Race details [1] | |||
---|---|---|---|
Race 44 of 48 in the 1970 NASCAR Grand National Series season | |||
Date | October 11, 1970 | ||
Official name | National 500 | ||
Location | Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord, North Carolina | ||
Course | Permanent racing facility 1.500 mi (2.414 km) | ||
Distance | 334 laps, 500 mi (804 km) | ||
Weather | Warm with temperatures of 82.9 °F (28.3 °C); wind speeds of 6 miles per hour (9.7 km/h) | ||
Average speed | 123.246 mph (198.345 km/h) | ||
Attendance | 50,000 [2] | ||
Pole position | |||
Driver | Nichels Engineering | ||
Time | 34.335 seconds | ||
Most laps led | |||
Driver | LeeRoy Yarbrough | Junior Johnson & Associates | |
Laps | 112 | ||
Winner | |||
No. 12 | LeeRoy Yarbrough | Junior Johnson & Associates | |
Television in the United States | |||
Network | ABC | ||
Announcers | Jim McKay Chris Economaki |
The 1970 National 500 was a NASCAR Grand National Series stock car race that was held on October 11, 1970, at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina.
There were 14 winged cars involved in the race; including Lorenzen, Baker, Vandiver, Richard Petty, and Glotzbach.
Out of the 62 cars that were reported as having been entered on October 9, 1970, only 43 of them were properly recorded by NASCAR officials. [2] Former NASCAR star Curtis Turner had formed an agreement with track president Richard Howard to run the race in a one-off, but he was killed in a plane crash days before the event. [3]
Only 40 of 43 officially registered drivers qualified for the starting grid. George Eaton and Buck Baker were recorded as sharing the No. 58 vehicle. [2] Drivers that did not qualify were Buck Baker, George Eaton, Raymond Williams and Dick Polling. [2] Cale Yarborough was credited with the last-place finish on lap 10 due to a crash with the wall. [2] Fifty thousand racing fans would see 23 different lead changes and eight cautions for a period of 63 laps. [2] An unusually lengthy race for the early 1970s, the 1970 National 500 lasted a grueling four hours and three minutes. [2]
This race marked Kmart's debut as a NASCAR sponsor as they backed Fred Lorenzen's white #3 Dodge Daytona. [2] The winged Charger would fly high today as Fast Freddie brought it home with a podium finish and led a few laps en route. [2]
The race was held on a dry circuit; with no precipitation recorded around the speedway. [4]
LeeRoy Yarbrough would defeat Bobby Allison under the yellow flag. [2] This would become Yarbrough's final win in the NASCAR Cup Series. [5] Charlie Glotzbach would qualify for the pole position in this race by driving speeds up to 157.273 miles per hour (253.106 km/h) during the solo sessions. [2] Other notable drivers at this race were David Pearson, Coo Coo Marlin, Frank Warren, Richard Petty and J.D. McDuffie. [2]
A lot of the drivers did not finish the race because of crashes on the track. [2] Eleven notable crew chiefs participated in the race; including Herb Nab, Junie Donlavey, Harry Hyde, Dale Inman, Tom Vandiver and Banjo Matthews. [6] The race car drivers still had to commute to the races using the same stock cars that competed in a typical weekend's race through a policy of homologation (and under their own power). This policy was in effect until roughly 1975. By 1980, NASCAR had completely stopped tracking the year model of all the vehicles and most teams did not take stock cars to the track under their own power anymore.
Grid | No. | Driver | Manufacturer | Speed [7] | Qualifying time [7] | Owner |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 99 | Charlie Glotzbach | '69 Dodge | 157.273 | 34.335 | Ray Nichels |
2 | 43 | Richard Petty | '70 Plymouth | 156.521 | 34.500 | Petty Enterprises |
3 | 6 | Buddy Baker | '69 Dodge | 156.499 | 34.505 | Cotton Owens |
4 | 3 | Fred Lorenzen | '69 Dodge | 154.883 | 34.865 | Ray Fox |
5 | 98 | LeeRoy Yarbrough | '69 Mercury | 154.789 | 34.886 | Junior Johnson |
6 | 40 | Pete Hamilton | '70 Plymouth | 154.714 | 34.903 | Petty Enterprises |
7 | 17 | David Pearson | '69 Ford | 154.523 | 34.944 | Holman-Moody |
8 | 21 | Cale Yarborough | '69 Mercury | 153.876 | 35.093 | Wood Brothers |
9 | 71 | Bobby Isaac | '69 Dodge | 152.797 | 35.341 | Nord Krauskopf |
10 | 22 | Bobby Allison | '69 Dodge | 152.771 | 35.347 | Mario Rossi |
Pos [2] | Grid | No. | Driver | Manufacturer | Laps | Winnings | Laps led | Time/Status |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 5 | 98 | LeeRoy Yarbrough | Mercury | 334 | $23,700 | 112 | 4:03:28 |
2 | 10 | 22 | Bobby Allison | Dodge | 334 | $10,950 | 22 | Lead lap under caution |
3 | 4 | 3 | Fred Lorenzen | Dodge | 333 | $6,400 | 3 | +4 laps |
4 | 15 | 72 | Benny Parsons | Ford | 329 | $3,955 | 0 | +8 laps |
5 | 9 | 71 | Bobby Isaac | Dodge | 323 | $3,330 | 2 | Engine failure |
6 | 18 | 64 | Elmo Langley | Mercury | 321 | $2,265 | 0 | +16 laps |
7 | 19 | 10 | Bill Champion | Ford | 320 | $2,065 | 0 | +17 laps |
8 | 20 | 5 | Buddy Arrington | Dodge | 319 | $1,965 | 0 | +19 laps |
9 | 36 | 46 | Roy Mayne | Chevrolet | 317 | $1,955 | 0 | +21 laps |
10 | 22 | 39 | Friday Hassler | Chevrolet | 315 | $1,765 | 0 | Engine failure |
The 1971 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season began on January 10 and ended on November 20. Richard Petty was the champion for this Winston Cup season. After 20 years of being named the NASCAR Grand National Series, R. J. Reynolds first became the primary sponsor in a decade where the growing anti-tobacco movement banned its advertisement on television and motorsports was the ideal place to place their advertisements. Through NASCAR, Winston merchandise was unveiled to live viewers of the races. This kind of merchandise would also be given out at stores that sold cigarettes in subsequent years. Race car drivers were encouraged to smoke cigarettes until the mid-2000s brought in strict drug testing policies in addition to a smoking cessation program by Nicorette, a GlaxoSmithKline brand.
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The 1971 National 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on October 10, 1971, at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. Most of the vehicles used in the race had a rating of 427 cubic inches.
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