AMT and the KING join forces.

And again I say WHEN? did he run a Charger before the middle of the '72 season? He won or finished in the top five of most of the races, including superspeedway, in that '71-'72 Plymouth.

mitchum wrote:

I STILL don't know what you're talking about. Petty ran Plymouths all during the '68 season before changing to Ford for the '69 season. After coming back to Plymouth in '70 he ran Plymouths for three more seasons before changing to Dodge in '73. Don't know what you've got against Smokey but you can always tell a totally legal Nascar racer, they're the ones two or more laps down.

he made a switch to a Charger for a short while over the bad aerodynamics of the Roadrunner. Ask him. Shortly after that he had a major falling out with Mopar that still isn't completely healed to this day. Might add that the only person to have a bigger falling out with them was Bob Glidden, and he's still hated in Auburn Hills to this day.

gary

I STILL don't know what you're talking about. Petty ran Plymouths all during the '68 season before changing to Ford for the '69 season. After coming back to Plymouth in '70 he ran Plymouths for three more seasons before changing to Dodge in '73. Don't know what you've got against Smokey but you can always tell a totally legal Nascar racer, they're the ones two or more laps down.

mitchum wrote:

Not exactly sure which cars you are talking about. I knew Smokey and Richard both and Smokey built three '66 Chevelles- Mario Andretti for '66, Curtis Turner in '67 and nobody in '68 because he couldn't get it through tech. That one was the closest one got to being banned. Smokey lator sold it to a guy to run the sportsman race and when they found out which car it had been originally they told them to take it home and never bring it back.  Turner set the '67 season '66 on the pole for the '67 Daytona 500 and then destroyed it in a wild crash practicing for the Atlanta race a short time later. The Turner car was checked by one of, if not the very, first of the body templates used in Nascar. When it didn't fit, Smokey went to Avis, rented a Chevelle and broght it back to the track. Guess what, it didn't fit the template either! Seems they used Bobby Johns Chevelle to cut the templates and Smokey's Chevelle was closer to stock that anyone thought. Well, the bodywork was. LOL  Petty's Daytona car was repainted with white panels and run at several other races, including the Firecracker 400 so it wasn't "banned" either. Seems that politics is not the only place where the truth doesn't stand in the way of a good story. LOL

I well remember watching the template being laid over the Chevell, and the car missed it by over four inches on the roof line alone! Then there was the hood issue and the trunk too. Yunick never won a race without cheating, but with the Chevell it just went too far to the extreme. Petty's Roadrunner wasn't banned till well into the season, and is the main reason he made the switch to the Charger body. Might add here that there was more than one reason why he went with the rubber top on his Car. The rough rubber top was slicker in the wind tunnel aside from the recontoured roof line. Guess that's why the term of NASCAR calling a car stock was as much a joke then as it is now.

gary

Not exactly sure which cars you are talking about. I knew Smokey and Richard both and Smokey built three '66 Chevelles- Mario Andretti for '66, Curtis Turner in '67 and nobody in '68 because he couldn't get it through tech. That one was the closest one got to being banned. Smokey lator sold it to a guy to run the sportsman race and when they found out which car it had been originally they told them to take it home and never bring it back.

 Turner set the '67 season '66 on the pole for the '67 Daytona 500 and then destroyed it in a wild crash practicing for the Atlanta race a short time later. The Turner car was checked by one of, if not the very, first of the body templates used in Nascar. When it didn't fit, Smokey went to Avis, rented a Chevelle and broght it back to the track. Guess what, it didn't fit the template either! Seems they used Bobby Johns Chevelle to cut the templates and Smokey's Chevelle was closer to stock that anyone thought. Well, the bodywork was. LOL

 Petty's Daytona car was repainted with white panels and run at several other races, including the Firecracker 400 so it wasn't "banned" either. Seems that politics is not the only place where the truth doesn't stand in the way of a good story. LOL

mitchum wrote:

Richard Petty is the subject of a soon to be released newly revised kit from the old Roadrunner tool combining elements of ERTL and MPC tooling to produce a replica of one of the King's most controversial rides. In addition to the custom parts, this new offering will contain all the goodies from Level Cross's favorite son including accurate rollcage, decals, wheels, tires and tips on how to replicate that infamous "vinyl" roof. Release date is on or around April 1st. Kit will include a large grain of salt and advance techiques for placing tongue firmly in cheek.

The actuall shape of the roof is also different. If you look a stock Roadrunner roof line you will notice that Petty's car had a flat roof line ontop. Windshield may also be laid back a little bit as well. The car was built in response to a Chevell that Yunick was running that was nothing like a factory body like the rules called for. Both cars were then banned.

gary

This is cruel and unusual Punishment. Your post sure bring back memories.  Man do I miss the days of Johan...I collected and built every car of King Richard that they offered. I always thought Johans kits were far advanced in detail over the others at the time for them to be such "basic" kits.