Grand American 100
North Carolina Motor Speedway
Rockingham, North Carolina
Saturday, October 24, 1970
Grand American race #35, the last of 1970, was held at the North Carolina Motor Speedway, the one mile speedway where the first Grand Touring race had taken place in 1968. Starting positions were determined by two 10 lap heat races. Based on published reports they were won by David Pearson in the Melvin Joseph Mustang and Jim Paschal in his American Performance Center Javelin. Series Champion Tiny Lund would start at the tail end of the field after a series of problems. He blew the engine in his Ronnie Hopkins prepared Camaro during practice shortly after noon. With the help of Warren Prout and the American Motors crew another engine was installed just in time to make the first heat race where a broken distributor shaft caused another scramble that ended just in time for the drop of the green on the 100 lap event.
Paschal led the first 9 laps before Pearson went to the front. By lap 15 Lund had sliced through the field to take second with Paschal third. Lund surged to the lead on lap 21 and held off Paschal until lap 38. Paschal then held the top spot shadowed by Pearson until lap 55 when Lund drove between the pair on the back stretch and was never headed again. Pearson fell out on lap 75 with an engine problem and Paschal had to back off with 5 to go because of a tire going down but was still credited with second place. Friday Hassler finished third in the Camaro entered by James Hylton. It may have been the same #48 Camaro that had been driven by Hylton, Sonny Hutchins and Bob Glass earlier in the year.
Lund collected $1,550 for his 19 th win of the season before a crowd of 8,000.
Not only did Tiny win the point championship in 1970 but he also received the Most Popular Driver award. David Boggs was voted Rookie of the Year.
#54 Bobby Fleming, #49 David Pearson, #55 Tiny Lund and #86 David Boggs at North Carolina Motor Speedway, Rockingham, North Carolina.
Fin Srt Car # Driver Car Laps Reason out
1 29 55 Tiny Lund 70 Camaro 100 Running
2 2 14 Jim Paschal 70 Javelin 100 Running
3 Friday Hassler 69 Camaro 99 Running
4 Dave Marcis 69 Camaro 98 Running
5 15 Wayne Andrews 70 Cougar 97 Running
6 87 Buck Baker 70 Firebird 97 Running
7 43 Harry Gailey 68 Mustang 97 Running
8 97 Johnny Allen 70 Mustang 97 Running
9 75 Bobby Brack 69 Camaro 96 Running
10 5 Pee Wee Wentz 69 Camaro 94 Running
11 45 Randy Bannister 68 Cougar 93 Running
12 Ted LaFleur 69 Mustang 93 Running
13 66 Phil Kendrick 68 Camaro 92 Running
14 31 Earl Canavan 69 Javelin 92 Running
15 54 Bobby Fleming 69 Camaro 90 Running
16 26 Richard Childress 68 Camaro 90 Running
17 92 Paul Tyler 69 Camaro 89 Running
18 Dub Simpson 68 Cougar 88 Running
19 86 David Boggs 69 Firebird 88 Running
20 2 Randy Hutchison 69 Camaro 87 Running
21 19 Bobby Brewer 69 Camaro 87 Running
22 88 T. C. Hunt 69 Camaro 86 Running
23 27 Jerry Hufflin 68 Camaro 85 Running
24 24 Bobby Wilson 68 Camaro 84 Running
25 Shelton Henson 69 Camaro 76 Running
26 1 49 David Pearson 70 Mustang 75 Push rod
27 96 Jim Hall 69 Javelin 26 Heating
28 Paul Radford 68 Camaro 5 Engine
29 17 Ernie Shaw 68 Mustang 1 Technical
30 61 Tommy Lechlider 68 Camaro 1 Engine
Personnel note: Dad recorded in his log book that they ran the wedge engine and it did not have good power. Pulled a 4.30 gear and turned 7300 RPM. Tiny pulled a 4.56 gear.
updated by @dennis-andrews: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM
