Little known Gary Kershaw won the preliminary Permatex 200 on Saturday, January 9 after a miscalculation on fuel by Clem Proctor's crew. Proctor was so angry after making an unnecessary pit stop that he gunned his car and blew the engine.
Pic from Mike McKenzie collection at WesternSpeedway.net .
Just days before the race, Riverside was sold to a group of investors. Larry LoPatin had been bounced from the company he founded, American Raceways, Inc., and replaced as CEO by Riverside's track president Les Richter. Then ARI sold its stake in Riverside to a group of four external investors. Interestingly, Richter was retained as head of both ARI and Riverside after the sale.
A few more photos from the 1971 Motor Trend 500
David Pearson
Bobby Allison - with television crew getting some footage
Reigning NASCAR GN champion Bobby Isaac
Isaac sharing a laugh with Dale Inman
Ray Elder's crew pushing his car
Partial view of the starting grid:
23 - G.T. Tallas
00 - Frank James
7 - Jack McCoy
77 - Ray Johnstone
Starting directly behind Johnsone but obscured in this pic is the 70 of J.D. McDuffie
Elder in the car wearing a full-face helmet.
Elder's win made the cover of the January 30, 1971 issue of Autoweek.
And the cover of the January 13 issue of National Speed Sport News. (Thx Russ Thompson for cover scan.)
Henley Gray picked up a nice top 10 finish by placing 9th. Ray Lamm has this pic in his collection though I'm not certain if its from the MT500 or the summer's Golden State 400.
Throughout Riverside's NASCAR history, it seems many drivers took the esses as merely a suggestion. Intentionally or accidentally, many would simply fly through there - on and off the track - kicking up dirt and gravel along the way.
On his way to the win, Elder did a little sliding of his own. But he did his "dirt tracking" more on the asphalt. Pic from composerp at Randy Ayers .
Almost 900 photos from this race are available on The Henry Ford Arte House's site (now available on Flickr). Amazing collection of pictures. Too many to even think sampling additional ones here. Enjoy.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/thehenryford/sets/72157663580153175
Photo of Proctor's 1963 Ford
And pic from The Henry Ford Arte House site on Flickr, here is Proctor taking the checkers.
