Miracle In Thunder Valley

   Approximately 160,000 fans are expected to pack Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday night, avidly anticipating some wild action in NASCAR's Sharpie 500.

   They're almost certain to see it in the Nextel Cup Series race.

   Recent 500-lap events at the .533-mile, high-banked track in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Eastern Tennessee have produced from 15 caution periods up to the speedway's record of 20.  By far most of the slowdowns have been caused by wrecks.

   It's understandably difficult, then, for the sport's modern-era followers to imagine a Bristol race minus an outbreak of stock car racing's version of "Yellow Fever."

   As much as it might seem like a fairy tale, once upon a time there was a 500-lap show at the track in Thunder Valley which was run without the yellow flag being waved at all!   

   It happened in the Volunteer 500 on July 11, 1971, a race won by Chargin' Charlie Glotzbach, with relief-driving help on a scorchingly hot day from Friday Hassler.

   Glotzbach's car owner and team leader was the legendary Junior Johnson, fielding a No. 3 Chevrolet.

   "The years have robbed my memory of a lot of races, but I sure recall that one!"  Johnson, now 75, said this week.  "I consider what happened at Bristol that day nothing short of a miracle.  It just doesn't seem possible that 30 cars, the size of the field back then, could run 266 miles there without somebody hitting the wall or spinning out."

   Junior Johnson KNOWS Bristol.  Although he has been retired from NASCAR competition since 1995, he remains the speedway's all-time leader among car owners with 21 victories, including eight in a row, seven of these by Darrell Waltrip.

   "Best I remember, there might have been a couple incidents, spinouts, back in '71 that probably would have led to yellow flags today," continued Johnson.  "But NASCAR wasn't as quick to throw the caution in those days.  They'd give a driver time to see if he could get going again.  And in each case back then, the guys were able to keep their cars running.

   "Another thing that continues to impress me about the race in 1971 is that Charlie, and then Friday Hassler, were able to run so fast all afternoon.  Because there were no caution flags, they combined to average over 100 miles an hour."

   Their actual speed was 101.074 mph, which remains the track record for a 500-lap race and, remarkably, compares favorably with Richard Petty's pole winning speed for the event, 104.589.

   Glotzbach, who qualified second, took the lead on Lap 44.  He stayed ahead through lap 255, when Hassler, whose car had been sidelined earlier, took over the No. 3 in a relief role.  Hassler and Bobby Allison battled back and forth for the front spot for the next 100 laps.  Hassler took command for good on Lap 357 and pulled away to top runnerup Allison's car by three laps.

   The day was so stifling that Allison and several other drivers also had to call for relief.

   Try to follow this shuffling, as described by historian Greg Fielden in his excellent series of books on stock car racing:

   Glotzbach was relieved by Hassler; Allison was relieved by James Hylton; Petty was relieved by Buddy Baker; Hylton was relieved by G.C. Spencer; Frank Warren was relieved by Charlie Roberts; and Bill Dennis was relieved by Marv Action.

   So, Hylton got out of his own car, cooled off for a while, then got into Allison's.

   "It's a wonder that with the weather being so hot, no one didn't pass out in a car and crash, and that would have meant a yellow flag," said Johnson. "But it didn't happen.

   "I know some people say, 'Well, they weren't running as fast in 1971 as they do today."  That's true.  They're qualifying at around 128 at Bristol nowadays (the speedway's time trial record is 128.709 mph by Ryan Newman).

   "But everything is relative.  The track was shaped like a fish bowl even back then with its 36 degree banks, same as it is now.  It was very tough to get around, especially in cars that had no power steering, which we didn't have 35 years ago.

   "I'll always say what happened in '71 was a miracle, and I'll bet we'll never see a 500-lap race with no cautions come about at Bristol again."

   And I'd almost bet that we'll seldom see 'em run much more than 25 consecutive laps at Bristol without a case of yellow fever.