Racing History Minute - 1970 Daytona 500

I originally blogged about Pete Hamilton's surprise win in the 1970 Daytona 500 a year ago.Thought I'd re-run much of it here as well as some addition content. My original blog post is here:

https://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2013/02/february-22-1970-pete-pockets-daytona.html

On February 22, 1970, Pete Hamilton from Dedham, Massachusetts wins the Daytona 500 in a winged Petty Enterprises Plymouth Superbird.

As the 1970 season opened in January, the Pettys fielded a second Superbird at Riverside's road course in the [ Motor Trend 500 ]. But it was for road course ringer Dan Gurney, the car wasn't originally built by Petty Enterprises, and the color and font of the number 42 didn't remind anyone of a Petty entry.

The arrangement with Gurney was a one-race deal. In the same month as the Riverside race, Petty Enterprises and Chrysler Corporation announced the hiring of Hamilton for a limited number of races the rest of the season, and Pete's car was assigned #40 - a number not previously fielded by PE and never used again after Hamilton's single season with the team.

Hamilton won honors as the 1968 NASCAR Grand National Rookie of the Year, but he couldn't land a solid ride in NASCAR's top series in 1969. He was delighted to be hired by the factory-supported Petty team in 1970 and planned to make the most of his new gig.

With a team headed by Richard's brother and engine builder, Maurice "Chief" Petty, Pete didn't take long to make his presence known. He laid down a solid qualifying lap, started sixth in his 125-mile qualifying twin, and finished fifth in it - one spot better than his teammate, King Richard.

The front row was locked up by pole-winner Cale Yarborough in the Wood Brothers Mercury and Buddy Baker in Cotton Owens' winged Dodge.

The starting line-up for the 1st twin had a pair of non-winged cars from FoMoCo up front - Cale and David Pearson. Both Petty cars were in the first twin as was Bobby Isaac. Yarborough and Issac split all but 5 of the laps, and Cale won the twin by a comfortable margin.

Leading the 2nd twin at the start was Baker and Charlie Glotzbach.

The two cars led all but one lap - with Glotzbach leading 36 to Baker's 13 en route to the win.

During the second twin, Talmadge Prince was making his Grand National debut running a Mopar he'd bought from James Hylton.- from Thomas K. Craig

Racing Charlie Glotzbach - from Bumpertag

Not quite half-way through the race, Prince spun and was center punched in the driver's side door by Bill Seiffert. Incredibly and sadly, Prince suffered fatal injuries in the accident in his one and only GN race. - from FindAGrave.com

Tiny Lund captured the Permatex 300 sportsman race on Saturday before Sunday's 500.- Brian Norton

Interesting how those Daytona oceanic winds seemed to whip only Tiny's hair. - from Ray Lamm

Finishes by Hamilton and Petty in the first twin placed them nose-to-tail, 9th and 11th, in the starting line-up for the 500. - Courtesy of Don Smyle from Smyle Media

In the 500, Pete lined up behind the two Fords of Lee Roy Yarborough in Junior Johnson's #98 and Donnie Allison in Banjo Matthews' #27. Ray Lamm

Chief was masterful as Hamilton's crew chief with solid pit strategy and keeping the young and relatively inexperienced driver calm as he made each stop. Note the lack of a window net for the driver. Use of the nets didn't come into favor until after The King's violent wreck at Darlington two months later. - Ray Lamm

And from Smyle Media

Hamilton and David Pearson, the two-time and reigning NASCAR Grand National champion, swapped the lead a couple of times over the last few laps. Coming to the white flag, Pearson gave it his all to dive under the 40. But his Holman & Moody Ford broke traction, his tires went up in smoke, and the Silver Fox did an incredible job regathering the wheel and regaining his pursuit. Hamilton pulled away for three-quarters of the lap. Pearson shoved his accelerator through the firewall in an effort to catch the Superbird. But Pete had too much and beat Pearson to the line by about 3 car lengths. - Ray Lamm

To the victor belongs the spoils such as:

The congratulatory embrace from your crew chief.

Hardware for the trophy case

And maybe best of all, nice snug hugs from the pretties, including from Miss Hurst Shifter, Linda Vaughn. - Ray Lamm

RR's Cody Dinsmore shared a photo of the winner's trophy on display at the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame in Dawsonville.

One of the individuals celebrating with Pete and the Pettys in victory lane later went on to race himself for the Pettys in a few late model sportsman races and was runner-up to Dale Earnhardt for Rookie Of The Year in the 1979 Cup series: Joe Millikan - shown here behind Pete's 7-Up can.

Parts of the race including the finish were aired on ABC's Wide World of Sports. Keith Jackson - better known for his Whoaaa Nellie college football calls - was the lead anchor, and the iconic Chris Economacki from National Speed Sport News on color.

The start of the race - with pole sitter Cale Yarborough setting a fast pace early... and an early departure by The King. He completed only seven laps, broke an engine, and finished 39th in the 40-car field.

And the finish - with the battle between Pearson's Ford and Pete's Plymouth.

RR member Jerry Bushmire shared this NSSN headline and article about the race.

Pete's surprise win earned him a feature article in the June 1970 issue of Stock Car Racing magazine.

Fin	Driver	Car
1	Pete Hamilton	'70 Plymouth
2	David Pearson	'69 Ford
3	Bobby Allison	'69 Dodge
4	Charlie Glotzbach	'69 Dodge
5	Bobby Isaac	'69 Dodge
6	Richard Brickhouse	'70 Plymouth
7	Jim Hurtubise	'70 Ford
8	Ramo Stott	'70 Plymouth
9	LeeRoy Yarbrough	'69 Ford
10	Dave Marcis	'69 Dodge
11	Ray Elder	'69 Dodge
12	Neil Castles	'69 Dodge
13	Tiny Lund	'69 Dodge
14	Benny Parsons	'69 Ford
15	Friday Hassler	'69 Chevrolet
16	Roy Mayne	'69 Chevrolet
17	John Sears	'69 Dodge
18	Coo Coo Marlin	'69 Chevrolet
19	Dick Brooks	'70 Plymouth
20	Frank Warren	'69 Plymouth
21	Joe Frasson	'70 Dodge
22	James Hylton	'69 Plymouth
23	Butch Hirst	'69 Ford
24	Paul Feldner	'69 Dodge
25	Jabe Thomas	'69 Plymouth
26	Dick Trickle	'69 Ford
27	Buddy Baker	'69 Dodge
28	Elmo Langley	'69 Mercury
29	Buddy Arrington	'69 Dodge
30	Ron Grana	'69 Ford
31	Tommy Gale	'69 Mercury
32	A.J. Foyt	'69 Ford
33	Leonard Blanchard	'70 Ford
34	Ron Keselowski	'69 Dodge
35	Donnie Allison	'69 Ford
36	Don Tarr	'69 Dodge
37	Cale Yarborough	'69 Mercury
38	Jim Vandiver	'69 Dodge
39	Richard Petty	'70 Plymouth
40	Cecil Gordon	'68 Ford

outstanding report and great pics. Thanks to all of you.

Awesome report Chase. Great pictures and videos and memories. Now for my personal memories of this race.

I had driven my first race in August of 1969. Between then and the end of the season at the Columbia, Augusta and Savannah Speedways, we had run about 16 feature races, finishing no worse than third in a couple and second in all the others. Because of such success with a Plymouth, of all makes, we were able to attract a couple really good sponsors, including Payne Heating and Air, a National outfit that gave us what was considered "big bucks" for that time and our team. Our number 83 was sitting in the garage, repainted, shined to the max, and awaiting a special cam we had ordered out of Florida. Everything else was readyso all we had to do was build the engine and get it in the car before the April season opener at Columbia Speedway. As I had not been to Daytona in three years, we were pumped to head out that Saturday night to drive all night for the 500.

When we got to the track, we parked along the fence that kept people out of Lake Lloyd. Had a great view of all the back straight (now I notice they call it the "super straight" or whatever). Could see the cars coming off turn two and going into turn 3. Although I had driven all night, I was not the least bit tired as I absolutely could not wait to see them race at Daytona again, after missing 3 straight 500s. I remember watching the pace laps and wondering how Richard was going to do. I really didn't give Hamilton a thought.

Chase has done a great job with pictures, descriptions, and videos, as always, so there is not much I can add to the race description except to say I remember how impressed I was with the speed of that number 40. You could see that red nose of that Superbird coming through turn two and when he hit that straight, it was like no one could touch him.

We walked over to victory lane after the race and I recall thinking to myself how young Hamilton looked. He could only have been a year or two older than I was then so I was thinking that maybe I had a chance to driver for Petty Enterprises! NOW NO LAUGHING HERE, ESPECIALLY YOU DAVE FULTON AND YOU BILL McPEEK. Just allow me to laugh at my silliness of youth. But I remember thinking that all the way back home which, I think, allowed us to return to Columbia in record time.

The cam didn't come in for the race car until early March so we build the engine, installed it and fired it up in our neighborhood garage to the total "delight" of our neighbors. It was 1:00 in the afternoon on a Saturday so I was surprised with the County Sheriff showed up outside our shop. He said they had received a complaint about the noise and although there was no law against it at that time of day, he had to make an appearance to show they were doing their job. I was able to obtain the information from him as to who had called and I was shocked. My neighbor across the street who had known me for my entire life and as sweet a widow lady as ever there was. I walked right across the street to apologize and when she opened the door she was crying.

To make a very long story short, her little dog had disappeared that morning when she had let it out to do his business. It just so happened that all of that occurred about the time I was unlocking our shop to get to work and I had seen a green Ford stop in front of her house, although I didn't know the dog was out. The car was stopped about 15 seconds and then gone. I told Essie (her name) that I think I know here the dog was so we got in my car and drove a couple blocks up the street where I knew the green Ford was parked. I may not have known all my neighbors, but I knew what car went with what house everywhere in the neighborhood. We knocked on the door and Essie's dog was barking like the devil on the other side of the door. We got the dog back and Essie never let the dog out again alone and we never had another complaint about the race car.

And the deputy called to the scene that day? He stopped by the shop almost every week and we would encounter him at Columbia Speedway almost every Thursday. He became a big fan of the 83. Sorry to have gotten off point of a very good Daytona 500, but that's just the way I think at times.

Don't forget to Honor the past, embrace the present, and dream for the future.

Well done, Chase.

I was not laughing, Legend. Many of us shared that dream of driving for Petty Enterprises one day.

1970 Permatex 300 results from Ultimate Racing History:

Permatex 300

NASCARLate Model Sportsmanrace Daytona International Speedway ,Daytona Beach,FL February 21, 1970 120laps on 2.5 mile paved oval;300 miles

Notes: Guthrie was hospitalized in serious condition with multiple injuries after his accident. 40 cars started the race. Time of race: 02:15:01 Average Speed: 133.316 MPH Pole Speed: 49.62 seconds 7 cautions for 30 laps Attendance: 51,300

15th place Permatex 300 finisher, Ronnie Daniel of Lynchburg, Virginia raced every Friday night in Sportsman competition at my hometown Southside Speedway in Richmond and down the road on Saturday night at South Boston. He is listed as driving a Ford owned by a fellow Lynchburg driver, the late Earl Brooks.

Wonder if RR member, Harlow Reynolds was on that crew?

I've learned Pete was a big-time smoker. I don't know if he drank - beer or anything else. But he certainly had a plentiful supply of Falstaff if he did prefer the brew. - Pic from Jerry Bushmire

James Hylton won the Citrus 250 Grand American race. Wayne Andrews, father of RR members Dennis and Kevin Andrews, finished 2nd.

Wayne Andrews in #15 Cougar - Kevin Andrews

Me neither Legend....in fact I thought you did drive for the Petty's. Great personal touch you added to a fine story. As I've said before Thank all of you for what you bring to this outstanding web site.....

In today's racing, several of NASCAR's US born drivers drive a Japanese car brand. In 1970, the reverse was true. In the Citrus 250 Grand American race, Japanese driver Seiichi Suzuki raced a Mercury Cougar.

chase this is a wonderfull post very enjoyable and dave in the sportsman rundown i noticed ole cigar carl horton drove a car formerly driven by ld austin and bill duff and glenn mcduffie driving for td welker welkers nephew and i work together maybe i can get some pictures from him

That would be awesome if he had some photos he could share.

The #15 1970 Cougar was the car Wayne drove in the 1970 Paul Revere 250 in July. He drove the '68 Cougar in the Citrus 250.

Chase, fantastic post. Thanks. Cheers Tim also for your story. Not sure if it's in the posted videos, probably is, but the footage of Pearson catching it after almost losing it trying to get under Hamilton was heart-stopping stuff.

Gurney #42 reminded me of the #99 Nichels Dodge that Goldy drove in 69.

Great to see you back Sandeep. I haven't seen you around in awhile and you were missed. Welcome back.

Thanks Tim, just some personal problems. Still a long road to go to get over it mentally but glad to be back here for sure, my friend.

We all appreciate it a ton, Chase.

Bump