1974 American 500
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Race details[1] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 29 of 30 in the 1974 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season | |||
 Layout of Rockingham Speedway | |||
| Date | October 20, 1974 | ||
| Official name | American 500 | ||
| Location | North Carolina Motor Speedway, Rockingham, North Carolina | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 1.017 miles (1.637 km) | ||
| Distance | 492 laps, 500.364 mi (805.258 km) | ||
| Weather | Chilly with temperatures of 66.9 °F (19.4 °C); wind speeds of 11.8 miles per hour (19.0 km/h) | ||
| Average speed | 118.493 mph (190.696 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 35,000[2] | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Petty Enterprises | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Cale Yarborough | Junior Johnson & Associates | |
| Laps | 231 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 21 | David Pearson | Wood Brothers Racing | |
The 1974 American 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that was held on October 20, 1974, at North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham, North Carolina.
Joe Millikan would make his NASCAR Cup Series debut while Jerry Schild would exit the series in this event. A rare NASCAR Winston Cup appearance by former Champ Car team owner and driver Tony Bettenhausen Jr. would make this race into a landmark event in motorsports history. His first NASCAR appearance was at the 1973 Atlanta 500 while his final appearance at the Cup Series level would be at the 1982 Champion Spark Plug 400.
North Carolina Motor Speedway was the project of Harold Brasington and Bill Land. Brasington, a land developer, also built NASCAR's first superspeedway, Darlington Speedway, in 1950. Land owned the property, which is settled in the sandhills of North Carolina, and together, they set out to find funding. They went to local lawyer Elsie Webb who assembled a group of backers. The duo also sold shares to the locals for $1 per share, and at one time had about 1,000 shareholders.[3]
The speedway was built as a one-mile oval with flat turns. North Carolina Motor Speedway opened on October 31, 1965, holding its first race on the same day. The American 500[4] was a 500-lap, 500-mile NASCAR Grand National Series race won by Curtis Turner at an average speed of 101.942 miles per hour. Turner dominated the race, which was attended by 35,000 people, leading 239 laps and winning by 11 seconds. The winner's purse was $13,090. The American 500 was the 54th of 55 races in the 1965 season, which included NASCAR legends Cale Yarborough (who finished second), Richard Petty, Ned Jarrett (who would go on to win the championship), Buddy Baker, David Pearson, and Junior Johnson. Only 19 of the 43 cars were running at the end of the race.[5]
The speedway held two Grand National races the next year, the Peach Blossom 500, and The American 500. The Peach Blossom 500 would change names multiple times, usually using the name Carolina 500, before ending as the Subway 400. The American 500 would also change names multiple times as well, ending as the Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn 400. The first race was typically held in early March or late February, and the second race was held in late October. In 1967 and 1968 the Carolina 500 was run in June.