Originally blogged by me here:
http://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2011/08/august-27-this-day-in-petty-history.html 1971 - Richard Petty wins his 136th career race from the pole in the Sandlapper 200 at Columbia Speedway in South Carolina.
With R.J. Reynolds joining the sport with its Winston cigarettes as the series' title sponsor, the 1972 schedule was cut to 31 races from 48 races in 1971. As a result, Petty's win at Columbia turned out to be the final NASCAR Grand National/Cup race at the track.
The race included a mixture of the full-sized Grand National cars such as Petty's Plymouth and Dodge Chargers and the smaller-sized cars from NASCAR's Grand American series such as Ford Mustangs and AMC Javelins. As noted in this article , the race was the third event with cars from the two series. If you read the article, you will find that NASCAR and the track promoter were still fiddling with the rules two days before the race. Its not just a recent phenomenon folks.
In his book, Silent Speedways of the Carolinas , Perry Allen Wood writes:
[T]his was Columbia Speedway's goodbye in its final race. Time trials were completed with Petty on the pole and H.B. Bailey of Houston outside in a red Pontiac Firebird 36...The first half mile went to Petty, but Keselowski (Ron - uncle of current driver, Brad K) crashed out for last, 30th, just like last time here...On the 55th circuit and still badgering leader Petty every lap, H.B. got the Firebird crossed up entering the first turn and pulverized the rail, nearly leaping off into the night...From the green flag to the checkers, it boiled down to a war between Petty and Grand American superstar (Tiny) Lund and (Jim) Paschal...With 13 laps to go, Petty made a daring move under those infield lights as he out-horsepowered the Camaro and Javelin down the backstretch, passing Tiny just as they braked for turn three. From there, [nothing] could keep Petty from his second straight victory in a row here and seven for 24 overall. (pp. 80-81)This photo of Petty being interviewed by track announcer Jim Seay was included on page 83 of Wood's book.
Photo courtesy of Perry Allen Wood 
Article courtesy of Jerry Bushmire 
Source: Motor Racing Programme Covers 
Thank you for posting
The flagman handed me the checkered flag, I climbed in the driver's side window, sat on the rail, and Richard rode around the track with me sporting that checked flag. I would love it if someone had a picture of that.
Perry - Thanks for clarification. In the book, the caption mentioned Seay interviewing Sandlapper 200 winner Petty. Misinterpretation on my part. Because Richard both won 71 Columbia races, Seay WAS interviewing the SL 200 winner - its just that the photo was of the spring event.