Official name World 600 | ||
Date May 30, 1971 (1971-May-30) Location Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord, North Carolina Course Permanent racing facility
1.500 mi (2.410 km) Distance 400 laps, 600 mi (965 km) Weather Temperatures reaching up to 66 °F (19 °C); wind speeds up to 13 miles per hour (21 km/h) | ||
The 1971 World 600, the 12th running of the event, was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on May 30, 1971, at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. While it was an underappreciated race for the spectators at that time, it marked the return of Chevrolet to NASCAR.
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Chevrolet would go on to have an assured future with the sport; dominating NASCAR during the subsequent decades. America saw Chevrolet as the most popular car in America and wanted the racing teams to develop a Chevrolet that would compete with the other makes during that era.
Summary
There were 40 drivers in this 400-lap race; Walter Ballard received the last place finish of the race due to a crash on the eleventh lap. The race took more than four hours to complete. There were 13 lead changes and three caution period for 24 laps. Charlotte Motor Speedway had just gone bankrupt a year earlier and the district judge assigned ownership of the floundering track to Mr. Richard Howard; who owned a furniture store in the area. He came up with the idea of having two pace cars advertise his furniture at this race and at the 1971 National 500. As a result, the speedway's fortune managed to recover themselves and it still hosts Cup Series races to this very day.
Bobby Allison defeated Donnie Allison by almost 34 seconds in front of an audience of 78000 spectators. Charlie Glotzbach received the pole position with a speed of 157.788 miles per hour (253.935 km/h) while the average race speed was 140.422 miles per hour (225.987 km/h). The other finishers in the top ten were: Pete Hamilton, Richard Petty, Fred Lorenzen, Buddy Baker, Benny Parsons, Friday Hassler (the fastest Chevrolet driver), Dave Marcis and Dick Brooks.
Speedy Thompson made his swan song of his NASCAR Cup Series career at this race while Larry Smith would begin his NASCAR career during this race. Kevin Terris, an unsung hero of NASCAR tried to qualify for this race in a Plymouth Road Runner. Speed was not on his side that day and he failed to qualify.