Racing History Minute - November 15, 1970

North Carolina Motor Speedway, Rockingham Raceway, "The Rock", or whatever you wanted to call it, the little one-mile track located just outside of Rockingham, NC was one of the favorite tracks for fans and drivers alike. Opening in October, 1965, the very first race saw Curtis Turner return to his winning ways of old as he won the very first 500 mile race on that track. Through the years there were many outstanding races run at Rockingham but then it lost its way when greed of others set in and its race dates went elsewhere. Andy Hillenburg fought valiantly to bring the track back but, once more, things aren't looking good for one of MY favorite tracks.

But, for today, we will return to 1970 when big time racing was set to go for 500 miles in The "American 500. Charlie Glotzbach would qualify at a speed of 136.498 in a winged Nichels-Goldsmith Dodge Daytona. Cale Yarborough would make the Wood Brothers happy by putting the Mercury from Virginia in second starting spot. Third place qualifier was Bobby Allison in a Mario Rossi Dodge Daytona, fourth place starter was Dick Brooks in a Plymouth Superbird and fifth place went to Bobby Isaac in the K&K bright red Dodge Daytona.

Cale Yarborough, Charlie Glotzbach, David Pearson, LeeRoy Yarbrough, and Richard Petty would wage a torrid battle throughout the race, changing the lead a total of 15 times before Cale took over for good with 42 laps to go. 20,000 folks watched Cale take the checkers 4 seconds ahead of David Pearson in a Holman-Moody Ford. Pearson had mounted a tremendous charge to catch Yarborough, but Cale was not to be denied on that day.

After the race, during an interview, Cale said out right that he may not return to NASCAR for the 1971 season. He said "I'll be driving a race car of some kind next year. I don't know if it will be in NASCAR of USAC. Gene White has already offered me his Indy Car ride next year. If I'm in another part of the country next year, I wish to thank the southern fans for their support of my career". Yes, we know Cale tried out Indy but we also know he came back to all we "southern folks".

It should be noted here that Peter "Pete" Goodwill Hamilton drove his last race for Petty Enterprises that day after winning the Daytona 500 and BOTH 500 milers at Talladega in the Petty Superbird. No rhyme or reason to that in my mind.

Bobby Isaac wrapped up the Championship that day although there was one race remaining on the schedule for the year. After the race Isaac admitted that he had "stroked" his was to a 7th place finish as he was intent to do so to wrap up the title. He went on to say that he did not like to run like that but he wanted that title.

Finishing Order:

1. Cale Yarborough, Wood Brothers Mercury, winning $20,445.00

2. David Pearson, Holman-Moody Ford, winning $11,170.00

3. Bobby Allison, Mario Rossi Dodge Daytona, winning $6,195.00 (3 laps down)

4. Donnie Allison, Banjo Matthews Ford, winning $3,045.00 (6 laps down)

5. Buddy Baker, Cotton Owens Dodge Daytona, winning $2,190.00 (7laps down)

6. Richard Petty

7. Bobby Isaac

8. James Hylton

9. Friday Hassler

10. Buddy Young

11. Joe Frasson

12. Neil Castles

13. Elmo Langley

14. Jabe Thomas

15. Pete Hamilton

16. Jim Vandiver

17. Ben Arnold

18. J. D. McDuffie

19. Raymond Williams

20. Wendell Scott

21. Cecil Gordon

22. Johnny Halford

23. Roy Mayne

24. Larry Baumel

25. Bill Champion

26. Frank Warren

27. Hoss Ellington

28. Henley Gray

29. LeeRoy Yarbrough

30. John Sears

31. Charlie Glotzbach

32. Dave Marcis

33. Benny Parsons

34. Bill Seifert

35. Tiny Lund

36. Bill Shirey

37. Bill Dennis

38. Roy Tyner

39. Dick Brooks

40. Buddy Arrington

PERSONAL NOTES: We were at this race, parked against the fence coming out of turn 2 onto the back straight. This was before our motorhome days so we would later have the staked out lot near victory lane but for this event it was the fence in turn two. I loved watching those Dodges and Plymouths come around that turn with those big wings on the back. I did so love those cars. We hung around quite a long time after that race talking with Richard and trying to talk him out of the Superbird since he wouldn't be racing it in 1971. I really thought we had him about ready to make a deal but it never happened. As a side note to that, we were up at Petty Enterprises about a month after this race and sitting out behind the shop was the entire front end, fenders, hood, and the nose cone of the Superbird all in one piece, without a scratch. I jokingly asked Richard how much and he said we could just take it. That day we were in my 1969 Road Runner so we had no way to transport it but looking back, if I knew then what I know now, we would have strapped that baby to the top of that Road Runner and headed back down to Columbia. Hindsight, as they say, is 20-20 but that's the way the cookie crumbles I suppose.

As my friend Johnny Mallonee would say "Memories.........................."

Honor the past, embrace the present, dream for the future

Wow. that close to having a 69 Roadrunner/superbird clone.....now that one would have made headlines today...lol

As with the November 14, 1971 Capital City 500 at Richmond, this race at Rockingham was also twice re-scheduled because of rain. It was originally scheduled for October 25, 1970. ( Laverne Zachary )

Pete Hamilton had been summoned by the US Army to report for active duty. Apparently he'd been in the National Guard and served long enough so that he shouldn't have to enlist full time. Yet the Pentagon as is often the case said "Nope. Not good enough. Report for duty - or we'll come get you." Long-time friend of the Pettys, Jim Paschal, was hired to qualify Pete's car at Rockingham while he went to Washington DC to get things resolved. (From Daytona Beach Morning Journal )

Pete was finally able to prove to the government what was needed to grant him an honorable discharge. After Rockingham was rained out and rescheduled, Pete was able to race without the military obligation hanging over his head.

From Robesonian

From The Dispatch of Lexington NC

Bobby Allison and his Mario Rossi-led crew (from Don Smyle / Smyle Media collection)

Lee Roy Yarbrough grenaded an engine and finished 29th - apparently to the delight of at least one fan. Source: Daytona Beach Morning Journal

Tiny Lund won the 100-mile Grand American preliminary race on Saturday before the originally scheduled date for the GN 500. Source: Spartanburg Herald

The race when it finally ran became the last superspeedway event of the season. It was expected the season would close at Texas World Speedway; however, the race was dropped when a purse couldn't be funded. Instead, the 1970 season closed at Langley Speedway in Hampton VA. And it turned out with the formation of the Winston Cup Series with R.J. Reynolds sponsorship that the race at Langley would be its final GN event. Source: Times-News

Race report from The Robesonian

The race was featured in the April 1971 issue of Stock Car Racing magazine.

You ought to have just had Billy Biscoe bolt that nose cone on yer Roadrunner... honk, honk!!!

My friend, Hugh Hawthorne in Richmond, has the car below in his den on Courthouse Road. The comments under the photo are by Billy Biscoe from a previous post:

Reply by Billy Biscoe (arustyracer) on July 14, 2012 at 8:14pm

Dave:

Not only was I working at P/E back then, I was also introduced to Mr. Hawthorne.But was asked byMaurice Pettyto reassemble this exact racer.

Take as much time as you need, "I just want it back like it was when I drove it."verbatim for da' King hisself.There is absolutly nothing on this car that wasn't from the stashed parts and pieces from that era ! The best I can remember It took just shy of 670 hrs to complete and that not including that super Hemi under the hood. Motor room guru's took care of that end...I'm glad it ended up in Mr. H's collection of golden oldies.Arustyracer

Below is the link to the entire original post I made about Hugh Hawthorne and his friendship with the Petty family:

http://stockcar.racersreunion.com/forum/topics/unsung-hero-s-attempt-to-pay-back-richard-the-petty-family?commentId=1981311%3AComment%3A687846

Yes, I was in the infield both times the races was postponed because of rain. On the third Sunday, the fog lay thick over the track but the race got started anyway. There were two or three places on the track, especially in turns 3 and 4 where the fog was track level. I could not believe NASCAR would start a race like that. When the Superbirds and Daytonas went into the fog, you could see only those wings through the fog. They dropped the green flag and in about 10 laps the fog was gone. Guess the famous D.W. "vortex" worked that day!

When the American 500 was rained out on its original date, the first attempt at a make-up date was November 1. A casualty of choosing that date was Kingsport Speedway. Kingsport had scheduled a 300-lap GN event - the Buccaneer 300 on August 9. The race was also rained out. It was originally rescheduled for Wednesday, August 26th - sandwiched between a Sunday race at Talladega and a Friday night race at Bowman Gray. A few days later, however, NASCAR reconsidered the scheduling and opted for November 1 as the make-up date. But when Rockingham was rained out on October 25, Kingsport's rescheduled date apparently got the boot. Permanently. As it turned out, neither Kingsport nor Rockingham hosted a race on November 1.

I'd like to know the origination of the "Buccaneer" name for the Kingsport race. I don't recall a lot of pirates in those east Tennessee mountains.

Thanks, Chase.

duh!!! what about the number one pirate and happens to be from east Tennessee, Capt. Jeff Gilder..lol....