1971 Motor Trend 500

1971 Motor Trend 500
Race details[1]
Race 1 of 48 in the 1971 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season

Layout of Riverside International Raceway
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 approaching 64 °F (18 °C); wind speeds up to 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. 96 Ray Elder Fred Elder
Television in the United States
Network untelevised
Announcers none

The 1971 Motor Trend 500 was the first official race in NASCAR's Winston Cup era (also known as the Winston Cup Grand National Series until approximately 1985) that took place on January 10, 1971. Drivers had to contend with 191 laps on a road course at Riverside International Raceway in Riverside, California, USA that spanned a total distance of 2.620 miles (4.216 km).[2] Many people who followed NASCAR during the 1960s and the 1970s found Riverside International Raceway to be one of their favorite "road course" tracks.

Despite its connections to Big Tobacco, the Winston Cup era in NASCAR ended up becoming the most popular among traditionalists and racing purists alike. Attendance for this racing event was estimated at 23,000 people. It took four hours, fifty-seven minutes, and fifty-five seconds for the race to resolve itself from the first green flag to the checkered flag.[2] No tickets were required to tour certain places of the track (particularly on the area of the track that was near the chicanes). NASCAR would tighten up their security in the later years; requiring patrons to have special passes to attend pit road prior to the race.

Due to a then-struggling economy, both Ford and Chevrolet cut back on factory-manufacturing new vehicles for the 1971 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season.[3] NASCAR would also limit the aerodynamics of the vehicles to 305 cubic inches starting in this race.[3] All 40 vehicles that participated in the race were basically either new or used vehicles purchased from automobile retailers open to the general public for less than $2,500 ($14,607.64 when adjusted for inflation). The costs of hiring a pit crew and driver were much cheaper during the early 1970s than it is today, making it more incentive for professional businessmen like Nord Krauskopf to attempt a full-blown career as a NASCAR team owner.

Summary

Defending NASCAR Grand National West series champion Ray Elder won the race.[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).[2] Elder essentially became the first winner in NASCAR's "modern" history; carving out a pathway for drivers like Darrell Waltrip, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson.[4]

Out of the forty drivers that started the race, only twelve of them actually finished the race. The top prize at this race was $18,715 ($109,352.81 when adjusted for inflation) and the prize for finishing last place (40th) was $1,015 ($5,930.7 when adjusted for inflation).[2] Richard Petty competed in this race but failed to finish it; he would end up in 20th place after starting in the pole position. He was driving a Plymouth with the familiar #43 that he is famous for.[2] The majority of the drivers who failed to finish had an engine problem.[2] Harry Hyde and Dale Inman were the more notable crew chiefs for this event; working for the immortal Richard Petty (Inman) and fourth-place finisher Bobby Isaac (Hyde).[5]

Even before the 1973 oil crisis, the big American automobile manufacturers were limiting the cubic inch content of their rear-wheel drive manual transmission vehicles as a way to cut costs on the consumers' end. This would serve to keep the carburetor-powered passenger vehicles mainstream in American society until the 1990s when fuel injection offered to limit the emissions on newer vehicles (and help to raise their MPG rating as well). Gas prices would exceed $1.29/gallon ($0.33/litre) by the end of the 1990s, causing carbureted vehicles and rear-wheel drive alike to become irrelevant everywhere except in NASCAR.[6] NASCAR would not acknowledge this until the beginning of the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season when they legalized fuel injection for the Cup Series drivers.

At the end of the race, the margin between Elder and Bobby Allison was considered to be 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[7]). Other notable facts about the 1971 Motor Trend 500 is that the 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.

Top twenty finishers

Timeline

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 "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. ↑ "Basic timeline of NASCAR". Legends of NASCAR. Retrieved 2013-03-17.
  5. ↑ "Notable crew chiefs". Race Database. Retrieved 2013-03-17.
  6. ↑ "U.S. Retail Price of Gasoline". Energy Information Administration. Retrieved 2013-03-16.
  7. ↑ "Ray Elder's second victory". Racing Reference. Retrieved 2010-02-15.
Preceded by
1970 Tidewater 300		 NASCAR Grand National/Winston Cup Races
1970-71 		Succeeded by
1971 Daytona 500
Preceded by
1970 Motor Trend 500		 Motor Trend 500 races
1964-71 		Succeeded by
becomes the Winston Western 500
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