The 1971 Islip 250 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. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

Winston Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most prestigious stock car racing series in the United States. The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and fro ...

race that was conducted on July 15, 1971, at

Islip Speedway Islip Speedway was a .2-mile (320-meter) oval race track in Islip, New York which was open from 1947 until 1984. It is the smallest track to host NASCAR's Grand National Series, from 1964 to 1971. The first demolition derby took place at Islip Sp ...

Islip, New York Islip ( ) is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County, New York (state), New York, United States, on the South Shore (Long Island), South Shore of Long Island. The population was 339,938 at th ...

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 A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also us ...

Islip Islip may refer to: Places England * Islip, Northamptonshire *Islip, Oxfordshire * Islip Manor Meadows United States *Islip, New York, a town in Suffolk County ** Islip (hamlet), New York, located in the above town **Central Islip, New York ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

which was open from 1947 until 1984. It is the smallest track ever to host

Grand National Series The name NASCAR Grand National Series refers to former names of the following NASCAR series: *National-level stock car series: **NASCAR Cup Series (the top NASCAR series, known as NASCAR Grand National Series between 1950 and 1970, then the NASCAR ...

, from 1964 to 1971. The first

demolition derby Demolition derby is a type of motorsport, usually presented at county fairs and national events. While rules vary from event to event, the typical demolition derby event consists of five or more drivers competing by deliberately ramming their v ...

took place at Islip Speedway in 1958. The idea was patented by Larry Mendelson, who worked at Islip Speedway.

Race report

Two hundred and fifty green flag laps were done on a paved

oval track Oval track racing is a form of motorsport that is contested on an oval-shaped race track. An oval track differs from a road course in that the layout resembles an oval with turns in only one direction, and the direction of traffic is almost univ ...

spanning . However, the race was shortened by twenty laps to 230 laps due to an error with the scoring system. At the time, Islip Speedway had a scoring system that looked like a

Rolodex A Rolodex is a rotating card file device used to store a contact list. Its name, a portmanteau of the words "rolling" and "index", has become somewhat genericized for any personal organizer performing this function, or as a metonym for a total a ...

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. 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 a reality. The first column would count the number of minutes elapsed with the second column would count the number of seconds 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 time of the race was fifty-five minutes and seventeen seconds. Speeds were considered to be for the average and for the pole.

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

managed to defeat

Friday Hassler Raymond Lee "Friday" Hassler (July 29, 1935 – February 17, 1972) was a NASCAR Grand National and Winston Cup Series driver. Career Hassler made his debut in 1960 but only drove a handful of races per year until 1967 when he drove 21 of the 49 ...

by out-lapping him twice. Frog Fagan was the lone

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

in the race making his final start in a Cup Series vehicle. Fagan would race for a single lap before quitting in Neil Castles' #06

Dodge Dodge is an American brand of automobiles and a division of Stellantis, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Dodge vehicles have historically included performance cars, and for much of its existence, Dodge was Chrysler's mid-priced brand above P ...

vehicle. In addition to leading the race, Richard Petty led all 230 laps of the race. Ken Meisenhelder's vehicle overheated on lap 27 just like Pete Hamilton's vehicle would overheat on lap 36. John Sears noticed the axle on his vehicle was acting weirdly on lap 48 while the ignition on Bill Champion's vehicle stopped working on lap 71. Bobby Mausgrover noticed that his vehicle's brakes stopped working on lap 102 while battery problems would relegate Ed Negre to the sidelines on lap 106. Bill Seifert noticed that his vehicle's transmission was developing problems on lap 113 while Jerry Churchill blew his engine on lap 119. J.D. McDuffie had to leave the race due to a missing vehicular rear end on lap 132 while Larry Baumel's vehicle would be cursed with transmission problems on lap 142. Henley Gray would notice that his vehicle's brakes stop working on lap 200; forcing his premature exit from the race. Benny Listman would do his only NASCAR Cup Series race here. Four automobile manufacturers were predominant during this race:

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

and Mercury. Notable crew chiefs that participated in the event were Lee Gordon,

Vic Ballard Vic, vic or VIC may refer to: People and fictional characters * Vic (name), a list of people, fictional characters and mascots with the given name * V.I.C. (rapper) (born 1987), stage name of an American rapper Places * Vic, Spain, a town and ...

Dale Inman Dale Inman (born August 19, 1936) is a retired NASCAR Grand National/ Winston Cup Series crew chief. He is best known for being the crew chief of Richard Petty at Petty Enterprises during three decades. They won 188 races and seven championsh ...

and Wesley Wiltshire. The winner would receive a prize bounty of $1,500 ($ when adjusted for inflation) while the last place finisher would receive a paltry $10 ($ when adjusted for inflation) prize bounty. Total winnings for this track would be $8,685 ($ when adjusted for inflation). This would be the final race in NASCAR's top series for this track; the track would be demolished in 1984 to become a

cookie A cookie is a sweet biscuit with high sugar and fat content. Cookie dough is softer than that used for other types of biscuit, and they are cooked longer at lower temperatures. The dough typically contains flour, sugar, egg, and some type of ...

factory A factory, manufacturing plant or production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. Th ...

. All races shorter than 250 miles would be axed by the NASCAR organization; in the sport's modernization process.

Qualifying

Finishing order

# Richard Petty (No. 43) # Friday Hassler† (No. 39) #

Elmo Langley Elmo Harold Langley (August 21, 1928 – November 21, 1996) was an American 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 ...

† (No. 67) #

Bobby Allison Robert Arthur Allison (December 3, 1937 – November 9, 2024) was an American professional stock car racing driver and owner. Allison was the founder of the Alabama Gang, a group of drivers based in Hueytown, Alabama, where there were abundant ...

(No. 12) #

G.C. Spencer Grover Clifton "G. C." Spencer (July 9, 1925GC Spencer obituaryhttp://www.heartfeltconnections.net/memberEulogy.cfm?memberid=14734&sqry_rownum=1&CFTOKEN=39227896 . – September 20, 2007) was a NASCAR driver who competed in 415 Grand National/ ...

† (No. 49) #

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 secon ...

† (No. 48) #

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. 6) #

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

† (No. 24) #

Jabe Thomas Cerry Ezra "Jabe" Thomas (May 12, 1930 – June 4, 2015) was an American 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 ...

† (No. 23) #

Walter Ballard Walter Harvey Ballard Sr. (January 12, 1933 – October 26, 2024) was an American 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 ...

(No. 30) #

Wendell Scott Wendell Oliver Scott Sr. (August 29, 1921 – December 23, 1990) was an American stock car racing driver. He was the first African-American driver and team owner to compete and win in all divisions of NASCAR at its highest level. Scott began his ...

† (No. 34) #

D.K. Ulrich Donald Keith Ulrich (born April 10, 1944) is an American former driver/owner in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. As a driver, he had sixteen top ten finishes in 273 starts. His last race came in 1992. As car owner, he fielded cars for many years f ...

(No. 40) #

Henley Gray Clarence Henley Gray Jr. (born January 12, 1933) is a retired NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Winston Cup Series driver whose career spanned from 1964 in NASCAR, 1964 to 1977 NASCAR Winston Cup Series, 1977. Career Out of the 76045 laps committed in ...

* (No. 19) #

Bill Hollar William Mack "Bill" Hollar, Sr. (September 6, 1938 - November 26, 2012) was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver who participated in 29 races out of his nine-year career in NASCAR. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Hollar. Prior to his NASCAR ...

† (No. 28) # Larry Baumel* (No. 68) #

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) # Jerry Churchill*† (No. 73) #

Bill Seifert William John Seifert (born July 2, 1939) is a retired NASCAR Cup Series driver who raced from 1966 to 1979.Ed Negre Ed Negre (July 16, 1927June 4, 2014) was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver who raced from 1955 to 1979.''E ...

*† (No. 8) # Bob Mausgrover* (No. 86) # Bill Champion*† (No. 10) # John Sears*† (No. 4) #

Pete Hamilton Peter Goodwill Hamilton (July 20, 1942 – March 21, 2017) was an American professional stock car racing driver. He competed in NASCAR for six years, where he won four times in his career (including the 1970 Daytona 500), three times driving ...

* (No. 91) # Ken Meisenhelder* (No. 41) #

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 ...

* (No. 74) # Bennis Listman* (No. 62) #

Dick May Richard Shelton "Dick" May (November 7, 1930June 9, 2009) was an American NASCAR driver who competed in 185 races in the NASCAR Grand National/Winston Cup Series between 1967 and 1985. Racing career May began his racing career at the St. Lawre ...

*† (No. 64) #

George Wiltshire George Wiltshire (also known as George Wilshire, born October 21, 1901 - died December 4, 1976) was an American character actor He appeared on stage, film, and television. He was perhaps best known for portraying Ed Smalls, the proprietor of famed ...

* (No. 89) #

Charlie Roberts Charles Roberts (6 April 1883 – 7 August 1939) was an English professional footballer who played as a centre-half in the Football League for Grimsby Town, Manchester United and Oldham Athletic. He spent nine years at United, where he was cap ...

* (No. 77) # James Cox* (No. 26) #

Richard Childress Richard Reed Childress (born September 21, 1945) is an American former race car driver in NASCAR. Childress is the owner of Richard Childress Racing (RCR). In 2004, he opened a vineyard in the Yadkin Valley AVA near Lexington, North Carolina, Le ...

* (No. 96) # Frog Fagan*† (No. 06) # Frank Warren* (No. 79) ''† signifies that the driver is known to be deceased''
''* Driver failed to finish race''

References

{{s-end Islip 250 Islip 250 NASCAR races at Islip Speedway