Rewriting NASCAR's Modern History, 1971 and Beyond

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1971 SoCal 400
Riverside International Raceway
Race 15 of 29

The Tortoise & The Hare

Richard Petty won the pole for Sunday's SoCal 400 at the Riverside International Raceway by blistering the track record that was set in February for the Riverside 500! Petty posted a track record of 1:19.728, compared to the A.J. Foyt's previous record of 1:23.578, Foyt's old record would have been barely good enough to make the field this time around as it would have been 40th quick in the 42 car field.

But was speed going to be the only factor this weekend? The 42nd place starter would have something to say about it...

Spoiler

Richard Petty and Cale Yarborough battled early for the race lead, with Cale coming across the line to first to take control of the pace of the race while Petty would slowly fall back through the field. Cale was clearly the dominant car of the field, leading 52 laps, race-high, of the 153 lap event. The #21 Mercury would have quick duels with Bobby Isaac, Bobby Allison and Shannon Faulkner as they would each lead here and there.

The Holman Moody cars were both very fast today as well, and would employ a differing strategy than the Wood Brothers team. David Pearson would lead 25 laps, while team-mate Mario Andretti would lead 27 en route to a 9th place finish. Pearson would end up with a penalty, dropping him further back in the finishing order.

The winning driver ran the perfect race, having luck fall just his way on his way to victory. Every caution, of which there were 10 for 21 laps, fell at the perfect time for his strategy to fall into place. While the rest of the field had to make a green-flag pit stop in the final leg of the race, the driver that started the race 42nd, last on the field, was able to stretch his fuel and capture his first win of the season. The race winner now shares the point lead with David Pearson, and has a 10 point advantage over Cale Yarborough, that driver is #06 Neil Castles!

Neil was able to slow his lap times enough to get to the finish, but another lap would have been another story as Dave Marcis was less than a second behind at the finish, with a swarm of drivers quickly closing in!

Results:
1-Neil Castles, led the final 9 laps by stretching his fuel while everybody else had to pit. Now co-point leader, this team must improve in qualifying trim.
2-Dave Marcis, led 6 laps, and finished in the top 5 for both Riverside races.
3-Leeroy Yarbrough came from 15th to lead a couple laps.
4-Benny Parsons led 3 laps, and collected his 4th top 5 of the season.
5-A.J. Foyt started 6th and led 10 laps on his way to finishing in the top 5 at both road course events this season.
6-#28 Fred Lorenzen "The Golden Boy" got his first top-10 of the season, with an under funded team. Could he still do something if he had some top equipment?
7-Dick Brooks earned his 8th top 10.
8-Shannon Faulkner led 3 laps at what he considers one of his home tracks, and earned his 3rd top 10, in just 6 Winston Cup starts.
9-Mario Andretti led a solid 27 laps on his way to his 3rd top 10 of the season.
10-Pete Hamilton got his 6th top 10 of the season, and is starting to migrate towards the top ten in points.

Notables:
11-Bill Champion kept it on the track all day, and finished on the lead lap.
14-Bobby Allison led 10 laps from his 5th place starting position.
15-Charlie Glotzbach ran mid-pack all day.
16-Bobby Isaac, led 3 laps from his 5th starting position.
18-David Pearson led 25 laps from his 40th starting spot, but had a penalty late in the race that dropped him down the standings.
25-Cale Yarborough led 52 laps, but a "dust up" between he and Petty dropped them both off the pace, and off the lead lap.
30-Richard Petty, established a new track record in qualifying, but the car was only fast for a few laps. A spin involving Cale and Petty knocked both drivers from contention.
35-Donnie Allison had his transmission go out on lap 87.
38-Buddy Baker had a solid start of 9th, but his clutch was done on lap 49.

The Winston Cup Series heads back out east in 2 weeks for the Firecracker 400 from Daytona International Speedway on Independence Day!

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1971 Winston Cup Standings

Through 15 of 29 Races

You can check out the top 50 in the point standings on the link below.

1971_through_15 races.pdf

Enjoy, and thanks for following!

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Plymouth Comes Through

Shannon's career was starting to takeoff now! With Cole Timmons stepping away from racing to tend to his ill daughter, Cole's team became available; two complete cars to go with the car hauler and some spare parts, although Shannon and his boys had already primed spare parts for spare parts, he wasn't going to turn down more inventory though. This was his chance, he'd take what he could get!

He and his team were already turning heads with his speed in qualifying. Just as Cole Timmons had done with the equipment before, Faulkner was blazing fast in qualifying, through 6 events, he was averaging an incredible 4.6 starting position! Only 1 driver on the circuit with more than 5 starts had a more impressive starting spot, and the was veteran Bobby Allison, 4.57. Shannon now needed to translate the qualifying speed into full races, and was beginning to, but needed more consistency. He had crashed a couple times, and had at least one motor expire so far, at that pace, the team's inventory would be eliminated before the end of the season. The team needed help, soon!

It's the Monday morning after the SoCal 400. It's a warm June morning in Riverside, areas of the town are still abuzz after the last appearance of the season by the moving circus that is NASCAR. The fans of southern California now had somebody to root for with Shannon racing the circuit, and the local media was covering the new southern Californian that was running NASCAR. Other Californians had raced before, but not full-time as Faulkner was attempting, NASCAR was a "Southern Boy" sport, and outsiders had a hard time breaking in. Shannon didn't care though, he was going to make it work, and he'd take those California fans, even though he wasn't from California.

Bryan walked in the front door with a few copies of The Press Enterprise calling for the family to come take a look at the front page of the sports section. There it was, NASCAR coverage of yesterday's SoCal 400, with Faulkner's and race-winner, Neil Castles' cars on display. This was a big step the southern California area. It was normal for NASCAR to receive little coverage while they made the cross-country trek. This was a big deal for not only Faulkner, but for NASCAR as well! Each member of the family grabbed a copy, excitedly looking over the pictures from the race and reading the write-up!

All day the phone rang with congratulations coming from friends from around town, the boys loved the attention that their dad was receiving. They wanted that for themselves, and were determined to make it happen. Little did they know, Shannon had big plans for them. Racing was his plan, not just for himself, but his entire family's livelihood. His plan wasn't to have them crew his car forever, he wanted them to live out their dreams of being The Winning Driver someday.

Amidst all the congratulatory phone calls, somebody the family didn't know called.

"Hello, is Mr. Faulkner available?" Karen was asked when she answered. The voice was unrecognizable. It wasn't Buddy this time! Shannon took the phone from his wife, blowing out a puff of smoke before greeting the caller.

"This is Faulkner," he answered, thinking about what they needed to do in order to get ready for Daytona. The boys and he would be leaving Wednesday to get back out east. As the caller began speaking, Shannon's face went very serious, he put out his cigarette, and sat down on the stool at the snack bar, listening very intently. His family watched him as his facial expressions changed to a serious tone.

"Well, we have been waiting almost seven months now." Shannon stated as-a-matter-of-factly to the caller. The caller must have been saying something he liked, as Shannon began shaking his head in agreement, but stayed silent. "We'll be in Daytona by next Sunday, we can meet up then." He looked at his family, smiled, then continued, "Alright, I look forward to meeting you." He finished and hung up the phone, then looked around. "Well, waiting 7 months for that Plymouth was worth it!" A huge grin came across his face as he stood up the make the announcement. "That was Chrysler on the phone. They have offered us a deal, that one car must have been pregnant, 'cause it had 6 babies at the plant!" He put his finger tips to his temples, massaging them, he couldn't believe it! The family went crazy! 3 months ago, he had a dream, and no cars to put on the track to make that dream. Now he had his 2 original cars, and 7 more coming directly from Plymouth! Things were looking good! "Not only that, but they are also going to get us a shop out in North Carolina!" The family couldn't believe it. He and the boys had been working out of shopping center parking lots and using other team's shops when they had major repairs to make on the cars. Now they'd have their own place!

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1971 Firecracker 400
Race 16 of 29

Fircracker 400 1971 ticket.jpg

Plymouth takes Firecracker!

Richard Petty won the pole for Sunday's Firecracker 400 at Daytona International Speedway with a top speed of 189.294 mph! Dave Marcis lined up second in his #30 Dodge, just 0.005 seconds back of Petty. Petty was looking to right his Daytona ship after a disastrous Speed Weeks back in February that had Richard fighting his way up the standings all season.

The Holman-Moody cars of David Pearson and Mario Andretti were able to break up the Chrysler brigade atop the qualifying charts, as they would roll of 3rd and 5th for the 400. Bobby Isaac in his Dodge was 4th in qualifying, with Shannon Faulkner's Plymouth 6th. Cale Yarborough was 7th quick, and would be flanked by Bobby Allison's Dodge in eighth, with Donnie Allison and Benny Parsons rounding out the top-10 in time.

Spoiler

Pete Hamilton took his first victory of 1971 with a thrilling finish over David Pearson and Dave Marcis on Sunday! Hamilton thrives on the big tracks of Daytona and Talladega, and was finally around at the finish to prove he can still get it done! This is exactly what Pete needed, as there have been rumors around the garage area that Hamilton would be out next season at Petty Enterprises if his results didn't improve. A win at Daytona should put those rumors to bed!

The next group to cross the finish line were well back of the top 3, nine seconds back and battling for top five positions. Shannon Faulkner beat a charging #25 Jabe Thomas to the line for 4th, with Elmo Langley getting 6th and A.J. Foyt in 7th. Richard Petty came home 8th, with Donnie Allison 9th, and #45 Bill Seifert in 10th.

Notables:
1-Hamilton led 6 laps en route to victory!
2-Pearson led 19 laps, and took over the point lead.
3-Marcis led 16 laps, and improved to 7th in points.
4-Faulkner led 27 laps in his first start at Daytona!
5-Thomas led 3 laps in his Plymouth, and earned his first top 5 finish.
6-Elmo led 6 laps in his Ford and moved up 5 spots in the points, to 11th.
7-Foyt led a race-high 28 laps and moved into 6th, 187 behind Pearson.
8-Petty led 27 laps from the pole, but strategy got him behind, now 3rd in points.
9-Donnie led just 2 laps, but gained a spot in points, now 12th.
10-Seifert earned his second top 10 of the season, in 13 starts.
11-Bobby Isaac led 6 laps and is still 5th in points.
12-Dick Brooks led 5 laps in his Plymouth.
19-Neil Castles squandered the point lead, one race after taking the top spot and falls to second in points.
22-Daytona 500 winner Bill Champion had a solid qualifying effort, but couldn't stay with the lead pack. The Daytona sweep wouldn't happen in 1971.
31-Charlie Glotzbach was involved in a melee early in the race and finished 7 laps off the lead.
32-Benny Parsons was in the same crash with Glotzbach, and fell to 9th in points.
34-Buddy Baker was slowed by an early crash and ended up 15 laps down, and fell to 17th in the standings.
35-Mario Andretti looked good early, but was involved with Baker early and was severely off the pace, also 15 laps down.
39-Leeroy Yarbrough crashed on lap 28 with Bobby Allison.
40-Bobby Allison crashed out with Leeroy and fell to 8th in points.
41-Cale Yarborough had a motor blow on lap 19. The Wood Brothers need to get things turned around, they have fallen to 4th in points after leading early.

Next up, Two Tennessee short-tracks, Bristol and Nashville!
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1971 Tennessee 500
Bristol International Speedway
Race 17 of 29

Survival is Key

Bristol is fast! Things happen fast at the high-banked half-mile track! Just as Richard Petty said in the spring, "...this place is treacherous. You can be leading, and get swept up in somebody else's mess. There's no place to hide here." Sunday's Tennessee 500 would be no different, as many of the top drivers on the circuit encountered issues. In fact, 4 of the top 5 qualifiers all ran into trouble!

David Pearson captured his second pole of the season, and was joined on the front row by Richard Petty. New-comer, Shannon Faulkner put his #91 Plymouth third on the grid with the Spring winner, Cale Yarborough fourth. Bobby Isaac and Donnie Allison filled the third row, with last week's winner, Pete Hamilton seventh, alongside #03 Eddie Yarboro. Mario Andretti and #00, Bill Arnold completed the top 10 in qualifying.

Spoiler

This race was all about staying out of trouble, and there was plenty of trouble to dodge, as the caution flew 8 times for 40 laps of the 500. David Pearson and Petty battled early for the lead, with Pearson leading 52 laps before blowing his motor on lap 107. Bobby Isaac would blow up on lap 180, with Petty crashing out on lap 259 after leading 106 laps. Pete Hamilton and Bobby Allison got together on lap 398, which would be the last caution of the race, which split the field on strategy.

Long-time journey-man, J.D. McDuffie stayed out and inherited the lead, followed by #34 Wendell Scott and #06 Neil Castles. Drivers that pit, #27 Donnie Allison, #11 A.J. Foyt, and Shannon Faulkner, who restarted 6th. (At this time, NASCAR was starting the field with the lead-lap cars in a row on the outside, while cars that were a lap down, filled the inside row.) Faulkner was basically starting 12th since he was outside row 6.

On the restart with 99 laps to go, McDuffie would charge out ahead of the lap-down cars and get away from Scott, and Castles, while Foyt, Allison and Faulkner had to deal with lapped traffic running in the preferred groove. Not only were the latter 3 having to compete with lapped traffic, but if they were able to get through the lappers, they would then need to battle Wendell Scott and McDuffie who were looking for their first win, or best career finish.

McDuffie continued to lead by a comfortable margin over Scott and Castles with 50 laps to go. But the next three drivers had now bypassed the lapped traffic, and were caught up to Scott and Castles who were starting to fall off the pace with their older tires. Faulkner made a daring move on Foyt to get by him, and quickly caught up to Donnie. They were 4 seconds back of McDuffie, which at Bristol, is about 1/4 of a lap! Faulkner made another nice move to get by Donnie and Castles as they went three-wide down the front-stretch. All that remained in front of him were a few lapped cars, Wendell Scott and J.D. Could he reel them in with just 20 laps to go?

The #91 Plymouth charged to the inside of Scott coming off of turn 4, but was still 3 seconds back of J.D. with 14 laps remaining, Donnie and A.J. both also worked by Scott as he regained speed. 10 laps to go, back two seconds. Faulkner was pushing hard, he could feel the win! He could see McDuffie slowing more and more as his old tires were giving way, and he really started sliding around the track as his crew told him that a hard-charging Faulkner was closing quickly, with Donnie and Foyt in tow.

Foyt tries to make a move on Donnie and they touch, both of them falling back with 8 laps remaining, as Faulkner is just one second behind the leader now. J.D. can see Faulkner coming in his mirror, and he tries pushing it more, making the car slide even worse, slowing his lap times. Five to go! Faulkner is there, right on J.D.'s bumper, but they've caught slower traffic that is damaged and off the pace, Faulkner will need to be patient. But it's Bristol! How patient can you be with 5 laps to go? It takes roughly 17.5 seconds for a fast car to run a lap. 4 to go-Faulkner CAN see more slow cars ahead, as they came down the front-stretch to 3 to go, he could see his oldest son Bryan holding out the pit-board, "Go! No time!" is all it said.

J.D. went to the high side of the slowed and damaged #21 of Cale Yarborough off of turn 2, Leeroy Yarbrough was just ahead, both he and Cale down 7 laps, going 8 laps down once the leaders would get by. Faulkner charged to the extreme high side as they entered turn three with Leeroy down low and J.D. in the middle! The two leaders were able to get by Leeroy without incident, with Faulkner still running the high lane coming out of turn 4 and down the front-stretch. Two to go! McDuffie tried muscling his car to the bottom groove of turn one, but it started sliding up the track towards Faulkner on entry. Faulkner could charge the corner harder, and was able to clear J.D. as he slid up the track right behind Shannon. Faulkner was now in the clear, just a lap and a half to go! McDuffie would make another charge, but his tires had given up, no more grip, and Shannon Faulkner would go un-challenged for the final lap, earning his first Winston Cup victory!

McDuffie was able to hold-on to second, 0.72 seconds back, leading 104 of the final 106 laps. Donnie Allison was third, 4.82 seconds back, with Foyt who led 51 laps was fourth, 5.75 seconds behind Faulkner. Wendell led 25 and ended up 5th, 6.74 seconds back.

Neil Castles was the final car on the lead lap, 11.15 seconds behind the leader, and also got 5 bonus points for leading a lap. #59 Richard Brickhouse was 7th after leading 60 laps on the day. Dick Brooks had another solid run in 8th, Mario Andretti had a good run in 9th and Fred Lorenzen rounded out the top 10 finishers.

Results:
1-Faulkner, led a total of 23 laps and earned his first career victory!
2-J.D. had his best race of the season, maybe his career with 104 laps led, and a 2nd place!
3-Donnie led 1 lap and moved into 11th in points.
4-Foyt led 51 laps and moved up to 4th in points, 108 behind a new leader.
5-Scott led 25 laps and earned his first top 5 of the season.
6-Neil Castles took over the point lead once again.
7-Brickhouse led 60 laps, and got just his second top 10 of the season.
8-Brooks, now has more top 10's (9) than Cale Yarborough (8).
9-Andretti scored his fourth top 10 of the season.
10-Lorenzen earned his second top 10 of the season in his #28 Dodge.
15-Benny Parsons finished 3 laps off the lead lap.
16-Dave Marcis struggled all weekend after qualifying 31st.
19-Charlie Glotzbach dropped to 14th in the standings.
20-Buddy Baker, another short-track, another mid-pack finish.
23-Bill Champion, qualified 27th, and ran in the 20's all day.
29-Leeroy was able to beat Cale to the line.
30-Cale led 71 laps early in the race before getting damage in a crash with Leeroy.
36-Bobby Allison crashed with Hamilton on lap 102.
37-Pete Hamilton led 2 laps early, but crashed out on lap 102.
38-Richard Petty led 106 laps before falling out, still 3rd in points.
39-Bobby Isaac blew a motor after leading 2 laps early.
40-David Pearson started from the pole and led 52 laps before blowing his motor on lap 107.

The Winston Cup Series heads to the Nashville Fairgrounds for the Music City 250 next week, and Buddy Baker can't wait!
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Oh, What a Feeling!

He cruised around the half-mile track, waiving to the fans in attendance during his victory lap. They were so close to the track, he thought to himself, this is so cool! We made it! He could see their smiling faces cheering him around the track, his destination, victory lane at the start/finish line! He came off of turn four to a cheering crowd, and he could see his family in victory lane. They were enjoying every moment, Bryan and Boyd were hanging close to the trophy, and the trophy girls of course, while Karen hugged Sharon and his daughter Shannon, looking tearfully at him as he came closer to them.

He climbed from his car, sweaty and dirty from a long day. Karen and the girls stepped in for congratulatory hugs as the track announcer made his way to him. Faulkner motioned for a bottle of water and a cigarette, and they arrived the same time the announcer did.

"Shannon, congratulations! You've won at Bristol! Your first Winston Cup win!" The announcer bellowed for the crowd to hear.

"Thank you! Man, " he started, exhausted, "we were fast from the drop of the green for practice, and thought maybe we had something here we could compete with, but ya never know when it comes to these things. Bristol is a tough track, anything can happen. Blow-up running up front like "The Fox" or crash like Cale, you just never know!" He lit his cigarette and took a long puff as the announcer went on, "My boys, I've had them workin' their butts off since you guys even knew my name! Between them and now Plymouth, we've got a really good team. We're just here to win now since we missed the first few races, but man, these guys are good!" Just then he was interrupted by Buddy, who placed his giant hand on Shannon's shoulder.

"Congrats Brother! I told ya NASCAR was waitin' for ya!" He gave him a half-side-hug, and then congratulated the family one by one.

The family and team gathered around the trophy, and Unocal 76 Girls as the photographers started with the "Hat Dance." Quite a few fans stayed and watched as the NASCAR new-comer celebrated in victory lane. They saw as J.D. McDuffie came and congratulated Shannon and his crew. He appeared happy with his second place finish, as the two drivers were smiling and joking. Other drivers came over as well, the Allison's, Cale, Foyt, and Pearson. The fans that remained could see the respect that Faulkner had among his peers. Were they seeing a one-shot-wonder, or the beginning of something special? Only time would tell.

Next up was another short-track with moderate banking, and Shannon was taking the same car. Would he have the same result?

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1971 Music City 250
Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway
Race 18 of 29

Music City Domination

David Pearson won the pole for the second time in as many races, giving him 3 for the season. Last week's first-time winner, Shannon Faulkner brought the same car to Nashville, in hopes of doubling up on the Tennessee short-tracks, qualified a strong second! Richard Petty, who's looking to rebound from a disastrous Bristol finish, qualified third, alongside Benny Parsons. Donnie Allison started fifth, while part-time racer Don Tarr in his #37 Dodge qualified sixth. Cale and Bobby Isaac take up row four, with #74 Bill Shirley and #03 Eddie Yarboro filling the top 10.

Spoiler

Richard Petty straight dominated this race! Leading 251 of the 420 laps, and cruising to his 4th victory of the season. Shannon Faulkner followed up his Bristol win with a second place finish, with Bobby Allison coming from the 29th starting spot to finish 3rd, the last car on the lead lap.

Bobby Isaac was 4th, followed by Leeroy Yarbrough, both of which were 2 laps down. The rest of the top ten were, Charlie Glotzbach, Dave Marcis, Donnie Allison, Neil Castles, and James Hylton.

The race was slowed 14 times for 71 laps, and saw 15 lead changes among 7 drivers.

Notables:
1-Petty dominated leading 251 laps.
2-Shannon Faulkner led 65 laps, and finished just 1.63 seconds back of Petty.
3-Bobby Allison moved to 8th in the standings.
7-Marcis led 8 laps, and earned his 10th top 10 of the season.
11-Bill Champion was 5 laps down.
16-Benny Parson had a good starting spot, but fell 6 laps off the pace.
18-Andretti was 7 laps down to the leaders.
25-Foyt struggled, 10 laps down.
29-Buddy crashed on lap 350.
30-Pole-sitter, David Pearson led 46 laps before losing a rear-end on lap 310.
31-Hamilton led 2 laps under yellow before crashing on lap 239.
34-Cale led 39 laps before crashing on lap 34.
35-Dick Brooks crashed with Eddie Yarboro on lap 27.

The Dixie 500 is next from Atlanta International Raceway
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1971 Dixie 500
Atlanta International Raceway
Race 19 of 29



1971 Atlanta Dixie500.jpg

Bobby Isaac was able to hold off a late charge from Shannon Faulkner, and take the victory in the Dixie 500 at Atlanta International Raceway Sunday! Isaac collected his third win of the 1971 season, in doing so, moved up to fourth in the championship standings, just 81 points out of the lead.

Shannon Faulkner came up just 0.21 seconds short of taking his second win in three races. Faulkner continued his recent hot streak of top 4 finishes; Daytona 2nd, Bristol 1st, Nashville 2nd, and now Atlanta 2nd. This team has seemed to have gotten things figured out over the hot summer races.

Donnie and Bobby Allison, who captured his third pole of the season, finished third and fourth, followed by David Pearson in fifth. Cale Yarborough came home sixth after leading the most laps of the day, 114. Pete Hamilton was seventh, with Buddy Baker following him to the line. A.J. Foyt and Richard Petty finished 9th and 10th.

Notable finishers:
Point leader, Neil Castles finished a disappointing 21st, four laps down to the leaders, but maintained his point lead by 5 over Petty.
Dave Marcis finished 28th, surprisingly never really showing speed at the fast Atlanta track.

The race was slowed 4 times for 16 laps, and saw 53 lead changes among 9 drivers.

Lap leaders:
Yarborough-114
Faulkner-67
Petty-60
Donnie-30
Pearson-18
Bobby Allison-16
Isaac-12
Hamilton-10
Dick Brooks-1

Up Next: The Yankee 400 from Michigan!
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