Sunday 19th April 1970

John Cannon drove a Carl Hogan owned, Chevrolet powered McLaren M10B to victory in the SCCA Continental Championship (Formula 5000) race at Riverside International Raceway in California. Pole sitter Cannon and 2nd fastest Ron Grable pulled clear at the start of the 40 lap race. Entering turn 9 the first time, Chuck Parsons slid sideways and tapped 3rd qualifier Bob Williams, sending Williams’ Wayne Jones Eagle-Plymouth into the wall and Parsons into a 360 degree spin. Williams was out with a bent A-frame and dead motor while Parsons stalled and fell to last before getting his Lola T190 restarted. The race settled in with Cannon leading, Grable filling his mirrors and young Japanese driver Hiroshi Fushida all alone in 3rd in another Jones Eagle-Plymouth. 1967 champ Gus Hutchison moved into 4th in his F1 Brabham-Ford. Fushida retired with a blown motor on lap 28, moving Hutchison to 3rd and he began to close on Grable. Grable’s challenge came to an end when his throttle stuck wide open entering turn 6 with 6 laps to go. Despite simultaneously braking, downshifting and hitting the kill switch, Grable’s Lola took a hard hit into the boiler plate wall, tearing off both left side wheels. When the wrecker moved quickly to assist Grable, Hutchison had to spin to avoid. Without a clutch since the early going, Hutchison had trouble restarting and fell to 8th. With his only serious challenger out, Cannon cruised across the line over a lap ahead of Dave Jordan’s AIR Eagle-Chevy. Jordan in turn, just barely held off Parsons, who had come back from his lap 1 spin to take 3rd.