1971 Nashville 420

Background

Nashville Speedway was converted to a half-mile paved oval in 1957, when it began to be a NASCAR series track. The speedway was lengthened between the 1969 and 1970 seasons. The corners were cut down from 35 degrees to their present 18 degrees in 1972.

Race report

It took two hours and forty-seven minutes to complete 420 laps of racing at a paved oval track spanning 0.596 mi. Richard Petty qualified for the race with a pole position speed of 114.628 mph and won it with an average speed of 89.667 mph. He defeated James Hylton by more than four laps in his 1971 Plymouth Roadrunner machine.

Dale Inman would be credited as the winning crew chief for this race. Other crew chiefs that were important to the race were Vic Ballard and Lee Gordon. Ten thousand people would watch two lead changes and four cautions for 46 laps.

Earl Brooks would make his best career finish with a fourth-place performance; he experienced tire problems as the race progressed and was unable to lead a lap. Brooks' team only had top 10s in 12% of its races, but 11% of their total top 10s came in this race.

All 29 of these competitors were American-born males. Other notable names include future car owner Richard Childress, Sterling Marlin's father Coo Coo, Elmo Langley, and Bobby Allison (one of the famous Allison brothers of NASCAR history). The total purse for this racing event was $20,980 ($ when adjusted for inflation).

Richard Petty received $4,325 ($ when adjusted for inflation) for his well-deserved victory while last-place finisher Dick May only received $215 ($ when adjusted for inflation).

Qualifying

Finishing order

1. Richard Petty (No. 43)
2. James Hylton† (No. 48)
3. Benny Parsons† (No. 72)
4. Earl Brooks† (No. 26)
5. J.D. McDuffie† (No. 70)
6. Walter Ballard (No. 30)
7. Jabe Thomas† (No. 23)
8. Henley Gray (No. 19)
9. Ben Arnold (No. 76)
10. Bill Hollar† (No. 28)
11. Ed Negre*† (No. 8)
12. Ken Meisenhelder (No. 41)
13. Dean Dalton* (No. 7)
14. Jerry Churchill† (No. 73)
15. Frank Warren (No. 79)
16. Cecil Gordon† (No. 24)
17. Elmo Langley*† (No. 64)
18. Bill Champion*† (No. 10)
19. David Sisco*† (No. 05)
20. Wendell Scott*† (No. 34)
21. Richard Childress* (No. 96)
22. Bill Shirey* (No. 74)
23. Robert Brown* (No. 58)
24. D.K. Ulrich* (No. 40)
25. Coo Coo Marlin*† (No. 07)
26. Wayne Smith* (No. 38)
27. Bobby Allison* (No. 12)
28. Bill Seifert* (No. 25)
29. Dick May* (No. 67) † signifies that the driver is known to be deceased

** Driver failed to finish race*

References

before = 1971 Northern 300 | after = 1971 Dixie 500| title = NASCAR Winston Cup Season| years = 1971 |

before = 1971 Northern 300 | after = 1971 Dixie 500| title = Richard Petty's Career Wins| years = 1960-1984 |

References

1. [http://www.almanac.com/weather/history/TN/Nashville/1971-07-24 Weather information for the ''1971 Nashville 420''] at The Old Farmers' Almanac
2. [http://www.racing-reference.info/race/1971_Nashville_420/W ''1971 Nashville 420''] at Racing Reference
3. [http://fantasyracingcheatsheet.com/nascar/races/results/1971/nashville-speedway/nashville-420/1243 ''1971 Nashville 420''] at Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet
4. [http://www.databaseracing.com/races/raceinfo.htm?rid=1027 ''1971 Nashville 420''] at Database Racing
5. [http://www.race-database.com/results/results.php?year=1971&race=32&series_id=2 ''1971 Nashville 420''] racing information at Race-Database
6. [https://www.racing-reference.info/entrylist/1971-32/W/C 1971 Nashville 420 crew chiefs] at Racing Reference
7. [http://www.nashville420.com/Races.htm Total prize purse at the ''1971 Nashville 200''] at Nashville 420