Official name Myers Brothers 250 | ||
Date August 6, 1971 (1971-August-06) Course Permanent racing facility0.250 mi (0.421 km) Distance 250 laps, 62.5 mi (100.5 km) Weather Mild with temperatures reaching a maximum of 75 °F (24 °C); wind speeds approaching 12 miles per hour (19 km/h) | ||
The 1971 Myers Brothers 250 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series event that took place on August 6, 1971, at Bowman Gray Stadium in the American community of Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
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Background
Bowman Gray Stadium is a NASCAR sanctioned 1⁄4-mile (0.40 km) asphalt flat oval short track and longstanding football stadium located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It is one of stock car racing's most legendary venues, and is referred to as "NASCAR's longest-running weekly race track". Bowman Gray Stadium is part of the Winston-Salem Sports and Entertainment Complex and is home of the Winston-Salem State University Rams football team. It was also the home of the Wake Forest University football team from 1956 until Groves Stadium (later BB&T Field) opened in 1968.
Bowman Gray Stadium was a popular venue for high school football in the 1970s.
Summary
Due to the reduced sponsorship money being given out by the "Big Three" automobile companies in Detroit, NASCAR decided to hold six of their smaller Winston Cup Series races in conjunction with the "minor league" NASCAR Grand American Series. 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.
The complete time of the race was one hour and twenty-three minutes. Six cautions were given out for 36 laps with Bobby Allison defeating Richard Petty by a margin of three seconds. Fourteen thousand people attended this live race with speeds approaching 44.472 miles per hour (71.571 km/h). Richard Petty qualified for the pole position with a speed of 55.283 miles per hour (88.969 km/h) in the solo qualifying portion of the race weekend. There was a 29-driver grid. Bill Seifert, Cecil Gordon and Bill Shirey all quit the race before it was over. The result of the race would have long-reaching effects at the 1984 Firecracker 400; where they were determining whether Petty had his "200th win" or his "201st win."
Richard Petty and Bobby Allison shared their turns as being the joint leaders of the race. Future NASCAR car owner Richard Childress competed at this race as a driver. J.D. McDuffie was also a notable driver who competed in this race.
As Bobby Allison was not racing in a Grand National car, he never received credit in that series, but was credited with a Grand American Series ("pony" cars) win. Vehicles that competed at the Grand American series were in Chevrolet Camaros, Ford Mustangs and AMC Javelins as opposed to their full-sized equivalents from their manufacturers. Under current NASCAR rules for combination races used in the K&N Pro Series East and West, each race is separately scored for each division. Richard Petty would be credited under current rules with a Grand National Series win.
Finishing order
* Driver failed to finish race