1971 Myers Brothers 250

Background

Bowman Gray Stadium is a 1/4-mile asphalt flat oval short track and football stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Known as "NASCAR's longest-running weekly race track," it is part of the Winston-Salem Sports and Entertainment Complex and hosts Winston-Salem State University Rams football.

Race report

Reduced sponsorship from Detroit's "Big Three" automakers led NASCAR to hold six smaller Winston Cup races alongside the Grand American Series. The race lasted one hour and twenty-three minutes, with six cautions covering 36 laps. The 29-driver grid overcrowded the track, causing a demolition-derby style event. Bill Seifert, Cecil Gordon, and Bill Shirey quit before the finish.

Richard Childress competed as a driver; J. D. McDuffie also raced. David Ray Boggs earned his first top-10 finish. Nearly 25% of the field was out by lap 18.

Notable crew chiefs included Dale Inman, Vic Ballard, and Lee Gordon. NASCAR rules for combination races score each division separately. Under current rules, Petty should have been credited with a Grand National win as first in class. On October 23, 2024, NASCAR awarded Allison as the official winner, a classification technically incorrect under current rules; Allison died three weeks later.

Timeline

Petty started on pole. On lap 1, Shirey and Seifert voluntarily quit. Lap 3: Churchill's car overheated. Lap 8: Brooks had transmission problems. Lap 13: Gordon quit. Lap 18: Warren developed transmission issues.

Lap 38: Hylton finished 22nd due to steering problems. Lap 40: Childress exited with steering issues. Lap 56: Meisenhelder's car overheated.

Lap 83: Hollar's brakes failed. Lap 94: Castles had a dead battery. Lap 97: Negre's carburetor failed. Finish: Allison declared winner.