December 17th racing notes

Most of the racing history I found for this day involved the factories / manufacturers.

1962 - Jack Smith announced he would changed from Pontiac to Mopar cars for 1963. The decision was aided in part by the skills of his chief mechanic - Kenny "Red" Myler, former Petty Engineering employee and father-in-law of Maurice Petty. After racing the 1963-season opening race at Birmingham in November 1962 in a Pontiac, Smith made the switch. He raced Chryslers, Plymouths AND a Dodge during partial seasons in 1963 and 1964. He may, however, have questioned the decision to make change at some point. After winning 5 races in 1962 in the Pontiac, Smith did not win again the rest of his career. From Spartanburg Herald .

1965 - A year after Big Bill France stood toe to toe with Chrysler Corporation over their hemi engine, France (in tandem with the faceless USAC) waged a similar war with Ford Motor Company over the engine they had planned to use in 1966. On December 17, 1965, NASCAR and USAC both banned FoMoCo's overhead cam engine. From Spartanburg Herald .

1969 - In a decision I'm sure all King Richard fans celebrated at the time, Petty Enterprises announced a return to Plymouth for the 1970 after a single season with Ford. The change back to Plymouth was not a slam dunk decision. As shown in this photo from Don Smyle's collection , PE had already begun building a 1970 Ford.

But the lure of the Plymouth Superbird (and the accompanying cash and factory support) was too much to ignore, and the team thankfully swapped back to Mopar.

From Spartanburg Herald .

1971 - American Motors Corporation and Roger Penske announced the introduction of the AMC Matador to NASCAR and USAC stock car racing beginning in 1972. From Spartanburg Herald .

Car owner Roger Penske - and driver Mark Donohue - each made their NASCAR debut in the January 1972 Winston Western 500 at Riverside. The race was marked the debut of STP as the sponsor of Richard Petty's 43 Plymouth. Photo from my 2012 blog post about the race.

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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.
updated by @tmc-chase: 12/17/17 03:23:21PM

Good stuff, Chase. It had been just six years since the Larry Hess American Motors Rambler, but AMC would rather race fans believe Roger Dodger invented AMC Cup racing.

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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"

Then again, there has been a strange connection between AMC and NASCAR. Recall George Romney as CEO of AMC? That's him with a 1959 Rambler below.

When George's son, Mitt, alienated some voters talking about his wife driving Cadillac s , he came back with the quote below to attempt to assuage the damage and ended up placing his other foot in his mouth.

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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"

Penske's Matador made the April 1972 issue of Stock Car Racing magazine - along with the headline that STP "bought" the Petty team. (Funny too how SCR claims to have had the scoop on the story published in its April edition when the news was known back in January of that year.) From Russ Thompson's collection of SCR covers.

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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.