NASCAR driver finally wins race that happened 53 years ago in North Carolina

NASCAR driver, Bobby Allison, just won a race that happened 53 years ago at Bowman Gray Stadium in North Carolina.

That’s right, he was recognized as the winner of the 1971 Cup Series race in 2024.

It certainly is surprising since Allison is now 86 years old — and still taking wins to this day.

But why did it all take over five decades?

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NASCAR driver wins Cup Series race after 53 years

Bobby Allison took part in the Cup Series race held on August 6, 1961.

He won at the time, but the officials never recognized his win because of some technicalities at the time.

This was a race where drivers were allowed to race in two classes of cars.

One of them was the Grand National class, while the other was the Grand American.

Allison chose his Grand American Ford Mustang to race, which he won by beating Richard Petty.

Unlike this NASCAR driver, who chose videogame tricks to race, Allison fared out with a clean win.

However, Petty disputed Allison’s claim because the Grand American cars were smaller and stated that it gave him an unfair advantage.

Since then, this race has had no winner and has been neglected until now.

It’s the same Richard Petty whose Plymouth Superbird vanished and was rediscovered years later.

What’s more, the Superbird’s most recent owner wouldn’t sell it because it had a connection to Petty.

Bobby Allison recognized as the winner

Today, NASCAR announces its recognition of Bobby Allison as the official winner of the 1971 NASCAR Cup Series race at Bowman Gray Stadium.

Allison, who drove a Grand American car to victory that day, now counts this win toward his NASCAR Cup total, bringing him to 85 career… pic.twitter.com/SJbT5QYirh

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) October 23, 2024

The company’s Chairman and CEO, Jim France, and his colleague announced that Bobby Allison would finally get his long-overdue recognition.

“For 53 years, the Myers Brothers Memorial was the only race run by NASCAR that did not have an official winner,” France said.

He added, “As we began preparations for the upcoming Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium, the topic of that August 6, 1971 race returned to the forefront.”

“We felt it was the right thing to officially recognize Bobby’s win and honor him as an 85-time NASCAR Cup Series winner.”

This achievement marks Allison’s 85th Cup Series win, pushing him to fourth place in the series’ history.

The future of the racing series looks quite different than what it used to be, considering there has been an EV stock car concept.