The 1971 Delaware 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race that took place on October 17, 1971, at Dover Downs International Speedway.
Dover International Speedway is one of five short tracks to hold NASCAR races; the others are Bristol Motor Speedway, Richmond International Raceway, Martinsville Speedway, and Phoenix International Raceway.[1] The NASCAR race makes use of the track's standard configuration, a four-turn short track oval that is 1miles long.[2] The track's turns are banked at twenty-four degrees, and both the front stretch (the location of the finish line) and the backstretch are banked at nine degrees.
All the racing action took place in the American community of Dover, Delaware with five hundred laps completed on a paved oval track spanning 1miles. It took four hours and three minutes (243 minutes) for the race to reach its full conclusion. Richard Petty defeated Charlie Glotzbach by more than one lap in front of eighteen thousand people. Richard Petty capitalizes for career win #137 as Bobby Allison's wheel troubles in the closing laps doom the dominant Holman-Moody entry. Petty pulled a "spin and win" as he looped the famous Petty Blue #43 Plymouth with 25 laps to go but didn't hit anything and got going again without losing the lead.
This race marked Fred Lorenzen's return to Ray Nichels' team and the driver's seat of the #99 STP Plymouth, having previously left the team after Talladega saying it wasn't competitive. After a one-off with the Wood Brothers at Darlington that ended in a bad crash Lorenzen came back with his stint with Nichels here wasn't the best of times. He qualified the bright #99 mid-pack and then fell out early with a blown engine. The comeback deal was supposed to be for the rest of the season but it fell apart and he left again, this time for good, with David Pearson brought in to run Rockingham instead.
Notable speeds for the race were: 123.254mi/h for the average speed (which was a record during that era)[3] and 132.811mi/h for the pole position speed.
Total winnings for this race were $59,965 ($ when adjusted for inflation).[4] David Ray Boggs had his best career NASCAR Cup Series finish at this race. Richard Childress would make his only start in a vehicle other than General Motors.
Bobby Allison dominated the early portion of the race; temporarily losing the lead to Charlie Glotzbach on lap 143 and getting it back on lap 148. However, they found faulty lug nuts after pitting with two laps in the lead (which cost him an almost-guaranteed victory in that race).
| Grid | Driver | Manufacturer | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 | Bobby Allison | '69 Mercury | |
| 2 | 71 | Bobby Allison | '71 Dodge | |
| 3 | 98 | Charlie Glotzbach | '71 Chevrolet | |
| 4 | 43 | Richard Petty | '71 Plymouth | |
| 5 | 60 | Maynard Troyer | '69 Mercury | |
| 6 | 91 | Richard D. Brown | '71 Chevrolet | |
| 7 | 48 | James Hylton | '69 Mercury | |
| 8 | 39 | Friday Hassler | '70 Chevrolet | |
| 9 | 24 | Cecil Gordon | '69 Mercury | |
| 10 | 57 | David Ray Boggs | '69 Dodge | |
| 11 | 95 | Paul Tyler | '69 Ford | |
| 12 | 90 | Bill Dennis | '69 Mercury | |
| 13 | 1 | Charlie Roberts | '69 Ford | |
| 14 | 79 | Frank Warren | '69 Dodge | |
| 15 | 10 | Bill Champion | '69 Ford | |
| 16 | 25 | Jabe Thomas | '70 Plymouth | |
| 17 | 64 | Elmo Langley | '69 Mercury | |
| 18 | 30 | Walter Ballard | '71 Ford | |
| 19 | 8 | Ed Negre | '69 Ford | |
| 20 | 06 | Neil Castles | '69 Dodge | |
| 21 | 99 | Fred Lorenzen | '71 Plymouth | |
| 22 | 72 | Benny Parsons | '69 Mercury | |
| 23 | 49 | G.C. Spencer | '69 Plymouth | |
| 24 | 51 | Dub Simpson | '69 Chevrolet | |
| 25 | 5 | Richard Childress | '70 Plymouth | |
| 26 | 47 | Raymond Williams | '71 Ford | |
| 27 | 26 | Earl Brooks | '69 Ford | |
| 28 | 34 | Wendell Scott | '69 Ford | |
| 29 | 19 | Henley Gray | '69 Ford | |
| 30 | 68 | Larry Baumel | '69 Ford |
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† signifies that the driver is known to be deceased
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