BUDDY SHUMAN MEMORIAL
Hickory Speedway
Saturday, August 28, 1971
Race #15 of the 1971 season brought the Grand American Challenge Series to Hickory North Carolina for the 15 th annual 100 mile Buddy Shuman Memorial race. It was the fourth combination event that included Grand National cars and Grand American cars. 40 cars showed to compete for the 22 starting positions. A large crowd was on hand that was reported to be the second highest paid attendance at the 3/8 mile paved oval. Dave Marcus sat on the pole with a new track record of 16.305 seconds in his 69 Dodge with Elmo Langley on the outside in a 71 Ford. Row two found Tiny Lund in a Camaro on the inside and Richard Petty in a Plymouth outside. Row three was made up of Jim Paschal in a Javelin and Bobby Allison in a Dodge. Row four saw Wayne Andrews in a Mustang and Bill Champion in a Ford. Rounding out the top ten were Cecil Gordon in a Mercury and Neil Castles in a Dodge.
The 24 lap consolation race for cars not making the field was won by Bobby Mausgrover in a Dodge followed by Frank Warren in a Dodge and David Boggs in a Firebird. Warren would end up in Neil Soapy Castles car on the feature. NASCAR determined to take any gas mileage advantage the GA cars may have had by mandating pit stops for everyone that had to happen between lap 100 and 150.
At the drop of the green flag it was Dave Marcus out front but he was quickly slowed by a caution when Dick Brooks spun going into turn one after his Camaro came in contact with another car. Following the short caution Marcus built a commanding lead that had put all but Lund, Langley and Petty at least one lap down by lap 92. Marcus made his pit stop on lap 152 surrendering his lead to Richard Petty. Back on track Marcus would only run 12 more laps before loosing the rear end in his Dodge. H.B. Bailey brought out the second and final caution when he spun on the backstretch on lap 182. Petty pitted surrendering the lead to Lund who had to fight off several challenges from Langley by leading the rest of the way.
Lund collected $1,500 for the win before a large crowd. There were 2 cautions for 7 laps with 14 cars running at the finish. Only 8 of the 22 starters were Grand American competitors.
Fin.St. Driver # Car Laps Status
1 3 Tiny Lund 55 69 Camaro 276 Running
2 2 Elmo Langley 64 71 Ford 276 Running
3 4 Richard Petty 43 70 Plymouth 276 Running
4 6 Bobby Allison 12 70 Dodge 276 Running
5 7 Wayne Andrews 15 71 Mustang 274 Running
6 18 James Hylton 48 70 Ford 274 Running
7 10 Frank Warren 06 69 Dodge 273 Running
8 11 Ed Negre 91 71 Chevy 269 Running
9 8 Bill Champion 10 70 Ford 268 Running
10 13 Jabe Thomas 25 70 Plymouth 264 Running
11 14 John Sears 4 69 Dodge 261 Running
12 9 Cecil Gordon 24 69 Mercury 260 Running
13 20 Buck Baker 87 71 Firebird 258 Running
14 13 H.B. Bailey 36 71 Firebird 254 Running
15 5 Jim Paschal 14 70 Javelin 233 Engine
16 1 Dave Marcus 2 69 Dodge 173 Rear end
17 22 Wendell Scott 34 69 Ford 151 Oil pan
18 19 Tommy Andrews 21 69 Mustang 148 Heating
19 17 Bill Shirey 74 69 Plymouth 80 Rear end
20 16 Randy Hutchison 02 69 Camaro 75 Oil leak
21 21 Walter Ballard 30 71 Ford 74 Clutch
22 15 Dick Brooks 95 69 Camaro 30 Heating
This turned out to be the last Grand National race ever held at Hickory Speedway.
updated by @dennis-andrews: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM
