automotive : Nascar

Showing posts with label Nascar. Show all posts

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

about as close to a Nascar as you can legally drive on California roads, pretty damn cool

cool dash!

It would look better without the wing though

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

Nixon had race cars over to the white house, and fired up Richard Petty's and Mario Andretti's race cars

http://sca.gmu.edu/exhibit/atkins_1.htm

If you want to click on it for the full size and read the whole thing, that is the best way to get all teh info, but simply put, Jackie Stewart and his Lola Chevy, a dragster, Richard Petty's 1971 Road Runner stock car, Mario Andretti's Indy car were there, in the White House drive way.

Petty and Andretti fired up their cars. Wow, that would have been great to experience!

Others there, Swede Savage, Dan Gurney, Penske, Posey, Donohue and Graham Hill

From the Nixon Library:

515 to 527 pm Sept 21 1971 White House

The President viewed an exhibition of race cars. He was accompanied by race car driver Mario Andretti, winner of the 1969 Indianapolis 500 and member of the President's Advisory Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.
The President spoke briefly to the owners and drivers of the cars:

James Lee, owner

Richard Petty, owner/driver

Andy Granatelli, owner

Carl Hass, owner

Jackie Stewart, driver

535 to 645 pm
The President hosted a reception for automobile racing figures.

from http://www.nixonlibrary.gov/virtuallibrary/documents/PDD/1971/042%20September%2021-30%201971.pdf just page 3, and Appendix D actually doesn't list the racers, it says they were all issued invitations verbally and this no comprehensive list was made

See a photo of it on page 76 of "Cars of the King" http://books.google.com/books?id=Txbx3Y2mDL4C&pg=PA76&lpg=PA76&dq=1971+white+house+race+cars&source=bl&ots=sSwEUIdUS_&sig=ELJG5IhIK1YMdpjWObWP3vV8SzA&hl=en&ei=GZtiS_e9GY-ssgO_3rCdAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CCMQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=1971%20white%20house%20race%20cars&f=false

Natl assoc of WHAT cars? Here's another banana, and another profile comparison of factory to race banana

Notice the differences in the 2 race cars, that Petty's was customized to race against all other "STOCK" road runners yet is obviously a ringer, the wheel wells are better, the c pillar looks smaller, looks like about an inch chop, and the rear tires look set back an couple inches, the truck looks more horizontal too.