Gerald Ford had the rinos of the era wrapped up against the upstart Regan.
Reagan not only challenged Ford for the GOP nomination in 1976, he previously had run against Nixon in the open 1968 GOP primary.
One of my high school pals and I snuck into the Anaheim Convention Center and saw Reagan and Nixon appearing at an event there. “Security” was lax enough that a couple of teenage yokels were able to wander loose among the $1,000 donors. We didn’t stick around long enough to get caught.