April 1, 1973 - Atlanta 500

NASCAR's 1973 Winston Cup season opened with wins by its heavy hitters, although one was a veteran of only five Cup starts. 

• Mark Donohue - a superstar driver but with only a handful of NASCAR starts - won the season opening race on Riverside, California's road course giving Roger Penske his first win as a NASCAR Cup owner. 
• Richard Petty won the next two races - the Daytona 500 and Richmond 500.
• David Pearson dominated the Carolina 500 at Rockingham by leading 491 of 492 laps.
• Cale Yarborough topped Pearson by one lap by leading all 500 laps of the Southeastern 500 at Bristol. 

The circuit remained in the south for the sixth race of the season, the Atlanta 500, at Atlanta International Raceway.

 

As has frequently been the case at Atlanta over the decades, the story of the first couple of days of race week was rain. The first round of qualifying was scheduled for Thursday, but rain negated all on-track activities. The drivers returned Friday, and the cars were pushed to pit road even though the prospects of completing the round seemed bleak. Sure enough, rain arrived again after only a couple of cars made their laps. The rest of the day was scratched as was the final attempt on Saturday. 

Unlike today's era where NASCAR has an established policy for setting a race's line-up when qualifying cannot be held, no such procedure existed in 1973. Instead, NASCAR divided the entrants into two buckets and randomly drew the starting order from each. The first group included the 17 drivers NASCAR viewed as the quickest. Not so coincidentally, the "quickest" also included the most popular drivers, those most likely to win, those with more prominent sponsors, etc. 

The remaining entrants were put in a second drawing which didn't exactly go over well with some of the group who believed they deserved consideration for the first group. The driver most notably upset about the ad-hoc process was a rookie originally from Owensboro, Kentucky named Darrell Waltrip.

Waltrip was especially bent after drawing the 39th starting spot and thinking he should have started no worse than 17th. Through some off-track dealing with another driver, Waltrip took the green flag from the 18th spot. 

Following the draw, NASCAR official Lin Kuchler acknowledged Waltrip should have been in the first group. Once the line-up was set though, it was too late to make the change. To borrow a line from Goodfellas: 

We had a problem, and we tried to do everything we could. And we couldn't do nothing about it. That's it.

Source: The Tennessean

As the drivers found ways to spend three days watching rain, The King made some use of his extra time. He crafted makeshift heel pads for his boots from a Styrofoam cup. Petty burned his heels the previous Sunday as he pursued Cale all day at Bristol.

With that, Richard ... dismounted from the big, Petty-blue tractor cab, heading for the track's infield restaurant, the Caution Café, where the lunch menu offered country fried steak, turnip greens and cherry cobbler for only $2. Petty limped as he walked, favoring his right leg.

"Yep," he said, "burned my heel good up at Bristol, Tennessee last weekend. Engine exhaust through the floorboards. Nothin' I could do about it - it was like some cat was down there with a blowtorch, treatin' me to a blister. A lot of folks, they sort of think race drivers aren't athaletes, that the car does all the work. Now in a pro football game, the ball's in play for only about six or seven minutes, and there's two squads to split the time, offense and defense. A race driver's workin' for three or four hours with no time-outs, and his life is on the line every second. Oh, they get bunged up good, those ballplayers, but I don't believe they ever get a hotfoot like this un."

Then, while the rain still poured down on the blossoming dogwoods of northwest Georgia, Richard cut out a couple of pads from a Styrofoam coffee cup to protect his sore heel and sat back to await [Andy] Granatelli's arrival. If he winced at all while he waited, it was probably his heel talking. - Sports Illustrated

USAC Indy Car regular Gordon Johncock drew the top starting spot. Johncock piloted Hoss Ellington's Chevy with a one-time, unique sponsor: L'eggs panty hose. Bobby Isaac started second in Bud Moore's Ford. Jim Vandiver, Yarborough, and Benny Parsons rounded out the top five starters.

Isaac, Yarborough, and Parsons were regular NASCAR competitors and consistently ran up front. Ellington's car was always quick even though its Atlanta driver had few NASCAR starts on his resume. Vandiver, however, wasn't neither a Cup regular or a consistently quick car. Yet he was included in the 17-driver group for the first drawing. His inclusion, along with a couple of others, likely added to DW's bitterness of having to sit at the kid's table for the second drawing. 

The driver with whom Waltrip swapped spots was Charles Barrett who was making his Cup debut. Barrett, a Georgia late model racer, started the race in a George Elliott-owned #09 Ford. A few years later, Elliott began fielding Fords with his sons, Bill, Ernie, and Dan.

When the race got underway on a rainless Sunday afternoon, Yarborough was the early lap bully. He seized the lead on lap one and pulled the field around the 1.5 mile oval for the next 40 laps. Pearson, Petty, and Isaac then took turns at the point before Cale returned to lead another 30 laps or so. 

Pearson began to tip the laps led ledger a bit more his way as he led a stretch of 43 of 50 laps as the race neared the one-third mark.

As Pearson and Yarborough jousted at the front, Petty hung around with plans to seize the lead again if the top two couldn't hang at the front. Instead, it was the 43's engine that left the party early. Petty puked a motor a few laps shy of halfway. His STP Dodge swapped ends, and he drilled the guardrail as former teammate Buddy Baker and Waltrip spun behind him. Petty nearly sailed over the fence and seemed headed for nearby McDonough, GA as Baker and Waltrip continued. 

With the King out of the picture, the Timmonsville Flash and Silver Fox continued to wage battle over the next 100 laps. For the most part, neither driver could hold the lead for more than a few laps before the other returned to the point. 

As the race entered its final triad, Yarborough's Chevrolet gained the upper hand. He overtook Pearson and returned to the lead with about 100 laps to go and stayed there for the next 40+ laps.

With just a bit more than 50 laps to go, however, Yarborough blew a hammy - in a manner of speaking. Smoke began to bellow from his car, and he faded from the front. Pearson once again reassumed the lead, and he cruised the remaining laps in his Wood Brothers Mercury to capture his 68th career victory. 

Isaac finished the day as he started it - in second place. Parsons finished third - a finish that paid big dividends as he eventually won the 1973 Winston Cup title. Baker recovered from the spin in Petty's wreck to finish fourth in his Harry Hyde-prepared Dodge. And despite all his late race woes, Yarborough still managed to hang around long enough to eke out a P5.

Other finishers of note:

• After winning the season-opener at Riverside, the Atlanta race turned out to be Mark Donahue's final Cup start. He finished a less-than-memorable 30th after losing an engine. Sadly, he died two years later following an accident during a practice session for the Austrian Grand Prix.
• The race was also the final Cup start for Pete Hamilton, the 1968 NASCAR Grand National Rookie of the Year. Hamilton won three races in 1970 - all in the #40 Petty Enterprises Plymouth Superbird - and his 125-mile qualifying race for the Daytona 500 in 1971 for long-time owner Cotton Owens. He continued to be involved in motorsports over the years - particularly with southern late model drivers.
• Charles Barrett finished 18th in his Cup debut - right where he would have started had he not traded spots with Waltrip. 

Source: Atlanta Constitution

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March 28, 1964 - Greenville 200

The 11th race of the 1964 NASCAR Grand National season was the Easter Saturday night Greenville 200 at Greenville-Pickens Speedway in South Carolina. Four of the season's 11 races had been run in November and December 1963.

Dick Hutcherson, an IMCA champion from the midwest, made his way south to give NASCAR a go. In his first career GN start and in a Holman-Moody Ford, Hutch won the pole with a track record.

Source: Greenville News

Lee Roy Yarbrough started second with Ned Jarrett, Jimmy Pardue, and Ralph Earnhardt rounding out the top five starters. Other notable starters included:

• Maurice Petty qualified 16th in the 22-car field. The race was the 7th of eight times Ralph Earnhardt and Chief qualified for the same show.
• Richard Petty started seventh in a second Petty Plymouth.
• Jim Paschal started eighth in Cotton Owens' Dodge as a teammate to ninth place starter David Pearson. Paschal started the season with Owens. After a few more races, however, he returned to the Petty Plymouth team for whom he'd raced a good bit in 1962 and 1963.
• Marvin Panch, the 1961 Daytona 500 winner, qualified 10th in the famed Wood Brothers Ford. One has to laugh at the caption of the photo featured in the Greenville News. Panch had his greatest success at the wheel of the Woods' car, but it's rather certain the owners/crew were the ones providing the instructions. 

Hutcherson leveraged his top qualifying spot as the race began. He got the jump on Yarbrough and led the first 60 laps. When Hutcherson pitted, Richard Petty's Plymouth then went to the top of the board where it remained for nearly 30 laps before falling by the wayside with mechanical issues. 

Another Ford driver assumed the lead as Ned Jarrett led 88 of the next 89 laps. Along the way, the King took over the wheel of brother Maurice's #41 Plymouth. It's uncertain if Chief wasn't feeling well or if team owner and father Lee believed the car could get a better finish with Richard at the helm.

With just over 30 laps to go, Wendell Scott blew a tire on his Chevrolet. The car then rolled over although Scott was uninjured. 

When the race returned to green with about 20 laps to go, Pearson wrestled the top spot away from Jarrett as the two banged doors. Jarrett maintained hot pursuit, but Pearson led the rest of the way and won by about 100 yards ahead of Ned. Panch finished third - the only other car on the lead lap.   

Pearson's fifth career Grand National win came with his first of four victories at Greenville-Pickens. It was also his second win in three races having won at Richmond about three weeks earlier. Pearson took naturally to the track in a GN car as he'd run and won on his home track often in the track's sportsman division in the late 1950s. 

Source: Greenville News

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March 25, 1967 - Greenville 200

NASCAR's Grand National division rolled into South Carolina on Easter Saturday for the eighth race of the 1967 season for the Greenville 200 at Greenville-Pickens Speedway. 

Looming over the early part of the season was a potential Chrysler boycott - just two years removed from when big names such as Richard Petty and David Pearson were sidelined as part of their factory alliance. Once again, the Mopar Brass wasn't happy with NASCAR and its allowances for Ford Motor Company. If Chrysler boycotted again, the Petty team would be parked as would Cotton Owens' team with Pearson. Rumors began to surface that both teams might consider leaving Chrysler though denials from both camps soon followed.

Dick Hutcherson won the pole in Bondy Long's Ford (which likely added to Chrysler's boiling point). Three-time Greenville winner Pearson joined him on the front row in Owens' Dodge. Pearson banked two of his three Greenville wins the previous season and was going for three in a row. Elmo Langley, Big John Sears, and Jim Paschal rounded out the top five starters. 

Pearson got the jump on Hutcherson at the start and led the first 74 laps before a caution for a two-car spin sent the drivers to the pits. Sixth-place starter, Richard Petty, received great pit service and put the 43 in the lead as the race returned to green. 

Unfortunately, Petty collided with Hutcherson as they exited the pits. Though King took the top spot, he faded after a couple of laps because of damage from the pit exit collision. About 20 laps or so later, Petty's Plymouth became more than a handful. The car swapped ends in turn four, and he found himself looking directly at oncoming traffic. That was it for the King, and the Plymouth was loaded on the trailer for the trip back to Level Cross.

Throughout the second half of the race, Hutcherson pursued Pearson in an attempt to get the lead. Pearson's Dodge never surrendered, however, and Hutcherson began to fade a bit as the race neared its end. 

Pearson had a dominant night to capture his third consecutive Greenville win, his second in a row after winning at Bristol, and the 30th of his GN career. He led all but two laps - the two led by Petty near halfway. Paschal finished second as Hutcherson faded to seventh with a bum wheel.

The win turned out to be Pearson's final one for Cotton Owens and his last in a Dodge. A disagreement, a misunderstanding, a difference of opinion, or whatever it was about a month of so after their Greenville win, Owens released Pearson. After missing a few races, Pearson then linked up with the famed Holman-Moody team - a move that kept his mojo going in the final years of the 1960s.

Source: Greenville News

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March 24, 1968 - Richmond 500

After an abbreviated NASCAR season in 1965, Richard Petty returned full-time in 1966. The King picked up at Daytona where he left off in 1964 by winning his second Daytona 500 in three years.

The season, however, belonged to David Pearson in Cotton Owens' Dodge. Together, the duo claimed Pearson's first NASCAR Grand National title. The Level Cross bunch came back with a vengeance in 1967 and shattered the record books. 

Pearson and Cotton couldn't keep their 1966 mojo rolling, and the two parted ways before the season even reached its mid-point. After leaving Owens' team, Pearson latched on with the famed Holman Moody team. 

Pearson's 1968 season was pretty uneventful in the first two races held in November 1967. But he and the #17 Ford team then knocked down a runner-up finish at Riverside, P5 in the Daytona 500, and a win over Petty at Bristol.

Cotton skipped the first two races that opened the 1968 season. Buddy Baker raced the Dodge at Riverside, and USAC's Al Unser raced Cotton's #6 at Daytona. After skipping Bristol, Cotton finally hired another full-timer. After only a handful of GN starts over the three previous seasons, Chargin' Charlie Glotzbach was tapped to take over the ride beginning with the Richmond 250 on March 24. 

Source: Spartanburg Herald

Bobby Isaac - always quick in Harry Hyde's  Mopars - won the pole. Glotzbach settled in quickly with Cotton's Dodge and qualified alongside Isaac. Petty timed third, and independent Elmo Langley posted an impressive fourth quickest lap. Starting almost out back was Pearson who started 16th in the 20-car field. He got caught up in a practice session accident, and the team thrashed to get his car ready for qualifying.

Isaac leveraged his top starting spot to lead the first nine laps. Glotzbach then put a smile on Owens' face by charging to the front to lead the next 30 laps or so. Pearson then took the lead - but only for 3 laps before Glotzbach returned to the top spot where he stayed for another 30-lap stint.

King Richard then made his presence known. The two-time Richmond defending winner put the Petty Blue Plymouth on point and stayed there for 48 laps. Until. With a sizable lead over Glotzbach, however, the Maurice Petty-built Hemi gave way. The 43 was done after only 147 laps.

While Glotzbach and Petty were leading, Isaac was involved in an accident with Wayne Smith. He lost 40 laps as the crew made repairs. He eventually returned but finished 13th - last among the cars still running at the end of the race.

With Petty and Isaac's Mopars out of the picture, the race then became one between the remaining powerful Dodge of Glotzbach and its former occupant Pearson in his Ford.

Glotzbach led another 18-lap chunk after Petty's exit, but Pearson then went to the point. Through the speed of his car and quickness of his crew, the Silver Fox was able to lead the remaining 95 laps of the race to take the win. Though Pearson won by a full lap over his former car, Cotton and Charlie had to be pleased with their debut together. Langley hung around all day and earned a quality third place finish.

The win had to have been satisfying for Pearson:

• Hey, it's a win, right? ALL are satisfying.
• He triumphed over his previous ride.
• He overcame issues in practice that affected his staring position.
• He overcame an early race spin down through the pits that also caused him to run over several wooden braces installed around light poles.

Pearson's 32nd career win is also notable for two additional reasons.

• His 16th starting spot was the deepest in the field he ever started for any of his 105 wins.
• His win at Richmond on March 24, 1968, was the track's final race on its dirt surface. When the teams returned in September, Petty won Richmond's first race on its new asphalt surface.

Source: Free Lance Star

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March 21, 1976 - Atlanta 500

As NASCAR's 1976 season hit March, a couple of storylines had begun to develop.

• The partnership of the Wood Brothers team and driver David Pearson was strong as a brahma bull with wins in the season-opener at Riverside in January and the Daytona 500 in February.
• Legendary mechanic and crew chief Harry Hyde had his #71 Dodge Charger running well with Dave Marcis as they picked up a win at Richmond, the pole at Rockingham, and top 10 finishes at Bristol and Riverside.
• Cale Yarborough and Junior Johnson were ROLLING with top 5 finishes in four of the first five races of the season - including a win at Bristol. The lone blemish was a dead-last finish at Daytona after an engine failure on lap 2.
• Richard Petty's season was quite eccentric - especially compared to his dominating 13-win season in 1975. He had notched a win at Rockingham along with the oh-so-close P2 finish at Daytona and another second behind Marcis at Richmond. But he also had poor finishes at Riverside and Bristol.

The circuit hit Atlanta for the sixth race of the season, and several of those drivers occupied the top five starting spots.

Source: Motor Racing Programme Covers

Marcis claimed his second pole of the year, and Pearson put his Purolator Mercury on the front row alongside him. Petty and Cale occupied the second row, and Benny Parsons rounded out the top five.

Parsons signed on for an exhausting four-days of racing. In addition to his responsibilities for practice, qualifying, and racing in Atlanta, he shuttled back and forth between Georgia and Florida to join David Hobbs as a teammate in the 12 Hours of Sebring IMSA race.

Source: Louis Galanos

Source: Pensacola News Journal

Despite a dismal 27th place finish at Bristol, the King was content with his third place starting spot for Sunday at Atlanta. The 43 team also agreed to let F1 champion and ABC-TV race analyst Jackie Stewart take the STP Dodge Charger for a spin to record some footage for a feature during the Wide World of Sports condensed broadcast of the race.

Source: Atlanta Constitution

The race was super competitive as a number of drivers led throughout it. No one other than Yarborough and Buddy Baker in Bud Moore's Ford led a double-digit number of laps for the first two-thirds of the event. 

Despite the numerous leaders during that stretch, a few folks had a tough time during it. Pole-winner Marcis exited around lap 100 with a failed engine. Bobby Allison's engine also failed in his Roger Penske-owned Mercury near the 200-lap mark followed soon by Petty's Dodge and Baker's Ford with similar woes.

As the race entered the final third, a battle emerged between Pearson and Parsons. With 30 or so laps to go, however, Pearson found his mojo and maintained a gap on Parson's #72 Monte Carlo. The checkered flag flew over Pearson for career win #90, and Parsons was the only other car to finish on the lead lap. Yarborough finished third followed by Lennie Pond and Darrell Waltrip.

Parsons fared better in Atlanta than he did in Sebring. Hobbs got the team's BMW to the lead before making a stop for a driver change. Shortly after Parsons took over, however, he took an offroad excursion through some weeds. The cooling system was damaged, and the team lasted only six hours in the event.

Audio of Universal Racing Network's radio broadcast of the race is available on Appalachian State's library website. 

Source: Atlanta Constitution

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March 19, 1967 - Bristol's Southeastern 500

The seventh race of the 1967 NASCAR Grand National season was the Southeastern 500 at Bristol International Speedway. The Bristol-then was a far cry from Bristol-now. The track name, seating capacity, and most important to most - the track surface - was completely different than they are in 2021. 

The six races of the season were won by a Who's Who of Racing with Hall of Fame names such as Fast Freddy Lorenzen, The King Richard Petty, Mario Andretti, and Dan Gurney. As the teams pulled into East Tennessee, however, 1966 Rookie of the Year driver James Hylton sat atop the points. 

Despite winning ROTY, finishing third in the 1967 Daytona 500, and leading the points, Hylton's arrival at Bristol wasn't a sure thing. His partner in their independent racing organization decided the costs were simply too prohibitive to continue. With no one to share the burden - including no factory support from Dodge, Hylton was at a crossroads. 

After working out an exit plan with his partner though, the points leader did tow to Bristol in an effort to keep things afloat as long as he could. Unfortunately, Hylton's challenges continued as he fell out of the race with over 100 laps to go.

Source: Greenville News

Darel Dieringer captured the pole in Junior Johnson's Ford, and Lorenzen lined up alongside him in his pearl white #28 Holman Moody Ford. The King qualified third, and Dick Hutcherson timed fourth. Independent G.C. Spencer rounded out the top five starters.

Famed Baltimore Colts quarterback, Johnny Unitas, served as the grand marshal for the race. His appearance at Bristol prefaced his fantastic 1967 season as he later captured the NFL's Most Valuable Player award for the season.

Dieringer led the first two laps before Petty took over to lead four laps. As the King led, Joe Edd Neubert had himself a handful in his first NASCAR GN race. He spun in front of the race leader leaving Petty little room. The King went as high as he could and scraped between Neubert's car and the guardrail. Though he narrowly slipped by, a cut tire two laps later (presumably from the incident) sent Petty into the fence and onto the trailer. 

With Ol' Blue done for the day, Hutcherson moved out front on lap seven and kept all challengers at bay until lap 54. Jim Paschal forced his way by Hutch and pulled the field for about the next 60 laps.

David Pearson soon took his Cotton Owens Dodge to the point. He led until lap 189 before surrendering his lead to Dieringer. For the next 300 laps or so, fans enjoyed a great battle between Hutch, Dieringer, and Cale Yarborough. All led sizable chunks of laps as Pearson stayed in the mix with the trio.

With 18 laps to go and the checkered flag within reach, Dick Hutcherson had stretched his lead to a full lap on Yarborough and two laps over third place Pearson. But as Ray Wylie Hubbard sings in Mother Blues, love and fate are mysterious things in this funky old world.

Hutch suddenly blew an engine in his Ford and just like that was done after having led 209 laps. When green flag returned, Cale was back in the lead with a one-lap advantage over Pearson and pulling away. But then like Hutch, he too fell into a pit of misfortune. His Wood Brothers Ford ran over some debris causing the #21 to blow a tire.

With so few laps remaining and a full-lap lead over second place, Cale opted to stay on track in an attempt to run the rest of the race on the tire's inner liner. Pearson gave chase to get to Cale, pass him, make up his lap, and pass the 21 again. He accomplished just that within a few laps and continued on to a welcomed but unexpected win. 

Pearson's 29th career win was his first of five victories at Bristol. Hutcherson would coincidentally serve as Pearson's crew chief in his Holman Moody years, and Pearson of course later piloted the Wood Brothers car that Yarborough occupied in 1967.

Source: Charlotte News

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March 18, 1973 - Rockingham's Carolina 500

The 1973 NASCAR Winston Cup season opened in January at Riverside International Raceway. Mark Donohue won his first and only Cup race in the Winston Western 500. The victory earned Roger Penske his first Cup win as a car owner.

The King, Richard Petty, captured the next two races on tracks that couldn't have been more different. He won his fourth Daytona 500 and followed up a week later with a win on Richmond, Virginia's half-mile bullring. 

The tour then headed for the sandhills of North Carolina for the fourth race of the season, the Carolina 500 at Rockingham.

David Pearson and the Wood Brothers #21 Mercury team stumbled out of the gate in 1973. Pearson won the pole at Riverside but finished 22nd. A month later, the team returned to Stuart, Virginia with a 33rd place finish at Daytona after losing an engine. 

Leonard Wood knew how to build power plants, however, and the car returned with a fast one at Rockingham. Pearson won the pole - his second of the young season. Benny Parsons qualified on the front row alongside Pearson in L.G. DeWitt's Chevrolet. Coincidentally, DeWitt also owned the Rockingham track. The King, Bobby Allison, and Buddy Baker comprised the rest of the top five starters. 

The annual Union 76 pit crew championship was held on Saturday before Sunday's Cup race. Baker's crew led by the crusty and crafty Harry Hyde won the competition. Though Hyde's #71 Dodges were historically lightning quick on the track, his crew often received criticism for slow stops during races - mistakes that may have cost his drivers various races. So to nail the quickest time during the crew contest was sweet as apple jack shine to Hyde.

Source: Charlotte Observer

Some suggested Baker's crew win may have needed as asterisk as the Wood Brothers team did not participate. For years before the 1973 contest - and for years to follow, the Woods were known as the most consistently quick crew on pit road. In March 1973, however, the team opted to have the crew arrive on race morning vs. the day before in order to compete in the crew contest. In the current Cup era - even before the arrival of COVID, it has become common for several teams to fly their crews in on race day or perhaps the night before. In the early 1970s, however, most pit crews had dual (or more) roles to get the car ready for practice, qualifying, and the race. 

When the green flag flew on Sunday, the 21 crew was in their stall as Pearson took off from his top starting spot. Petty launched from his third starting spot to latch on to the bumper of Pearson's Mercury. It quickly became apparent the Wood Brothers had put Riverside and Daytona behind them and only looked forward. 

Petty's STP Dodge rolled lap after lap in the tire tracks of Pearson's car, but he never could muster a pass. Pearson ceded the lead to Bobby Allison on lap 71 as the Woods' crew went to work. After a single lap, however, Pearson went back to the point with Petty still dogging him. 

The top two got a bit of a scare a few laps shy of the race's halfway mark. Independent Dave Sisco from Hohenwald, Tennessee spun right in front of Pearson and Petty. Both jumped to the high line to scoot past Sisco.

As Pearson regained his mojo after the near miss, he made a motion to wipe his "brow" across his helmet as he came down the front straightaway. After the race, car owner Glen Wood quipped, "That's the first time a driver of mine ever flashed me a sign like that, but I know what it means."

Pearson was eventually able to lap Petty, yet the 43 continued to apply the pressure. With about 120 laps to go, however, the Dodge's Hemi could no longer handle the pressure. Water poured from the 43 as Petty pulled his car behind the wall with a DNF.

With Petty done for the day, Pearson was able to relax a bit - at least for a while. Late in the race though, his crew let him know Cale Yarborough was on the charge in Junior Johnson's Chevrolet. 

Despite Yarborough getting within range, Pearson maintained a comfortable lead and capped off a dominating win. The box score showed that Pearson led 491 of the race's 492 laps. Baker, Allison, and Dick Brooks rounded out the top five finishers.

Source: Gaffney Ledger

Cale's rally was truly impressive as he raced much of the day with a broken seat. In truly a different era for NASCAR, the safety issue was the least of the team's concerns - or even NASCAR for that matter. Johnson tried to wedge the seat with a block of wood during a pit stop but without much success. Yarborough simply hung on as best he could and strong armed the #11 Chevy through the corners. Once the race was over, Johnson was more upset at the crewmen responsible for the seat than he was at Yarborough's narrow loss.

Source: Charlotte News

Pearson's 67th career Cup win was also his second at Rockingham. His previous win was in the 1969 Carolina 500.

Source: Spartanburg Herald

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