Official name Rebel 400 | ||
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Date May 9, 1970 (1970-May-09) Location Darlington Raceway, Darlington, South Carolina Course Permanent racing facility
1.375 mi (2.213 km) Distance 291 laps, 400.1 mi (643.9 km) Weather Hot with temperatures approaching 91.9 °F (33.3 °C); wind speeds up to 10.9 miles per hour (17.5 km/h) | ||
The 1970 Rebel 400 was a NASCAR Grand National Series (now Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series) event that was held on May 9, 1970, at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina. Richard Petty had a huge crash in one of the laps. This inspired NASCAR to implement the Window net; a mandatory safety feature in today's NASCAR vehicles.
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Summary
David Pearson defeated Dick Brooks by at least three laps in a racing session lasting three hours and five minutes. Bill Seifert finished in last-place due to him quitting the race on lap 3. Four cautions given out for a duration of 37 laps; with 20 changes for the first-place driver. Overall, there were three accidents and one accidental spin down turn 4. Bobby Isaac dominated the last half of the race but ended up in third place.
Engine failures dominated a good portion of the race. Five drivers failed to qualify for the event; including two Ford drivers. Cale Yarborough 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.
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.