There was no race on Wednesday, but NASCAR still announced a winner to settle one of the sport’s longest disputes.
In 1971, NASCAR held a race at Bowman Gray Stadium featuring cars from the Grand National Series and the short-lived Grand American Series, which ran smaller and more nimble cars that more closely resembled the models on the circuit today.
Bobby Allison took the checkered flag in one of eight Grand American cars to finish in the top 10, but NASCAR ruled after the race that there would be no official winner to quiet concerns from Grand National drivers.
Finally, more than 50 years later, we have a winner at Bowman Gray.
Bobby Allison moves to fourth all-time in NASCAR wins
Even without that win, Allison went on to amass 84 career wins in the Cup Series – tied with Darrell Waltrip for the fourth-most in NASCAR history.
Make that 85 career wins after NASCAR officials met with Allison on Wednesday to inform him he’d be named the official winner of that disputed Bowman Gray race.
Until now, that 1971 race was the only one in NASCAR’s history that did not have an official winner. That came even though Allison received a trophy and the prize money for crossing the start-finish line three seconds ahead of Richard Petty.
Allison, who was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2011, now sits alone in fourth place on the all-time wins list behind Petty (200), David Pearson (105) and Jeff Gordon (93).
NASCAR admits ‘right thing’ in record reversal
The decision Wednesday comes with NASCAR’s annual Clash exhibition race to open the season moving to Bowman Gray Stadium, which hasn’t hosted a Cup Series race since that disputed 1971 result.
In a statement, NASCAR CEO Jim France admitted that the return to the famous track in Winston-Salem, N.C., sparked renewed debate about the disputed result and was the impetus for the governing body to revise its record books.
“We felt it was the right thing to officially recognize Bobby’s win and honor him as an 85-time NASCAR Cup Series winner,” France said. “We are grateful for Bobby’s lifetime contributions to NASCAR.”