Tony Bonadies won the 100-lap ATQMRA TQ Midget race at the Teaneck Armory, Teaneck, NJ. Jim Lacy finished second followed by Bruno Brackey, Len Duncan, Bobby Marvin, Don Stumpf, Jerry Wall, Bobby Albert, Pete Mourad, Jack Duffy, Ernie Borelli, Sonny Sanders and Mario Andretti.
Jack Smith won the first annual "St. Patrick's 200" NASCAR Grand National Stock Car race at the 1/2 mile clay Savannah Speedway, Savannah, GA. Cotton Owens was second followed by Joe Weatherly, Curtis Crider, Rex White, Tom Cox and Wendell Scott.
Fred Lorenzen drove a Holman-Moody Ford to a 1 lap win in the NASCAR Grand National Atlanta '500' on the 1.5 mile Atlanta International Raceway. Fireball Roberts took himself out of contention on lap 268, losing a lap when he spun his Pontiac in turn 2 after exiting the pits. Roberts edged fellow Pontiac driver Bobby Johns by two feet to take second.
David Pearson won the NASCAR GN 'Southeastern 500' at Bristol International Speedway, his first win since switching to the Holman-Moody Ford team 10 months earlier. Richard Petty's Plymouth finished second, 3 seconds behind Pearson.
Gordon Johncock took advantage of a late mistake by Bobby Unser to win the USAC Championship season opener, the 'California 200' at Hanford Motor Speedway. Johncock was running a distant 3rd with 14 laps to go when Unser went too hard into turn 1 in an effort to beat Roger McCluskey into the turn. Unser spun up the banking and 2nd running Art Pollard hit the wall trying to avoid. Unser restarted after losing a lap, but Pollard was out. Having been in a lengthy battle for the lead with both McCluskey and Pollard, Unser apparently wasn't aware that McCluskey had lost a lap after a recent stop for fuel. Joe Leonard escaped injury after his new Brawner-Ford hit the wall and burst into flames on lap 53. Unser won the pole in his turbocharged Offy powered Eagle with a speed of 155.709 mph on the 1.5 mile banked paved tri-oval. Sonny Ates and Gary Bettenhausen both made the starting field in upright dirt cars, as did a front engined roadster. It was Johcock's 2nd straight win at Hanford, both coming in the waning laps. In the Fall 1967 race, Pollard ran out fuel while leading and Leonard crashed with 3 laps left to give Johncock the win.
Cale Yarborough took the lead on lap 191 and went on to win the NASCAR GN 'Southeastern 500' at Bristol International Speedway. Chevy swept the top 10, the first time in GN history that one make had taken the first 10 spots. Bobby Isaac continued his comeback with a second in Banjo Matthews' car and Benny Parsons was third. Richard Petty finished 23rd after being involved in a crash, but still only lost 10 points to Yarborough in the bizarre 1974 point system.
Mike Mosley, after starting last in the field, won the 150 mile USAC Championship race at FasTrack International Raceway. Mechanical trouble kept Mosley from setting a time in qualifying, so he started at the rear of the field. A.J. Foyt was leading when he stopped for fuel on lap 110, putting Mosley out front, where he stayed. Trailing Mosley's Agajanian Eagle-Offy were Bobby Unser and Foyt. It was Mosley's 2nd career Indy Car win and his first in three seasons.
Keith Kauffman won the Super Sprint car race over Steve Siegel, Maynard Yingst, Frankie Kerr, Tighe Scott and Paul Lotier at the Williams Grove Speedway, Mechanicsburg, PA.
Joey Gravino won the Super Sprint car race over Stevie Smith Jr, Kenny Jacobs, Kenny Adams, Dave Kelly and Jim Nace at the Port Royal Speedway, Port Royal, PA.
Steve Kinser won the opening round of the 14th annual Spring Nationals Sprint Car race at the Devil's Bowl Speedway, Mesquite, TX. ( Click here for the race report. )
ONE DAY
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