1970’s – Thunder Of The 70’s (Vol 6)

1970 Rebel 400 – Darlington, SC   (75 minutes)
A live ‘ABC Wide Of Sports’ broadcast of the 1970 Rebel 400 from Darlington SC, the track “too tough to tame”.
This is the full ABC broadcast. Typical of their Sunday afternoon coverage, ABC-TV picked up the race as it
was already in progress, then stayed until the end. The highlight of this race (aside from seeing the legends of
NASCAR duking it out) is the famous crash of Richard Petty’s Road Runner. Petty lost control coming out  of
turn 4, and slammed into the concrete retaining wall to pit lane with such force that it threw his car into the air,
eventually landing on its roof. Richard was knocked unconscious, and while safety crews (and pit members
from other teams) ran to his Plymouth, a stunned crowd and nervous ABC announcers waited anxiously,
wondering if they had just witnessed the death of the most popular stock car driver in history. But Petty would
be ok, although visibly shaken by what would be the most violent crash of his career up to that point.

1973 Daytona 500 – Daytona, FL   (5 minutes)
Highlight reel of the 1973 Daytona 500, this version uses footage from the old ‘Car And
Track’ TV show, hosted by the colorful Bud Lindemann. Richard Petty takes the victory.

1974 Permatex 300 – Daytona, FL   (14 minutes)
This is a Late Model Sportsman race, which later became known as the Busch Series, and now the
Nationwide Series. This highlight reel is from the old ‘Car And Track’ TV show, hosted by Bud Lindemann.
The Permatex 300 was run the day before the Daytona 500 (the same way the Nationwide Series runs today),
and just like in Nationwide, the best of the 2nd tier NASCAR drivers battle it out for top honors, along with a
few NASCAR drivers that would be running in the next day’s Daytona 500. Being Late Model stockers, all the
cars were from the 1968-1971 years. Bill Dennis would take the win in a 1969 Mercury, while NASCAR
regulars Bobby Allison, Donnie Allison, Darrell Waltrip, and Harry Gant would also be in the mix.

1974 Daytona 500 – Daytona, FL   (8 minutes)
Highlight reel of the 1974 Daytona 500. This was the year NASCAR tried to do their part for America’s
Gas Crisis by reducing all their races by 10%. While the race was recorded as a 500-mile race, NASCAR
started the Daytona 500 under caution at Lap 21, effectively making this a 450-mile race, but officially
listed as the Daytona 500. This appears to be footage from the old ‘Car And Track’ TV show, but it is not
narrated by Bud Lindemann. Richard Petty takes the victory again for back-to-back Daytona 500 wins.

1975 Daytona 500 – Daytona, FL   (7 minutes)
Highlight reel of the 1975 Daytona 500. Benny Parsons takes the win, coming from 32nd on the grid.
Back in this era of NASCAR, it was quite common to have just a handful of cars on the lead lap at the
checkered flag, unlike today where you have the entire field within a couple seconds of each other.
Coming from 32nd position to win the Daytona 500 was quite a feat.

1976 Daytona 500 – Daytona, FL   (6 minutes)
Another short highlight reel, this time it’s the 1976 Daytona 500 (we have live coverage of the
1976 Daytona 500 on another one of our DVD’s). This was the year when David Pearson and
Richard Petty collided on the final lap, just before the finish line, and Pearson managed to fire
up his wrecked Mercury to limp across the finish line and take the victory from Richard Petty.

1977 Daytona 500 – Daytona, FL   (6 minutes)
The year that brought the first women into the sport, Janet Guthrie is on the
grid! As for the race itself, it was all Cale Yarborough, as Cale wins the
Daytona 125 Qualifier, the IROC race, and the Daytona 500.

1978 Daytona 500 – Daytona, FL   (5 minutes)
After 15 years of trying, Bobby Allison, and car builder Bud Moore,
finally make it to victory lane for their first Daytona 500 win.

NOTE : These are NOT the “Back In The Day” programs (hosted by Dale Earnhardt Jr.) that appeared on
TV few years ago. However, some of these films ARE the actual ones used on those broadcasts. The films
contained on these DVD’s were originally aired back in mid-1990’s and do NOT have the little pop-up
balloons or trivia notes that appeared in the “Back In The Day” programs. Please understand that these
highlight reels were originally shot on film, not video. I am trying to be as honest as I can about the film
quality. These films were originally intended for the smaller TV sets of the 60’s, so they may appear grainy
 on the big TV sets of today.