Bowman-Gray 250
Bowman-Gray Stadium
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Saturday, June 5, 1971
Race #8 of 1971 for the Grand American Challenge Series was originally scheduled for June 27th but was moved to the 5th when the June 6th event at Maryville, Tenn. was cancelled. A race at Summit Point was scheduled for May 3rd but never happened and the May 30th event at Ona, West Virginia was postponed reportedly because of low car counts due to crashes at Dover and Springfield. Reports at the time were slanted that the GA series was in trouble and that would prove to be true but it was also true that all was not well for the Grand National division either. A June 2nd race at Greenville was canceled because the short tracks were not drawing big enough crowds for promoters to make it and a 400 mile race at Byran, Tx. was also cancelled.
Point standings going into Bowman-Gray looked like this.
- Jimmy Capps
- Tiny Lund
- Buck Baker
- Bobby Fleming
- Wayne Andrews
- Jimmy Vaughn
- Al Straub
- Ernie Shaw
- David Boggs
- James Raimey
By now all Grand American cars were required to be equipped with a window net over the drivers side door. Approved suppliers were Holman Moody, Nichols Engineering and Petty Enterprises and were mandated for use on all Grand National, Western Grand National, Grand American, late model Sportsman, Modified and Hobby cars.
Tiny Lund took the pole with a lap of 16.63 seconds in a Camaro and went on to record his 4th win of the year before a crowd of 10,000.
Fin Srt Car # Driver Car Laps Reason out
1 1 55 Tiny Lund 69 Camaro 250 Running
2 88 T.C. Hunt 69 Camaro Running
3 87 Buck Baker 71 Firebird Running
4 21 Tommy Andrews 70 Mustang Running
5 74 Al Straub 71 Mustang Running
6 26 Randy Hutchison 69 Camaro
7 86 David Boggs 71 Firebird
8 27 Steve McWhite 69 Camaro
9 19 Bobby Brewer 69 Camaro
10 15 Wayne Andrews 71 Mustang
The win in combination with Jimmy Capps missing the show gave Lund the point lead.
- Tiny Lund
- Buck Baker
- Bobby Fleming
- Bob Williams
- Wayne Andrews
- Jimmy Capps
- Jimmy Vaughn
- Al Straub
- David Boggs
- Ernie Shaw
- Bobby Brewer
- Tommy Andrews
- James Raimey
- Baxter Price
- Tommy Lechlider
- Steve McWhite
- Glen Brewer
- Stan Starr
- H.B. Bailey
- C.B. Gwyn
Personal note:
It was a very hot night at the Stadium with little to no breeze and the track was even more open then than it is now as the new scoreboard and field house now fill the open end of the stadium. I do not remember much about the race except that dad went out before the checkered flag. The report I had says he finished 10th but his records do not confirm that as they only state I got too hot!. I remember there being a wreck in turns 1 and 2 that blocked the track. When dad arrived at the scene he stopped next to the outside wall between 1 and 2 until the track was cleared. He then drove slowly down the back stretch and straight into the pits. The whole family was in the grandstands so we gathered at the fence where we could see down into pit road. The car had stopped in one of the first few stalls and several people were gathered around it when someone went in thru the passenger side window. It was a scary sight to see dad pulled from the car limp as a dish rag. Once out, we could not see dad because of the crowd that was around him and we grew concerned but we soon got the report that he was conscious and being taken to the hospital. I dont recall the status of the race when we went to the hospital where he received fluids and was released. With the level of concentration required at a place like Bowman-Gray dad had not realized he was getting dehydrated until the caution forced him to stop. He had passed out and did not remember driving into the pit. The next year I would get to spend more time in the pits and made it my job to make sure the water bottle was clean and filled before each race.
updated by @dennis-andrews: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM
