Art Ellis was the surprise winner of the 1971 season opener, the Permatex 200. Sadly, Ellis's enjoyment of his victory was short-lived as he was killed in an accident at the fairgrounds a couple of months later.
After the 200-lap opener, the regulars returned for the first of a weekly slate of races. The marquis event was a 30-lap late model sportsman feature.
Many drivers - local drivers, national LMS racers, and even Cup drivers - had disdain for Nashville's new banks. Some even argued the place could be a death trap because tires couldn't keep pace with the high speeds on the new surface.
Two drivers that took a shine to it, however, were Darrell Waltrip and James Ham. Waltrip won five of the abbreviated season's 11 feature races in 1970 and captured his first of two track championships. Ham didn't win nearly as often as Waltrip, but he was fast in qualifying. He qualified on the front row for all 11 of 1970's LMS features.
Ham set a track record in winning the pole for the season opener. Seven days later, Waltrip topped Ham's week-old record and won the pole for the 30-lap feature. Keeping his streak alive, Ham lined up alongside Waltrip - swapping places with DW from the previous week. He did so by qualifying on only seven cylinders!
A 30-lap feature on a lightning-quick, half-mile track seemingly ends almost before it begins. Drivers have to qualify well, and they have to be up on the wheel from the jump.
And Ham was ready at the jump. He muscled by Waltrip at the beginning of the race and showed his horsepower - despite being down a cylinder. The short race had two yellow flags where laps under caution didn't count. Both allowed Waltrip to close back to Ham's bumper and the opportunity to launch past him for the win. On both restarts, however, Ham seized the lead and continued on to the win.
The feature was Ham's second track win. He earned his first a few months earlier in a 30-lap feature in October 1970. He'd go on to win twice more in 1971 - both 30-lap features. Ham raced at the Fairgrounds for several more years, but those four wins on the track's high banks were his only ones.
Following the race, folks learned the top two cars raced with impaired engines. P.B. Crowell, one of Waltrip's car owners told a Tennessean reporter after the race:
A push rod broke. A valve hit a piston and busted the cylinder wall. We lost an engine. We were lucky Darrell was able to go on and finish second. He ran on seven cylinders, that's all.
A week later, Ham extended his front row streak by qualifying second to Waltrip for the Pabst Blue Ribbon 100. His winning streak, however, ended at one when his ill-handling car popped the wall around lap 30 - the same distance he covered to win in late April '71.
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| Source: The Tennessean |
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