1971 Islip 250

1971 Islip 250
Race details
Race 30 of 48 in the 1971 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season

An aerial view of the now-defunct Islip Speedway
Date July 15, 1971
Location Islip Speedway (Islip, New York)
Course Permanent racing facility
0.200 mi (0.322 km)
Distance 250 laps, 50.0 mi (80.0 km)
WeatherTemperatures reaching up to 80.1 °F (26.7 °C); wind speeds up to 19 miles per hour (31 km/h)[1]
Average speed 49.925 miles per hour (80.346 km/h)
Pole position
Driver Richard Petty Petty Enterprises
Most laps led
Driver Richard Petty Petty Enterprises
Laps 230
Winner
No. 43
 Richard Petty
 Petty Enterprises

The 1971 Islip 250 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series (now Sprint Cup Series) race that occurred on July 15, 1971, at Islip Speedway in the American community of Islip, New York.

Two black racers were involved in this race (Wendell Scott and George Wiltshire). Considering the draconian regulations that were present in NASCAR during the early 1970s, having two black drivers in the race would be considered somewhat of an achievement for the NASCAR Winston Cup Series.

Summary

Two hundred and fifty green flag laps were done on a paved oval track spanning .200 miles (0.322 km).[2] However, the race was shortened by twenty laps to 230 laps due to an error with the scoring system.[2] At the time, Islip Speedway had a scoring system that looked like a Rolodex card system that would flip down cards with minutes (with numbers from 00 to 99) and seconds (with numbers from 00 to 59) on them.[2] This would give the time elapsed in the race with some manual output; similar to the scoring system used at the very first Daytona 500 because electronic scoring would be decades away from being reality. The first column would count the number of minutes elapsed with the second column would count the number of second elapsed. It would be rare to see a race last for more than ninety-nine minutes and fifty-nine seconds (approximately 1.6 hours) until NASCAR started lengthening their races in the 1970s.

The race car drivers still had to commute to the races using the same stock cars that competed in a typical weekend's race through a policy of homologation (and under their own power). This policy was in effect until roughly 1975. By 1980, NASCAR had completely stopped tracking the year model of all the vehicles and most teams did not take stock cars to the track under their own power anymore.

The time of the race was fifty-five minutes and seventeen seconds.[2] Speeds were considered to be 49.925 miles per hour (80.346 km/h) for the average and 46.133 miles per hour (74.244 km/h) for the pole.[2] Richard Petty managed to defeat Friday Hassler by outlapping him twice.[2] Frog Fagan was the lone Canadian in the race making his final start in a Cup Series vehicle.[2] Coca-Cola was one of the top sponsors involved in the race.[2] Fagan would race for a single lap before quitting in Neil Castles' #06 Dodge vehicle.[2] In addition to leading the race, Richard Petty led all 230 laps of the race.[2] The track was shorter than even Martinsville Speedway; seven drivers chose to quit the race because they could see the leader even before the green flag.[2] Benny Listman would do his only NASCAR Cup Series race here.[2] Four automobile manufacturers were predominant during this race: Ford, Dodge, Plymouth and Mercury.[3]

Start and park racing was a way to avoid demoralization as opposed to the largely economic reasons of today. Even the previous race at this track saw two drivers quit the race because they could see the leaders about to outlap them just when the race is about to begin. The winner would receive a prize bounty of $1,500 ($8,735 when adjusted for inflation) while the last place finisher would receive a paltry $10 ($58.23 when adjusted for inflation) prize bounty.[2] Total winnings for this track would be $8,685 ($50,575.67 when adjusted for inflation). This would be the final race for this track; the track would later be demolished to become a cookie factory. All races shorter than 250 miles would be axed by the NASCAR organization;[4] just a part of the sport's modernization process.

Finishing order

  1. Richard Petty
  2. Friday Hassler†
  3. Elmo Langley†
  4. Bobby Allison
  5. G.C. Spencer†
  6. James Hylton
  7. Neil Castles
  8. Cecil Gordon†
  9. Jabe Thomas
  10. Walter Ballard
  11. Wendell Scott†
  12. D.K. Ulrich
  13. Henley Gray*
  14. Bill Hollar†
  15. Larry Baumel*
  16. J.D. McDuffie*†
  17. Jerry Churchill*
  18. Bill Seifert*
  19. Ed Negre*
  20. Bob Mausgrover*
  21. Bill Champion*†
  22. John Sears*†
  23. Pete Hamilton*
  24. Ken Meisenhelder*
  25. Bill Shirey*
  26. Bennis Listman*
  27. Dick May*†
  28. George Wiltshire*
  29. Charlie Roberts*
  30. James Cox*
  31. Richard Childress*
  32. Frog Fagan*
  33. Frank Warren*

† signifies that the driver is known to be deceased
* Driver failed to finish race

Preceded by
1971 Albany-Saratoga 250		 Richard Petty's Career Wins
1960-1984 		Succeeded by
1971 Northern 300

References

  1. ↑ "1971 Islip 250 racing information". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved 2012-09-18.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.10 2.11 2.12 "1971 Islip 250 information". Racing Reference. Retrieved 2010-02-24.
  3. ↑ "1971 Islip 250 manufacturer information". Driver Averages. Retrieved 2014-08-12.
  4. ↑ Aumann, Mark (2006-01-31). "Countdown: New York". NASCAR. Retrieved 2010-02-24.