1971 Islip 250

1971 Islip 250

Race details[1]
Race 30 of 48 in the 1971 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season
An aerial view of the now-defunct Islip Speedway
Date	July 15, 1971
Official name	Islip 250
Location	Islip Speedway, Islip, New York
Course	Permanent racing facility 0.200 mi (0.322 km)
Distance	250 laps, 50.0 mi (80.0 km)
Weather	Warm with temperatures reaching up to 80.1 °F (26.7 °C); wind speeds up to 19 miles per hour (31 km/h)
Average speed	49.925 miles per hour (80.346 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises
Most laps led
Driver	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises
Laps	230
Winner
No. 43	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises

The 1971 Islip 250 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series (now Sprint Cup Series) race that occurred on July 15, 1971, at Islip Speedway in the American community of Islip, New York.

Two black racers were involved in this race (Wendell Scott and George Wiltshire).

Background

Islip Speedway was a .2-mile (320-meter) oval race track in Islip, New York which was open from 1947 until 1984.^[2] It is the smallest track ever to host NASCAR's Grand National Series (now the Sprint Cup Series),^[3][4] from 1964 to 1971.^[3] The first demolition derby took place at Islip Speedway in 1958. The idea was patented by Larry Mendelson, who worked at Islip Speedway.

Summary

Two hundred and fifty green flag laps were done on a paved oval track spanning .200 miles (0.322 km).^[5] However, the race was shortened by twenty laps to 230 laps due to an error with the scoring system.^[5] At the time, Islip Speedway had a scoring system that looked like a Rolodex card system that would flip down cards with minutes (with numbers from 00 to 99) and seconds (with numbers from 00 to 59) on them.^[5] This would give the time elapsed in the race with some manual output; similar to the scoring system used at the very first Daytona 500 because electronic scoring would be decades away from being reality. The first column would count the number of minutes elapsed with the second column would count the number of second elapsed. It would be rare to see a race last for more than ninety-nine minutes and fifty-nine seconds (approximately 1.6 hours) until NASCAR started lengthening their races in the 1970s.

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 anymore.

The time of the race was fifty-five minutes and seventeen seconds.^[5] Speeds were considered to be 49.925 miles per hour (80.346 km/h) for the average and 46.133 miles per hour (74.244 km/h) for the pole.^[5] Richard Petty managed to defeat Friday Hassler by outlapping him twice.^[5] Frog Fagan was the lone Canadian in the race making his final start in a Cup Series vehicle.^[5] Fagan would race for a single lap before quitting in Neil Castles' #06 Dodge vehicle.^[5] In addition to leading the race, Richard Petty led all 230 laps of the race.^[5] The track was shorter than even Martinsville Speedway; seven drivers chose to quit the race because they could see the leader even before the green flag.^[5] Benny Listman would do his only NASCAR Cup Series race here.^[5] Four automobile manufacturers were predominant during this race: Ford, Dodge, Plymouth and Mercury.^[6]

The winner would receive a prize bounty of $1,500 ($8,779.38 when adjusted for inflation) while the last place finisher would receive a paltry $10 ($58.53 when adjusted for inflation) prize bounty.^[5] Total winnings for this track would be $8,685 ($50,832.58 when adjusted for inflation). This would be the final race for this track; the track would later be demolished to become a cookie factory. All races shorter than 250 miles would be axed by the NASCAR organization;^[3] in the sport's modernization process.

Finishing order

1. Richard Petty (No. 43)
2. Friday Hassler† (No. 39)
3. Elmo Langley† (No. 67)
4. Bobby Allison (No. 12)
5. G.C. Spencer† (No. 49)
6. James Hylton (No. 48)
7. Neil Castles (No. 6)
8. Cecil Gordon† (No. 24)
9. Jabe Thomas† (No. 23)
10. Walter Ballard (No. 30)
11. Wendell Scott† (No. 34)
12. D.K. Ulrich (No. 40)
13. Henley Gray* (No. 19)
14. Bill Hollar† (No. 28)
15. Larry Baumel* (No. 68)
16. J.D. McDuffie*† (No. 70)
17. Jerry Churchill* (No. 73)
18. Bill Seifert* (No. 45)
19. Ed Negre*† (No. 8)
20. Bob Mausgrover* (No. 86)
21. Bill Champion*† (No. 10)
22. John Sears*† (No. 4)
23. Pete Hamilton* (No. 91)
24. Ken Meisenhelder* (No. 41)
25. Bill Shirey* (No. 74)
26. Bennis Listman* (No. 62)
27. Dick May*† (No. 64)
28. George Wiltshire* (No. 89)
29. Charlie Roberts* (No. 77)
30. James Cox* (No. 26)
31. Richard Childress* (No. 96)
32. Frog Fagan*† (No. 06)
33. Frank Warren* (No. 79)

† signifies that the driver is known to be deceased
* Driver failed to finish race

References

1. "1971 Islip 250 racing information". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved 2012-09-18.
2. Goldsmith, Paul (2003-08-31). "Gauge Nears 'E' at Riverhead Raceway". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-05-17.
3. Aumann, Mark (2006-01-31). "Countdown: New York". NASCAR. Retrieved 2009-05-18.
4. London, Gary. "NASCAR Has A Long History Racing In The Northeast". National Speed Sport News. Archived from the original on September 8, 2008. Retrieved 2009-05-18.
5. "1971 Islip 250 information". Racing Reference. Retrieved 2010-02-24.
6. "1971 Islip 250 manufacturer information". Driver Averages. Retrieved 2014-08-12.