1970 American 500


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.
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. 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 any more.

Race report

Twenty thousand people attended the race which lasted for 4 hours, 14 minutes, and 24 seconds. The average speed was while the pole speed was. There were seven cautions that lasted for forty-six laps and the margin of victory was four seconds. As the penultimate race in NASCAR's Grand National era, this race was crucial for people wanting to win the 1970 NASCAR Grand National Championship. Even though Bobby Isaac finished the race in 7th place, the finish was good enough for him to clinch the championship trophy.
Only manual transmission vehicles were allowed to participate in this race; a policy that NASCAR has retained to the present day.
492 laps were done on a paved oval track spanning. The winner's purse was considered to be $20,445 while last place paid $540. Drivers who were eliminated from the race had to deal with engine problems in addition to crashes, transmission problems, and problems with their fan pulley. Pete Hamilton would do his final race for Petty Enterprises here while Cale Yarborough would do his final race for the Wood Brothers at the same location. Coincidentally, Hoss Ellington would retire from NASCAR after this race. Cale Yarborough would eventually transfer himself to the USAC Indy Car Series in 1971.
Notable crew chiefs in this race included Herb Nab, Junie Donlavey, Harry Hyde, Dale Inman, Maurice Petty, Tom Vandiver and Banjo Matthews.

Qualifying

Failed to qualify: Dick Poling, Roy Mayne

Finishing order

Section reference:
  1. Cale Yarborough
  2. David Pearson
  3. Bobby Allison
  4. Donnie Allison
  5. Buddy Baker
  6. Richard Petty
  7. Bobby Isaac
  8. James Hylton
  9. Friday Hassler
  10. Buddy Young
  11. Joe Frasson
  12. Neil Castles
  13. Elmo Langley
  14. Jabe Thomas
  15. Pete Hamilton*
  16. Jim Vandiver
  17. Ben Arnold
  18. J.D. McDuffie
  19. Raymond Williams
  20. Wendell Scott*
  21. Cecil Gordon
  22. Johnny Halford
  23. Roy Mayne
  24. Larry Baumel
  25. Bill Champion*
  26. Frank Warren
  27. Hoss Ellington*
  28. Henley Gray
  29. LeeRoy Yarbrough*
  30. John Sears*
  31. Charlie Glotzbach*
  32. Dave Marcis*
  33. Benny Parsons*
  34. Bill Seifert*
  35. Tiny Lund*
  36. Bill Shirey*
  37. Bill Dennis*
  38. Roy Tyner*
  39. Dick Brooks*
  40. Buddy Arrington*
* Driver failed to finish race

Timeline

Section reference: