|| *Comments on the 1974 Atlanta 500:* View the most recent comment <#12> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. JeffGordonFan24 posted: 12.03.2008 - 4:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Grant Adcox led 8 laps in this race. Adcox is the first alphabetically-organized driver to lead at least 1 lap. 2. RaceFanX posted: 02.02.2010 - 11:18 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Former Can-Am champ George Follmer scores his best Cup finish in 4th 3. Mike Moore of Temple GA posted: 04.08.2010 - 10:29 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) In this Atlanta race a new restrictor plate made 7 liter engines slower. Cale Yarborough won this race with a 427 Chevy by fuel mileage over David Pearson's much quicker 6 liter (351 Cleveland based) Mercury. Pearson fans waited for a late race caution that never happened. Gary Bettenhausen qualified 2nd in an AMC Matador (also 6 liter) and ran much better than he finished. 4. myself posted: 01.26.2012 - 1:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) If Cale won a race by fuel mileage, it was an extreme rarity. 5. Billy P posted: 01.16.2014 - 1:30 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) I cannot use Cecil's words but he was not happy. His #24 big block chevy was the absolute slowest car."we cannot outrun anyone so park it". Reality sat in that day that the unrestricted small block was in the near future. 6. Ivan Balakhonov posted: 03.05.2017 - 2:00 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) The race promoters half-jokingly promised to eliminate not the first 31 laps from being scored, but those in the middle of the race. Of course NASCAR didn't allow this to happen. This was the race where new engine rules went into effect. Restrictors were eliminated, instead NASCAR authorized only two types of carburetors. Engines larger than 366 c.i. had a carburetor with a smaller throttle bore (1 and 7/16 inches), and the smaller engines had the same carburetors used in 1973 but without restrictor plates (throttle bore thus was 1 and 11/16 inches). Interestingly, big engines fared quite well in the race: Yarborough won because his engine had better fuel mileage, #71 Dodge ran fast because Harry Hyde did his homework and adjusted the Hemi to new regulations and even Richard Petty managed to lead for 17 laps. A.J. Foyt was to start in the race behind the wheel of his #50 Chevy but, having qualified 32nd, decided to withdraw. Cautions (first two according to Southern Motor Racing newspaper, as for the final one it was reported in Southern Motorsports Journal that Carl Adams spun on lap 161): 82-90 (#52 spin T2) 126-136 (#52, #96 spun T4) 161-164? (#56 spin) 7. zuel660 posted: 12.27.2018 - 8:00 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) It would be interseting to know which teams were running big blocks & small blocks in this race, aside from the ones alrady mentioned. 8. zuel660 posted: 12.27.2018 - 8:01 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) *interesting 9. zuel660 posted: 12.27.2018 - 8:02 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) *already .... jeez, I can't spell today :( 10. Scott B posted: 12.27.2018 - 9:53 am Rate this comment: (3) (0) Bud Moore really pioneered the small block program for Ford, so George Follmer would have been running one for his career-best Cup finish of 4th place. Moore had previous experience with the 289 and 302 engines in his Trans-Am days, so he was a natural to lead the development of the 351 Cleveland based engines for Ford as the big blocks were phased out. 11. JSPorts posted: 12.27.2018 - 1:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Follmer scored only 3 top 5s in his career, all in a 9-race span in 1974 driving for Bud Moore. This was the second. 12. rateus posted: 02.19.2021 - 5:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dick May qualified for Travis Tiller. AJ Foyt's withdrawal allowed Carl Adams to start, Neil Castles also withdrew (after qualifying 36th) which let David Sisco into the race. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: