|| *Comments on the 1974 Firecracker 400:* View the most recent comment <#27> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. Blake posted: 05.24.2004 - 12:14 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Fantastic site!.....As a 10 y/o boy, this was the first race I attended, and it is great to be able to go back and check out all the information about the event. It was a very exciting finish between Pearson and Petty, and it was Bobby Allison's first start in Penske's Matador. What a great time to be introduced to the wonderful world of NASCAR! 2. HomeDepotKid posted: 01.21.2005 - 11:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) It was indeed a very exciting finish. I saw the video before, but I saw it years ago, so this could be all wrong, but here goes. On the white flag lap, actually AT the white flag, Pearson slowed down, making Petty think, "This one's in the bag. David's got a problem, I win." NOT. Pearson comes up out of nowhere, pulls a slingshot pass, and wins. 3. Anonymous posted: 03.09.2005 - 10:58 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) buddy baker and cale yarborough tied for 3rd 4. Bill posted: 04.26.2006 - 3:33 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) After reviewing the replay of this race, Baker most certainly finished third. Look at the replay. I can't believe the annoucners made such a big deal out of it. (I have to go over a lot of old NASCAR races for my job, hence thats how I can argue this point) 5. The Great David posted: 06.19.2006 - 6:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) ggod runs for David Sisco,Jackie Rogers,And Cecil Gordon 6. nascarman posted: 08.23.2006 - 3:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I've seen a picture of the finish for third and it looks like Cale beat Baker. 7. Craig posted: 12.12.2006 - 9:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) A Photo Finish for 3rd place between Baker and Yarborough 8. Jay Coker posted: 05.18.2007 - 7:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Hey Bill- if you ever see this...contact me at the URL I have listed. My Yahoo username is vanillacoker1, and I would love to see if there's a way I could acquire this race from you. Thanks. 9. Greg Maness posted: 06.01.2007 - 10:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I, too, was at this race ... as I was for every Firecracker 400 from 1963 to 1989. It was definitely a dead heat for third. The photo finish pictures were in the Daytona paper the next day (and also published in the book "Daytona USA"). The Start/Finish Line was three stripes ... a yellow stripe in the middle with a black stripe to either side. The picture shows Buddy and Cale dead even at the first black stripe; the second picture, they are dead even at the yellow stripe; the third picture; they are dead even at the other black stripe (the pictures were taken at 1/1000 sec. intervals). 10. MegaRacer posted: 09.25.2007 - 2:47 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) I like the race date: 7-4-74 11. Anonymous posted: 11.29.2008 - 7:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) fourth of july 74=7-4-74 12. Destiny posted: 07.02.2010 - 2:04 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) MRN said that Jabe Thomas was in car #23 instead of Roy Mayne. 13. AutoRockinRacing94 posted: 09.25.2010 - 6:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) At first I thought they just had Baker/Yarborough as T-3 because it was on tape delay on ABC and Keith Jackson didn't know who finished 3rd. Baker beat Cale looking at it...but I didn't knew that there was ties in NASCAR and never will happen again with the tech we have now. 14. LJ Burgess posted: 12.25.2010 - 11:11 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The #50 car that Q'd came out of the DiGard shop, one of Donnie's backup cars. A quick "title" transfer, A.J. must have broken his car earlier in the week? 15. bigjohnson posted: 02.22.2011 - 7:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) You can watch the end of the race here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAUj3rYk8uE 16. myself posted: 01.26.2012 - 1:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) OK, a major question....in 1973 & up to this point in 1974, Richard Howard is listed as the owner of the #11 car driven by Cale & Kar-Care is the sponsor. Now suddenly, beginning with this race, Junior Johnson is listed as owner & Carling is the sponsor. What happened? 17. Timberwolf Frenzel posted: 09.20.2012 - 7:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Richard Howard stepped down as owner and gave the team to chief mechanic Junior Johnson. Carling hooked up with the team. That's also how Earl Ross got to join the team. 18. nascar_vd / Racing-Reference.info posted: 01.31.2014 - 11:21 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Note: By NASCAR rules : Car 15 and 11 finished in dead heat for third and fourth place. Car 15 listed first because of starting position and total money won. 19. saltsburgtrojanfan posted: 01.16.2015 - 4:36 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Caution 1: Lap 7-11: #61 accident turn 1 Caution 2: Lap 18-21: #57 engine failure Caution 3: Lap 31-39: #05 spin turn 1 Caution 4: Lap 78-91: #90 engine failure Caution 5: Lap 96-98: #2 engine failure Caution 6: Lap 141-146: #32 cut tires 20. Bullet posted: 08.11.2016 - 4:11 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) I think I recall Petty bitching about Pearson making a dangerous move Don't hate the player hate the game 21. Billy P posted: 08.18.2016 - 9:16 pm Rate this comment: (3) (0) My first Daytona race over the wall. Gas man for Cecil Gordon at 19 years old. We pitted beside Richard and yes they were hot about Pearson cutting his motor at the start/finish. Everyone thought 21 had blown up. Just the beginning of my years watching the best years of the sport,from inside the garage area.. Looking back it was my first time seeing a reoccurring pattern.... Johnny Rutherford crashes out. 22. Spen posted: 05.06.2017 - 7:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was Petty's fourth straight second-place finish in the Firecracker 400. 23. KW posted: 06.15.2017 - 11:23 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I had always heard that Carling bought out Richard Howard's interest in the #11 team, which was listed in some places as Howard-Johnson Racing. At the end of the season Carling dropped out of racing entirely, I think they were bought out by another brewery, and Junior Johnson had to buy back the part of the team they owned. 24. Danish_Pie posted: 07.23.2019 - 9:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Is this the only instance of a tie for any position in NASCAR history, between Baker and Yarborough? 25. rateus posted: 06.01.2020 - 7:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Withdrew after qualifying - Jabe Thomas (#23 '73 Dodge) and Neil Castles (#06 '74 Dodge). Elmo Langley was first alternate but appears to have given his seat to Tony Bettenhausen. Neil Bonnett's '72 Chevy also missed the field. 26. RaceFanX posted: 10.25.2020 - 5:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) After this Thursday Fourth of July race the NASCAR Cup Series had the weekend off with some of its biggest stars using the free time to enter a special exhibition race at the Metrolina Speedway in North Carolina, which was run by ex-Cup champion Ned Jarrett at the time but never hosted an official Cup race. The Sunday, July 7, Metrolina 200 was won by underdog Richard Childress after he put the bumper to Cale Yarborough in the closing laps going for the top spot when leader Walter Ballard spun. Young Dale Earnhardt, a North Carolina short tracker racing a Cup car against the stars for the first time, came home fourth. The full results of that race are, alas, lost to time. The scoring wasn't even that great the night it was run. The race was scheduled for 200 laps but ran 202 laps in total after the scorers simply lost count. 27. rateus posted: 02.19.2021 - 5:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) In addition to the withdrawals, Jabe Thomas qualified for Roy Mayne and Jim Hurtubise qualified for Bill Champion. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: