1971 Dixie 500

1971 Dixie 500
Race details[1]
Race 33 of 48 in the 1971 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season

Outline of Atlanta International Speedway
Date August 1, 1971 (1971-August-01)
Official name Dixie 500
Location Atlanta International Raceway, Hampton, Georgia
Course Permanent racing facility
1.522 mi (2.449 km)
Distance 328 laps, 499.2 mi (803.3 km)
Weather Temperatures up to 80.1 °F (26.7 °C); wind speeds up to 10.1 miles per hour (16.3 km/h)
Average speed 129.061 miles per hour (207.704 km/h)
Attendance 22,500[2]
Pole position
Driver
Petty Enterprises
Most laps led
Driver Richard Petty Petty Enterprises
Laps 181
Winner
No. 43 Richard Petty Petty Enterprises
Television in the United States
Network untelevised
Announcers none

The 1971 Dixie 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on August 1, 1971, at the Atlanta Motor Speedway in the American community of Hampton, Georgia.[2]

Only manual transmission vehicles were allowed to participate in this race; a policy that NASCAR has retained to the present day.

Background

Atlanta International Speedway (now Atlanta Motor Speedway) is one of ten current intermediate track to hold NASCAR races; the others are Charlotte Motor Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway, Darlington Raceway, Homestead Miami Speedway, Kansas Speedway, Kentucky Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and Texas Motor Speedway.[3] However, at the time, only Charlotte, Darlington, and New Hampshire were built.

The layout at Atlanta International Speedway at the time was a four-turn traditional oval track that is 1.54 miles (2.48 km) long.[4] The track's turns are banked at twenty-four degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, and the back stretch are banked at five.[4]

Summary

Elmo Langley received the last-place finish due to an engine issue on lap 36 of 328, while Richard Petty defeated Bobby Allison by 2 car lengths in front of 22500 live spectators.[2] Five cautions were given out for 48 laps; making the race last three hours and fifty-two minutes in length.[2] Buddy Baker qualified for the pole position with a speed of 155.796 miles per hour (250.729 km/h), while the average racing speed was 129.061 miles per hour (207.704 km/h).[2]

Richard Petty officially became a millionaire after this race; bringing his career earnings to approximately $1,000,000 ($5,852,917.01 when adjusted for inflation).[2] Dick Poling would retire from the NASCAR Cup Series after finishing in 26th place during this race.[5]

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 any more.

Finishing order

  1. Richard Petty (#43)
  2. Bobby Allison (#12)
  3. Benny Parsons (#72)
  4. Charlie Glotzbach (#3)
  5. Friday Hassler (#39)
  6. Donnie Allison (#21)
  7. Ron Keselowski (#88)
  8. Frank Warren (#79)
  9. James Hylton (#48)
  10. Bill Champion (#10)
  11. Richard D. Brown (#91)
  12. Cecil Gordon (#24)
  13. Marty Robbins (#42)
  14. Jabe Thomas (#25)
  15. Bill Seifert (#25)
  16. Bobby Brack* (#53)
  17. J.D. McDuffie (#70)
  18. Walter Ballard (#30)
  19. Ben Arnold (#76)
  20. Henley Gray (#19)
  21. Wendell Scott (#34)
  22. Dick May (#5)
  23. Earl Brooks* (#36)
  24. Pete Hamilton* (#6)
  25. Buddy Baker* (#11)
  26. Dick Poling (#62)
  27. G.C. Spencer* (#49)
  28. Paul Tyler* (#95)
  29. John Sears* (#4)
  30. Bill Dennis* (#96)
  31. Neil Castles* (#06)
  32. Charlie Roberts* (#77)
  33. Bobby Isaac* (#71)
  34. Coo Coo Marlin* (#07)
  35. Joe Frasson* (#18)
  36. Ed Negre* (#8)
  37. Dub Simpson* (#93)
  38. Raymond Williams* (#47)
  39. Dave Marcis* (#2)
  40. Elmo Langley* (#64)

* Driver failed to finish race

References

  1. ↑ 1971 Dixie 500 weather information at The Old Farmers' Almanac
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 1971 Dixie 500 racing information at Racing Reference
  3. ↑ "NASCAR Race Tracks". NASCAR. Retrieved September 2, 2011.
  4. 1 2 "NASCAR Tracks—The Atlanta Motor Speedway". Atlanta Motor Speedway. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved September 2, 2011.
  5. ↑ 1971 Dixie 500 racing results at Race-Database
Preceded by
1971 Nashville 420		 NASCAR Winston Cup Season
1971 		Succeeded by
1971 Myers Brothers 250
Preceded by
1971 Nashville 420		 Richard Petty's Career Wins
1960-1984 		Succeeded by
1971 West Virginia 500
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