1971 Nashville 420

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1971 Nashville 420
Race details[1][2][3][4]
Race 32 of 48 in the 1971 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season
Date July 24, 1971 (1971-July-24)
Official name Nashville 420
Location Fairgrounds Speedway, Nashville, Tennessee
Course Permanent racing facility
0.596 mi (0.959 km)
Distance 420 laps, 250.3 mi (402.8 km)
Weather Warm with temperatures of 80.1 °F (26.7 °C); wind speeds of 11.1 miles per hour (17.9 km/h)
Average speed 89.667 miles per hour (144.305 km/h)
Pole position
Driver
Petty Enterprises
Most laps led
Driver Richard Petty Petty Enterprises
Laps 400
Winner
No. 43 Richard Petty Petty Enterprises
Television in the United States
Network untelevised
Announcers none

The 1971 Nashville 420 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series event that took place on July 24, 1971, at Nashville Speedway in Nashville, Tennessee.

Background[edit]

Nashville Speedway was converted to a half-mile paved oval in 1957, when it began to be a NASCAR series track. The speedway was lengthened between the 1969 and 1970 seasons. The corners were cut down from 35 degrees to their present 18 degrees in 1972.[citation needed]

Race report[edit]

It took two hours and forty-seven minutes to complete 420 laps of racing at a paved oval track spanning 0.596 miles (0.959 km).[2][4] Richard Petty qualified for the race with a pole position speed of 114.628 miles per hour (184.476 km/h) and won it with an average speed of 89.667 miles per hour (144.305 km/h).[2] He defeated James Hylton by more than four laps in his 1971 Plymouth Roadrunner machine.[2][3][4]

Dale Inman would be credited as the winning crew chief for this race.[5] Other crew chiefs that were important to the race were Vic Ballard and Lee Gordon.[6] Ten thousand people would watch two lead changes and four cautions for 46 laps.[2][3][4]

Earl Brooks would make his best career finish with a fourth-place performance; he experienced tire problems as the race progressed and was unable to lead a lap.[2][3][4] Brooks' team only had top 10s in 12% of its races, but 11% of their total top 10s came in this race.[2][3][4]

All 29 of these competitors were American-born males.[2] Other notable names include future car owner Richard Childress, Sterling Marlin's father Coo Coo, Elmo Langley, and Bobby Allison (one of the famous Allison brothers of NASCAR history).[2][3][4] The total purse for this racing event was $20,980 ($157,164 when adjusted for inflation).[7]

Richard Petty received $4,325 ($32,539 when adjusted for inflation) for his well-deserved victory while last-place finisher Dick May only received $215 ($1,618 when adjusted for inflation).[2][3]

Qualifying[edit]

Grid No. Driver Manufacturer
1 43 Richard Petty '70 Plymouth
2 12 Bobby Allison '70 Dodge
3 24 Cecil Gordon '69 Mercury
4 64 Elmo Langley '71 Ford
5 7 Dean Dalton '69 Ford
6 8 Ed Negre '69 Ford
7 70 J.D. McDuffie '69 Mercury
8 76 Ben Arnold '69 Ford
9 72 Benny Parsons '70 Mercury
10 48 James Hylton '70 Ford
11 26 Earl Brooks '69 Ford
12 05 David Sisco '70 Chevrolet
13 10 Bill Champion '70 Ford
14 38 Wayne Smith '69 Chevrolet
15 58 Robert Brown '70 Chevrolet
16 74 Bill Shirey '69 Plymouth
17 40 D.K. Ulrich '70 Ford
18 96 Richard Childress '70 Chevrolet
19 23 Jabe Thomas '69 Plymouth
20 41 Ken Meisenhelder '69 Chevrolet
21 73 Jerry Churchill '69 Ford
22 07 Coo Coo Marlin '69 Chevrolet
23 67 Dick May '69 Ford
24 79 Frank Warren '69 Dodge
25 30 Walter Ballard '71 Ford
26 34 Wendell Scott '69 Ford
27 28 Bill Hollar '69 Ford
28 25 Bill Seifert '70 Plymouth
29 19 Henley Gray '69 Ford

Finishing order[edit]

  1. Richard Petty (No. 43)
  2. James Hylton† (No. 48)
  3. Benny Parsons† (No. 72)
  4. Earl Brooks† (No. 26)
  5. J.D. McDuffie† (No. 70)
  6. Walter Ballard (No. 30)
  7. Jabe Thomas† (No. 23)
  8. Henley Gray (No. 19)
  9. Ben Arnold (No. 76)
  10. Bill Hollar† (No. 28)
  11. Ed Negre*† (No. 8)
  12. Ken Meisenhelder (No. 41)
  13. Dean Dalton* (No. 7)
  14. Jerry Churchill† (No. 73)
  15. Frank Warren (No. 79)
  16. Cecil Gordon† (No. 24)
  17. Elmo Langley*† (No. 64)
  18. Bill Champion*† (No. 10)
  19. David Sisco*† (No. 05)
  20. Wendell Scott*† (No. 34)
  21. Richard Childress* (No. 96)
  22. Bill Shirey* (No. 74)
  23. Robert Brown* (No. 58)
  24. D.K. Ulrich* (No. 40)
  25. Coo Coo Marlin*† (No. 07)
  26. Wayne Smith* (No. 38)
  27. Bobby Allison* (No. 12)
  28. Bill Seifert* (No. 25)
  29. Dick May* (No. 67)

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

References[edit]

  1. ^ Weather information for the 1971 Nashville 420 at The Old Farmers' Almanac
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 1971 Nashville 420 at Racing Reference
  3. ^ a b c d e f g 1971 Nashville 420 at Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet
  4. ^ a b c d e f g 1971 Nashville 420 at Database Racing
  5. ^ 1971 Nashville 420 racing information at Race-Database
  6. ^ 1971 Nashville 420 crew chiefs at Racing Reference
  7. ^ Total prize purse at the 1971 Nashville 200 at Nashville 420
Preceded by NASCAR Winston Cup Season
1971 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Richard Petty's Career Wins
1960-1984 		Succeeded by
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