1974 Dixie 500

Atlanta International Raceway (now Atlanta Motor Speedway) is one of ten current intermediate track to hold NASCAR races; the others are Charlotte Motor Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway, Darlington Raceway, Homestead Miami Speedway, Kansas Speedway, Kentucky Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and Texas Motor Speedway.[3] However, at the time, only Charlotte and Darlington were built.

The layout at Atlanta International Speedway at the time was a four-turn traditional oval track that is 1.54 miles (2.48 km) long.[4] The track's turns are banked at twenty-four degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, and the back stretch are banked at five.[4]

There were 36 drivers in this 328-lap racing event; Dan Daughtry was the unfortunate last-place finish due to troubles with his engine on lap 10. Cale Yarborough earned the pole position for driving speeds up to 156.75 miles per hour (252.26 km/h) during solo qualifying sessions. Earl Ross, a Canadian NASCAR driver, was the only foreigner on the starting grid. Donnie Allison, Buddy Baker and Richard Petty would dominate the opening laps of this event. This would be the last time that a Winston Cup Atlanta race was run during the summer.[2]

Speeds at this event reached up to 131.651 miles per hour (211.872 km/h) throughout the entire three-hour-and-forty-two-minute spectacle. The green flag was officially waved at approximately 1:00 PM Eastern Daylight Saving Time while the checkered flag was waved at approximately 4:42 PM EDST. Buddy Baker, David Pearson, and Richard Petty would dominate the final laps of the race. In the end, Richard Petty went on to defeat David Pearson by exactly 21 seconds. 38,000 live spectators would see other notable drivers such as Elmo Langley, J.D. McDuffie, James Hylton, Donnie Allison and Bill Champion.[2]

Jimmy Crawford would make his final NASCAR Winston Cup Series start in this race; he finished in 31st place.[2]

Individual winnings ranged from the winner's share of $19,350 ($100,314 when adjusted for inflation) to a meager $875 for the last-place finisher ($4,536 when adjusted for inflation). The total prize purse for this racing event was $101,295 ($525,135 when adjusted for inflation).[5]