OUTLAWED!-Number 9 In a Series of 12.
OUTLAWED!-Number 9 In a Series of 12.
While the Superbird was built, among other reasons, to give Plymouth a competitive stock car and to get Richard Petty back into the fold in 1970, back in '69 when the Daytona was introduced it was for one reason only- to crush the competition from the Torinos and the Cyclones.
It was a gloves off superspeedway brawler that meant to stomp the FoMoCo cars into the ground. It looked like it was doing 180 moh standing still and it didn't stand still near enough to suit the Dearborn crowd. The needle nosed high wing body work even filtered down to the independents like my friend Neil Castles.
Ol' Neil had been driving since the fifties and was one of the journeymen drivers that never really got a shot at the big time but he was involved in a lot more stuff than met the eye when it came to fast cars. I won't say that he was involved in the transportation business in any way but get him to tell you the story about the cast on his foot, the revenours and his stolen car sometimes.
What he most definatley was involved in, besides racing, was making movies a lot more exciting when it involved cars. Neil was involved in stunt driving for everything from "Thunder Road" and "Thunder in Carolina" to the "Movin' On" TV series and a lot more. He designed a camera mount so practical and efficient that it is still used today. Of all the people I have met in racing I consider Neil one of my favorites and a treasured friend.
Neil used to wait until the Saturday before the race to qualify by running in the consolation race that was held for people who hadn't made the field. The race would not only give a starting spot for Sunday's main event but would also pay a few hundred dollars to the winner, unlike qualifications that didn't pay anything. He won so many of them that the joke around the garage area was that they were going to change the name of the "consolation race" to the "Neil Castles Benefit Race" since he was usually a cinch to win it.
While I don't usually build cars much past '67 or so, I just had to build one of Neil's winged warriors to go with my other friends cars even if it was almost "current" compared to most of my "oldies". I hope you enjoy seeing it as much as I enjoyed building it.