1971 Miller High Life 500

1971 Miller High Life 500
Race details[1]
Race 5 of 48 in the 1971 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season
Date February 28, 1971 (1971-February-28)
Official name Miller High Life 500
Location Ontario Motor Speedway, Ontario, California
Course Permanent racing facility
2.500 mi (4.023 km)
Distance 200 laps, 500 mi (804 km)
Weather Cold with temperatures approaching 60.1 °F (15.6 °C); wind speeds up to 12 miles per hour (19 km/h)
Average speed 134.168 miles per hour (215.922 km/h)
Attendance 78,810[2]
Pole position
Driver
Wood Brothers Racing
Most laps led
Driver A.J. Foyt Wood Brothers Racing
Laps 118
Winner
No. 21 A.J. Foyt Wood Brothers Racing
Television in the United States
Network ABC
Announcers Jim McKay
Jackie Stewart

The 1971 Miller High Life 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series (now Sprint Cup Series) event that took place at Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, California.[2]

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 any more.

Summary

Two hundred laps were taken on a paved oval track spanning 2.500 miles (4.023 km).[2] The total time of the race was three hours, forty-three minutes, and thirty-six seconds.[2] This would be the first event to ever take place at Ontario Speedway. The day of the race was February 28, 1971.[2]

Average speed was 134.168 miles per hour (215.922 km/h) and the pole position speed was 151.711 miles per hour (244.155 km/h).[2] There were five cautions for 21 laps and the margin of victory was 8½ seconds.[2] With an attendance of nearly seventy-nine thousand people, the race was well attended even by modern standards.[2][3]

In the 51-man entire racing grid, there were 50 Americans and only one Mexican (by the name of Pedro Rodríguez who finished in 47th due to an electrical fault).[2] It was the 1000th race ever to be accomplished in NASCAR history. Rodríguez would retire from the NASCAR Winston Cup Series after his race here. Dean Dalton would finish in last place due to being black flagged and disqualified on lap 2. The only car in the same league with Foyt was Freddie Lorenzen until Lorenzen's engine blew and he crashed on the front straight with a fire. At the end, Petty had a chance to win, but he missed his pit under the green flag and had to come back in and finished third. Foyt won the first two Ontario races.[2]

The total winnings of the race were considered to be $180,200 ($1,054,695.65 when adjusted for inflation) - making it the biggest non-Daytona purse during that era.[2] Manufacturers involved in the event included Chevrolet, Ford, Dodge, Mercury, and Plymouth.[2] Other notable drivers included Elmo Langley, Fred Lorenzen, and Ron Hornaday, Sr. (whose son is a four-time Craftsman Truck Series champion).[2] Marty Kinerk would also retire after this race.

Top thirty finishers

References

  1. ↑ "1971 Miller High Life 500 weather information". The Old Farmer's Almanac. Retrieved 2012-08-03.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 "1971 Miller High Life 500 information". Racing Reference. Retrieved 2009-10-21.
  3. ↑ "1971 Miller High Life 500 information (third reference)". Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet. Retrieved 2011-05-06.
Preceded by
1971 Daytona 500		 NASCAR Winston Cup Season
1971 		Succeeded by
1971 Richmond 500
Preceded by
none		 Miller High Life 500 races
1971 		Succeeded by
1972
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/2/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.