CITRUS 250
Daytona International Speedway
Friday, February 12, 1971
1971 was a year of change. It was to be the last year with Big Bill France at the helm of NASCAR and it was the first year of the involvement of R. J. Reynolds. There were more super speedways and less dirt tracks on the schedule, especially for the Grand Nationals, and by seasons end short track racing would be changed forever. After a 35 race schedule in 1970 the Grand American Challenge Series opened the year with a date in February at Daytona but did not have another one scheduled until the first of May at Dover but NASCAR was predicting 35 to 50 races on the schedule.
A big change for the Grand American division was the announcement of the newly created International Sedan Manufactures Championship, a racing class for cars in the small sedan category. The GA sport sedans would compete separately yet together with the new class of cars that included the Vega, Pinto, Colt, Gremlin and Hornet as well as small foreign sedans by Datsun, Toyota, BMW and Renault. The ISMC cars were to compete in the same events as the GA cars but only the GA cars would earn points toward the drivers championship. The ISMC cars would earn manufacturer only points based on the same FIA formula used in GN and GA Manufactures Championship standings. This ISMC class of car would eventually become the Baby Grand National Racing Association in 1973 and be added to the NASCAR divisions as the Baby Grand National Series in 1975. But as you will see there were no ISMC cars in the 1971 Citrus 250.
Race #1 of the 1971 season brought the Grand American Challenge Series to Daytona Beach Florida for the 3 rd edition of the Citrus 250, a FIA sanctioned event. The FIA sanction opened the door for GN and international drivers to enter. Seiichi Suzuki from Japan drove Tiny Lunds 70 Camaro and the German Fritz Schultz drove the same Tiger Tom Pistone Mustang driven to victory at Talladega last year by Bill Ward. Road course specialist Bob Tullius, Rusty Jowett and Britians Vic Elford piloted Camaros. 1970 GA Champ Tiny Lund was again teamed with Pepsi in the Ronnie Hopkins prepared Camaro. Jim Paschal was in the same Javelin he won with the last time the GA cars competed at Daytona but the team was now owned by Cliff Stewart and was without factory support. Warren Prout was now turning wrenches on Randy Hutchisons Camaro. Buck Baker was back with his Pontiac Firebird and sat on the pole. Wayne Andrews was again driving for Reid Shaw but had added a new Holman-Moody built 71 Mach 1 Mustang with a Boss 302 to the stable. The car had been picked up in Detroit right off the assembly line in the gray by the team and dropped off at Holman-Moody in Charlotte were it was turned into a race car. Reid got a good deal on the car but there was no factory help for the work done by Holman-Moody.
Veteran Buck Baker averaged a speed of 107.603 mph to earn the pole position with H.B. Bailey along side to make it an all Pontiac Firebird front row. Wayne Andrews started third in a Mustang with Jim Paschal in a Javelin fourth. Rusty Jowett and Joie Chitwood Jr. in Camaros rounded out the top six.
At the drop of the green on the back stretch it was Baker taking the lead. For 2 laps he was followed by Bailey, Paschal and Andrews. By lap 3 Paschal and Andrews had moved around Bailey and before they left the infield part of the course Paschal was out front with Baker second and Andrews third. On lap 5 Bailey got back around Andrews to claim third with Billy Ries moving into 5 th from the 13 th starting spot. Another driver making a charge was Vic Elford who started shotgun on the field. He passed 8 cars on the first lap and 6 on the second. By lap 11 he was 12 th but an overheating engine ended his day. On lap 14 Paschals red, white and blue Javelin had 7 seconds on Baker when he headed down pit road. The hood went up and the car was pushed behind the wall to fix a broken fan belt. On lap 15 the top eight were Baker , Bailey, Ries, Andrews, Jowett, Joie Chitwood Jr., Seiichi Suzuki from 31 st and Tommy Andrews. A lap later Paschal was back on course and on lap 17 Bailey pitted and Paschal blew his engine in the hairpin. Ries took the lead when Baker pitted and held it until he went down pit road on lap 26 giving the lead back to Baker. On lap 30 Suzuki was about to lap Fritz Schulz who spun in turn three and was hit by Suzuki taking both cars out of the race. On lap 36 it was Baker , Ries, Andrews and Bailey. Bakers engine failed on lap 39 moving Ries into the lead with Andrews second. By now, only 23 of the original 44 starters were still running. Bailey moved past Andrews who was struggling with inadequate brakes and took over the lead when Ries pitted on lap 52. Ries overshot his pit and had to back up but did not get completely back into his pit box. His crew fueled the car partially out of the pit box. The Motor Racing Network carried the radio broadcast of the race and reported that the pit official radioed race control of the rule infraction which called for a stop and go penalty but NASCAR never made the call. Meanwhile Andrews had been on and off pit road with Bailey holding the lead until he headed slowly down pit road apparently out of fuel as Ries moved into the lead again. Now it was Ries, Bailey and Andrews with Bailey closing on Ries who was starting to loose his brakes. Bailey spun in turn nine but recovered and continued to chase Ries only to see his day end a few laps later on lap 59 as his power steering failed and he missed turn one off the tri-oval. With seven laps to go Andrews was 14 seconds behind Ries but was making up only 1 second a lap as Ries nursed his fading brakes. Any chance Andrews had went up in smoke on the last lap as the right front brake drum exploded as he braked for turn six. He held onto it and continued but the right front tire went down in the East banking almost putting him in the wall, he limped across the finish line at about 10 mph. Billy Ries, from Shakopee, Minn., the 1970 USAC stock car Rookie of the Year, took the victory in the same Camaro he had driven in the ARCA 300 the Sunday before.
Ries collected $4,825 of the $26,000 purse. The race was run caution free before an estimated crowd of 25,000.
Fin.St. Driver # Car Laps Status
1 13 Billy Ries 67 69 Camaro 66 Running
2 3 Wayne Andrews 15 71 Mustang 66 Running
3 5 Rusty Jowett 92 71 Camaro 66 Running
4 6 Joie Chitwood Jr. 77 69 Camaro 65 Running
5 11 Tiny Lund 55 71 Camaro 65 Running
6 19 Jimmy Lee Capps 90 68 Camaro 64 Running
7 23 Paul Tyler 79 69 Mustang 63 Running
8 14 Bobby Brack 75 68 Camaro 63 Running
9 21 Richard Childress 26 68 Camaro 62 Running
10 40 T.C. Hunt 88 68 Camaro 62 Running
11 18 Ross Smith 76 69 Camaro 62 Running
12 16 Phil Wills 8 69 Camaro 62 Running
13 15 Randy Bannister 29 68 Cougar 61 Running
14 26 Bob Williams 06 70 Mustang 59 Running
15 28 Baxter Price 3 69 Camaro 57 Running
16 27 Bobby Fleming 54 69 Camaro 57 Running
17 2 H. B. Bailey 36 71 Firebird 56 Steering
18 44 Billy Hagan 52 68 Camaro 53 Running
19 9 Tommy Andrews 21 69 Mustang 50
20 32 David Boggs 86 71 Firebird 49
21 25 C.B. Gwyn 04 68 Cougar 45
22 36 Bobby Brewer 19 69 Camaro 44
23 41 Joe Dean Huss 33 69 Camaro 44
24 1 Buck Baker 87 71 Firebird 38 Engine
25 30 Ernie Shaw 17 68 Mustang 31
26 39 Seiichi Suzuki 05 70 Camaro 30
27 7 Charlie Blanton 25 69 Camaro 30
28 31 Fritz Schultz 59 69 Mustang 28
29 37 Bobby Wilson 24 68 Camaro 26
30 38 Bob Tullius 42 68 Camaro 24
31 8 Randy Hutchison 2 69 Camaro 19
32 4 Jim Paschal 14 70 Javelin 16 Engine
33 24 Aubrey Cox 65 70 Mustang 16
34 22 Pee Wee Wentz 5 69 Camaro 15
35 44 Vic Elford 95 69 Camaro 9 Engine
36 20 E. J. Trivette 56 68 Camaro 9
37 29 Kruger Johnson 30 69 Camaro 9
38 43 Steve White 27 68 Camaro 5
39 34 Bill Chevalier 31 69 Javelin 4
40 12 Bob Burcham 11 69 Camaro 3
41 10 Al Straub 74 71 Mustang 3
42 42 Jimmy Vaughn 7 69 Camaro 2
43 33 Jim Hailey 4 69 Camaro 2
44 35 Glen Brewer 39 69 Camaro 0
Personal note: The Shaw Racing Enterprises team brought the new Mustang to Daytona with old brake lining on the car. This was before disc brakes were legal or standard equipment on race cars. Marvin Panch was the Raybestos rep. at the track and Reid went to him to get the car fitted with the new, better, Raybestos brake linings. The linings used on the Grand American cars were smaller than the Grand National cars and unfortunately Marvin did not have any of the smaller lining material at the speedway. Wayne had to run the car with the old lining and had less than adequate brakes for a road course event.
By 1971 the GA car had evolved to be a smaller version of a GN car. The Bud Moore Cougars that had been run from 1968 thru 1970 were basically stock cars with a roll cage, 9 Ford rear ends, spring jacks on the front upper control arms and heavier shocks, bearings and hubs. All factory front suspension locating points and stock shock towers were used. The H-M Mustang was still a uni-body car but was built like the GN cars. Stock roof, firewall, floorboard and body panels with a roll cage and fabricated front clip to hang suspension and front fenders from. When you raised the hood on the Cougars it looked like a street car; when you raised the hood on the Mustang it looked like a race car.
One other thing about that Mach 1, it was thought that it would be great in the draft on super speedways, it looked sleek. Turns out it was real good at leading a draft. Dad said it could pull a freight train but was not as good in the draft or alone. The 69 and 70 Mustang body had better aerodynamics.
On the grid
Off the tri-oval and into the road course. #75 Bobby Brack, #67 Billy Ries, #8 Phil Wills
H.B. Bailey #36, Randy Bannister #29, Joe Dean Huss #33 on the road course
updated by @dennis-andrews: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM
