1971 Motor Trend 500

Last updated
1971 Motor Trend 500
Race details [1]
Race 1 of 48 in the 1971 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season
Riverside Raceway.JPG
Layout of Riverside International Raceway (1969-1988 version)
Date January 10, 1971 (1971-January-10)
Official name Motor Trend 500
Location Riverside International Raceway, Riverside, California
Course Permanent racing facility
2.700 mi (4.345 km)
Distance 191 laps, 500 mi (806 km)
Weather Chilly with temperatures of 64 °F (18 °C); wind speeds of 8 miles per hour (13 km/h)
Average speed 100.783 miles per hour (162.195 km/h)
Attendance 23,000 [2]
Pole position
Driver Petty Enterprises
Most laps led
Driver Ray Elder Fred Elder
Laps 67
Winner
No. 96Ray ElderFred Elder
Television in the United States
Network untelevised
Announcers none

The 1971 Motor Trend 500 was the first race in NASCAR's Winston Cup era (also known as the Winston Cup Grand National Series) that took place on January 10, 1971. 191 laps on a road course at Riverside International Raceway in Riverside, California that spanned a total distance of 2.620 miles (4.216 km). [2]

Contents

Attendance was estimated at 23,000. It took four hours, fifty-seven minutes, and fifty-five seconds. [2]

Due to a then-struggling economy, both Ford and Chevrolet cut back on factory support for the 1971 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season. [3] NASCAR would also limit engines in the aerodynamic superspeedway cars to 305 cubic inches starting in this race. [3]

Race report

Defending NASCAR Grand National West series champion Ray Elder won the race; making it the first time that the 500-mile event at Riverside was won by a manufacturer other than Ford. [2] The average speed was 100.783 miles per hour (162.195 km/h) while the pole speed was 107.084 miles per hour (172.335 km/h). This race was the final NASCAR Cup Series event with triple-digit numbered cars; with three of them qualifying for the race. (Kittlekow #107, Schilling #148, Collins #177). [2] Elder became the first winner in NASCAR's "modern" history.

Only 11 cars finished this 5-hour marathon. [2] The 8th-place finisher was 22 laps down, and the 11th-place finisher dropped out with 34 laps to go. [2] The top prize at this race was $18,715 ($125,223 when adjusted for inflation) and the prize for finishing last (40th) was $1,015 ($6,791 when adjusted for inflation). [2] Richard Petty competed in this race but failed to finish; he would end up in 20th after starting from the pole position. [2] The majority of the drivers who failed to finish had an engine problem. [2] 43-year-old Hershel McGriff entered and raced a Cup race for the first time since 1954, when he won a Grand National race at North Wilkesboro in an Oldsmobile, back when he was 26. McGriff would qualify in 8th and finish 12th. [2]

Harry Hyde and Dale Inman were notable crew chiefs for this event; working for Richard Petty (Inman) and fourth-place finisher Bobby Isaac (Hyde). [4]

At the end of the race, the margin between Elder and Bobby Allison was ten and a half seconds. [2] Ray Elder would score the first of his two NASCAR cup victories here [2] (with his second victory taking place at the 1972 Golden State 400 [5] ). This race was Ron Grable's only start in the NASCAR Cup series and that G.T. Tallas finished the race with his career best of 11th place.

Qualifying

Grid [2] No.DriverManufacturer
143Richard Petty'70 Plymouth
212Bobby Allison'70 Dodge
396Ray Elder'70 Dodge
471Bobby Isaac'71 Dodge
548James Hylton'70 Ford
602Dick Bown'70 Plymouth
772Benny Parsons'69 Ford
804Hershel McGriff'70 Plymouth
939Friday Hassler'69 Chevrolet
1032Kevin Terris'70 Plymouth
1138Jimmy Insolo'69 Chevrolet
1210Bill Champion'69 Ford
1324Cecil Gordon'69 Ford
1444Dick Guldstrand'68 Chevrolet
1508John Soares, Jr.'70 Plymouth
1617David Pearson'70 Ford
1719Henley Gray'69 Ford
1888Don Noel'70 Ford
1964Elmo Langley'69 Mercury
2083Joe Clark'69 Chevrolet
2199Pat Fay'71 Ford
2226Carl Joiner, Jr.'69 Chevrolet
236Jerry Oliver'70 Oldsmobile
2495Bob Kauf'69 Chevrolet
2515Paul Dorrity'71 Chevrolet
2682Ron Gautsche'69 Ford
274Dick Kranzler'70 Chevrolet
2807Ivan Baldwin'69 Chevrolet
2923G.T. Tallas'69 Ford
3000Frank James'69 Chevrolet
317Jack McCoy'70 Dodge
3277Ray Johnstone'69 Plymouth
335Ron Grable'70 Ford
3470J.D. McDuffie'69 Mercury
35148Harry Schilling'69 Dodge
36177Roy Collins'69 Dodge
3779Frank Warren'69 Plymouth
38108Mike Pittelkow'69 Chevrolet
3933Glenn Francis'70 Chevrolet
4018Bob England'70 Chevrolet

Finishing order

  1. Ray Elder
  2. Bobby Allison
  3. Benny Parsons
  4. Bobby Isaac
  5. James Hylton
  6. Friday Hassler
  7. Kevin Terris
  8. Carl Joiner
  9. Henley Gray
  10. Cecil Gordon
  11. G.T. Tallas
  12. Hershel McGriff
  13. Bob England
  14. Dick Kranzler
  15. J.D. McDuffie
  16. Dick Bown
  17. Elmo Langley
  18. Jack McCoy
  19. Ron Gautsche
  20. Richard Petty
  21. John Soares, Jr.
  22. Frank James
  23. Ron Grable
  24. Dick Guldstrad
  25. Jimmy Insolo
  26. Bill Champion
  27. Bob Kauf
  28. Paul Dorrity
  29. Jerry Oliver
  30. Frank Warren
  31. Mike Pittelkow
  32. Ray Johnstone
  33. Don Noel
  34. Glenn Francis
  35. David Pearson
  36. Joe Clark
  37. Harry Schilling
  38. Roy Collins
  39. Ivan Baldwin
  40. Pat Fay

Timeline

Section reference: [2]

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References

  1. "1971 Motor Trend 500 weather information". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved 2012-09-03.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 "1971 Motor Trend 500 information". Racing Reference. Retrieved 2009-10-21.
  3. 1 2 "Summary of the 1971 Motor Trend 500". Muscle Car Films. Retrieved 2012-09-06.
  4. "Notable crew chiefs". Race Database. Retrieved 2013-03-17.
  5. "Ray Elder's second victory". Racing Reference. Retrieved 2010-02-15.
Preceded by NASCAR Grand National/Winston Cup Races
1970-71
Succeeded by
Preceded by Motor Trend 500 races
1964-71
Succeeded by
becomes the Winston Western 500