When the 1973 Cup Series racing season began there was no official points system in place to determine what driver would be awarded Rookie of the Year. NASCAR officials would simply gather in Daytona Beach at the end of each year and decide among themselves who would receive the honor. That practice would change after 1973, when a heated contest for the award took place, followed by a controversial decision NASCAR made in naming the winner at season's end.

The 1973 rookie class, in what was known then as the NASCAR Grand National Division, was made up of three drivers, Darrell Waltrip, Lennie Pond and Johnny Barnes.

Waltrip was the better known of the three, having won many races at his home track in Nashville, Tennessee and throughout the southeast during a very successful NASCAR Late Model Sportsman career. Waltrip was accustomed to driving competitive equipment and was always a threat wherever he would show up in those days. He was tall and confident, proclaiming during his rookie campaign that he would become a NASCAR champion.

"Wherever I would go, I was almost assured I was going to win one or two races a week and I made a good living doing that. It was hard to step to the big leagues and be just another fish in a big pond," Waltrip said years later of his decision to run for Rookie of the Year in 1973.

Lennie Pond, although enjoying a great minor league career in his home state of Virginia and the neighboring Carolinas, was not as much of a household name and did not have the resources Waltrip was able to access at the time. Determined to have a shot at the big leagues, Pond gathered his family and friends together at his tiny shop in Ettrick, Virginia, outside of Richmond, to discuss his plans.

"Everybody in the area pitched in to help us. We worked day and night over the winter to get the car ready. It was a great effort on the part of a lot of people for us to be there," Pond fondly recalled.

The rookie race quickly became a two man contest between Waltrip and Pond as Johnny Barnes, a short track driver from Florida, competed in only thirteen events and finished thirty-ninth in the point standings.

NASCAR's 1973 schedule featured twenty-eight races, with both Pond and Waltrip starting out the season in rides they maintained with mostly volunteer pit crews. Waltrip, whose No. 95 carried sponsorship from his father-in-law's business, Terminal Trucking, was able to secure shop space at the trucking company headquarters while Pond ran his No. 54 operation with sponsorship from Master Chevrolet, a local car dealership, out of what was basically a backyard garage located behind his house.

Darrell Waltrip received a tremendous break after the season's midway point when he was named to drive the famed No. 15 Ford for noted car owner Bud Moore. The car was sponsored by Sta-Power Industries and had been driven all year by Bobby Isaac. Isaac had scored six top-tens thus far in the season before pulling in the pits while leading Talladega, saying that he had heard voices telling him to quit driving. Isaac announced his retirement from racing upon exiting the car that August afternoon, opening the door for Waltrip to take the wheel for the Southern 500 at Darlington.

One week later, NASCAR's Grand National Division pulled into the Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway, as it was known then, for the Capital City 500. Pond was looking forward to racing on his home track that weekend and confident of a good finish after finishing seventh in the Richmond 500 earlier in the year.

Four laps after taking the green flag, Baxter Price spun off the exit of turn four causing a chain reaction crash that collected fourteen cars. Both Waltrip and Pond were caught up in the crash and their cars suffered the ensuing fire that resulted in damages beyond any hope of returning to the race. Waltrip was credited with twenty-sixth in the finishing order and collected $1,995 while Pond collected $440 for his twenty-eighth place finish.

This writer recalls watching the burned cars being taken out of the turn four gate on their open trailers after witnessing the inferno from the grandstands. After seeing up close what remained of Lennie Pond's No. 54, I wondered if he would be able to race again. The 1973 Capital City 500 remains the longest race in the history of the Richmond International Raceway, taking four hours, thirteen minutes and seventeen seconds to complete.

Five days later Lennie Pond and Darrell Waltrip appeared with their cars at the Dover Downs International Speedway in time for qualifying for the Delaware 500. It was a miraculous comeback for Pond, who qualified twelfth, four spots behind Waltrip.

"We have really worked to get this thing back together," Pond said at the time. "I don't think any of us has had any sleep."Pond finished ninth in the Delaware 500, twenty-one laps behind winner David Pearson, and took home $1775 for his efforts. Waltrip placed twentieth in the Bud Moore prepared Ford, seventy-six laps down and won $845.

The battle between Pond and Waltrip for top rookie honors continued through the final event at the North Carolina Motor Speedway at Rockingham on October 21, 1973. Even though Pond had displayed great determination and produced a valiant effort, finishing twenty-third in points to Waltrip's twenty-eighth, many expected the rookie title to be a sure thing for Waltrip. He was more outspoken and visible than the soft spoken Pond, grabbing headlines in the press for his comments and brash style.

Everyone was surprised, including Waltrip, when NASCAR announced Lennie Pond as the 1973 Rookie of the Year. In announcing their decision, NASCAR cited Pond's top ten run at Dover in September, just one week after encountering devastating damage to his only car at Richmond.

"I knew if they (NASCAR) went on performance alone, I would win it," Pond said after receiving the hard earned award. "Since they did, I'm very thankful.

An unhappy Waltrip fired off several verbal shots at NASCAR over the decision. As a result of the controversy, NASCAR incorporated a points system and policies regarding the Rookie of the Year selection process that began with the 1974 season.