Racing History Minute - March 24, 1974
Stock Car Racing History
The 1974 NASCAR season was one in which NASCAR, in its infinite wisdom, decreed that if you ran a "big" engine in your race car, say 426 or 427, you had to use a smaller carburetor than those choosing to run366, you could run a bigger carb. The numbers, of course, refer to cubic inch displacement. The larger the carb, or course, the more gas you use, right? WRONG. The smaller carbs were fast with the smaller cubic inch engines, but the the smaller carbs gulped gasoline much faster than the big blocks.
This morning we go to Atlanta International Raceway for the "Atlanta 500". David Pearson, driving a 351 c.i.d. engine in the Wood Brothers Mercury, won the pole with a speed of 159.242 mph. Gary Bettenhausen, who recently passed away, put a Matador in second starting slot with a 366 c.i.d. engine. Benny Parsons would start third in the L.G. DeWitt Chevrolet, Buddy Baker fourth in the K&K Insurance Dodge. It was Baker's first start of the year as Nord Krauskopf, the owner of Baker's ride, had withdrawn his car in a feud with NASCAR over the carburetor rules.
A crowd of 45,000 showed up for the actual 450 mile race. The race was shorten due to the gasoline crisis in the country. Those fans would see NO leader for the first 32 laps because those were the laps that were included in the race but not actuallyrun in order to meet the required 10% reduction in distance to appease the people in the country who believed stock car racing was using precious gasoline without ever giving thought to the amount of fuel required for those jets to fly the NFL teams across the country. So, for the record, there was NO leader for the first 32 laps of this race.
When the race became "officially contested on lap 33, it was David Pearson running out front until lap 82 when he pitted. Dan Daughtry took over for one lap, then Coo Coo Marlin for a lap. Grant Adcox would pace the field from lap 85 to 90 and then Pearson took over once more. Richard Petty would lead laps 110 - 126 before Grant Adcox took over again for 2 laps.
Next man to the front was Charlie Glotzbach who led 10 laps before Pearson once more went back to the front. Pearson would lead laps 137 to 190 and then it was Cale Yarborough in the big block, big carburetor Chevrolet taking over on lap 191 but only 3 laps later it was Charlie Glotzbach back out front. On lap 196, Pearson took over again and was pulling away lap after lap, building up a huge lead over second place Yarborough. On lap 244, Pearson hit the pits for four tires and a full tank of gasoline.
Just laps after Pearson pitted, Carl Adams looped his Richard Mummert Ford bringing out the caution flag. This caution flag put Cale in a lap by himself. When the green was displayed after Adams had righted his ride, Pearson was literally driving the wheels off the Mercury chasing Cale. Pearson was moving up, got back into the same lap with Cale but his only hope was for another caution. Unfortunately, there was no late race "debris" caution so Pearson was unable to run down Yarborough.
Cale said afterwards "I had given up winning on Friday. I knew there was no way to beat him and that small engine unless he broke. He didn't break but we sure had a lot of luck. I don't like these rules. The little engines have such a big advantage that it isn't fair".
Returning a second to Gary Bettenhausen, he finished 9th in the race, which is remarkable as he made twice the number of pit stops as those 8 guys in front of him. He was experiencing tire issues with the Matador that required those unscheduled stops.
The race was slowed by three caution flags for a total of 24 laps which kept the average speed to 136.910 mph. With the odd point system in play during the 1974 season, Petty left Atlanta leading Yarborough by 5.91 points. Third place Bobby Allison was 166.41 points behind Petty.
Finishing order:
1. Cale Yarborough, Richard Howard Chevrolet, $18,650.00
2. David Pearson, Wood Brothers Mercury, $9,950.00 (21.7 seconds behind)
3. Buddy Baker, K&K Insurance Dodge, $8,650.00 (1 lap down)
4.George Follmer, Bud Moore Ford, $7,300.00 (1 lap down)
5. Donnie Allison, DiGard Chevrolet, $4,150.00 (2 laps down)
6. Richard Petty
7. Darrell Waltrip
8. Bob Burcham
9. Gary Bettenhausen
10. Lennie Pond
11. Charlie Glotzbach
12. James Hylton
13.Earl Ross
14. David Sisco
15.J. D. McDuffie
16. Jackie Rogers
17.Frank Warren
18. Carl Adams
19. Joe Frasson
20. Dave Marcis
21. Roy Mayne
22. Ed Negre
23. Jim Hurtubise
24. Dick Brooks
25. Grant Adcox
26. Bobby Allison
27. Richard Childress
28.Coo Coo Marlin
29. Benny Parsons
30. G. C. Spencer
31. John Martin
32. Dan Daughtry
33. Jody Ridley
34. Cecil Gordon
35. Travis Tiller
36. Richie Panch
Honor the past, embrace the present, dream for the future.
updated by @tim-leeming: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM
