The 1971 Asheville 300 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on May 21, 1971, at New Asheville Speedway in Asheville, North Carolina.
This race marked the Cup series' return to New Asheville Speedway after an absence of just under three years but it would be the series' final race here as the trimmed down schedule in 1972 eliminated this event. Richard Petty won the prior race in 1968 and won again here with little challenge.
Seventeen drivers started the race; seven of them parked over the course of the race (including tenth-place finisher Bill Shirey),[1] due to concerns regarding prize money for independent teams. The other DNFs were due to engine, brake problems, in addition to problems with the ignition system.[1] After nearly one and a half hours of racing 300 laps, Richard Petty scored a relatively easy victory over Elmo Langley by a distance of four laps.[1] This was the last time Elmo Langley led a race.[1]
Because Richard Petty only had to contend with 16 other drivers and the race was less than three hours long, this race is not comparable to the wins that were experienced in the NASCAR races of the current era.[2]
Dale Inman was the winning crew chief of this race.[3] Other notable crew chiefs who actively participated in the race were Vic Ballard and Lee Gordon.[4]
An audience of 4500 people saw four different lead changes, no caution periods along with Petty and Langley constantly fight it out for the lead.[1] Like the 1959 Daytona 500, the 1969 Motor Trend 500 and the 1971 Space City 300, this race is considered to be one of NASCAR's infrequently occurring "perfect games." Petty would qualify for pole position driving speeds up to 79.598mph during solo qualifying sessions.[1]
Ironically, the circumstances of this race yielded Dick May's career-best finish in Winston Cup racing, in spite of the fact that he parked halfway through the event.[1]
The drivers earned very little for participating in this race compared to the multimillion-dollar purses of today; Petty earned a meager $1,500 ($ when adjusted for inflation) while last-place finisher Hylton walked away only $220 wealthier ($ when adjusted for inflation).[5]
| Grid | Driver | Manufacturer | Owner | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 43 | Richard Petty | Petty Enterprises | ||
| 2 | 64 | Elmo Langley | Elmo Langley | ||
| 3 | 24 | Cecil Gordon | Cecil Gordon | ||
| 4 | 48 | James Hylton | James Hylton | ||
| 5 | 06 | Neil Castles | Neil Castles | ||
| 6 | 34 | Wendell Scott | Wendell Scott | ||
| 7 | 10 | Bill Champion | Bill Champion | ||
| 8 | 72 | Benny Parsons | L.G. DeWitt | ||
| 9 | 74 | Bill Shirey | Bill Shirey | ||
| 10 | 25 | Jabe Thomas | Don Robertson | ||
| 11 | 30 | Walter Ballard | Vic Ballard | ||
| 12 | 79 | Frank Warren | Frank Warren | ||
| 13 | 4 | John Sears | John Sears | ||
| 14 | 26 | Earl Brooks | Earl Brooks | ||
| 15 | 67 | Dick May | Ron Ronacher | ||
| 16 | 8 | Ed Negre | Ed Negre | ||
| 17 | 70 | J.D. McDuffie | J.D. McDuffie |
† signifies that the driver is known to be deceased
Section reference: [1]