1970 Motor Trend 500


The 1970 Motor Trend 500 was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that was held on January 18, 1970, at Riverside International Raceway in Riverside, California.

Race report

The Plymouth Superbird would make its first ever NASCAR appearance during this race. Six cautions slowed the race for 31 laps. A. J. Foyt was the winner in his 1970 Ford Torino; defeating Roger McCluskey by 3½ seconds. Parnelli Jones started the race from the pole position but had to start at the back because they used illegal tires qualifying. He took the lead on lap 80 and almost lapped the entire field until his clutch broke on lap 160; giving him an 11th-place finish. Out of A.J. Foyt's seven Cup wins this was his only one that came on a road course. All of his other victories were on super speedways.
USAC Stock Car champion McCluskey crossed over for his only NASCAR race of the 1970 season and raced his Superbird complete with the popular Looney Tunes character the Road Runner, and finished second. This was his only NASCAR "top five" finish.
There were forty-four competitors in this race; 43 were from the United States of America while was from Cologne, West Germany. Jim Cook was involved in a major accident that would leave him in a wheelchair on lap 94. The other finishers in the top ten were: LeeRoy Yarbrough, Donnie Allison, Richard Petty, Dan Gurney, Neil Castles, Friday Hassler, Jerry Oliver, and Dick Guldstrand. Motschenbacher would start in 31st place and finish the race in 40th. Sam Posey's lone NASCAR start ended spectacularly when the #6 Dodge's engine failed in fiery fashion. Considering that the passenger automobile engines of the 1960s and 1970s were never designed for these high speeds, innovations were made in subsequent decades for better performing engines that could perform under the pressures of high speed racing.
The average speed of the race was while Dan Gurney earned the pole position with a qualifying speed of. There was an attendance of 43,200 fans to see 193 laps of action on the road course. This was the last Winston Cup start for road racer Frank Deiny. He would finish in 41st place in this event due to wheel bearing issues on lap 4. However, this event included yellow flags. Eight famous crew chiefs would participate in this race; including Banjo Matthews, Dale Inman, Jerry Hyde and Dick Hutcherson.
The winner's purse was $19,700 while the last-place finisher went home with $800. The total amount of money offered at this event was $84,235.

Qualifying

Finishing order

Section reference:
  1. A.J. Foyt
  2. Roger McCluskey
  3. LeeRoy Yarbrough
  4. Donnie Allison
  5. Richard Petty
  6. Dan Gurney
  7. Neil Castles
  8. Friday Hassler
  9. Jerry Oliver
  10. Dick Guldstrand
  11. Parnelli Jones
  12. Kevin Terris
  13. Bobby Allison
  14. Dave Marcis
  15. Sam Rose
  16. Dave Alonzo
  17. David Pearson
  18. Dick Kranzler
  19. Paul Dorrity
  20. Joe Frasson
  21. Frank James
  22. Dick Bown
  23. Randy Dodd
  24. Ray Elder
  25. Jimmy Insolo
  26. Jim Cook
  27. Steve Froines
  28. Sam Posey
  29. Bobby Isaac
  30. Jack McCoy
  31. G.T. Dallas
  32. Les Loeser, Jr.
  33. Dick Brooks
  34. Buddy Young
  35. James Hylton
  36. Elmo Langley
  37. Carl Joiner, Jr.
  38. Don Noel
  39. Don White
  40. Lothar Motschenbacher
  41. Frank Deiny
  42. Scotty Cain
  43. Bob England
  44. Frank Warren

    Timeline

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