All three played a major role in deciding the outcome of the October 1971 American 500 at Rockingham. Buddy was mad with Richard (Buddy thought he had won and had let off - he said - thinking the caution was out) and he had earlier rammed Pete. Perhaps you can capture a screen shot at this link, Chase:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=cjweAAAAIBAJ&sjid=IL8EAAAA...
Thanks, Chase.
I'm not sure that today's younger fans recall or are aware how much turmoil was created when Chrysler arranged the departure of Pete Hamilton and inserted Buddy Baker into the Petty Enterprises lineup. My old racing buddies and I were livid.
Cale and Larry Thomas each scored 5 top-10s in Herman's cars, but my first racing hero, J.T. Putney scored the most, ten top-5s for Herman in 1965.
Thanks, Tim, for another great history lesson and for sharing the story of Cale and "The Turtle!"
I was surprised during our Goat Rodeo broadcast Tuesday night that nobody on our Chat was familiar with the various unusual legal cases in which a longtime NASCAR jewelry store sponsor has been involved during the past three decades.
When I began working with Kyle Petty in 1984, he allowed as to how his wife's engagement ring, supplied by the jewelry store in question, had been confiscated by the FBI as part of a Federal Government investigation.
Without saying anything else, here's a few news article links some may find of interest.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=MDYgAAAAIBAJ&sjid=l1IEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4805,4779483&dq=hayes+jewelers+stolen+diamonds&hl=en
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0jkeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=074EAAAAIBAJ&pg=3598,4871006&dq=hayes+jewelers+settlement&hl=en
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=_5kbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=9FIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5650,5089721&dq=hayes+jewelers+lawsuit&hl=en
Andrew, I sure hope some of our folks with knowledge will step up and fill in the blanks. One story I read said that after the formation of SEDCO, only one race was run using fuel injection - that they switched back to carburetors, but kept the "Fuel Injected" logo on the cars. That story said there was a problem with pressure buildup under the front fenders that adversely affected the fuel injection.
Here is a link to one interesting article I found:
http://www.swanson-automotive.com/images/CHEVY%20Classics%20Magazine%20PDF.pdf
FYI, Nalley Chevrolet in Atlanta, the "paper" base for SEDCO (Chevy's Southern Engineering and Development Company) was sold in 2004.
Dec 7, 2004, 12:13pm EST
Nalley Chevrolet dealership sold
Fulton Motor Cars Inc. has bought Nalley Chevrolet near the Atlanta airport.
The dealership, on Metropolitan Parkway off of Interstate 85, will be renamed "Airport Chevrolet." Historically, the Nalley Chevrolet dealership was the largest dealership in the Atlanta market, but due to the decline of the former Stewart Avenue in the 1980's, sales had declined significantly in the past decade. There is substantial redevelopment occurring in the area and private and public reinvestment has resulted in stabilization of the community. Airport Chevrolet has begun redeveloping its site.
The dealership remains the only franchised automotive dealership in the city of Atlanta and the dealership serves as the sole General Motors medium-duty truck outlet for the entire Atlanta and central Georgia market.
Fulton Motor Cars plans to reinvest in the area by substantially improving the 20-plus acre site and through the purchase of additional automotive franchises. The company has already contracted to buy an additional automobile dealership that will be relocated to Metropolitan Parkway.
Fulton Motor Cars, Inc. is controlled by Steven Uiterwyk and investment capital was provided by affiliates of ASAP Capital and ABC Capital of Tampa, Fla. Rick Lavender will serve as the general manager of Airport Chevrolet. Uiterwyk also owns Central Florida Eurocars in Lakeland, Florida, an authorized Mercedes-Benz, Volvo and Volkswagen dealership.
Chase, I had a then stand alone Wrangler V.I.P. suite at Talladega between the start/finish line (which was in an unusual position well toward turn 1) and turn 1 - almost across from the pit exit.
We watched with our mouths open as Phil went up in the air almost under our noses. I remember the car burning and Benny stopping. Benny was driving the #55 Johnny Hayes team car to Phil and wound up finishing 2nd to Richard. I wouldn't have given very good odds of Phil being intact, but thankfully he was.
Dennis, that is so true about slot car racing being hot at that time.
In the winter of '64 several of my buddies and I got very involved in Richmond. We had three really big slot car centers, each with 3 different track layouts - one in Azalea shopping center near the fairgrounds, one in Westlands shopping center out West Broad Street and one in South Richmond on Belt Boulevard.
I remember wanting to upgrade my controller, but had no money left. At first we had just sports cars, but then they started selling the clear, flexible plastic bodies that you applied decals to from the inside and painted from the inside and we made NASCAR stock cars.
Back several years ago, our RR member Jim Streeter made the post below:
Permalink Reply by Jim Streeter on I always had that same dream, but never had the money. Did build a large Slot Car Track in the 60s and operated it at a profit.
And, of course, we've discussed before LeeRoy's only career outing for Petty Enterprises - in the September 1965 Capital City 300 at Richmond, a race I attended (Richard was drag racing that day/night). The Petty car LeeRoy crashed on the dirt at Richmond had been driven, ironically, to a win on pavement the night before by Richard at Old Dominion Speedway in Manassas, Virginia.
LeeRoy's Richmond luck wasn't good. He only raced one other time at Richmond - in 1969 - for Junior Johnson. The track was now paved and LeeRoy suffered a blown engine.
