|| *Comments on the 1974 Daytona 500:* View the most recent comment <#44> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. HomeDepotKid posted: 09.12.2004 - 3:45 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) In all actualities- the race was not 200 laps. it was 180, as NASCAR shortened some of their races to meet the Energy Crisis that was going on at the time. 2. Nathan posted: 03.16.2005 - 12:54 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) the race was 450 mile s not 500 due to energy crisis Nascar nocked of 10% of the race. 3. MASH_guy posted: 06.14.2005 - 8:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Despite losing 20 laps, there were 59 lead changes, a Daytona record that stands to this day. 4. Chicago posted: 12.27.2005 - 5:14 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Coo Coo Marlin qualified thirty-first but as a ferocious fight for the lead developed, he charged up through the field and with less than fifty circuits to go he took the lead and began to pull away from favorites Richard Petty and Cale Yarborough. But on his final pit stop he was black flagged for having loose lugnuts -- Coo Coo later recollected that the lugnuts weren't loose and his subsequent second pit stop confirmed this, but he had lost so much time that he was eventually tail end of the lead lap. When the final caution waved, Coo Coo forgot he had one more circuit to complete and Yarborough and Ramo Stott driving for squeeky clean Norris Reed snuck by. Coo Coo's finest hour ended in a fourth. 5. NascarF1Fan posted: 12.31.2005 - 4:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Take off the restricter plates!!!!!!!!!!!!! 6. dalejrrules14 posted: 03.25.2006 - 9:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) the point chase is over now 7. Bill posted: 12.06.2006 - 3:59 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Donnie Allison had the strongest car by far (stronger than Petty's) until he blew a tire late and spun. 8. MegaRacer posted: 01.16.2007 - 9:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) That is true about the race being only 180 laps. They'd start the race at lap 20. So everyone got a free 20 laps. 9. Mike Daly posted: 02.05.2007 - 5:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bill, actually Petty's Dodge ran faster with him leading the draft with Donnie than the other way around, but the margin wasn't much. 10. John posted: 02.07.2007 - 7:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Anyone know who the guy was that waved the green flag that day? (i don't know and am trying to find out) Thanks 11. Dan posted: 03.25.2007 - 4:56 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Wow, if Coo Coo would have finished 2nd then he would have finished very high in points. (Part of the ridiculous 1974 point system was that the top 2 finishers of the Daytona 500 had their Daytona 500 points added to their totals after every race, along with the amount of points they'd earned in that race.) 12. Destiny posted: 06.20.2007 - 7:26 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) No, Coo Coo Finished 4th, not 2nd. 13. Nuck Chorris posted: 11.17.2007 - 6:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) If Ramo Stott won, he would have been in the top 10 in points, despite running only 6 races. 14. DTroppens posted: 04.01.2008 - 5:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) It was the last time Stott finished a race on the lead lap. 15. Sébastien posted: 07.26.2009 - 10:44 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) full sponsor for Hylton #48 was "Bob Stott Chevrolet" actually. 16. rateus posted: 03.08.2010 - 8:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Coo Coo started 31st because he missed the qualifying races completely - presumably his one-lap time was best of those who didn't race their way in. 17. 18fan posted: 04.18.2010 - 1:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) It would have been a close finish if Petty didn't cut a tire and then Donnie blew a tire on debris from a blown engine. 18. Neal posted: 05.02.2010 - 12:31 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) NascarF1Fan - I know my comment is 5 years after the fact, but go do some research. The cars HAD RESTRICTOR PLATES ON THEM for this race. 19. zuel660 posted: 12.30.2010 - 1:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dick Brooks' #32 Dodge was sponsored by Simoniz 20. 18fan posted: 04.14.2011 - 10:21 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Another part of the ridiculous point system was that the points were based on some crazy formula that involved money earned divided by some number and something else was in there as well. 21. myself posted: 01.26.2012 - 1:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Typical Coo Coo Marlin. Wasn't he a certified idiot?! 22. Sebastien posted: 03.20.2012 - 5:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #56 Hurtubise sponsor was "Moran". 23. Schroeder51 posted: 07.12.2012 - 9:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) DNQs: #68 Alton Jones, #10 Bill Champion, #0 Eddie Bond, #49 G. C. Spencer, #8 Ed Negre, #41 Grant Adcox, #78 Dr. Dick Skillen, #67 Buddy Arrington, #89 Jim Crowe, #38 Sam McQuagg, #40 D. K. Ulrich, #01 Earle Canavan, #66 Terry Link, #23 G. T. Tallas, #5 Dick Simon, #25 Roy Mayne, #56 Jim Bray, #80 Phil Finney, #74 Randy Tissot, #97 Red Farmer, #46 Dick May. 24. Schroeder51 posted: 07.13.2012 - 3:22 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Scratch Dick Simon from that list. 25. Schroeder51 posted: 07.14.2012 - 5:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) How exactly was Jackie Rogers injured in this race? 26. Anonymous posted: 07.15.2012 - 7:50 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The first points system that needed a super computer to calculate the point standings... 27. b4il3y posted: 07.19.2012 - 3:48 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) 25. can you hold coo coo's jock? dodnt think so... 28. cjs3872 posted: 07.20.2012 - 2:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Schroeder51, what happened with Jackie Rogers was that there was a lot of debris on the track that day due to crashes and blown engines (nearly one third of the race's 180 laps were run under caution), and as a result, a number of cars suffered broken windshields, and other mnaladies related to running over debris. David Pearson lasted only 41 laps due to a warped drive shaft and exhaust caused by debris. Charlie Glotzbach suffred a broken windshield and retired afrer just 28 laps. (As you've noticed, I do not count the first 20 laps, only the laps that were actually run.) A.J. Foyt might have finished second, but had to drive the last seven laps one-handed because of the big hole in his windshield. But what happened to Rogers was that a piece of debris went through the windshield and injured him. He was not seriously injured, but hurt enough to knock him out of the race. John (#10), whoever was the chief starter for NASCAR dropped the green flag, as there was not an honorary starter for the Daytona 500 until 1976. And Neal (#18), the restrictor plate situation for this race was a bit confusing, to say the least. Cars with the old 429 CI engine, such as the hemi Dodges had to run a restrictor plate, but the cars with the smaller 366 CI engines could run without restrictor plates. Almost all the Chevrolets ran the smaller engines, as did the Wood Brothers with David Pearson and Bud Moore with George Follmer, which represented the Ford contingent. The Chrysler teams opted for the larger engine, which was more reliable. This rule change resulted in Buddy Baker not participating in much of the early part of the 1974 season, due to his car owner Nord Krauskopf boycotting the first part of the 1974 NASCAR season. It was somewhat of a gamble either way, because while the rule change gave the smaller engines more power, they were also not nearly as reliable as the bigger engines. If you note in the results of most of the races early in the 1974 season, the bigger engines were much more reliable than the smaller engines, though that wasn't necessarily the case in this event. And Coo Coo Marlin would probably have finished no worse than third if not for his goof-up after seeing the checkered flag come out for Richard right behind him. However, I still think Cale Yarborough would have passed Marlin for second with his famous slingshot pass, though it's arguable whether or not Ramo Stott would have been able to follow him through. One more note. Darrell Waltrip was actually credited with one lap too many, though it did not affect his finishing position. He was credited with finishing 179 laps, when in fact, Richard passed him on the final lap, putting him two laps behind, and thus completing only 178 laps, but he would have finished seventh regardless. 29. cjs3872 posted: 12.29.2013 - 10:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) By the way, while the reason for Joe Mihalic dropping out of the race is listed on this page as a crash, he actually blew an engine while running fourth on the 18th lap (behind Bobby Allison, James Hylton, and Benny Parsons), which created the race's third caution period. Mihalic spun in his own oil, but a blown engine was what knocked him out of the race. 30. DozierTheGreat posted: 01.28.2014 - 5:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Some sponsors: #72-King Row Fireplaces #70-Socar Inc #48-Bob Stott Chevrolet #27-Thunder Craft Boats #31-Rossmeyer Dodge #04-Almost Heaven... West Virginia 31. Jeff posted: 02.10.2014 - 12:38 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Last place, in his first Daytona 500, was Richard Childress. He sure came a long way in NASCAR after that humiliating "Great American Race" debut I would say. 32. b4il3y posted: 02.19.2014 - 2:50 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Coo Coo wins this race, if not for NASCAR ... 33. Paul88 posted: 03.03.2014 - 7:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #24 Cecil Gordon was sponsored by R.W Hill & Sons 34. Rob posted: 03.04.2017 - 12:18 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) With ABC providing live,coverage of the final hour or so of this race, NASCAR probably wasn't crazy about a guy named Coo Coo taking the sport's biggest prize. Wouldn't be surprised if the race was manipulated by the bogus pit road violation. 35. Rob posted: 03.04.2017 - 12:23 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Sadly, Donnie never won a race with DiGard despite several strong runs. Darrell Waltrip would win the company's first race almost two years later. 36. spinpsychle posted: 03.30.2017 - 11:03 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The point system was money x races / 1,000. Appearance and bonus money didn't count so if you tried to run the numbers on here it wouldn't add up right, but you'd be somewhere close. Daytona pays the most so the winner is going to have an advantage. 37. Seibaru posted: 01.23.2018 - 2:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hershel McGriff struck the infield earth embankment when he crashed out, possibly flipping the car over. 38. Jolly Mean Giant posted: 06.02.2018 - 2:25 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) First Daytona 500 starts for Bob Burcham, Richie Panch, George Follmer, Lennie Pond, Jackie Rogers, Joe Mihalic, and Richard Childress. Only Daytona 500 starts for Jimmy Crawford, L. D. Ottinger, Dick Simon, Tony Bettenhausen, Jr., and Dan Daughtry. Last Daytona 500 starts for Bobby Isaac and Gary Bettenhausen. 39. JollyMeanGiant posted: 04.28.2019 - 9:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I've found some old newspaper photos of the McGriff crash and I don't think he actually flipped. He climbed the dirt embankment but doesn't appear to have rolled it. 40. RaceFanX posted: 05.08.2019 - 1:07 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) After Richard Petty won this race STP put out advertisements bragging about how Petty's famous #43 Dodge used both the STP oil filters and oil treatments that were advertised on its sides while racing to victory. Consumers were encouraged to use these in their cars so you could "give yourself the edge Richard Petty got." "The Racer's Edge" was STP's slogan at the time. 41. GGDC posted: 01.30.2020 - 1:49 pm Rate this comment: (3) (0) The car Petty won the race with, lasted nearly as long as Petty did. After 74 it eventually found its way into Buddy Arrington's hands an would end up running with Arrington till the mid 80s. Eventually with Chrysler being phased out itfound its way into the hands of Brad Smith, who ran a bunch of races in 1988 with it as a Chrysler Cordoba. Then in 1991 ARCA was looking for driver to run at Michigan and ARCA contacted Brad to bring the car back out under the condition he would badge the Cordoba into a "1987 Dodge Diplomat", Joe Booher ended up having to lend the car from him and Brad would also show up at Texas World later in the year and then Attempt both Texas World and Michigan in 1992 (Both DNQs). So yeah the car that won the 1974 Daytona 500 was racing as late as 1992. Also Joey Arrington eventually bought the car back from Brad a couple years ago (even Petty got a look at it) and restored it as a Dodge Charger, that him and Buddy take to shows. 42. MSportRev posted: 01.30.2020 - 3:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Owner for Eddie Bond (DNQ): Eddie Bond 43. LinuX posted: 04.30.2020 - 6:50 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Coo Coo Marlin's only ever lead lap finish. 44. Rich posted: 01.01.2021 - 7:42 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Keith Jackson and Sir Jackie Stewart were the commentators. Chris Economaki was the sole pit road reporter. Jackson was the studio host. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: