1974 World 600
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 13 of 30 in the 1974 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season | |||
Layout of Charlotte Motor Speedway
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| Date | May 26, 1974 | ||
| Official name | World 600 | ||
| Location | Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord, North Carolina | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility 1.500 mi (2.414 km) |
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| Distance | 400 laps, 600 mi (965 km) | ||
| Weather | Warm with temperatures reaching up to 81 °F (27 °C); wind speeds up to 13 miles per hour (21 km/h) | ||
| Average speed | 135.720 miles per hour (218.420 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 84,000 | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Wood Brothers | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | David Pearson | Wood Brothers | |
| Laps | 161 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 21 | David Pearson | Wood Brothers | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | untelevised | ||
| Announcers | none | ||
The 1974 World 600, the 15th running of the event, was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series event that was held on May 26, 1974, at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, 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 anymore.
The race was shortened by 40 laps due to the energy crisis of that year. The lead changed 37 times among David Pearson, Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, Buddy Baker, and Donnie Allison. Allison and Baker fell out with engine failures while Yarborough spun out early in the race, raced back to the front, then crashed out in the final 20 laps.
It took three hours and fifty-eight minutes for the race to be fully complete. Eight cautions were flown out by NASCAR for 48 laps. The average speed of the race was 135.72 miles per hour (218.42 km/h). Pearson defeated Petty by 0.6 seconds in front of eighty-four thousand people.Sam McQuagg would make his final start in this race before retiring from NASCAR. He would later become a commercial pilot for the W. C. Bradly Co. in Columbus, Georgia and would eventually die of cancer in 2009.
Individual earnings for each driver ranged from the winner's share of $26,400 ($128,205.67 when adjusted for inflation) to the last-place finisher's share of $1,075 ($5,220.50 when adjusted for inflation). NASCAR allocated a grand total of $167,305 ($812,479.14 when adjusted for inflation) to be spent on winnings for every qualifying driver for this event.
Note: Each driver would get an additional 40 laps due to the then-current energy crisis (which officially ended in 1980).
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