The 1970 Rebel 400 was a
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...
Grand National Series The name NASCAR Grand National Series refers to former names of the following NASCAR series:
*National-level stock car series:
**NASCAR Cup Series (known as NASCAR Grand National Series between 1950 to 1970, then the NASCAR Winston Cup Grand Nation ...
event that was held on May 9, 1970, at
Darlington Raceway
Darlington Raceway is a race track built for NASCAR racing located in Darlington, South Carolina. It is nicknamed "The Lady in Black" and "The Track Too Tough to Tame" by many NASCAR fans and drivers and advertised as "A NASCAR Tradition." It is ...
in
Darlington, South Carolina
Darlington is a city located in Darlington County, South Carolina, United States. In 2010, its population was 6,289. It is the county seat of Darlington County. It is part of the Florence, South Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Darlington ...
. The race is known for a crash involving
Richard Petty
Richard Lee Petty (born July 2, 1937), nicknamed "The King", is an American former stock car racing driver who raced from 1958 to 1992 in the former NASCAR Grand National and Winston Cup Series (now called the NASCAR Cup Series), most notabl ...
that inspired NASCAR to implement the window net, a mandatory safety feature in today's NASCAR vehicles.
Background
Darlington Raceway is a
race track
A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also u ...
built for
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...
racing located near
Darlington, South Carolina
Darlington is a city located in Darlington County, South Carolina, United States. In 2010, its population was 6,289. It is the county seat of Darlington County. It is part of the Florence, South Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Darlington ...
. It is of a unique, somewhat egg-shaped design, an oval with the ends of very different configurations, a condition which supposedly arose from the proximity of one end of the track to a minnow pond the owner refused to relocate. This situation makes it very challenging for the crews to set up their cars' handling in a way that will be effective at both ends.
Harold Brasington was a retired racer in 1948, who had gotten to know
Bill France, Sr.
William Henry Getty France (September 26, 1909 – June 7, 1992), also known as Bill France Sr. or Big Bill, was an American businessman and racing driver. He is best known for founding and managing NASCAR, a sanctioning body of US-based stock ca ...
while competing against France at the
Daytona Beach Road Course
The Daytona Beach and Road Course was a race track that was instrumental in the formation of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing. It originally became famous as the location where 15 world land speed records were set.
Beach and ro ...
and other
dirt tracks in the Southeast and Midwestern United States; he quit racing in the late 1940s to concentrate on farming and his construction business.
He began planning a new speedway after he noticed the huge crowds while attending the
1948 Indianapolis 500
The 32nd International 500-Mile Sweepstakes was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Monday, May 31, 1948.
For the second year in a row, the Blue Crown Spark Plug teammates Mauri Rose and Bill Holland finished 1st-2nd. Rose became the seco ...
and thought, "If
Tony Hulman
Anton "Tony" Hulman Jr. (February 11, 1901 – October 27, 1977) was an American businessman from Terre Haute, Indiana, who bought the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1945 and brought racing back to the famous race course after a four-year hiatus ...
can do it here, I can do it back home."
Brasington bought 70
acre
The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial
Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism.
Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to:
Places
United States
* Imperial, California
* Imperial, Missouri
* Imp ...
s from farmer Sherman Ramsey, and started making a race track from a
cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...
and
peanut
The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible Seed, seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics, important to both small ...
field.
However, he was forced to create an egg-shaped oval with one corner tighter, narrower, and more steeply banked because he promised Ramsey that the new track wouldn't disturb Ramsey's
minnow
Minnow is the common name for a number of species of small freshwater fish, belonging to several genera of the families Cyprinidae and Leuciscidae. They are also known in Ireland as pinkeens.
Smaller fish in the subfamily Leusciscidae are co ...
pond at the west side of the property.
Brasington was able to make the other turn at the east side of the property wide, sweeping, and flat as he wanted.
It took almost a year to build the track.
Brasington made a deal in the summer of 1950 with France to run a race in Darlington on
Labor Day
Labor Day is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday in September to honor and recognize the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of the United St ...
that year. The first
Southern 500
The Southern 500, officially known as the Cook Out Southern 500 for sponsorship reasons, is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina, United States. The race distance is and consists of 367 laps. Fro ...
carried a record $25,000 purse, and was co-sanctioned by NASCAR and its rival
Central States Racing Association
Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object.
Central may also refer to:
Directions and generalised locations
* Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...
.
[Fleischman, page 8] More than 80 entrants showed up for the race.
Brasington used a 2-week qualifying scheme similar to the one used at the
Indianapolis 500
The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...
.
Brasington was also inspired by Indianapolis when he had the 75-car field aligned in 25 rows of three cars.
These practices have been curtailed over the years as NASCAR adopted a more uniform set of guidelines with regard to the number of cars which could qualify for a race. The race was won by
Johnny Mantz
Johnny Mantz (September 18, 1918 – October 25, 1972)[< ...]
in a car owned by France.
Race report
David Pearson (racing driver), David Pearson defeated
Dick Brooks
Richard Brooks (April 14, 1942 – February 1, 2006) was an American NASCAR driver. Born in Porterville, California, he was the 1969 NASCAR Rookie of the Year, and went on to win the 1973 Talladega 500. Brooks held off veteran Buddy Baker b ...
by three laps in a race lasting three hours and five minutes; leading to his only win of the 1970 NASCAR Grand National Series season.
Bill Seifert
William John Seifert (born July 2, 1939 - Skyland, North Carolina) is a retired NASCAR Sprint Cup Series who raced from 1966 to 1979.[Bobby Isaac
Robert Vance Isaac (August 1, 1932 – August 14, 1977) was an American stock car racing driver. Isaac made his first NASCAR appearance in 1961, and quickly forged a reputation of one of the toughest competitors of the 1960s and 1970s. He was most ...](_blank)
dominated the last half of the race but ended up in third place. Had Richard Petty not crashed his vehicle in the race and dislocated his shoulder in the process, he would have won the NASCAR championship instead of Bobby Isaac due to his consistency during the other races that season.
Isaac raced 47 times and Petty raced 40 times during the 1970 NASCAR Cup Series season.
This was Buddy Arrington's first race back after his vicious wreck in the Daytona 500. The Mopar stalwart posted a strong run in his return as he brought his #5 Charger home with a sixth-place finish, his best of the season.
Engine failures dominated a good portion of the race. Five drivers failed to qualify for the event; including two
Ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
drivers.
Cale Yarborough
William Caleb "Cale" Yarborough (born March 27, 1939) is an American former NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver and owner, businessman, and farmer. He is one of only two drivers in NASCAR history to win three consecutive championships, winning in 1 ...
would finish in 13th place despite losing control over his clutch on lap 250. Nearly 13% of the race was run under a caution flag. Each green flag lasted almost 51 laps on average.
Paul Connors would make his final professional stock car appearance at this event.
Drivers who failed to qualify for the race were:
Ed Negre
Ed Negre (July 16, 1927June 4, 2014) was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver who raced from 1955 to 1979.[''E ...](_blank)
,
Bill Shirey
Bill Shirey (born February 28, 1932) is a retired NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver.
Career
Shirey accomplished three finishes in the "top ten" ( 1970 Richmond 500, 1971 Asheville 300, and 1971 Kingsport 300) and has driven for 9588 laps - the eq ...
,
Dick May
Richard May (November 7, 1930June 9, 2009) was a NASCAR driver who competed in 185 races in the NASCAR Grand National/Winston Cup Series between 1967 and 1985.
In the 1975 running of the Mason-Dixon 500, May drove five different cars but did ...
,
Hoss Ellington
Hoss Ellington (May 12, 1935 – May 31, 2014) was a NASCAR driver and team owner. He married Betty Frances Hunt on April 17, 1959 at the Mount Pleasant Methodist Parsonage. They had three daughters: Monica Dale Ellington, Trellace Hunt Ellington ...
and
Johnny Halford. Qualifying times ranged from 64.3 seconds to 72.1 seconds; speeds driven at the event ranged from for the 37th-place driver to for the pole position driver.
Dale Inman
Dale Inman (born August 19, 1936) is a retired NASCAR Grand National/Winston Cup Series crew chief from Level Cross, Randolph County, North Carolina. He is best known for being the crew chief of Richard Petty at Petty Enterprises during three de ...
was listed as the official crew chief for Pete Hamilton and Richard Petty. Other notable crew chiefs included
Banjo Matthews
Edwin Keith "Banjo" Matthews (February 14, 1932 – October 2, 1996) was an American NASCAR driver, car owner, and builder. As a driver, he had 13 top ten finishes in 51 starts. He was the car builder for the 1976 to 1978 NASCAR Cup Series ch ...
,
Harry Hyde
Harry Hyde (January 17, 1925 – May 13, 1996) was a leading crew chief in NASCAR stock car racing in the 1960s through the 1980s, winning 56 races and 88 pole positions. He was the 1970 championship crew chief for Bobby Isaac. He inspired t ...
and
Herb Nab
In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...
.
Crew chief information for the ''1970 Rebel 400''
at Racing Reference
Results
Timeline
Section reference:
References
{{authority control
Rebel 400
The Goodyear 400 is a NASCAR Cup Series race held at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina. A race was held in May at the track in 1952, however the event did not become a regular one on the NASCAR schedule until 1957, as a race in th ...
Rebel 400
The Goodyear 400 is a NASCAR Cup Series race held at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina. A race was held in May at the track in 1952, however the event did not become a regular one on the NASCAR schedule until 1957, as a race in th ...
NASCAR races at Darlington Raceway