I love casual old shots where you can see the driver is smoking a cigarette while racing. It used to happen. That's a long way from the oxygen fed fighter pilot helmets they use now. Not to mention the public image thing...

 

David Pearson used to request a piece of gum and a cigarette for every 100 miles of racing.... allegedly he would only smoke under caution, but he chewed gum to keep his mouth moist.

 

Much like RICHARD PETTY, He always sucked on a service rag for moisture....

Not to give away any secrets...I also under caution..(when I was racing) stashed a cigarette and lighter in my car. For that very same reason!

 

And when Petty had that bad crash at Darlington in 1970, the TV cameras picked up that rag and everyone thought it was Petty's blood, brains, and guts falling out of the car but it was that rag he kept in his mouth... it just so happened to land right outside the window on the last tumble. Kind of funny in retrospect but I have the ABC live broadcast on a DVD... good quality too if anybody wants to come by and check it out with me sometime. Ned Jarrett is on teh commentary and years later said they saw the first shot and everyone quietly was saying "DON'T TALK ABOUT THAT!! !PETTY MIGHT BE DEAD, WE CAN'T TELL EVERYONE THAT ON TV!!!" And they ordered the cameras off the window of the car for a while....


No one even remembers that Pearson won that race... Bobby Allison dominated but blew his engine after running too hot, Pete Hamilton blew an engine, Bobby Isaac dominated the race after Allison went out but PEarson lurked all day and made Isaac overdrive his car... Isaac hit the wall and ended up going about 4-5 laps down. Cale Yarborough ran 2nd in the #27 car usually driven by Donnie Allison... but Donnie Allison was running the Indianapolis 500, and for some odd reason, the Wood Bros couldn't get their #21 to the race, so Banjo Matthews called in Cale Yarborough to drive hte #27 one more time.

 

Wow I never knew that about petty! If it were possible Duane..I would like to see that!
But comeing from michigans a bit far for me to come over to your house! LOL

 

 

Classic NASCAR Photo of the Day... still Riverside, this time a 4 door 1966? Oldsmobile 442. Coz Concila ran this one in the Motor Trend 500 at Riverside, CA.


You probably have no clue who any of these names I mention are... quite frankly, I don't either. It was always interesting back in teh day to see who would turn up at Riverside. Whiel it was a NASCAR race and a lot of the major NASCAR stars came, some didn't think NASCAR belonged on a road course adn refused to go. At the same time, there were a bunch of west coast racers who ran such road courses as Riverside for the Trans Am and Grand Am circuits. They would come out and moonlight as road course specialists. Dan Gurney won this race like 5 years in a row driving for Ford....

 

Since this a Monte Carlo forum. Bobby Allisons 1972 Monte.

 

I've got to get my pictures together and tell the story of how those Monte Carlo's came into the sport that one year too.....

 

First, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!


Your photo for today.... Buddy Baker's Cotton Owens owned Dodge Daytona getting an engine swap.... back before chains scratched paint, apparently...


Don Hunter/Smyle Media photo