In January 1971, the newly renamed Winston Cup Grand National Series started with a mild upset at Riverside. West coast racing stalwart, Ray Elder, took the checkers in the first Winston Cup race, [ the Motor Trend 500 ]. Finishing second that day was GN / Cup regular, Bobby Allison, in a 1970 Dodge.
When the teams returned to the west coast for the June 20th Winston Golden State 400, Allison had leveraged his 2nd place finish in January to an even better spring. He rolled into southern California on a 3-race winning streak. (But I'll point out that Richard Petty already had NINE wins by that point in the season.)
Allison ran much of the early part of the season in his own Coca-Cola, red and gold Dodges. In late spring, he raced the WInston 500 at Talladega, Dover, the World 600 at Charlotte and Michigan in a Coke, Holman & Moody Mercury. When H&M opted not to field the Mercury for Allison at Riverside, Bobby returned to his own car.
In the 2nd Riverside race, however, Allison had a couple of tricks.
- He reskinned the Dodge from a 1970 Dodge body to a 1971 Dodge Charger.
- He elected to race with a two-way radio headset in his car. - Rome News Tribune
Bobby certainly wasn't the first to use an in-car radio. As far back as the 1950s, Tim Flock had experimented with one during the Daytona beach races. But Allison certainly planned to use the system to his advantage. And he certainly caught the attention of the media who seemed to marvel over his 'electronic hat'. - Tuscaloosa News
The AP writer seemed to make as big a deal over Bobby's electronic hat as Forrest Gump did over Lt. Dan's magic legs.
The other unexpected thing Allison had at Riverside was a different color scheme. Rather than the red and gold corporate colors of Coca-Cola, Bobby rolled in with his 1971 Charger painted in the purple and gold colors of Marty Robbins.
Marty had frequently driven Dodges built by Cotton Owens. But apparently he chose to work with Allison to build him a car as well, and the two may have shared the car as the season progressed. The first race for Marty in 1971 was the World 600 a few weeks before Riverside. From what I can tell, Marty raced a 1969 Dodge vs a current model. But, it's possible the Charger Bobby built for Marty and raced at Riverside may have been the same one Marty used for the art work photo session for his 1971 album, Today .
Bobby established himself as the early favorite when he nabbed the pole. Petty, who'd won the pole for the January race, settled for 2nd - alongside his perennial rival. Elder, Benny Parsons and Dick Bown rounded out the top 5. Petty was racing his trusty 70 Plymouth vs. the sleeker 71 Road Runner he raced on many of the superspeedways.
The field readies for the start...
And the 12 and 43 lead the field at the drop of the green as Elder and Parsons try to stay close.
Allison dominated the day by leading 137 of the race's 153 laps. Only the occasional pit cycling allowed other drivers to get up front including Hershel McGriff, Petty, Parsons and Elder.
Racing at its finest at Riverside
Petty kept up the pressure on Allison for about two-thirds of the race. But he lost the engine in the 43 at lap 110 and was done for the day.
Elder showed his January win was no fluke. He do stayed in contention with Allison and finished a very impressive second - the only other car on the lead lap with Allison.
Bobby took the checkers without any real pressure from behind by Elder.
The crew enjoyed their ride to victory lane for the 4th consecutive race.
Race report - Eugene Register Guard
Allison turned his 4-race winning streak into five with a victory 3 days later at the only GN/Cup race ever held at Meyer Speedway in Houston, TX. The Charger was apparently then shelved for a few weeks as Bobby returned to H&M for the Firecracker 400 and the swing through the northern races such as Trenton and Islip (incidentally for the final time as the tracks were dropped from the revamped Cup schedule beginning in 1972).
The Marty-painted Charter was brought out again when the tour came to Nashville in July. The front fenders showed some battlescars and remedial repairs, perhaps from the race in Houston. - Photo from another site but from collection of RR member FallsCity48.
| Fin | Driver | Car |
| 1 | Bobby Allison | '71 Dodge |
| 2 | Ray Elder | '71 Dodge |
| 3 | Cecil Gordon | '69 Mercury |
| 4 | James Hylton | '70 Ford |
| 5 | Jerry Oliver | '70 Dodge |
| 6 | John Soares, Jr. | '71 Plymouth |
| 7 | Kevin Terris | '70 Plymouth |
| 8 | Scotty Cain | '69 Ford |
| 9 | Pat Fay | '71 Ford |
| 10 | Frank James | '69 Chevrolet |
| 11 | Jack McCoy | '71 Dodge |
| 12 | Bob England | '70 Chevrolet |
| 13 | Richard Petty | '71 Plymouth |
| 14 | J.D. McDuffie | '69 Mercury |
| 15 | Don Noel | '71 Ford |
| 16 | Ivan Baldwin | '71 Chevrolet |
| 17 | Jimmy Insolo | '69 Chevrolet |
| 18 | Henley Gray | '69 Ford |
| 19 | Charlie Roberts | '70 Ford |
| 20 | Ray Johnstone | '69 Plymouth |
| 21 | Hershel McGriff | '70 Plymouth |
| 22 | Benny Parsons | '70 Mercury |
| 23 | Dick Kranzler | '71 Chevrolet |
| 24 | Tru Cheek | '69 Chevrolet |
| 25 | Ron Gautsche | '69 Ford |
| 26 | Bill Osborne | '71 Ford |
| 27 | Elmo Langley | '69 Mercury |
| 28 | John Lyons | '69 Chevrolet |
| 29 | Johnny Anderson | '69 Chevrolet |
| 30 | Jerry Barnett | '70 Chevrolet |
| 31 | Carl Joiner | '69 Chevrolet |
| 32 | Harry Schilling | '69 Dodge |
| 33 | Paul Dorrity | '71 Chevrolet |
| 34 | Pete Torres | '69 Ford |
| 35 | J.R. Skinner | '71 Ford |
| 36 | Frank Warren | '69 Dodge |
| 37 | Bob Kauf | '70 Chevrolet |
| 38 | Ed Negre | '69 Ford |
| 39 | Dick Bown | '71 Plymouth |
| 40 | Markey James | '69 Chevrolet |
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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.
updated by @tmc-chase: 06/19/18 11:14:03AM