Classic NASCAR Photo of the Day
No one got it.... it's Richard Petty!!!!
Marty Robbins was the closest guess I saw.... he drove a car #42 but died late the next year nad Idon't think he raced mcuh past about 78-79.... mainly ran Daytona and Talladega, and big tracks like Charlotte anyway.
The reason was the owners points... the points are assigned to the number, not the driver. The 43 had the owner points to start the race. The Petty team, with a young Kyle starting to drive, wanted to make sure Kyle made the race. since he wasn't used to a road course, they put him in the 43 for the weekend to make sure he would start the race, and Richard got into the race driving the 42.
Furthermore, that was the last race of the "big chassis" with something like a 121" wheelbase.... a few teams went ahead and opted to run the new "small chassis" that had a 110" wheelbase to reflect the smaller cars being produced by Detroit. You have to remmeber that Riverside was run in late January before Daytona... and by the time they got to Daytona for the 500, they were all on the small wheelbase.
Most drivers said the new wheelbase was "twitchy". However, Petty and Inman went to Daytona the next month and won Petty's 7th and final Daytona 500, the really major race run with all cars on the smaller chassis. It was a fuel mileage gamble, as no one really had anything for Bobby Allison that weekend.
Inman hinted in victory lane that family often got sacrificed for racing and seemed to be in a strange emotional state after winning that race... a cupole weeks later, Inman resigned from Petty Enterprise.....
Marty Robbins was the closest guess I saw.... he drove a car #42 but died late the next year nad Idon't think he raced mcuh past about 78-79.... mainly ran Daytona and Talladega, and big tracks like Charlotte anyway.
The reason was the owners points... the points are assigned to the number, not the driver. The 43 had the owner points to start the race. The Petty team, with a young Kyle starting to drive, wanted to make sure Kyle made the race. since he wasn't used to a road course, they put him in the 43 for the weekend to make sure he would start the race, and Richard got into the race driving the 42.
Furthermore, that was the last race of the "big chassis" with something like a 121" wheelbase.... a few teams went ahead and opted to run the new "small chassis" that had a 110" wheelbase to reflect the smaller cars being produced by Detroit. You have to remmeber that Riverside was run in late January before Daytona... and by the time they got to Daytona for the 500, they were all on the small wheelbase.
Most drivers said the new wheelbase was "twitchy". However, Petty and Inman went to Daytona the next month and won Petty's 7th and final Daytona 500, the really major race run with all cars on the smaller chassis. It was a fuel mileage gamble, as no one really had anything for Bobby Allison that weekend.
Inman hinted in victory lane that family often got sacrificed for racing and seemed to be in a strange emotional state after winning that race... a cupole weeks later, Inman resigned from Petty Enterprise.....
Monte Of The Month -- February 2008
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 4,286
From: Born in East LA
No one got it.... it's Richard Petty!!!!
Marty Robbins was the closest guess I saw.... he drove a car #42 but died late the next year nad Idon't think he raced mcuh past about 78-79.... mainly ran Daytona and Talladega, and big tracks like Charlotte anyway.
The reason was the owners points... the points are assigned to the number, not the driver. The 43 had the owner points to start the race. The Petty team, with a young Kyle starting to drive, wanted to make sure Kyle made the race. since he wasn't used to a road course, they put him in the 43 for the weekend to make sure he would start the race, and Richard got into the race driving the 42.
Furthermore, that was the last race of the "big chassis" with something like a 121" wheelbase.... a few teams went ahead and opted to run the new "small chassis" that had a 110" wheelbase to reflect the smaller cars being produced by Detroit. You have to remmeber that Riverside was run in late January before Daytona... and by the time they got to Daytona for the 500, they were all on the small wheelbase.
Most drivers said the new wheelbase was "twitchy". However, Petty and Inman went to Daytona the next month and won Petty's 7th and final Daytona 500, the really major race run with all cars on the smaller chassis. It was a fuel mileage gamble, as no one really had anything for Bobby Allison that weekend.
Inman hinted in victory lane that family often got sacrificed for racing and seemed to be in a strange emotional state after winning that race... a cupole weeks later, Inman resigned from Petty Enterprise.....
Marty Robbins was the closest guess I saw.... he drove a car #42 but died late the next year nad Idon't think he raced mcuh past about 78-79.... mainly ran Daytona and Talladega, and big tracks like Charlotte anyway.
The reason was the owners points... the points are assigned to the number, not the driver. The 43 had the owner points to start the race. The Petty team, with a young Kyle starting to drive, wanted to make sure Kyle made the race. since he wasn't used to a road course, they put him in the 43 for the weekend to make sure he would start the race, and Richard got into the race driving the 42.
Furthermore, that was the last race of the "big chassis" with something like a 121" wheelbase.... a few teams went ahead and opted to run the new "small chassis" that had a 110" wheelbase to reflect the smaller cars being produced by Detroit. You have to remmeber that Riverside was run in late January before Daytona... and by the time they got to Daytona for the 500, they were all on the small wheelbase.
Most drivers said the new wheelbase was "twitchy". However, Petty and Inman went to Daytona the next month and won Petty's 7th and final Daytona 500, the really major race run with all cars on the smaller chassis. It was a fuel mileage gamble, as no one really had anything for Bobby Allison that weekend.
Inman hinted in victory lane that family often got sacrificed for racing and seemed to be in a strange emotional state after winning that race... a cupole weeks later, Inman resigned from Petty Enterprise.....
Monte Of The Month -- February 2008
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 4,286
From: Born in East LA
No one got it.... it's Richard Petty!!!!
Marty Robbins was the closest guess I saw.... he drove a car #42 but died late the next year nad Idon't think he raced mcuh past about 78-79.... mainly ran Daytona and Talladega, and big tracks like Charlotte anyway.
The reason was the owners points... the points are assigned to the number, not the driver. The 43 had the owner points to start the race. The Petty team, with a young Kyle starting to drive, wanted to make sure Kyle made the race. since he wasn't used to a road course, they put him in the 43 for the weekend to make sure he would start the race, and Richard got into the race driving the 42.
Furthermore, that was the last race of the "big chassis" with something like a 121" wheelbase.... a few teams went ahead and opted to run the new "small chassis" that had a 110" wheelbase to reflect the smaller cars being produced by Detroit. You have to remmeber that Riverside was run in late January before Daytona... and by the time they got to Daytona for the 500, they were all on the small wheelbase.
Most drivers said the new wheelbase was "twitchy". However, Petty and Inman went to Daytona the next month and won Petty's 7th and final Daytona 500, the really major race run with all cars on the smaller chassis. It was a fuel mileage gamble, as no one really had anything for Bobby Allison that weekend.
Inman hinted in victory lane that family often got sacrificed for racing and seemed to be in a strange emotional state after winning that race... a cupole weeks later, Inman resigned from Petty Enterprise.....
Marty Robbins was the closest guess I saw.... he drove a car #42 but died late the next year nad Idon't think he raced mcuh past about 78-79.... mainly ran Daytona and Talladega, and big tracks like Charlotte anyway.
The reason was the owners points... the points are assigned to the number, not the driver. The 43 had the owner points to start the race. The Petty team, with a young Kyle starting to drive, wanted to make sure Kyle made the race. since he wasn't used to a road course, they put him in the 43 for the weekend to make sure he would start the race, and Richard got into the race driving the 42.
Furthermore, that was the last race of the "big chassis" with something like a 121" wheelbase.... a few teams went ahead and opted to run the new "small chassis" that had a 110" wheelbase to reflect the smaller cars being produced by Detroit. You have to remmeber that Riverside was run in late January before Daytona... and by the time they got to Daytona for the 500, they were all on the small wheelbase.
Most drivers said the new wheelbase was "twitchy". However, Petty and Inman went to Daytona the next month and won Petty's 7th and final Daytona 500, the really major race run with all cars on the smaller chassis. It was a fuel mileage gamble, as no one really had anything for Bobby Allison that weekend.
Inman hinted in victory lane that family often got sacrificed for racing and seemed to be in a strange emotional state after winning that race... a cupole weeks later, Inman resigned from Petty Enterprise.....
The King!!!
