1971 Yankee 400

The 1971 Yankee 400 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race that took place at Michigan International Speedway on August 15, 1971. The purse for this event was $51,015.

Background

Michigan International Speedway is a four-turn superspeedway that is long. The track was originally built and owned by Lawrence H. LoPatin. Financing was arranged by Thomas W Itin. Its first race took place on Sunday, October 13, 1968, with the running of the USAC 250 mile Championship Car Race won by Ronnie Bucknum.

Race report

There were 26,000 fans in attendance for this two hour, forty minute race in Brooklyn, Michigan There were two cautions for twelve laps and the victory margin was three seconds. Average speed was per hour while the pole speed was per hour. All forty competitors in this race were born in the United States of America. 197 laps were undertaken on the paved oval track spanning.
Manufacturers involved in this race included Mercury, Ford, Dodge, Chevrolet, and Plymouth.
Friday Hassler blew his vehicle's engine on lap 7. Bobby Isaac had a problem with his vehicle's water pump on lap 11. Benny Parsons blew his engine on lap 29. Henley Gray's vehicle had a problematic suspension on lap 38. Fuel pump issues forced Ed Negre out of the race on lap 40. Dave Marcis overheated his vehicle on lap 45. Problems with the clutch caused John Sears to exit the race on lap 49. Coo Coo Marlin blew his vehicle's engine on lap 76. Dick May overheated his vehicle on lap 84.
Engine problems happened for Pete Hamilton on lap 87. Pete Hamilton had the only car that could possibly beat Bobby Allison; he would overtake Allison on laps 31, 40, 46, and 49 before losing dominance over Bobby Allison on lap 50. Problems with the vehicle's ignition forced Johnny Halford out of the race on lap 94. Bill Seifert's vehicle had a troublesome fuel pump on lap 110; forcing his early exit from the race. Dean Dalton had engine issues on lap 125 that forced him out of the race while Charlie Glotzbach dealt with the same issue on lap 129.

Finishing order

Section reference:

POS	ST	#	DRIVER	SPONSOR / OWNER	CAR	LAPS	MONEY	STATUS	LED
1	2	12	Bobby Allison	Coca-Cola	'69 Mercury	197	15395	running	155
2	6	43	Richard Petty	Petty Engineering	'71 Plymouth	197	7870	running	30
3	5	11	Buddy Baker	Petty Engineering	'71 Dodge	196	4700	running	0
4	10	60	Maynard Troyer	Nagle Racers	'69 Mercury	193	2870	running	0
5	16	18	Joe Frasson	Mario Frasson Cement Co.	'70 Dodge	192	2020	running	0
6	7	24	Cecil Gordon	American Jetway	'69 Mercury	190	1495	running	0
7	14	88	Ron Keselowski	Messina Trucking	'70 Dodge	189	1320	running	0
8	26	48	James Hylton	Hylton Engineering	'69 Ford	188	1220	running	0
9	9	25	Jabe Thomas	Don Robertson	'70 Plymouth	187	1120	running	0
10	21	06	Neil Castles	Howard Furniture	'70 Dodge	186	1020	running	0
11	39	44	Tommy Gale	Giachetti Brothers	'70 Ford	185	1045	running	0
12	31	32	Marv Acton	Brooks Racing	'70 Plymouth	184	1020	running	0
13	35	76	Ben Arnold	Motor's Ford	'69 Ford	184	945	running	0
14	11	79	Frank Warren	Frank Warren	'69 Dodge	184	920	running	0
15	17	90	Bill Dennis	Truck Equipment	'69 Mercury	184	995	running	0
16	18	91	Richard D. Brown	McNab's Engineering	'71 Chevrolet	183	895	running	0
17	37	47	Raymond Williams	Williams Racing	'71 Ford	183	850	running	0
18	29	70	J.D. McDuffie	Welter Construction	'69 Mercury	183	840	running	0
19	28	77	Charlie Roberts	Rheem Auto	'70 Ford	181	825	running	0
20	33	30	Walter Ballard	Ballard Racing	'71 Ford	181	810	running	0
21	12	64	Elmo Langley	Woodfield Motors	'69 Mercury	180	795	running	0
22	22	0	George Altheide	National Car Care	'70 Dodge	177	780	running	0
23	40	34	Wendell Scott	Brandywine Transportation	'69 Ford	174	765	running	0
24	30	26	Earl Brooks	Virginia Motors	'69 Ford	174	750	running	0
25	34	86	Bobby Mausgrover	Countryland Foods	'69 Dodge	167	760	running	0
26	20	10	Bill Champion	Bill Champion	'70 Ford	166	720	running	0
27	4	3	Charlie Glotzbach	Richard Howard	'71 Chevrolet	129	710	engine	5
28	27	7	Dean Dalton	Dalton Garage	'69 Ford	125	700	engine	0
29	38	45	Bill Seifert	Garrett Motors	'69 Ford	110	690	fuel pump	0
30	25	83	Johnny Halford		'69 Plymouth	94	680	ignition	0
31	1	6	Pete Hamilton	American Brakeblok	'71 Plymouth	87	785	engine	6
32	36	84	Dick May	Aircraft Metals	'69 Dodge	84	655	overheating	0
33	32	07	Coo Coo Marlin	Cunningham-Kelley	'69 Chevrolet	76	675	engine	0
34	15	4	John Sears	J. Marvin Mills Heating & Cooling	'69 Dodge	49	645	clutch	0
35	19	5	Dave Marcis	Doc Faustina	'70 Plymouth	45	640	overheating	0
36	24	8	Ed Negre	Ed Negre	'69 Ford	40	635	fuel pump	0
37	23	19	Henley Gray	Fairway Motors	'69 Ford	38	630	suspension	0
38	8	72	Benny Parsons	American Jetway	'69 Mercury	29	625	engine	0
39	3	71	Bobby Isaac	K & K Insurance	'71 Dodge	11	1070	water pump	1
40	13	39	Friday Hassler	Rock City	'70 Chevrolet	7	615	engine	0