With Tim Leeming being away a day or so, I thought I'd keep the momentum going. Its been neat to see a race featured each day. So here goes.
This post returns us to one of NASCAR's most hallowed tracks - Martinsville. The spring Virginia 50 was traditionally run earlier in the spring - late April to early May. The same held true for 1970 as the race was scheduled for April 26. Qualifying was held, and King Richard won the pole.
Source: Spartanburg Herald Journal
But the race was rained out on April 26 and again on the first make-up date of May 3. NASCAR and Clay Earles worked to then run the race on May 31.
Between the date of qualifying on April 24 and the make-up date of May 31, King Richard had quite the exciting spring. On May 9, he caromed off the turn 4 and pit road walls at Darlington in the Rebel 400 dislocating his shoulder. As a result, he was home on the couch vs. on the track when the Virginia 500 finally began.
When the teams returned to Virginia, it seemed NO ONE would take the pole. Petty wanted to substitute Pete Hamilton for his car, but Petty Enterprises was unable to convert a speedway car to a short-tracker in time for Pete to run the race. Even if Pete had run the race, it would have been questionable if NASCAR would have allowed him to start from the King's top qualifying start (though perhaps not - read on).
Consequently, NASCAR negated Petty as the pole winner. To this day, most media sources (and even the International Motorsports Hall of Fame ) state The King won 127 pole positions in his career. The record was even commemorated on a Pepsi bottle in Petty's final season as a driver.
Yet, racing-reference.info only reflects 123 poles. I get the one exception - but now I guess I have to set about reconciling the other three.
Next was Donnie Allison who was 2nd fastest in qualifying in April. But with a top 5 finish in the Indy 500, he chose to stay in Indiana for post-race festivities vs. returning to Martinsville. According to Greg Fielden's Forty Years of Stock Car Racing - Vol. 3, Donnie was awarded the distinction of being the pole winner when Petty couldn't return. Yet all sources I've seen show Donnie with 18 career poles - a number that does NOT include the 1970 Virginia 500.
Bobby Isaac qualified 3rd in April, but he ended up starting 2nd in the race even though King and Donnie could not start 1-2. Why? Because LeeRoy Yarbrough - who also raced at Indy - showed up at Martinsville, surrendered the car he qualified 8th to David Pearson, got in Donnie Allison's car, and was allowed to start from the pole ! Talk about a real head-scratcher.
The race finally began and AGAIN rains threatened. Fortunately the race wasn't rained out a third time - but it was rain shortened to 377 laps and 188.5 miles. Isaac and his Harry Hyde-led #71 Nord Krauskopf team were on a roll. Including Martinsville, Isaac had won 4 of the previous 5 races on his way to the 1970 Grand National championship. He led 233 of the 377 laps, and he was almost a full lap ahead of second place finisher Bobby Allison.
The top 5 finishers were:
1. Bobby Issac, 377 laps, $10,795
2. Bobby Allison, 377 laps, $5,140
3. Cale Yarborough, 376 laps, $3,100
4. David Pearson, 376 laps, $1,525
5. Dick Brooks, 375 laps, $1,025
Other notable finishers in the 39-car field included Jabe Thomas (8th), Wendell Scott (12th), Ron Keselowksi (14th), Roy Mayne (20th), pole "winner" Lee Roy (26th), Friday Hassler (36th), and upstart Benny Parsons (38th).
Source: Bryan Times
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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.
updated by @tmc-chase: 11/08/17 04:41:05PM
