1971 Trentonian 200 (lost footage of USAC Championship Car Season race; 1971)

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1971trentonian2001.jpg

Program for the race.

Status: Lost

The 1971 Trentonian 200 (also known as the 1971 Trenton 200) was the fourth race of the 1971 USAC Championship Car Season. Occurring on 25th April at the Trenton Speedway, the race would ultimately be won by Mike Mosley in a Watson-Ford, marking his first USAC Championship victory.

Background

The 1971 Trentonian 200 was the tenth running of the event, with the annual race lasting just over 200 miles.[1] It was one of two 1971 USAC Championship Car Season races to occur at Trenton Speedway, the other being the 1971 Trenton 300,[2] which occurred on 3rd October and was won by Bobby Unser in an Eagle-Offenhauser.[3] Trenton would continue hosting IndyCar races until 1979 before it was dropped from the schedule, with the circuit being demolished in 1980.[4]

Prior to the race, qualifying commenced with Bobby Unser winning the pole position with a speed of 155.579 mph.[1] Directly behind him was his brother and Colt-Ford driver Al Unser, with McNamara-Ford's Mario Andretti lining up third, and Mike Mosley qualifying fourth.[1] Additionally, prominent NASCAR drivers LeeRoy Yarbrough and Cale Yarborough entered the event, the former driving an Eagle-Offenhauser owned by Dan Gurney, while the latter entered a Gene White Mongoose-Ford.[5] They qualified 15th and 21st respectively out of 26 competitors.[1]

The Race

With the starting order decided, the 1971 Trentonian 200 commenced on 25th April.[1] Bobby Unser led the first lap, but dropped the first position to Al Unser on the second circuit.[1] Al held the lead for the next seven laps, before being overtaken by Andretti.[1] Unser remained in contention however, until he was forced to retire after 32 laps due to a piston failure.[6][1] Three laps later, Andretti was also out because of a broken turbocharger.[6][1] Mosley moved into the first position, where he proceeded to dominate the majority of the event.[6][1]

Aside from Mongoose-Ford's Lloyd Ruby leading from laps 78 to 80, Mosley remained in the lead, holding it for 97 laps overall.[1] However, he almost lost the race with 17 laps to go, when he spun following the end of a caution period, also being hit from behind by the Brawner-Ford of second place Steve Krisiloff.[6] Post-race, Mosley believed he hit "something, slick", presumably an oil spot.[6] He continued following a pitstop, while Krisiloff retired after hitting the wall.[6][1] Aside from this incident, Mosley comfortably claimed his first USAC Championship victory and $13,850 in prize money.[6][1] Kuzma-Offenhauser driver Wally Dallenbach finished three laps down in second, with Yarbrough taking third after Unser retired due to a broken turbocharger, a further lap down from Mosley.[6][1]

Availability

According to IndyCar on TV, the race received live flag-to-flag coverage from ABC as part of its ABC's Championship Auto Racing.[7] The broadcast has yet to resurface however, and no footage of the race is currently publicly available.

See Also

References