Racing History Minute - October 10, 1971

This time of year, from 1960 forward, has been dominated by the National 500 first, then whatever sponsor came forward for naming rights at Charlotte Motor Speedway, or Lowes Motor Speedway, or whatever sponsor may yet come forward for naming rights. Thus it is, that today we go back to 1971, to a gray, misty and rainy day at the mile and a half track located in Concord, NC.

Forty-two cars started that race with Charlie Glotzbach in a Richard Howard Chevrolet on the pole. Richard Howard, for those who may not know, was heavily involved with Charlotte Motor Speedway as well as in an effort to produce a competitive, race winning Chevrolet. Buddy Baker in a Petty Enterprises Dodge would start second, Bobby Allison in a Holman-Moody Mercury (?) would start third, Donnie Allison in a Wood Brothers Mercury fourth and Richard Petty in the Petty Enterprises Plymouth starting fifth. A. J. Foyt was actually the fastest qualifier in Banjo Matthews Chevrolet but he started 23rd. As best I can recall, most tracks had a two, sometimes three, day qualifying runs with the fastest on day one getting the pole regardless of what speeds may have been recorded on later days. Foyt's speed was 158.492 while pole winner Glotzbach qualified at 157.085.

Some 52,000 fans settled in to watch Glotzbach and Baker trade the lead back and forth for the first 125 laps before Richard Petty slipped out front for 8 laps. Glotzbach moved back to the point on lap 135 but would stay there only that one lap before Bobby Isaac put the red K&K Insurance Dodge back in front. Bobby Allison took over for the first time on lap 158 and would lead until lap 165. Glotzbach was back out front on lap 166 but Allison passed him for the lead again on lap 177.

The skies were dark and threatening rain again, and, in fact it was getting late on a fall October afternoon when Bobby Allison looked out his windshield coming off turn four on lap 238 of the scheduled 335 laps and saw the white flag waving in the hand of flagman, Roby Combs. Bobby had a five second lead over second place and was not in jeopardy of being caught so NASCAR determined that, due to the lateness of the day and the possibilty that the light rain would become a downpour, decided to end the race. Bobby was the winner for the fourth consecutive super speedway race of his season.

Suprisingly, there were no objections from any of the drivers to NASCAR's decision to throw the checkers without warning. In fact, second place finisher, Bobby Isaac, said "I can't grumble. There's no use racing on the wet track until someone gets hurt. I like to race as well as anybody, but not when the track is as slick as this one was getting".

Top five finishers were:

1. Bobby Allison, Holman-Moody Mercury, winning $18,450.00

2. Bobby Isaac, K&K Insurance Dodge, winning $10,525.00 (5 seconds back)

3. Donnie Allison, Wood Brothers Mercury, winning $6,050.00

4. Richard Petty, Petty Enterprises Plymouth, winning $4,025.00

5. Charlie Glotzbach, Richard Howard Chevrolet, winning $2,975.00

Top five were all on the lead lap. Sixth place Buddy Baker was one lap down. Seventh place was Pete Hamilton, Friday Hassler, 8th, James Hylton 9th and Benny Parsons 10th.

Joe Frasson finished 11th, Jabe Thomas 12th, Frank Warren 13th, Elmo Langley 14th, Cecil Gordon 15th and Bill Seifert 17th. Earl Brooks was 21st, J.D. McDuffie 22nd. Cale Yarborough 28th, John Sears 29th and A.J. Foyt 30th. Dave Marcis was 32nd, LeeRoy Yarborough, who was returning to the sport after injuries suffered at Indy finished 34th. Neil Castles was 36th, Marty Robbins 37th, Tiny Lund 38th, Dick Brooks 40th. Wendell Scott, with relief from Coo Coo Marlin, finished 41st and Jim Vandiver, who crashed on lap 10, was credited with 42nd and last. For the record, Elmo Langley also received relief help from Dick May and Henley Gray took over for Bill Champion.

Honor the past, embrace the present, dream for the future

Qualifying report from Spartanburg Herald

And both drivers on the front row spent time piloting cars for Cotton Owens.

Source: Spartanburg Herald

Race report from Fredericksburg VA Free Lance Star

But wait! One paper thought it was DONNIE Allison had the winning day. And Donnie was so spectacular that he finished first AND third - in the same race.I think this was a "Rolyal" (Not So) Bright article.

Source: Hendersonville NC Times-News

Program cover from Motor Racing Programme Covers

I didn't recall that 35th place finisher and noted modified chassis builder Maynard Troyer had ever driven in Cup, but I see he had 13 Cup starts in 1971 and 1 in 1973.

EMPA photo

My memory is not so good.

I'm amazed I'd forgotten his series of flips at Daytona in February 1971:

Maynard Troyer
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Troyer

Born in Spencerport, New York, but raised in rural Plains City, Ohio, Maynard Troyer (November 22, 1938) bought a 1949 Ford for $50 in 1958 and made it into a race car. Then, as unlikely as it may seem, he not only won his first-ever race with that very simple machine but he went on to become one of the top asphalt Modified stock-car racers of all time and to design and build some of the most cutting-edge dirt and asphalt Modifieds.

Troyers winning purse on that first night of racing was equal to the cost of his race car, so right away he broke even in the sport, which cannot be said by very many. At that time a carpenter by trade, he ran in a few more races before relocating to Florida and then returned north to Rochester, New York, in 1963 for employment reasons without a thought about racing.

But with the half-mile asphalt Spencer Speedway being close-by in Williamstown, New York, Troyer got himself a Late Model and by the end of the 1960s he was winning plenty of races in the red-orange No. 6 Modified Falcons and Pintos sponsored by Nagle Ford where he was in charge of the dealerships new-car preparations.

Now fully into asphalt Modified racing, Troyer was one of the big stars of the 1970s that also saw such luminaries as fellow EMPA Hall of Fame members Richie Evans, Jerry Cook, Geoffrey Bodine, Ray Hendrick, Ed Flemke Sr. and Bugsy Stevens headlining the roster for every major race. But Troyer was more than able to hold his own against such stiff competition as he won such major events as the 1976 Race of Champions at the 1.5-mile asphalt Trenton (N.J.) Speedway and the events 1977 edition on the 2.5-mile asphalt triangle at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway. Among his major short-track victories were three-straight (1977-1979) Spring Sizzlers at the half-mile Stafford Motor Speedway in Stafford Springs, Connecticut.

Troyer also won the August 21, 1977, Atlantic Coast 300-mile NASCAR Modified race at the one-mile Dover (Delaware) International Speedway in his No. 60 Nagle Ford Mustang. And then on September 19, 1977, he backed that victory up with a 150-lap triumph on the old half-mile Richmond (Va.) International Raceway.

In 1971 and 1973, Troyer ran in 14 NASCAR Cup Series races with his best finish fourth on August 15, 1971, in the No. 60 Nagle 1969 Mercury and an eighth place finish in the 1981 Late Model Sportsman 300 in the No. 38 Pontiac at the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway.

However, the part of Troyers major NASCAR career that might best be remembered is the spectacular flip that he took on the 10th lap of the 1971 Daytona 500 his first Cup Series race when he lost control of his bright red-orange No. 60 1969 Ford in the second turn and it hit the flat part of the track sideways at full speed. With that, Troyer was just along for the ride as his car barrel-rolled at least a dozen times with some counts making it 18! But, amazingly, he only suffered a concussion in the wreck and was soon racing again.

In 1977, Troyer quit his job at Nagel Ford and began building race cars for others as a result of this request being so frequently made to him. This was the start of Troyer Incorporated and it soon began building Troyer Race Cars which quickly became some of the most sought-after and thought-provoking asphalt and dirt-track Modifieds in competition.

But even though Troyer was building race-cars for others, he continued racing until he retired from driving after the 1982 Race of Champions at Pocono. It was also around this time that he founded Troyer Machine, which made high-quality specialized racing parts.

After several more years of working at his Troyer Race Cars shop, Maynard Troyer finally began to slow down as in 1989 former asphalt Modified driver Billy Colton became a co-owner and managing partner of the company and then Colton became its sole owner in 2000.

In these excerpts from the October 7, 1971 Sumter (SC) Daily Item , you can see the appreciation of RR member, Dargan Watts for the promotional ability of Richard Howard , owner of that #3 Junior Johnson/Charlie Glotzbach Chevy Monte Carlo and the head honcho of Charlotte Motor Speedway who saved the place after Bruton Smith skipped town:

Richard Howard, right, with Junior Johnson.