The 1971 Nashville 420 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series event that took place on July 24, 1971, at Nashville Speedway in Nashville, Tennessee.
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.
It took two hours and forty-seven minutes to complete 420 laps of racing at a paved oval track spanning 0.596miles. Richard Petty qualified for the race with a pole position speed of 114.628mph and won it with an average speed of 89.667mph. 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.[1] Other crew chiefs that were important to the race were Vic Ballard and Lee Gordon.[2] 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).[3]
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).
| Grid | Driver | Manufacturer | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 43 | Richard Petty | '70 Plymouth | |
| 2 | 12 | Bobby Allison | '70 Dodge | |
| 3 | 24 | Cecil Gordon | '69 Mercury | |
| 4 | 64 | Elmo Langley | '71 Ford | |
| 5 | 7 | Dean Dalton | '69 Ford | |
| 6 | 8 | Ed Negre | '69 Ford | |
| 7 | 70 | J.D. McDuffie | '69 Mercury | |
| 8 | 76 | Ben Arnold | '69 Ford | |
| 9 | 72 | Benny Parsons | '70 Mercury | |
| 10 | 48 | James Hylton | '70 Ford | |
| 11 | 26 | Earl Brooks | '69 Ford | |
| 12 | 05 | David Sisco | '70 Chevrolet | |
| 13 | 10 | Bill Champion | '70 Ford | |
| 14 | 38 | Wayne Smith | '69 Chevrolet | |
| 15 | 58 | Robert Brown | '70 Chevrolet | |
| 16 | 74 | Bill Shirey | '69 Plymouth | |
| 17 | 40 | D.K. Ulrich | '70 Ford | |
| 18 | 96 | Richard Childress | '70 Chevrolet | |
| 19 | 23 | Jabe Thomas | '69 Plymouth | |
| 20 | 41 | Ken Meisenhelder | '69 Chevrolet | |
| 21 | 73 | Jerry Churchill | '69 Ford | |
| 22 | 07 | Coo Coo Marlin | '69 Chevrolet | |
| 23 | 67 | Dick May | '69 Ford | |
| 24 | 79 | Frank Warren | '69 Dodge | |
| 25 | 30 | Walter Ballard | '71 Ford | |
| 26 | 34 | Wendell Scott | '69 Ford | |
| 27 | 28 | Bill Hollar | '69 Ford | |
| 28 | 25 | Bill Seifert | '70 Plymouth | |
| 29 | 19 | Henley Gray | '69 Ford |
† signifies that the driver is known to be deceased