NASCAR has certainly experienced its share of hiccups and endured its share of criticism over the years. Scheduling, rules, rule changes, rule enforcement, penalty consistency, sponsors, TV coverage, etc.
Compared to some of USAC's snafus, however, NASCAR often looks like a finely-tuned machine.
USAC scheduled the Delaware 200 for July 19, 1970. The race was to be a 200-mile race for the Indy-style, championship cars.
But after USAC inspected Dover's newly paved surface, officials decided the track wasn't suitable for the Indy cars. It's interesting to me the track was re-paved less than one year after it's opening in 1969. Ironically, the repave was apparently done specifically to recruit more Indy car racing! (Some drivers complained about the surface after the first Indy car race at Dover in '69.)
USAC and Dover officials cancelled the Indy car race. To take advantage of the, USAC's stock car drivers were rallied to race on July 19th vs. their original Dover date of August 9th. Furthermore, the stock car race length was shortened from 300 miles planned in August to 200 miles in July - presumably to match the advertised distance for the open wheel cars. Whew, what confusion.
Wally Dallenbach, Sr. was not afraid to speak his mind about how he viewed the track building binge going on in the US. He expressed concerns that track builders were more focused on building faster tracks vs. an emphasis on safety. Interesting. 1970. 56 years ago. In many ways, those concerns echo even today in open wheel and stock car racing.
The name of the race was changed from the Delaware 200 for the open wheel cars to the Dover 200 for the USAC stockers.
Several drivers who planned to run in the open wheel race stayed around anyway to race in the stock car event. I will give USAC guys their due in this respect. Looking back, it's pretty remarkable to see the versatility of many of the drivers who raced in multiple USAC divisions and on different surfaces: midgets, stock cars, open wheel champ cars, dirt, paved, bull rings, and superspeedways.
Super Tex A.J. Foyt won the pole in his Ford Torino. Starting third was Bobby Unser in a Ford Mustang owned by track owner Mel Joseph. Though I haven't found the car number documented, most assuredly it was #49 - his lucky number over the years.
Foyt then dominated the race and decimated the competition. He led 179 of the race's 200 laps to win the race over Don White. Second place White was the only other car on the lead lap at the finish.
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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.
updated by @tmc-chase: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM
