Anyone have any photos, stories or other memories they want to share here?
http://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2011/11/november-17-this-day-in-petty-history.html
I had the good fortune to have hospitality access and a garage pass for the spring Atlanta race in the early 90s via King Racing.
The Uniden race scanner I still use today originally belonged to Tommy Kirkman. Tommy was the PR guy ath the time for the Quaker State team, and he used to be a field reporter for the Ned Jarrett-hosted NASCAR show on The Nashville Network. He got out of racing a year or so after this Atlanta race, and he sold his 2 scanners to a buddy of mine and me.
I'm a Petty loyalist through & through. I thrive on accumulating more and more stories, trivia, minutiae, etc. (Side note: After minutiae, can there be etcetera? But I digress...)
But I also know it was a special time in 1986 watching Tim Richmond hit the apex of his short-lived career. He was my go-to 'driver in waiting' to pull for once Richard retired. Obviously, that never happened.
Today, November 16, is the anniversary of Tim's victory in the Winston Western 500 at Riverside. The win was his 7th of the season and capped a remarkable run in the second-half of the 1986 season for the Hendrick Motorsports - Folger's Coffee - Harry Hyde-led team.
(This isn't my ticket stub. Never went to Riverside. But sure wish I could have.)
Credit for next few photos to Baker Racing Pix.
Credit next photo to HMS website.
"... better than most of the boobs we see on the tube today..."
What?? Man oh man, maybe I should start watching racing on TV again. I had no idea this kind of entertainment was being offered now. haha
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder I suppose. For me, I preferred the orange/green look on KP's car. Again, the chrome wheels - Boom! - though I'm not sure it ever ran a race with them. The white wheels helped the look - but the black ones ehh not so much.
I thought the red-white-blue schemes run on the Petty car in 84 and again through the Woods years as 7-11 and later Citgo were too similar to others & didn't give his car a unique look.
Sadly, KP's performances during that period weren't particularly unique either - regardless of how the car was painted.
Do love me some of dem chrome wheels.
You Da Man Jerry! If anyone had the article, I KNEW it would be you. Here are in-line hi-res versions Jerry sent me.
Dave - I also found the full notes column by Al Pearce where you pulled the Billy Wood obit/tribute. Look above it. The rumor in Oct 1991 was that Hut Stricklin might take over the 43 when the King retired. In the end, Petty Enterprises ended up with Rick Wilson and then Wally Fallinback. So maybe ol' Billy put his famed hex on the Level Cross bunch on his way out of this world.
http://articles.dailypress.com/1991-10-11/sports/9110110156_1_allison-family-winston-cup-petty-s-spot
I found another story about Billy Wood. Apparently Gary Nelson didn't take him seriously back in 1984, and *shazam* Bobby Allison had the hex put on him.
Now that I think about it, ol' Gary is on Twitter. Maybe I should tweet him to see if he recalls the hexes of Billy Wood. Moo-waa-ha-ha-ha-haaa
Looks like he is wearing Kyle Petty 7-11 swag in the photo Ray shared. Hmm, I wonder who may have provided that to him. Mr. Fulton, was this a payoff to counter any risk of a hex being put on Kyle's Ford?
That's a great story Dave. Had never heard of him before. This is exactly the kinds of anecdotes I was hoping for however when I started blogging about the King's wins.
