1971 Sandlapper 200

Last updated

1971 Sandlapper 200
Race details [1]
Race 38 of 48 in the 1971 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season
Date August 27, 1971;53 years ago (1971-08-27)
Official name Sandlapper 200
Location Columbia Speedway, Columbia, South Carolina
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 0.500 miles (0.804 km)
Distance 200 laps, 100 mi (160 km)
Weather Hot with temperatures of 89.1 °F (31.7 °C); wind speeds of 12 miles per hour (19 km/h)
Average speed 64.831 miles per hour (104.335 km/h)
Pole position
Driver Petty Enterprises
Most laps led
Driver Richard Petty Petty Enterprises
Laps 110
Winner
No. 43Richard PettyPetty Enterprises
Television in the United States
Network untelevised
Announcers none

The 1971 Sandlapper 200 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on August 27, 1971, at Columbia Speedway [2] in Columbia, South Carolina. [3]

Contents

The race car drivers still had to commute to the races using the same stock cars that competed in a typical weekend's race through a policy of homologation (and under their own power). This policy was in effect until roughly 1975. By 1980, NASCAR had completely stopped tracking the year model of all the vehicles and most teams did not take stock cars to the track under their own power anymore.

Background

Columbia Speedway was an oval racetrack located in Cayce, a suburb of Columbia, South Carolina. It was the site of auto races for NASCAR's top series from 1951 through 1971. [4] For most of its history, the racing surface was dirt. The races in April and August 1970 were two of the final three Grand National races ever held on a dirt track. [5]

The track was paved before hosting its last two Grand National races in 1971.

While Columbia Speedway was shut down to cars in 1979, noise complaints, it reopened as a velodrome in 2001.

Race report

Two hundred laps were completed on a paved oval track spanning 0.500 miles (0.805 km) in only one hour and thirty-four minutes. [2] [3] Six cautions were given for forty-one laps; Richard Petty managed to defeat Tiny Lund by ten car lengths. [2] [3] Local track announcer Jim Seay would realize the charismatic potential of Petty and interviewed him right after the race in front of a regional crowd. [6] Eight thousand people showed up in person to see cars achieve speeds of up to 64.831 miles per hour (104.335 km/h). [2] [3] Richard Petty, however, would achieve the pole position speed of 85.137 miles per hour (137.015 km/h). [3] Ron Keselowski would crash prior to the first lap of the race. [2] [3]

The combined winnings purse for this race would be $9,275 ($72,013 when adjusted for inflation); the winner would receive $1,500 of it ($11,646 when adjusted for inflation) while the last-place finisher took home a meager $200 ($1,553 when adjusted for inflation). [7]

H. B. Bailey was running in second place until a freak crash on 55 made him finish in 24th place (a loss of 22 positions). [2] [3]

Last top-10 finish for Ken Meisenhelder. The Massachusetts driver had three top-10 finishes in his career, all of them finishing 10th. [8]

Lee Gordon, Vic Ballard and Dale Inman were among the three most notable crew chiefs to participate in this event. Inman was in charge of keeping Richard Petty's car in good order while Vic Ballard looked after Walter Ballard. Lee Gordon's primary responsibility was keeping Cecil Gordon's vehicle in decent working order. [9]

Qualifying

Grid [3] No.DriverManufacturer
143Richard Petty'70 Plymouth
236H.B. Bailey'71 Firebird
355Tiny Lund'69 Camaro
414Jim Paschal'70 Javelin
515Wayne Andrews'71 Mustang
648James Hylton'70 Ford
774Bill Shirey'69 Plymouth
887Buck Baker'71 Firebird
924Cecil Gordon'69 Mercury
1064Elmo Langley'71 Ford
112Randy Hutchinson'69 Camaro
1234Wendell Scott'69 Ford
134John Sears'69 Dodge
1430Walter Ballard'71 Ford
157Jimmy Vaughn'69 Camaro
1619Henley Gray'69 Ford
1726Earl Brooks'69 Ford
1810Bill Champion'70 Ford
1917Ernie Shaw'68 Mustang
2079Frank Warren'69 Plymouth
2125Jabe Thomas'70 Plymouth
2262Ron Keselowski'71 Dodge
2341Ken Meisenhelder'69 Chevrolet
2470J.D. McDuffie'69 Mercury
258Ed Negre'69 Ford
2640D.K. Ulrich'70 Ford
2732Marv Acton'70 Plymouth
2896Richard Childress'70 Chevrolet
2986Bobby Mausgrover'69 Dodge
3073Bill Seifert'69 Ford

Top 10 finishers

Section reference: [3]

  1. Richard Petty (No. 43), official time 1:34:24
  2. Tiny Lund (No. 55), 10 car lengths down
  3. Jim Paschal (No. 14), finished lead lap under green flag
  4. James Hylton (No. 48), 3 laps down
  5. Jabe Thomas (No. 25), 4 laps down
  6. Wayne Andrews (No. 15), 4 laps down
  7. Elmo Langley (No. 64), 6 laps down
  8. Walter Ballard (No. 30), 7 laps down
  9. Randy Hutchison (No. 2), 7 laps down
  10. Ken Meisenhelder (No. 41), 10 laps down

Timeline

Section reference: [3]

References

  1. "1971 Sandlapper 200 weather information". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved June 12, 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "1971 Sandlapper 200 racing results (second reference)". Ultimate Racing History. Retrieved December 10, 2010.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "1971 Sandlapper 200 racing results". Racing Reference. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
  4. Columbia Speedway page of Racing-Reference website , retrieved 8 May 2007.
  5. Fielden, Greg, "NASCAR Cleans Up", Speedway Illustrated, September 2004.
  6. Wood, Perry Allen (October 16, 2012). Silent Speedways of the Carolinas. McFarland. ISBN   9781476602615 . Retrieved January 21, 2015.
  7. "1971 Sandlapper 200 weather information". Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet. Retrieved November 4, 2012.
  8. "Driver Ken Meisenhelder's NASCAR Top 10 Results". Racing Reference. Retrieved October 18, 2019.
  9. "1971 Sandlapper 200 crew chief information". Racing Reference. Retrieved May 14, 2018.
Preceded by Richard Petty's Career Wins
1960-1984
Succeeded by
Preceded by NASCAR Winston Cup Series Season
1971
Succeeded by