1970 American 500
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 47 of 48 in the 1970 NASCAR Grand National Series season | |||
Layout of Rockingham Speedway
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| Date | November 15, 1970 | ||
| Official name | American 500 | ||
| Location | North Carolina Motor Speedway, Rockingham, North Carolina | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility 1.017 mi (1.636 km) |
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| Distance | 492 laps, 500 mi (804 km) | ||
| Weather | Chilly with temperatures approaching 65.3 °F (18.5 °C); wind speeds up to 12 miles per hour (19 km/h) | ||
| Average speed | 117.811 miles per hour (189.598 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 20,000 | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Nichels Engineering | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Cale Yarborough | Wood Brothers Racing | |
| Laps | 205 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 21 | Cale Yarborough | Wood Brothers Racing | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | untelevised | ||
| Announcers | none | ||
The 1970 American 500 was a NASCAR Grand National Series (now Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series) event that was held on November 15, 1970, at North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham, North Carolina.
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 any more.
Twenty thousand people attended the race which lasted for 4 hours, 14 minutes, and 24 seconds. The average speed was 117.811 miles per hour (189.598 km/h) while the pole speed was 136.496 miles per hour (219.669 km/h). There were seven cautions that lasted for forty-six laps and the margin of victory was four seconds. As the second to final race in NASCAR's Grand National era, this race was crucial for people wanting to win the 1970 NASCAR Grand National Championship. 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 1.017 miles (1.637 km). The winner's purse was considered to be $20,445 ($126,086.26 when adjusted for inflation) while last place (40th) paid $540 ($3,083.55 when adjusted for inflation). 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 (in addition to their rear end). 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.
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