1974 American 500

1974 American 500

Race details[1]
Race 29 of 30 in the 1974 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season
Layout of Rockingham Speedway
Date	October 20, 1974
Official name	American 500
Location	North Carolina Motor Speedway, Rockingham, North Carolina
Course	Permanent racing facility 1.017 mi (1.636 km)
Distance	492 laps, 500 mi (804 km)
Weather	Chilly with temperatures approaching 66.9 °F (19.4 °C); wind speeds up to 11.8 miles per hour (19.0 km/h)
Average speed	118.493 miles per hour (190.696 km/h)
Attendance	35,000[2]
Pole position
Driver	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises
Most laps led
Driver	Cale Yarborough	Junior Johnson & Associates
Laps	231
Winner
No. 21	David Pearson	Wood Brothers Racing
Television in the United States
Network	untelevised
Announcers	none

The 1974 American 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that was held on October 20, 1974, at North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham, North Carolina.

Joe Millikan would make his NASCAR Cup Series debut while Jerry Schild would exit the series in this event. A rare NASCAR Winston Cup appearance by former Champ Car team owner and driver Tony Bettenhausen, Jr. would make this race into a landmark event in motorsports history. His first NASCAR appearance was at the 1973 Atlanta 500 while his final appearance at the Cup Series level would be at the 1982 Champion Spark Plug 400.

Summary

There were 36 drivers who competed in this 492-lap racing event. All except for Canadian native Earl Ross were born and bred in the United States of America. Joe Frasson's difficulties in handling his steering problems on lap 4 caused him to be credited with the last-place finish for this event. Elmo Langley became the lowest-finishing driver to finish the event; while J.D. McDuffie would be the last driver to achieve a DNF due to troubles with his stock car engine on lap 447. The model years of the vehicles ranged from 1972 to 1974; with most of the field driving Chevrolet and Dodge vehicles.^[2]

After four hours and thirteen minutes of racing, David Pearson would defeat Cale Yarborough by slightly more than two seconds in front of an eager audience of 35,000 NASCAR followers. While Richard Petty, Buddy Baker and David Pearson would dominate the opening laps of this event, the final laps would become a "Cale Yarborough and David Pearson show." The average speed of the vehicles in this racing event was 118.493 miles per hour (190.696 km/h) while Richard Petty would metaphorically scorch the track with his solo qualifying speed of 135.297 miles per hour (217.739 km/h).^[2]

Individual earnings for each driver ranged for the winner's share of $16,350 ($78,451.32 when adjusted for inflation) to the last-place finisher's share of $550 ($2,639.04 when adjusted for inflation). NASCAR officials permitted the handover of $99,465 for all the qualifying drivers of this racing event ($477,257.5 when adjusted for inflation).^[3] Only manual transmission vehicles were allowed to participate in this race; a policy that NASCAR has retained to the present day.

Top ten finishers

Pos[2]	Grid	No.	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps
1	3	21	David Pearson	Mercury	492
2	4	11	Cale Yarborough	Chevrolet	492
3	1	43	Richard Petty	Dodge	490
4	6	12	Bobby Allison	Matador	487
5	9	95	Darrell Waltrip	Chevrolet	487
6	8	88	Donnie Allison	Chevrolet	486
7	23	2	Dick Trickle	Mercury	483
8	7	52	Earl Ross	Chevrolet	482
9	10	72	Benny Parsons	Chevrolet	479
10	21	93	Jackie Rogers	Chevrolet	479

References

1. Weather information for the 1974 American 500 at The Old Farmers' Almanac
2. 1974 American 500 racing information at Racing Reference
3. Prize winnings information for the 1974 American 500 at Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet