1970 National 500

Last updated
1970 National 500
Race details [1]
Race 44 of 48 in the 1970 NASCAR Grand National Series season
Lowe's Motor Speedway.svg
Layout of Charlotte Motor Speedway
Date October 11, 1970 (1970-October-11)
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. 12LeeRoy YarbroughJunior 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.

Contents

There were 14 winged cars involved in the race; including Lorenzen, Baker, Vandiver, Richard Petty, and Glotzbach.

Race report

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.

Qualifying

GridNo.DriverManufacturerSpeed [7] Qualifying time [7] Owner
199 Charlie Glotzbach '69 Dodge157.27334.335 Ray Nichels
243 Richard Petty '70 Plymouth156.52134.500 Petty Enterprises
36 Buddy Baker '69 Dodge156.49934.505 Cotton Owens
43 Fred Lorenzen '69 Dodge154.88334.865 Ray Fox
598 LeeRoy Yarbrough '69 Mercury154.78934.886 Junior Johnson
640 Pete Hamilton '70 Plymouth154.71434.903Petty Enterprises
717 David Pearson '69 Ford154.52334.944 Holman-Moody
821 Cale Yarborough '69 Mercury153.87635.093 Wood Brothers
971 Bobby Isaac '69 Dodge152.79735.341 Nord Krauskopf
1022 Bobby Allison '69 Dodge152.77135.347 Mario Rossi

Top 10 finishers

Pos [2] GridNo.DriverManufacturerLapsWinningsLaps ledTime/Status
1598 LeeRoy Yarbrough Mercury334$23,7001124:03:28
21022 Bobby Allison Dodge334$10,95022Lead lap under caution
343 Fred Lorenzen Dodge333$6,4003+4 laps
41572 Benny Parsons Ford 329$3,9550+8 laps
5971 Bobby Isaac Dodge323$3,3302Engine failure
61864 Elmo Langley Mercury321$2,2650+16 laps
71910 Bill Champion Ford 320$2,0650+17 laps
8205 Buddy Arrington Dodge319$1,9650+19 laps
93646 Roy Mayne Chevrolet 317$1,9550+21 laps
102239 Friday Hassler Chevrolet 315$1,7650Engine failure

Related Research Articles

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1970 American 500</span> Auto race held at North Carolina Motor Speedway in 1970

The 1970 American 500 was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that was held on November 15, 1970, at North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham, North Carolina. Jim Paschal qualified the #40 vehicle for Pete Hamilton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1974 National 500</span> Auto race held at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1974

The 1974 National 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on October 6, 1974, at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1969 National 500</span> Auto race held at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1969

The 1969 National 500 was a NASCAR Grand National Series stock car race that was held on October 12, 1969, at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. This race is still being held in today's Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series as the 'Bank of America 500'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1960 National 400</span> Auto race held at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1960

The 1960 National 400 was a Grand National Series stock car race that was held on October 16, 1960, at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1972 World 600</span> Auto race held at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1972

The 1972 World 600, the 13th running of the event, was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that was held on May 28, 1972, at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. Wendell Scott was promised a good car, what he actually got was a hunk of junk. In practice, the car was 9 miles per hour off the pace; this led to jeers from his fellow drivers that he just could not drive the best level of equipment that was available at the time. Bobby Allison climbed in the car afterward and went the same speed while Wendell did the best he could with it until the engine grenaded. This resulted in Wendell obtaining a result of 22nd place DNF on lap 283.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1973 National 500</span> Auto race held at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1973

The 1973 National 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on October 7, 1973, at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1969 American 500</span> Auto race run in North Carolina in 1969

The 1969 American 500 was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that was held on October 26, 1969, at North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham, North Carolina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1975 National 500</span> Auto race held at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1975

The 1975 National 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race that took place on October 5, 1975, at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina.

The 1968 Columbia 200 was a NASCAR Grand National Series stock car race that was held on April 18, 1968, at Columbia Speedway in Columbia, South Carolina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1967 Atlanta 500</span> American NASCAR auto race in 1967

The 1967 Atlanta 500 was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that was held on April 2, 1967, at Atlanta International Raceway in Hampton, Georgia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1971 Volunteer 500</span> Auto race held at Bristol International Speedway in 1971

The 1971 Volunteer 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on July 11, 1971, at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1971 World 600</span> Auto race held at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1971

The 1971 World 600, the 12th running of the event, was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on May 30, 1971, at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. It marked the return of Chevrolet to NASCAR.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1971 National 500</span> Auto race held at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1971

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1969 Dixie 500</span> Auto race held at Atlanta International Raceway in 1969

The 1969 Dixie 500 was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that was held on August 10, 1969, at Atlanta International Raceway in Hampton, Georgia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1968 World 600</span> Auto race held at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1968

The 1968 World 600, the ninth running of the event, was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that took place on May 26, 1968, at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1968 American 500</span> Auto race held at North Carolina Motor Speedway in 1968

The 1968 American 500 was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that was held on October 27, 1968, at North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham, North Carolina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1970 Rebel 400</span> Auto race held at Darlington Raceway in 1970

The 1970 Rebel 400 was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that was held on May 9, 1970, at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina. The race is known for a crash involving Richard Petty that inspired NASCAR to implement the window net, a mandatory safety feature in today's NASCAR vehicles.

References

  1. Weather information for the 1970 National 500 at The Old Farmer's Almanac
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 1970 National 500 racing information at Racing-Reference
  3. "Flamboyant Curtis Turner Was A Track Showman". Asheville Citizen . AP. October 6, 1970. Retrieved January 17, 2020 via Newspapers.com.
  4. "Charlotte NASCAR Climatology" (PDF). SERCC. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-09-08. Retrieved 2018-09-12.
  5. 1970 National 500 racing information at Race-Database
  6. Crew chief information for the 1970 National 500 at Racing Reference
  7. 1 2 Qualifying information for the 1970 National 500 at Racing Reference
Preceded by NASCAR Grand National Series season
1969
Succeeded by
Preceded by National 500 races
1970
Succeeded by