On June 18, 1972, a crowd of 28,200 fans made their way to the 2.62-mile Riverside International Raceway road course in California for the Golden State 400. A 40-car Grand National field took on the tricky layout for this mid-season NASCAR Winston Cup event.
Richard Petty grabbed the pole position with a qualifying speed of 108.688 mph. The race saw three caution periods for a total of just 11 laps, but it was marked by early drama when Petty, who led 85 laps early in the race, suffered an engine failure that ended his day.
Ray Elder, the California “Racing Farmer” driving for his own team, delivered one of the biggest upsets of the season. Despite early transmission troubles, Elder took command late, leading the final 44 laps and winning by a full lap over Benny Parsons. Donnie Allison finished third, followed by James Hylton in fourth and Carl Joiner in fifth. Elder’s winning average speed was 98.761 mph.
The victory paid $12,375 to Elder and marked his second career NASCAR Winston Cup win, both coming at Riverside. For Petty, the DNF was costly in the points battle — he left California with only a slim 41.2-point advantage over James Hylton in the championship standings.
