1970 Darlington Southern 500

[Richard Cranium]

Nice wipeout by Cale Yarborough.

 

[Brandy]

Nice wipeout by Cale Yarborough.

Yeah, he got frustrated by the wing cars outrunning him and made a bad decision to go low. Cost him....

 

[FJ6AAR]

I was there. f you have never sat under that covered grandstand you can not believe how painfully loud it is. Probably part of the reason I can't hear now!
A restart was terrible because they all were grouped together. They finally removed the top.

 

[MoparMur]

Maybe a stupid question... but...what did the cars use for exhaust systems? Manifolds, mufflers, etc.? Headers, mufflers, etc.? Headers only?

 

[RTDaddy]

The old Grand National cars ran headers with about a 3" - 3 1/2" tube routed to dump out of each side in front of the rear tires. As said above the noise level under the covered grandstand at Darlington and Martinsville was unreal. Modifieds at Martinsville was the worst. For a while Petty ran both tube out of the left side in the early 70's, not sure if it was an advantage or trying to help the fans.

 

[70bigblockdodge]

Maybe a stupid question... but...what did the cars use for exhaust systems? Manifolds, mufflers, etc.? Headers, mufflers, etc.? Headers only?

Headers and pipes that came out right ahead of rear wheels, no mufflers. In later years they merged them to create more high speed scavenge or to build mid range torque depending on the track they were on. Today who cares the sport is going in the wrong direction.

 

[MoparMur]

Thanks for your reply. I can only imagine how loud...however I think we'd all jump back there for a couple minutes lol! Oh man to see ALL those different makes run on THE big tracks!

 

[MoparMur]

And yes I agree the sport ain't the same as it was.

 

[Brandy]

Plus those concrete benches? Pure echo canyon.

 

[64BEL]

Nice ladies at the beginning, too. The good old days.

 

[6PK2GOBEE]

I’ve stopped watching current NASCAR and have been watching the old races circa ‘64-‘’74. Ditto with drag racing.
When they let Toletta in and kept mopar out they lost me. Gutted out the sport imo.
Any minute I expect them to announce Skoda is now in nascar!