1970 National 500
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.
| Race details[1] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 44 of 48 in the 1970 NASCAR Grand National Series season | |||
 Layout of Charlotte Motor Speedway | |||
| 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 | ||
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]
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
| 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 |
Top 10 finishers
| 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 |
References
- Weather information for the 1970 National 500 at The Old Farmer's Almanac
- 1970 National 500 racing information at Racing-Reference
- "Flamboyant Curtis Turner Was A Track Showman". Asheville Citizen. AP. October 6, 1970. Retrieved January 17, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- "Charlotte NASCAR Climatology" (PDF). SERCC. Retrieved 2018-09-12.
- 1970 National 500 racing information at Race-Database
- Crew chief information for the 1970 National 500 at Racing Reference
- Qualifying information for the 1970 National 500 at Racing Reference
| Preceded by 1970 Wilkes 400 |
NASCAR Grand National Series season 1969 |
Succeeded by 1970 Old Dominion 500 |
| Preceded by 1969 |
National 500 races 1970 |
Succeeded by 1971 |