Henry County 100
Martinsville Speedway
Martinsville, Virginia
Saturday, October 17, 1970
Grand American race #34 of 1970 was held at Martinsville Speedway, a 1/2 mile paved paperclip. It was the first visit for the series to the historic speedway. Starting positions were determined by a qualifying race won by Tiny Lund who held the top spot from the drop of the green flag until Jim Paschal drove around him on lap 17. Paschal held the lead the rest of the way to record his 10th win of the year. Paschal finished about a car length a head of Lund who was able to keep Paschal in site by virtue of 6 cautions that lasted 25 laps. Frank Sessoms finished 3rd and Johnny Allen 4th both on the lead lap.
Paschal and the American Performance Center Javelin had now won 7 of the last 9 races but Lunds second place finish gave him a 66 point lead in the standings which was enough to ensure the Championship regardless the results of the last race of the season at Rockingham.
Paschal collected $1,050 of the $5,215 purse. Nineteen cars started the event but two went out on the first lap with engine failure. Fourteen were running at the finish.
Twenty cars were scheduled to start the race but the car to be driven by Virginian Paul Radford did not complete a lap. I did not find out if the car failed to make the grid or went out on the parade laps but it was listed as having engine failure finishing in 20th place. Im not sure but it seems like I heard somewhere he was to drive the same #48 Camaro that had been driven by James Hylton, Sonny Hutchins and Bob Glass earlier in the year.
1969 Grand Touring Champ Ken Rush had been out since being injured in a wreck at Flemington but his brother Harold is credited with bringing his Camaro home to a 7th place finish.
Fin Srt Car # Driver Car Laps Reason out
1 14 Jim Paschal 70 Javelin 100 Running
2 1 55 Tiny Lund 69 Camaro 100 Running
3 21 Frank Sessoms 68 Camaro 100 Running
4 97 Johnny Allen 70 Mustang 100 Running
5 5 Pee Wee Wentz 69 Camaro 98 Running
6 2 Randy Hutchison 69 Camaro 96 Running
7 44 Harold Rush 68 Camaro 96 Running
8 15 Wayne Andrews 70 Cougar 96 Running
9 54 Bobby Fleming 69 Camaro 96 Running
10 27 Jerry Hufflin 68 Camaro 96 Running
11 87 Buck Baker 70 Firebird 94 Running
12 17 Ernie Shaw 68 Mustang 94 Running
13Shelton Henson 69 Camaro 85 Running
14 86 David Boggs 69 Firebird 81 Accident
15 88 T. C. Hunt 69 Camaro 77 Running
16 Tommy Lechlider 68 Camaro 56 Engine
17 26 Richard Childress 68 Camaro 23 Oil Pres.
18 33 Joe Dean Huss 69 Camaro 1 Engine
19 19 Bobby Brewer 69 Camaro 1 Engine
20 Paul Radford 69 Camaro 0 Engine
Personnel note: Dad recorded in his log book that the engine ran poorly, coughed and sputtered all day. Bad enough that he felt the chassis setup could not be evaluated.
updated by @dennis-andrews: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM
