Of course, drag racing was a lot more than just Indy. Gene Snow joined Garlits as season-long World Champions in AHRA competition, based on a cumulative-points system. The NHRA World Finals in Amarillo, Texas, still determined the World Champion in the days before that sanction had season-long points, and Chryslers were again on top. In Top Fuel, Gerry Glenn beat Garlits in a 392-inch front-engined car tuned by Bill Schultz, while Phil Castronovo took his Custom Body Dodge Charger to the Funny Car title over Jake Johnston in a Gene Snow Charger. In Pro Stock, Mike Fons in the Rod Shop Challenger beat Herb McCandless in the No. 2 Sox & Martin 'Cuda. Indy winners Trisch and Riffle took home Championships in Competition and Modified, while Dave Boertman took the Rod Shop's J/SA Charger to the Stock crown, giving
Jim Thompson's Ohio-based Rod Shop team three NHRA crowns. Since a Mustang won Super Stock, the Chevys never had it so bad (and, thanks to factoring by NHRA, Mopars never again had it so good).
Moving over to circle track racing for 1971, King Richard Petty and his redesigned 1971 Plymouth came on strong. Although still legal, the Superbird was parked because of its large size and difficulty to drive due to the nose clearance. For Petty, the Daytona 500 fell first, then the King and his nearest rival, Bobby Allison, battled it out. Both drivers won strings of five races in a row that year, but Petty was eminently more consistent, finishing with 21 race victories and a points lead of nearly 400 (4435 to Allison's 4071, who won ten events).
The wing car era came to an end at Daytona as well. Dick Brooks, in Mario Rossi's Dodge Daytona, qualified third using a 305-cid mill with no restrictor plate (Chryslers and Fords using the 426 or 429 engines, respectively, had been the first to get such devices in late 1970). The No. 22 car lost two laps when Brooks and Petty Enterprises driver Pete Hamilton collided during the event, but the wing car still finished seventh. Nonetheless, that would be the last time one actually cruised NASCAR's high banks in competition.
However, people in the Midwest who came out to see ARCA competition still got an eyeful of the super speedway machines on that circuit. Ramo Stott, from the racing town of Keokuk, Iowa, backed up his 1970 ARCA crown with another championship in 1971, both won behind the wheel of his No. 7 Superbird.
Meanwhile, Bobby Issac (who was the NASCAR Grand National Champion in 1970 and won four races in 1971 to finish third overall) went out to the expansive salt flats near Bonneville, Utah, in the K&K Insurance Daytona, where he proceeded to set no less than 28 new land-speed records.
Dodge and Plymouth had both gone into Trans Am competition in 1970, but a lack of success against the well-evolved competition and changing budget needs ended that program after just one season. However, Dodge did get some acclaim at the Indianapolis 500, even if there were no Chryslers competing under the tutelage of Andretti and Unser; a 383 Challenger convertible was the Official Pace Car for 1971.
The season remains perhaps the most prolific in Chrysler's racing heritage. Regardless of what one's personal feelings about Richard M. Nixon were, he invited the biggest and best names in motorsports to the White House in September, including Petty, Garlits, and Sox. He remains the only president to ever honor racing in that manner. 1971 was indeed quite a year.