1970 Motor Trend 500

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1970 Motor Trend 500
Race details[1][2]
Race 1 of 48 in the 1970 NASCAR Grand National Series season
Layout of Riverside International Raceway
Layout of Riverside International Raceway
Date January 18, 1970 (1970-January-18)
Official name Motor Trend 500
Location Riverside International Raceway, Riverside, California
Course Permanent racing facility
2.700 mi (4.345 km)
Distance 400 laps, 502 mi (808 km)
Weather Chilly with temperatures approaching 68.9 °F (20.5 °C); wind speeds up to 18.1 miles per hour (29.1 km/h)
Average speed 97.450 miles per hour (156.831 km/h)
Pole position
Driver
Petty Enterprises
Most laps led
Driver Parnelli Jones Wood Brothers Racing
Laps 88
Winner
No. 11 A.J. Foyt Jack Bowsher & Associates
Television in the United States
Network Untelevised
Announcers None

The 1970 Motor Trend 500 was a NASCAR Grand National Series (now Sprint Cup Series) event that was held on January 18, 1970 at Riverside International Raceway in Riverside, California.

NASCAR's then-humble organization made it affordable for many local, regional, and obscure sponsors to appear on the Grand National Level; including stock car automobile magazines aimed at a small group of hardcore NASCAR fans.[3] Sponsorship today is very expensive for the NASCAR Cup Series and many corporate brands like Kellog's, M&M's and DuPont have scaled back their sponsorship due to recent changes in the American economy.

Summary

The Plymouth Superbird would make its first ever NASCAR appearance during this race. Six cautions were handed out by NASCAR for 31 complete laps.[2] A.J. Foyt was the winner of the race in his 1970 Ford Torino; defeating Roger McCluskey by 3½ seconds.[2] There were forty-four competitors in this race; 43 were from the United States of America while one competitor (Lothar Motschenbacher) was from Cologne, West Germany.[2] Jim Cook was involved in a major accident that would leave him using a wheelchair for the rest of his life on lap 94.[2] The other finishers in the top ten were: LeeRoy Yarbrough, Donnie Allison, Richard Petty, Dan Gurney (who would become a mainstay at the track during the 1960s and would leave NASCAR after this year[3]), Neil Castles, Friday Hassler, Jerry Oliver, and Dick Guldstrand.[2] Motschenbacher would start in 31st place and finish the race in 40th.[2]

The average speed of the race was 97.045 miles per hour (156.179 km/h) while Dan Gurney earned the pole position with a qualifying speed of 112.006 miles per hour (180.256 km/h).[2] There was a live attendance of 43,200 fans waiting to see 193 laps of action on a road course.[2] The previous year's event was notable for being a "perfect race."[4] However, this event included yellow flags.[2]

The winner's purse was considered to be $19,700 ($120,040.02 when adjusted for inflation) while the last-place finisher went home with a meager $800 ($4,874.72 when adjusted for inflation).[5] After combining the prize winnings from all the races, the total amount of money offered at this event was $84,235 ($513,826.11 when adjusted for inflation).[6]

Top twenty finishers

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  1. A.J. Foyt
  2. Roger McCluskey
  3. LeeRoy Yarbrough
  4. Donnie Allison
  5. Richard Petty
  6. Dan Gurney
  7. Neil Castles
  8. Friday Hassler
  9. Jerry Oliver
  10. Dick Guldstrand
  11. Parnelli Jones
  12. Kevin Terris
  13. Bobby Allison
  14. Dave Marcis
  15. Sam Rose
  16. Dave Alonzo
  17. David Pearson
  18. Dick Kranzler
  19. Paul Dorrity
  20. Joe Frasson

Timeline

  • Start: David Pearson's vehicle was the first to leave the start/finish line as the green flag was waved in the air
  • Lap 26: A.J. Foyt took over the lead from David Pearson
  • Lap 27: Richard Petty took over the lead from A.J. Foyt
  • Lap 29: David Pearson took over the lead from Richard Petty
  • Lap 35: LeeRoy Yarbrough took over the lead from David Pearson
  • Lap 36: A.J. Foyt took over the lead from LeeRoy Yarbrough
  • Lap 43: Parnelli Jones took over the lead from A.J. Foyt
  • Lap 44: LeeRoy Yarbrough took over the lead from Parnelli Jones
  • Lap 45: Donnie Allison took over the lead from LeeRoy Yarbrough
  • Lap 65: A.J. Foyt took over the lead from Donnie Allison
  • Lap 67: Parnelli Jones took over the lead from A.J. Foyt
  • Lap 85: Donnie Allison took over the lead from Parnelli Jones
  • Lap 87: David Pearson took over the lead from Donnie Allison
  • Lap 95: LeeRoy Yarbrough took over the leaf from David Pearson
  • Lap 96: Roger McCluskey took over the lead from LeeRoy Yarbrough
  • Lap 98: LeeRoy Yarbrough took over the lead from Roger McCluskey
  • Lap 99: Parnelli Jones took over the lead from LeeRoy Yarbrough
  • Lap 110: LeeRoy Yarbrough took over the lead from Parnelli Jones
  • Lap 111: Parnelli Jones took over the lead from LeeRoy Yarbrough
  • Lap 169: A.J. Foyt took over the lead from Parnelli Jones
  • Finish: A.J. Foyt was officially declared the winner of the event

References

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  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Preceded by Motor Trend 500 races
1964-71		 Succeeded by
1971 Motor Trend 500
Preceded by NASCAR Grand National Series Season
1969		 Succeeded by
1970 Daytona 500
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