The 1971 Motor Trend 500 was the first official race in NASCAR's Winston Cup era that took place on January 10, 1971.^[1] Drivers had to contend with 191 laps on a 2.620 mile road course at Riverside International Raceway in Riverside, California.^[1] Attendance for the race was 23000 people with the race lasting 4 hours, 57 minutes, and 55 seconds.^[1] Ray Elder won the race and Coca-Cola was the major sponsor of the #12 Dodge entry that was driven by Bobby Allison.^[1] The average speed was 100.783 miles per hour while the pole speed was 107.084 miles per hour.^[1] The other nine finishers in the top ten were: Bobby Allison, Benny Parsons, Bobby Isaac, James Hylton, Friday Hassler, Kevin Terris, Carl Joiner, Henley Gray, and Cecil Gordon.^[1] Out of the 40 drivers that started the race, only 12 of them actually finished the race. The top prize at this race was $18715 ($98,465.89 in today's money) and the prize for finishing last place (40th) was $1015 ($5,340.26 in today's money).^[1]

Richard Petty competed in this race but failed to finish it (ending up with 20th place). He was driving a Plymouth automobile with the familiar #43 that he is famous for.^[1] The majority of the drivers who failed to finish had an engine problem.^[1] At the end of the race, the margin between Ray Elder and Bobby Allison was considered be to 10½ seconds.^[1]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Third Turn Wikia
• Everything Stock Car
• Stat Sheet

Preceded by 1970 Tidewater 300

NASCAR Grand National/Winston Cup Races 1970-71

Succeeded by 1971 Daytona 500

This NASCAR-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e