Racing History Minute - 1971 Daytona 500

The 1971 season was one of transition. In with some new - out with some old. The season was the first to be financially supported by R.J. Reynolds and known as the Winston Cup Grand National Series.

The schedule was still largely packed with many of the same tracks and races that had been on the schedule from the late 1960s forward. The radical change came in 1972 when the schedule was pared down to about 30 events. As a result of Winston coming aboard, the twin qualifying races at Daytona were run for the last time in 1971 as points-paying, official GN events.

On Valentine's Day - February 14, 1971 - Richard Petty won his third Daytona 500 to land his 120th career victory. At that time, no driver had won the 500 twice - much less three times. I originally blogged about the race in 2012. I'll repeat much of it here, tweak it some, add some new info, etc. The link to my original blog post is here:

http://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2012/02/february-14-this-day-in-petty-history.html

Race program from Motor Racing Programme Covers

Petty Enterprises ran twin factory-backed Plymouth Superbirds for Petty and Pete Hamilton in 1970. Chrysler Corporation revised the strategy, however, for its support of the Petty teams for 1971. Richard continued to run the familiar Petty Blue #43 Plymouth. Hamilton left the team, and Buddy Baker was hired to replace him. Baker ran a solid white #11 Petty Enterprises Dodge Charger. - Don Smyle / Smyle Media

I've asked the question for years but without finding what I think is a legitimate answer. Consequently, I've crafted my own educated guess about the number selection.

In addition to Petty's Plymouth, Fred Lorenzen was back on the circuit in a Plymouth of his own - a Ray Nichels, STP sponsored, #99 Plymouth. - Ray Lamm

With intense competition between the Plymouth and Dodge brands within the 4 walls of Chrysler Corporation, I think 11 was selected for Baker's Dodge as the lowest available palindromic number and farthest away from Lorenzen's 99.

For 1971, gone were the radical looking winged Mopars from 1969-1970. The race cars returned to ones that more closely resembled streets versions - for model sold in large volumes. One exception was Dick Brooks who raced a winged Dodge Daytona for owner Mario Rossi. - Ray Lamm

In qualifying, A.J. Foyt continued to show folks how versatile he was in varying forms of racing by taking the top spot in the Wood Brothers' Mercury. Defending series champion, Bobby Isaac, timed second to earn the outside pole.

In this shot, some of the cars have been pushed to the starting grid for the first 125-mile qualifying race. Foyt on the pole, former Petty driver Pete Hamilton in Cotton Owens #6 Plymouth starting 2nd, Petty in 3rd, Fred Lorenzen in 4th (not shown), and #98 Lee Roy Yarbrough in 5th. Photographer Al Consoli allowed me to share this photo.

Green, green, green!

My dad took me to Daytona for the 500 in '71. He claimed we could "camp in the parking lot ... with sleeping bags ... because it NEVER gets cold in Florida." Let me just say LOL!!! Me and my best friend both took our bags and both "slept" on the gravel parking lot outside of turn 4 while dad and co. slept in the rental car ... as a February cold front of biblical proportions rolled into northern Florida. With cloudless skies reigning, the next day's Permatex 300 was run under frigid conditions with a sustained wind of about 30 MPH and higher gusts. It was all me and (my brave best friend) could muster to stand in the back of a Ranchero in the infield and watch the race won by Red Farmer. With nightly temperatures plummeting we (miraculously) found the absolute last boarding house in all of Florida and all 12 or so in our party staggered in the one-room efficiency and happily slept on the floor. Next day the 500. The winds had died somewhat, and as the only factory-backed team left in NASCAR Richard Petty and A.J. Foyt (Wood Bros. #21) dueled most of the race until Foyt encountered some type of problem ... might have been a pit stop, can't remember, but Richard cruised home to victory, his 3rd Daytona 500.

The 500 was one of most competitive in history - before or since. Many drivers took turns on the point - but sometimes for only one lap at a time. Eleven drivers took turns pulling the field around the superspeedway.

As Hamilton and Brooks in the winged Dodge battled for 2nd while chasing the leader Foyt, the two tangled. Surprisingly, both were able to continue despite the damage. Brooks somehow managed a 7th place finish for the day. Pete soldiered on as well albeit many laps down; however, engine woes with a few laps to go finally did him in relegating him to a 28th place finish.

But as Bobby referenced, the two chief combatants were Petty and Foyt. A troublesome pit stop late in the race put Foyt a lap down. He was able to pass Richard to unlap himself, but he had to settle for third. Buddy Baker took over second as Foyt's Wood Brothers team had pit issues, and the Petty Enterprises Mopar entries finished 1-2.

The famed Petty blue 43 sweeps across the finish line...

... and pulls into Victory Lane.

And to the victor belongs the spoils. (Although clearly nothing is spoiled in this photo.) - Ray Lamm

Announcer Keith Jackson with the introductions and the start of the race ... including a spectacular lap 9 wreck by Maynard Troyer (7:00 on video).

Jackson and National Speed Sport News' Chris Economaki cover the middle stages...

The drama of the end of the race. Hamilton...gone. Donnie Allison...gone. Foyt...pit issues. Battle of teammates Petty and Baker. And the finish.

NSSN cover from Russ Thompson

Race report from Jerry Bushmire

Fin	Driver	Car
1	Richard Petty	'71 Plymouth
2	Buddy Baker	'71 Dodge
3	A.J. Foyt	'69 Mercury
4	David Pearson	'69 Mercury
5	Fred Lorenzen	'71 Plymouth
6	Jim Vandiver	'69 Dodge
7	Dick Brooks	'69 Dodge
8	Jim Hurtubise	'70 Ford
9	James Hylton	'69 Ford
10	Bobby Isaac	'71 Dodge
11	Ramo Stott	'71 Plymouth
12	Joe Frasson	'70 Dodge
13	Pedro Rodriguez	'70 Plymouth
14	Elmo Langley	'69 Mercury
15	Freddy Fryar	'69 Dodge
16	Bill Champion	'69 Ford
17	Cecil Gordon	'69 Mercury
18	Bobby Allison	'70 Dodge
19	Marv Acton	'70 Plymouth
20	Coo Coo Marlin	'69 Chevrolet
21	Tommy Gale	'69 Mercury
22	Larry Baumel	'69 Ford
23	Ben Arnold	'69 Ford
24	Frank Warren	'69 Plymouth
25	Dave Marcis	'69 Dodge
26	Donnie Allison	'69 Mercury
27	Bill Dennis	'69 Mercury
28	Pete Hamilton	'71 Plymouth
29	John Sears	'69 Dodge
30	Bill Seifert	'70 Ford
31	Henley Gray	'69 Ford
32	Red Farmer	'71 Ford
33	Cale Yarborough	'71 Plymouth
34	LeeRoy Yarbrough	'69 Mercury
35	Benny Parsons	'69 Ford
36	Friday Hassler	'69 Chevrolet
37	Neil Castles	'69 Dodge
38	Maynard Troyer	'69 Ford
39	Tiny Lund	'69 Dodge
40	Ron Keselowski	'70 Dodge

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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.
updated by @tmc-chase: 01/18/21 04:41:06PM

While I hesitate to go into great detail of my memories of this race, I do remember the cold of which Bobby speaks in his post here. Briefly, my situation was that several guys had become fans of mine from my racing at the Columbia Speedway, and by extension became huge race fans and fans of Richard Petty. For this particular race, four of those guys accompanied me on the trip for 1971. We had booked a room in a motel in St. Augustine as those rooms were much cheaper than in Daytona. We had a nice place on the main drag in St. Augustine. We arrived there Saturday afternoon thinking we could get in some sun and swimming since I had called the motel Wednesday of race week and it was warm, sunny, and folks were splashing in the pool. When we parked and got out to check in, all thoughts of swimming were forgotten.

The guys and I explored some of St. Augustine before heading in for supper just after dark. Wasn't long afterwards we were in the room watching tv. Sunday morning, up early and hit I-95 south for Daytona. Arrived at the track about 6:30 a.m. and found a parking place against the fence by Lake Lloyd. This was getting to bea habit hanging out by that fence.

After the race, we went over to Victory Lane but couldn't really get close. Went into the pits and my buddies collected several autographs and we got several of the "hero cards" before heading back to our parked Plymouth Satellite Sebring Plus to head home.

We had a great time watching the race, a lousy time getting out of the track as it seemed traffic control was practicing for future events in Atlanta in case of snow. It was awful. We were finally on I-95 North by 8:00 p.m. I will never understand how we got through Georgia that night without a speeding ticket as I had that Plymouth in mach one all the way back. We stopped somewhere in Georgia to get something to eat at a Waffle House, as I recall. My many experiences with the Waffle House (or Waffie House as my grandson once called it when he was 3) were always good whether I had breakfast food or otherwise. I recall, very vividly, that I had a cheeseburger that night with a double order of hash browns. I recall it so vividly because that meal ranks right up there with the worst food I have ever eaten. Funny how such things stick with you but that meal did.

When we got back home everyone was exhausted but really happy about the race outcome. As it would happen, two of the guys who went on that trip found an 8 track tape of the highlights of that race and for Christmas, 1971, they gave me that as a gift. As I sit here I can see their faces as they watched me unwrap that gift. We played that tape many times of trips back and forth to races as it really had some good highlights.

Chase, as always, a wonderful job!!!! Thank you for all the hard work you do keeping these History Minutes rocking. I guess the 1972 Daytona 500 will be mine to write about tomorrow.

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

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What a change! It's been awhile since I've checked in and I'm quite surprised. It may take me awhile to figure it our but first look it's really great.

Video refresh. Others have been pulled from YouTube.

Race recap

And more coverage of Maynard Troyer's spectacular, Olympic gold medal worthy tumble.

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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.