1970 Motor Trend 500

Last updated
1970 Motor Trend 500
Race details [1] [2]
Race 1 of 48 in the 1970 NASCAR Grand National Series season
Riverside Raceway.JPG
Layout of Riverside International Raceway (1969-1988 version)
Date January 18, 1970 (1970-January-18)
Official name Motor Trend 500
Location Riverside International Raceway, Riverside, California
Course Permanent racing facility
2.700 mi (4.345 km)
Distance 400 laps, 502 mi (808 km)
Weather Chilly with temperatures of 68.9 °F (20.5 °C); wind speeds of18.1 miles per hour (29.1 km/h)
Average speed 97.450 miles per hour (156.831 km/h)
Pole position
Driver
 Petty Enterprises
Most laps led
Driver Parnelli Jones Wood Brothers Racing
Laps 88
Winner
No. 11 A. J. Foyt Jack Bowsher & Associates
Television in the United States
Network Untelevised
Announcers None

The 1970 Motor Trend 500 was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that was held on January 18, 1970, at Riverside International Raceway in Riverside, California.

Contents

Race report

The Plymouth Superbird would make its first ever NASCAR appearance during this race. Six cautions slowed the race for 31 laps. [2] A. J. Foyt was the winner in his 1970 Ford Torino; defeating Roger McCluskey by 3½ seconds. [2] Parnelli Jones won the pole position but had to start far down in the field because NASCAR ruled that the Firestone tires that Jones and nine West Coast drivers used in qualifying were "ineligible" as there were not enough of that particular compound available to other racers. Other drivers affected by this ruling included Ray Elder, who had qualified 9th; Jack McCoy, who qualified 13th; 1969 NASCAR PCLM champion Scotty Cain, and Dick Bown. After switching tires, the ten drivers were allowed to start behind other qualifiers in order of their qualifying speed. After nearly pulling out of the race in dispute, Jones started in 35th position and charged through the field. He gained 18 positions on the first lap. He took the lead on lap 80 and almost lapped the entire field until his clutch broke on lap 160; giving him an 11th-place finish. [2] Out of A.J. Foyt's seven Cup wins this was his only one that came on a road course. All of his other victories were on super speedways. [3]

USAC Stock Car champion McCluskey crossed over for his only NASCAR race of the 1970 season and raced his Superbird complete with popular Looney Tunes character the Road Runner painted on the door, and finished second. This was his only NASCAR "top five" finish.

There were forty-four competitors in this race; 43 were from the United States of America while (Lothar Motschenbacher) was from Cologne, West Germany. [2] Veteran West Coast racer Jim Cook suffered a career ending accident, when his car collided with the end of the turn 9 crashwall on lap 94. His injuries would leave him in a wheelchair. [2] The other finishers in the top ten were: LeeRoy Yarbrough, Donnie Allison, Richard Petty, Dan Gurney (who had become a mainstay at the track during the 1960s and would leave NASCAR after this year [4] ), Neil Castles, Friday Hassler, Jerry Oliver, and Dick Guldstrand. [2] Motschenbacher would start in 31st place and finish the race in 40th. [2] Sam Posey's lone NASCAR start ended spectacularly when the #6 Dodge's engine failed in fiery fashion. Considering that the passenger automobile engines of the 1960s and 1970s were never designed for these high speeds, innovations were made in subsequent decades for better performing engines that could perform under the pressures of high speed racing. [2]

The average speed of the race was 97.045 miles per hour (156.179 km/h) while Dan Gurney earned the pole position with a qualifying speed of 112.006 miles per hour (180.256 km/h). [2] There was an attendance of 43,200 fans to see 193 laps of action on the road course. [2] This was the last start in NASCAR's top series (then known as Grand National) for Southern California short track racer Frank Deiny. He would finish in 41st place in this event due to wheel bearing issues on lap 4. [5] However, this event included yellow flags. [2] Eight famous crew chiefs would participate in this race; including Banjo Matthews, Dale Inman, Jerry Hyde and Dick Hutcherson. [6]

The winner's purse was $19,700 ($131,283 when adjusted for inflation) while the last-place finisher went home with $800 ($5,331 when adjusted for inflation). [7] The total amount of money offered at this event was $84,235 ($561,950 when adjusted for inflation). [8]

Qualifying

Grid [2] No.DriverManufacturerOwner
142Dan Gurney'70 Plymouth Petty Enterprises
217David Pearson'70 Ford Holman-Moody
311A.J. Foyt'70 Ford Jack Bowsher
422Bobby Allison'69 Dodge Mario Rossi
598LeeRoy Yarbrough'70 Ford Junior Johnson
643Richard Petty'70 Plymouth Petty Enterprises
771Bobby Isaac'69 Dodge Nord Krauskopf
827Donnie Allison'70 Ford Banjo Matthews
96Sam Posey'69 Dodge Cotton Owens
1048James Hylton'69 Dodge James Hylton

Finishing order

Section reference: [2]

  1. A.J. Foyt
  2. Roger McCluskey
  3. LeeRoy Yarbrough
  4. Donnie Allison
  5. Richard Petty
  6. Dan Gurney
  7. Neil Castles
  8. Friday Hassler
  9. Jerry Oliver
  10. Dick Guldstrand
  11. Parnelli Jones
  12. Kevin Terris
  13. Bobby Allison
  14. Dave Marcis
  15. Sam Rose
  16. Dave Alonzo
  17. David Pearson
  18. Dick Kranzler
  19. Paul Dorrity
  20. Joe Frasson
  21. Frank James
  22. Dick Bown
  23. Randy Dodd
  24. Ray Elder
  25. Jimmy Insolo
  26. Jim Cook
  27. Steve Froines
  28. Sam Posey
  29. Bobby Isaac
  30. Jack McCoy
  31. G.T. Dallas
  32. Les Loeser, Jr.
  33. Dick Brooks
  34. Buddy Young
  35. James Hylton
  36. Elmo Langley
  37. Carl Joiner, Jr.
  38. Don Noel
  39. Don White
  40. Lothar Motschenbacher
  41. Frank Deiny
  42. Scotty Cain
  43. Bob England
  44. Frank Warren

Timeline

Section reference: [2]

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References

  1. ↑ "1970 Motor Trend 500 weather information". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved 2012-08-04.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 "1970 Motor Trend 500 information". Racing Reference. Retrieved 2010-09-24.
  3. ↑ "Driver A.J. Foyt's Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series wins". Racing-Reference. Retrieved 2019-10-05.
  4. ↑ "Dan Gurney - Motor Trend 500". All American Races. Retrieved 2010-09-24.
  5. ↑ "1969 Motor Trend 500 racing results". Racing Reference. Retrieved 2011-01-20.
  6. ↑ "1969 Motor Trend 500 crew chief information". Racing Reference. Retrieved 2017-06-11.
  7. ↑ "1970 Motor Trend 500 information". Driver Averages. Archived from the original on 2014-08-11. Retrieved 2012-09-04.
  8. ↑ "1970 Motor Trend 500 information". Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet. Retrieved 2012-09-04.
Preceded by Motor Trend 500 races
1964-71		Succeeded by
Preceded by NASCAR Grand National Series Season
1969		Succeeded by
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