|| *Comments on the 1991 All American 400:* View the most recent comment <#5> | Post a comment <#post> 1. RaceFanX posted: 02.17.2015 - 9:36 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Jeff Purvis was flagged as the winner of this race only to be disqualified after the fact when 15 pounds of illegal weights were found in his car. Junior Hanley became the race winner only for the decision to later be reversed so Purvis' win was restored. This was Purvis' first win in the All-Pro series. 2. RaceFanX posted: 02.17.2015 - 9:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was the only start of the All-Pro era for Hanley, one of greatest Canadian short track racers. He ran six prior All-American 400s before this series began. This second was his best finish in the famous race. 3. RaceFanX posted: 02.18.2017 - 4:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) NASCAR Cup champion Bill Elliott makes his lone All Pro start. Awesome Bill from Dawsonville brought his #84 Ford home with a strong sixth in one of the series' biggest races with this one off. 4. Z posted: 10.05.2019 - 6:27 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Total Purse: $110,250 Southeast Debut For Darrell Waltrip, Tim Steele, Bob Senneker, Dick Trickle, Jeff Green, Scott Hansen, & Bobby Hamilton Only Southeast Start For Bill Elliot, Dorris Vaughan, & Mike Alexander (& Junior Hanley, Comment #2) Last NASCAR Start Of Lee Faulk NASCAR Debut: Chad Chaffin & Mark Green 31 Of The 40 Drivers Would Make Starts In NASCAR'S Top x3 Series 5. rm posted: 08.07.2020 - 9:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Pole speed - 111.229 mph 1st caution - 9, 30, 87 accident turn 2 16th caution - 72, 78, 81, 85 accident frontstretch DNQs (13 total): Ted Musgrave The biggest story of the weekend at the Fairgrounds apparently had nothing to do with this race. Cup superstars Darrell Waltrip & Bill Elliott - neither of which ended up as major factors in the show - came to town to give the 400 a go but spent much of their pre-race sessions with local media lamenting NASCAR's latest rule change for the Cup series. Elliott said there should absolutely not be any speed limit, which were strong words coming from Elliott considering it was a member of his car's pit crew that was killed on pit road and set in motion that rule addition. That is, until the highly controversial disqualification of race winner Jeff Purvis. Series director Joe Collins claimed that a crew member for Purvis slipped 15 pounds of lead pellets into the car in victory lane so that it would meet the minimum weight of 2800 pounds in inspection. Problems quickly emerged from there, though: the car weighed more than 2815 pounds when on the scales, meaning that the alleged weight added wasn't necessary for the car to pass tech; and Collins then admitted that he did not see the act occur and instead one of the regular officials did, though he said he would back his officials fully. Purvis was blindsided by the penalty and the sudden loss sprung on him postrace, while a confused Hanley had mixed feelings about winning on a technicality - especially because Hanley made a late call to pit from the lead for fresh tires and found himself in the middle of a restart pileup, effectively losing the race for him when a 17-lap dash was reduced to 5 laps instead. The car owner for the Purvis machine, James Finch, filed a protest with NASCAR the Monday after the race, pointing to two recent winners from the Cup ranks that got to keep their trophies despite famously having illegal parts: Richard Petty at Charlotte in 1983, his 198th career win that wound up being scrutinized for using an oversized engine; and Mark Martin at Richmond in 1990, receiving a penalty that is still debated to this day as possibly costing Martin the championship that year. Finch drew attention to the fact that the car apparently weighed 2833 pounds in post-race tech, well over the minimum even without the supposedly-added weight. Purvis questioned why the NASCAR official that had seen the weight supposedly placed in the car did not confront the person who did it, nor come out and give any description of the individual. Both Purvis and Finch suggested it may have been an attempted act of sabotage by someone who had beef with Purvis, slipped into the car post-race when a crowd circled around the winning car on the track, playing on the hunch that the 51 would have been close enough to the minimum weight that NASCAR would take action. A panel at NASCAR overturned Collins' decision the Friday after the race, giving Purvis the win, the trophy, the points and (most of) the money back. Curiously, the tone Purvis had in further interviews was a sharp contrast to the no-holds-barred attitude he and Finch (okay, mostly Finch) had leading up to the hearing, resigning to the fact that this mysterious individual got away with the perfect crime and that they would never know who pulled it off, and all's well that ends well. Purvis added All-American 400 wins with Finch the very next year, 1992, as well as in 1995 among their 7 total All-Pro wins together. The pair also won 2 Busch races and 8 ARCA races - all 8 at superspeedways, including 2 wins at Daytona - before Purvis was forced into early retirement in 2002. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: