
9. David Boggs......................... 702.75
10. Eddie Yarboro....................... 632.00
11. Ed Negre............................... 549.25
12. Dean Dalton......................... 537.75
13. Cale Yarborough.................. 527.75
14. Richard Brown..................... 502.00
15. Buddy Baker........................ 497.75
16. Rick Newsom...................... 458.75
17. Jerry Hufflin......................... 439.75
18. Richard Childress................ 339.25
19. Bill Shirey............................ 331.75
20. D.K. Ulrich........................... 330.50
21. Baxter Price........................ 312.50
22. Earl Brooks........................ 278.75
23. Harry Gant......................... 264.75
24. Wendell Scott, Jr. ............. 222.75
25. Buck Baker........................ 218.50
26. Wendell Scott................... 218.00
27. Richie Panch..................... 217.50
28. James Hylton.................... 210.00
29. Dave Marcus.................... 204.75
