Petty's 1971 Road Runner was at Spring Fling

the white house appearance that is referred to on the above call board is here: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/01/nixon-had-race-cars-over-to-white-house.html

Read more...

Bill loaned me a couple videos... of the 1st Daytona 500, and the 1961 Indy 500, here are some things I found interesting

 here's the coverage that showed how hard ot was for fans to watch the Daytona race when it was on sand

 not very fun

 the #59 was a T Bird, and that is why I enjoy old Nascar, the cars were identifiable as something you could buy at a dealership or used car lot, and take racing yourself

 Helicopters over the corners

 Smokey Yunicks team was in the pits crewing on Firebalkl Roberts' Pontiac

 And these windscreen / airfoils are something I've not seen or noticed before

and in this old film, he wasn't called Richard Petty, he was call Dick Petty. More interesting than that is the nickname painted on the door, "Squirrel Jr". Richard was 22 years old

 He was in the pit row watching other cars race because he'd damaged the engine trying to keep up with the  sedans... they had a 10 mph advantage over his convertible

In the Darlington / Southern 500 he drove this Plymouth

 Dual shocks, and 9 plus leave springs

 above is a kids pedal car from the pre race parade, and it's telling t-birds to get out of it's way

and fueling was very dangerous, on the left of the screen are TWO guys with 50 pound CO2 extinguishers while the guys on the right are holding the fuel nozzle on the gas tank

 and at Indy, helmets were not boring, they had flying eyeballs, or sponsor stickers, or Dean Jeffries pinstriping

Read more...

late 1960's early 1970's dragsters and the haulers they got rides on

all found on a thread on Moparts about Mopar haulers and the race cars... very cool stuff, two of my favorite topics http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=4135439&page=0&fpart=32&vc=1 

Read more...

Mario Andretti

One of only 3 drivers to win in 4 different decades.. the other two were Foyt and Petty.

One of only two drivers to win in Formula One, Indy Car, the World Sportscar Championship, and Nascar

Was once pulled over for speeding in Santa Monica, and the cop asked "Who do you think you are? Mario Andretti?" No kidding, it really happened. He was interviewed by Hot Rod in the Jan 2012 issue, page 16

Read more...

Famous people I happened across at SEMA this year... makes me wonder who I walked past and didn't notice

 AJ (Adrienne Janiciek) and Bill Goldberg

 What you didn't know about AJ is, she's or Serbian and Mexican decent, was one of the Fantanas (Fanta Soda ad campaign)
What you probably knew is that she is the television co-host of the Discovery Channel's Overhaulin', and she was also a host of Hot Import Nights (2008), an automotive show on the Speed Channel.

 Richard Petty
what you may not have known is that he is most well known for winning the NASCAR Championship seven times (there has only been one other driver to accomplish this), winning a record 200 races during his career, winning the Daytona 500 a record seven times, and winning a record 27 races (ten of them consecutively) in the 1967 season alone, a record number of poles (127) and over 700 top-ten finishes in his 1,185 starts, including 513 consecutive starts from 1971–1989.
Petty's final race was the first career start for Jeff Gordon, and it was the 2nd closest points championship in NASCAR history, with six drivers mathematically eligible to win the championship.

 Linda Vaughn and George Barris

 Above, Dennis Anderson, creator and driver of Gravedigger

 Above, Vic Edelbrock

 Above, Parnelli Jones.... winner of the 1963 Indianapolis 500,  the first driver to qualify over 150 mph at the Indy 500, winner of the Pikes Peak  Hill Climb of 1963, and broke the stock car speed record. He won the Baja 100 and set a speed record doing that. As owner, he won the Indy 500 twice more, the 71-73 USAC championship, the 76 SCORE championship, and lots more. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parnelli_Jones

Alex Xydias, founder of So Cal Speed Shop

 ought to be known as the Werewolf of London, his hair is always perfect.

Read more...