1971 Delaware 500

Last updated
1971 Delaware 500
Race details [1] [2] [3]
Race 43 of 48 in the 1971 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season
Dover Motor Speedway 2024.svg
Layout of Dover International Speedway
Date October 17, 1971 (1971-October-17)
Official name Delaware 500
Location Dover Downs International Speedway, Dover, Delaware
Course Permanent racing facility
1.000 mi (1.609 km)
Distance 500 laps, 500.0 mi (804.6 km)
Weather Chilly with temperatures approaching 67.3 °F (19.6 °C); wind speeds reaching a maximum of 15 miles per hour (24 km/h)
Average speed 123.254 miles per hour (198.358 km/h)
Pole position
Driver
 Holman-Moody
Most laps led
DriverBobby AllisonHolman-Moody
Laps 394
Winner
No. 43 Richard Petty Petty Enterprises
Television in the United States
Network untelevised
Announcers none

The 1971 Delaware 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race that took place on October 17, 1971, at Dover Downs International Speedway.

Contents

Background

Dover International Speedway is one of five short tracks to hold NASCAR races; the others are Bristol Motor Speedway, Richmond International Raceway, Martinsville Speedway, and Phoenix International Raceway. [4] The NASCAR race makes use of the track's standard configuration, a four-turn short track oval that is 1 mile (1.6 km) long. [5] The track's turns are banked at twenty-four degrees, and both the front stretch (the location of the finish line) and the backstretch are banked at nine degrees. [5]

Race report

All the racing action took place in the American community of Dover, Delaware with five hundred laps completed on a paved oval track spanning 1.000 mile or 1.609 kilometres. [2] [3] It took four hours and three minutes (243 minutes) for the race to reach its full conclusion. [2] [3] Richard Petty defeated Charlie Glotzbach by more than one lap in front of eighteen thousand people. [2] [3] Richard Petty capitalizes for career win #137 as Bobby Allison's wheel troubles in the closing laps doom the dominant Holman-Moody entry. [2] [3] Petty pulled a "spin and win" as he looped the famous Petty Blue #43 Plymouth with 25 laps to go but didn't hit anything and got going again without losing the lead. [2] [3]

This race marked Fred Lorenzen's return to Ray Nichels' team and the driver's seat of the #99 STP Plymouth, having previously left the team after Talladega saying it wasn't competitive. [2] [3] After a one-off with the Wood Brothers at Darlington that ended in a bad crash Lorenzen came back with his stint with Nichels here wasn't the best of times. He qualified the bright #99 mid-pack and then fell out early with a blown engine. [2] [3] The comeback deal was supposed to be for the rest of the season but it fell apart and he left again, this time for good, with David Pearson brought in to run Rockingham instead.

Notable speeds for the race were: 123.254 miles per hour or 198.358 kilometres per hour for the average speed (which was a record during that era) [6] and 132.811 miles per hour or 213.739 kilometres per hour for the pole position speed. [2] [3]

Total winnings for this race were $59,965 ($451,142 when adjusted for inflation). [7] David Ray Boggs had his best career NASCAR Cup Series finish at this race. [2] [3] Richard Childress would make his only start in a vehicle other than General Motors. [2] [3]

Bobby Allison dominated the early portion of the race; temporarily losing the lead to Charlie Glotzbach on lap 143 and getting it back on lap 148. [2] [3] However, they found faulty lug nuts after pitting with two laps in the lead (which cost him an almost-guaranteed victory in that race).

Qualifying

Grid [2] No.DriverManufacturer
112Bobby Allison'69 Mercury
271Bobby Allison'71 Dodge
398Charlie Glotzbach'71 Chevrolet
443Richard Petty'71 Plymouth
560Maynard Troyer'69 Mercury
691Richard D. Brown'71 Chevrolet
748James Hylton'69 Mercury
839Friday Hassler'70 Chevrolet
924Cecil Gordon'69 Mercury
1057David Ray Boggs'69 Dodge
1195Paul Tyler'69 Ford
1290Bill Dennis'69 Mercury
131Charlie Roberts'69 Ford
1479Frank Warren'69 Dodge
1510Bill Champion'69 Ford
1625Jabe Thomas'70 Plymouth
1764Elmo Langley'69 Mercury
1830Walter Ballard'71 Ford
198Ed Negre'69 Ford
2006Neil Castles'69 Dodge
2199Fred Lorenzen'71 Plymouth
2272Benny Parsons'69 Mercury
2349G.C. Spencer'69 Plymouth
2451Dub Simpson'69 Chevrolet
255Richard Childress'70 Plymouth
2647Raymond Williams'71 Ford
2726Earl Brooks'69 Ford
2834Wendell Scott'69 Ford
2919Henley Gray'69 Ford
3068Larry Baumel'69 Ford

Finishing order

Section reference: [2]

  1. Richard Petty
  2. Charlie Glotzbach
  3. Bobby Isaac†
  4. Bobby Allison
  5. Bill Dennis
  6. David Ray Boggs
  7. Richard D. Brown
  8. Elmo Langley†
  9. Walter Ballard
  10. James Hylton†
  11. Cecil Gordon†
  12. Paul Tyler
  13. Frank Warren
  14. Raymond Williams
  15. Ed Negre†
  16. Henley Gray
  17. John Soares, Jr.
  18. Jabe Thomas*†
  19. Dick May†
  20. Wendell Scott*†
  21. John Sears†
  22. Neil Castles*
  23. Tommy Gale*†
  24. Ken Meisenhelder*
  25. Bill Shirey*
  26. J.D. McDuffie*†
  27. Bill Champion*†
  28. Maynard Troyer*
  29. Benny Parsons*†
  30. Richard Childress*
  31. Fred Lorenzen*
  32. Earl Brooks*†
  33. Friday Hassler*†
  34. G.C. Spencer*†
  35. Larry Baumel*
  36. James Cox*
  37. Charlie Roberts*
  38. Bill Seifert*
  39. Dub Simpson*
  40. Dean Dalton*

* Driver failed to finish race
† signifies that the driver is known to be deceased

Timeline

Section reference: [2]

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References

  1. ↑ "1971 Delaware 500 weather results". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved 2012-06-12.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 "1971 Delaware 500 racing results". Racing Reference. Retrieved 2011-01-06.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "1971 Delaware 500 racing results (fifth reference)". Database Racing. Retrieved 2011-01-06.
  4. ↑ "NASCAR Race Tracks". NASCAR . Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on 12 September 2010. Retrieved 23 September 2010.
  5. 1 2 "NASCAR Tracks—The Dover International Speedway". Dover International Speedway. Archived from the original on 21 September 2010. Retrieved 23 September 2010.
  6. ↑ "1971 Delaware 500 racing results (third reference)" (PDF). Dover Speedway. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2011-01-10.
  7. ↑ "1971 Delaware 500 racing results (fourth reference)". Ultimate Racing Reference. Retrieved 2011-01-10.
Preceded by NASCAR Winston Cup Series Races
1971		Succeeded by
Preceded by Richard Petty's Career Wins
1960-1984		Succeeded by
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