Auto race held at Riverside International Raceway in 1970
Motor car race
The 1970 Motor Trend 500 was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that was held on January 18, 1970, at Riverside International Raceway in Riverside, California.
Race report
The Plymouth Superbird would make its first NASCAR appearance during this race. Six cautions slowed the race for 31 laps.[2] A. J. Foyt was the winner in his 1970 Ford Torino; defeating Roger McCluskey by 3½ seconds.[2] Parnelli Jones won the pole position but had to start far down in the field because NASCAR ruled that the Firestone tires that Jones and nine West Coast drivers used in qualifying were "ineligible" as there were not enough of that particular compound available to other racers. Other drivers affected by this ruling included Ray Elder, who had qualified 9th; Jack McCoy, who qualified 13th; 1969 NASCAR PCLM champion Scotty Cain, and Dick Bown. After switching tires, the ten drivers were allowed to start behind other qualifiers in order of their qualifying speed. After nearly pulling out of the race in dispute, Jones started in 35th position and charged through the field. He gained 18 positions on the first lap. He took the lead on lap 80 and almost lapped the entire field until his clutch broke on lap 160; giving him an 11th-place finish.[2] Out of A.J. Foyt's seven Cup wins this was his only one that came on a road course. All of his other victories were on super speedways.[3]
USAC Stock Car champion McCluskey crossed over for his only NASCAR race of the 1970 season and raced his Superbird complete with popular Looney Tunes character the Road Runner painted on the door, and finished second. This was his only NASCAR top-five finish.
There were forty-four competitors in this race; 43 were from the United States of America while (Lothar Motschenbacher) was from Cologne, West Germany.[2] Veteran West Coast racer Jim Cook suffered a career ending accident, when his car collided with the end of the turn 9 crashwall on lap 94. His injuries would leave him in a wheelchair.[2] The other finishers in the top ten were: LeeRoy Yarbrough, Donnie Allison, Richard Petty, Dan Gurney (who had become a mainstay at the track during the 1960s and would leave NASCAR after this year[4]), Neil Castles, Friday Hassler, Jerry Oliver, and Dick Guldstrand.[2] Motschenbacher would start in 31st place and finish the race in 40th.[2] Sam Posey's lone NASCAR start ended spectacularly when the #6 Dodge's engine failed and caused a fire.
The average speed of the race was 97.045 miles per hour (156.179 km/h) while Dan Gurney earned the pole position with a qualifying speed of 112.006 miles per hour (180.256 km/h).[2] There were 43,200 fans to see 193 laps of action on the road course.[2] This was the last start in NASCAR's top series (then known as Grand National) for Southern California short track racer Frank Deiny. He would finish in 41st place due to wheel bearing issues on lap 4.[5] However, this event included yellow flags.[2] Famous crew chiefs participating in this race included Banjo Matthews, Dale Inman, Jerry Hyde and Dick Hutcherson.[6]
The winner's purse was $19,700 ($148,451 when adjusted for inflation) while the last-place finisher went home with $800 ($6,028 when adjusted for inflation).[7] The total amount of money offered was $84,235 ($635,436 when adjusted for inflation).[8]
Qualifying
