Official name Home State 200 | ||
Date September 30, 1970; 46 years ago (1970-09-30) Location North Carolina State Fairgrounds, Raleigh, North Carolina Course Permanent racing facility
0.500 mi (0.804 km) Distance 200 laps, 100.0 mi (160.9 km) Weather Mild with temperatures approaching 73.9 °F (23.3 °C); wind speeds up to 17.1 miles per hour (27.5 km/h) | ||
The 1970 Home State 200 was a NASCAR Grand National Series (now Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series) event that was held on September 30, 1970, at North Carolina State Fairgrounds in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Contents
The race car drivers still had to commute to the races using the same stock cars that competed in a typical weekend's race through a policy of homologation (and under their own power). This policy was in effect until roughly 1975. By 1980, NASCAR had completely stopped tracking the year model of all the vehicles and most teams did not take stock cars to the track under their own power any more.
Summary
This race was done on a dirt track spanning a distance of 0.500 miles (0.805 km); for a grand total distance of 100.0 miles (160.9 km). Benny Parsons was driving the car like a modern NASCAR driver would drive on asphalt while Richard Petty was swinging his car sideways and sliding around the corners. Parsons was carefully following Petty after losing the lead; thinking he could try to throw his car to a corner in an attempt to imitate Richard Petty. As soon as he came off of turn 4 and prepared to throw his car sideways into turn 1, the engine blew after 96 laps of consistent racing.
There were 23 drivers on the racing grid; all of them were American-born males. John Sears would finish in last-place as the result of an engine problem on lap 16 out of the 200 laps that were raced that day. Richard Petty defeated Neil Castles by more than two laps in front of 6,000 live audience members. Two lead changes were made in addition to one yellow flag being waved for four laps; making the race last one hour and twenty-seven minutes. The other finishers in the top ten included: Bobby Isaac, James Hylton, Cecil Gordon, Bobby Allison, Dave Marcis, Ben Arnold, Bill Hollar, Jabe Thomas. Nord Krauskopf, James Hylton, and Bobby Allison were the most notable NASCAR owners in this race.
This race was the final dirt track race in what is now known as the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. John Kenney would retire after this race while Bill Hollar would make his debut here. The top prize of the race was $1,000 ($6,167.10 when considering inflation) while the last-place finisher received $200 ($1,233.42 when considering inflation).