April 18 - This day in Petty history - part 1

1970 - Richard Petty starts deep in the field, heads to the point by lap 51, leads the remaining 349 of 400 laps, and easily wins his 104th career race by taking the Gwyn Staley 400 at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

Source: Motor Racing Programme Covers

Greg Fielden notes in Forty Years of Stock Car Racing - Volume 3:

The 400-lap event was run on Saturday afternoon to accommodate live television coverage on ABC's Wide World of Sports. Petty left little doubt once the TV cameras were plugged into New York. He led every lap that was shown on TV, and most of the time he was better than a lap up on the field. ABC executives were squirming in their seats by the lack of a good show. "All the TV folks had to do to was hold up a board down there and tell me how much they would pay for a show," said Richard. "I would have given them a show if the price had been right. But my understanding was I would get paid more for winning the race than putting on a show." ~ p. 283

Courtesy of Jerry Bushmire

Full coverage of the race as it aired on ABC's Wide World of Sports.


TMC