The 1971 Asheville 300 was a

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

Winston Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. ...

racing event that took place on May 21, 1971, at

New Asheville Speedway New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

Asheville, North Carolina Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous cit ...

. 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.

Race report

Seventeen drivers started the race; seven of them parked over the course of the race (including tenth-place finisher

Bill Shirey Bill Shirey (born February 28, 1932) is a retired NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver. Career Shirey accomplished three finishes in the "top ten" ( 1970 Richmond 500, 1971 Asheville 300, and 1971 Kingsport 300) and has driven for 9588 laps - the eq ...

),''1971 Asheville 300''
racing information at Racing Reference due to concerns regarding prize money for independent teams. The other DNFs were due to

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...

brake A brake is a mechanical device that inhibits motion by absorbing energy from a moving system. It is used for slowing or stopping a moving vehicle, wheel, axle, or to prevent its motion, most often accomplished by means of friction. Background ...

problems, in addition to problems with the

ignition system An ignition system generates a spark or heats an electrode to a high temperature to ignite a fuel-air mixture in spark ignition internal combustion engines, oil-fired and gas-fired boilers, rocket engines, etc. The widest application for spark ig ...

. After nearly one and a half hours of racing 300 laps,

Richard Petty Richard Lee Petty (born July 2, 1937), nicknamed "The King", is an American former stock car racing driver who raced from 1958 to 1992 in the former NASCAR Grand National and Winston Cup Series (now called the NASCAR Cup Series), most notabl ...

scored a relatively easy victory over

Elmo Langley Elmo Harold Langley (August 21, 1928 – November 21, 1996) was a NASCAR driver and owner. Langley primarily used the number 64 on his race cars during his NASCAR career. Racing career Langley began his racing career racing modified cars in Vir ...

by a distance of four laps. This was the last time Elmo Langley led a race. 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.

Dale Inman Dale Inman (born August 19, 1936) is a retired NASCAR Grand National/Winston Cup Series crew chief from Level Cross, Randolph County, North Carolina. He is best known for being the crew chief of Richard Petty at Petty Enterprises during three de ...

was the winning crew chief of this race. Other notable crew chiefs who actively participated in the race were

Vic Ballard Vic (; es, Vic or Pancracio Celdrán (2004). Diccionario de topónimos españoles y sus gentilicios (5ª edición). Madrid: Espasa Calpe. p. 843. ISBN 978-84-670-3054-9. «Vic o Vich (viquense, vigitano, vigatán, ausense, ausetano, ausonense) ...

and Lee Gordon. 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. Like the

1959 Daytona 500 The 1959 First 500 Mile NASCAR International Sweepstakes at Daytona (now known as the 1959 Inaugural Daytona 500) was the second race of the 1959 NASCAR Grand National Series season. It was held on February 22, 1959, in front of 41,921 spectator ...

, 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 In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the rac ...

driving speeds up to during solo qualifying sessions. 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. 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).''1971 Asheville 300''
racing information at Driver Averages

Qualifying

Finishing order

# Richard Petty (No. 43) # Elmo Langley† (No. 64) #

Cecil Gordon Cecil Gordon (June 21, 1941 – September 19, 2012) was an American stock car racing driver. A competitor in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series between 1968 and 1985, he competed in 449 events without winning a race. NASCAR Career as driver Gordon d ...

† (No. 24) #

Jabe Thomas Cerry Ezra "Jabe" Thomas (May 12, 1930 – June 4, 2015) was a NASCAR Grand National/Winston Cup Series driver who competed from the mid-1960s through the late 1970s. His son Ronnie was also a NASCAR Cup Series driver; competing from 1977 to 1989 ...

† (No. 25) # Bill Champion† (No. 10) #

Dick May Richard May (November 7, 1930June 9, 2009) was a NASCAR driver who competed in 185 races in the NASCAR Grand National/Winston Cup Series between 1967 and 1985. In the 1975 running of the Mason-Dixon 500, May drove five different cars but did ...

*† (No. 67) #

J.D. McDuffie John Delphus McDuffie Jr. (December 5, 1938 – August 11, 1991) was an American racing driver. He competed in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series from 1963 to 1991, collecting 106 top-10 finishes during his career, despite never finishing on the lead ...

*† (No. 70) #

Earl Brooks Earl Lee Brooks (August 11, 1929 – July 21, 2010) was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver whose career spanned from 1962 to 1979. His career came at a time where NASCAR was less organized than it is today and drivers independently owned their v ...

*† (No. 26) # Frank Warren* (No. 79) # Bill Shirey* (No. 74) # John Sears*† (No. 4) #

Benny Parsons Benjamin Stewart Parsons (July 12, 1941 – January 16, 2007) was an American NASCAR driver, and later an announcer/analyst/pit reporter on SETN, TBS, ABC, ESPN, NBC, and TNT. He became famous as the 1973 NASCAR Winston Cup Series champion, and ...

*† (No. 72) #

Walter Ballard Walter Harvey Ballard Sr. (born January 12, 1933) is a former NASCAR driver from Houston, Texas. In 1971, he won the Rookie of the Year Award in the NASCAR Winston Cup Grand National Series (known as the NASCAR Cup Series as of 2021), in its fir ...

* (No. 30) #

Wendell Scott Wendell Oliver Scott (August 29, 1921 – December 23, 1990) was an American stock car racing driver. He was one of the first African-American drivers in NASCAR and the first African-American to win a race in the Grand National Series, NASCAR's h ...

*† (No. 34) #

Ed Negre Ed Negre (July 16, 1927June 4, 2014) was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver who raced from 1955 to 1979.'' ...

*† (No. 8) #

Neil Castles Henry Neil Castles (October 1, 1934 – August 4, 2022) was an American NASCAR Grand National and Winston Cup Series driver. He raced from 1957 to 1976, and won the NASCAR Grand National East Series in 1972. Early life Castles was born in Ma ...

* (No. 06) #

James Hylton James Harvey Hylton (August 26, 1934 – April 28, 2018) was an American stock car racing driver. He was a two-time winner in NASCAR Winston Cup Series competition and was a long-time competitor in the ARCA Racing Series. Hylton finished second i ...

*† (No. 48) ''† signifies that the driver is known to be deceased''
''* Driver failed to finish race''

Timeline

Section reference: * Start of race: Richard Petty started the race with the pole position. * Lap 1: Neil Castles and James Hylton both quit the race around the same time due to concerns regarding prize money for independent teams. * Lap 9: Ed Negre's vehicle developed severe problems with the brakes, ending his day on the track. * Lap 14: Elmo Langley takes over the lead from Richard Petty. * Lap 15: Wendell Scott's ignition went haywire, forcing him to exit the race prematurely. * Lap 32: Walter Ballard's engine developed a problem, ending his day on the track. * Lap 33: Benny Parsons's engine would stop working properly, sending him home for the rest of the day. * Lap 57: Richard Petty takes over the lead from Elmo Langley. * Lap 74: John Sears quit the race due to concerns regarding prize money for independent teams. * Lap 79: Bill Shirey quit the race due to concerns regarding prize money for independent teams. * Lap 110: Frank Warren quit the race due to concerns regarding prize money for independent teams. * Lap 124: Earl Brooks quit the race due to concerns regarding prize money for independent teams. * Lap 130: J.D. McDuffie's engine became problematic, causing him to withdraw from the race in a respectable seventh place. * Lap 155: Dick May quit the race due to concerns regarding prize money for independent teams. * Lap 201: Elmo Langley takes over the lead from Richard Petty. * Lap 206: Richard Petty takes over the lead from Elmo Langley. * Finish: Richard Petty was officially declared the winner of the event.

References

{{s-end Asheville 300 Asheville 300 NASCAR races at New Asheville Speedway