The rear facing exhaust was Lee Roy Yarbrough and Junior Johnson though..... I don't know if you caught that or not. That pair won a then unprecedented 7 "superspeedways" that year. but back then, superspeedways were any track over 1 mile. They swept Daytona and Darlington, then won the World 600, Atlanta, and Rockingham. They could do no wrong that year. I have pictures of Lee Roys wrecked car that won the 1969 Rebel 400 at Darlington... they crashed with 4 laps to go and still won the race.

I edited some stats about manufacturer break downs in my last post.... strange that if you look at it strictly Ford vs. Chevrolet (not Ford products vs. GM productS), Ford has more wins in this race... and Chevy didn't win until 1985. Seems odd to think of that.

 

Id be further curious as to what change came about in 1985 that the fords were no longer the dominant manufacturer winners...and or what chevrolet did to make the chevrolets out perform the fords?

Thats certainly something to ponder!

................. Good thing to point out Duane.............

 

Dale Earnhardt Jr
Jimmie Johnson
Martin Truex Jr

 

Two words: Dale. Earnhardt.

Actually, Greg Sacks won the race.

GM won races, but the Buicks Grand Nationals were the more aerodynamic cars. Soemtimes, a GM team may run a Chevrolet at a short track like Bristol, but run a Buick at the high banks of Daytona. Bobby Allison won the Daytona 500 a few times in a Buick....

In the early 60s, the Pontiac had the better weight to horsepower ratio, so the first few races here were won by Pontiacs.

In about 1957, GM pulled out of racing with the American Manufacturers Association agreement. Ford and Dodge broke the agreement, but GM was under so much scrutiny for their ad campaigns and horsepower races in the earlier 50s, that Congress was actually calling in GM heads to Congressional Hearings for testimonys. GM put down such restrictions as what size block could go in what size car, horsepower to cubic inch rules, horsepower to weight rules, and ultimately, GM said that none of their brands would officially endorse a particular car... and this rule was enforced on dealers. If you look at some of my pictures, you see the David Pearson Ford often said something like "East Tenn Motor Company", Fred Lorenzen often ran for "LaFayette Ford, Fayetteville, NC"... the dealers sponsored the cars, not Ford... but we all know who let teh dealers get away with it......

So from about 1963-1971, only Ford and Dodge ran Daytona.

From 1973-1975, David Pearson was the man at Daytona with those Wood Bros Mercurys

From 1976-1977, Petty Dodge Chargers won.

From there out, it was really more chance. Petty ran a GM Oldsmobile most of the time. Luck and racing factors just kept the Chevrolets out of victory lane.


GM ran so many brands... Pontiac, Buick, Oldsmobille, Chevrolet.... while Ford just had Ford and Mercury... so I suppose the odds were just in Ford's favor.



Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart each are tied for the most wins by a Chevrolet at the July Daytona race....

It is a good question to ask. Once GM consolidated to the Monte Carlo and the Lumina, the wins started rolling in for Chevrolet at the 400 miler in Daytona.

 

I'm gonna stay out of the Jr boat just to be different. Ill take......

Kevin Harvick
Tony Stewart
Jimmy Johnson

 

Do people not read my rundown or just chose to ignore it? I'm not too fond of this Johnson pick this week.... but, hey, as far as I'm concerned, it just makes you easier for me to beat




I've got a lot more pictures of Daytona.... if you guys like, I'll just post one picture a day so you're not "overloaded" by the rundown....

 

Very good article Duane. Interesting about the rear exhaust. Window story is cool too.
1. Clint Bowyer
2. Kevin Harvick
3. Jeff Gordon

 

Very concise and direct Duane....

I had no idea! Thanks for checkn that out and posting the answer....
Am I the only one? Who enjoys Duanes Pluthra of knowledge and photos?
Thanks again!
And keep it comeing...I was one of those "old" guys that watched a lot of those races..
and often thought to myself.. These are some real "armstrong" racers!! What guts they had back then.

 

I wonder if I could keep this topci more active as the week goes on if I put up a classic NASCAR picture every day? Maybe 2....


A trick to winning Daytona was always innovation.. .and Petty and the gnag was very good at it.

This is Richard Pettys 1968 Daytona 500 car. He ran a vinyl top claiming the pores in the vinyl gave the car an aerodynamic edge, kind of like a golf ball, but the reality was he was covering up the modified roofline that Dale Inman had come up with. The car was leading the race when a piece of debris flew off hte race track, struck the roof, and made the top pop free from the car. NASCAR black flagged Petty to secure the roof. Petty came into the pits, climbed out of the car and hammer holes into the roof to secure it himself. He lost a couple of laps in the process and was not in contention for the rest of the race. I'm also almost certain Petty didn't have his seat belt on when he left, I have the video of this race and when he climbed back in the car, he took off again pretty quickly.

Plus, Richard Petty raced in cowboy boots... how cool is that.

 

Nice photo op for sure! Hammer in hand and cowboy boots highly visible...

Wonder if his boots ever melted in the car? Im sure those floor boards got super hot in the midday sun and heat....Great pics Duane and story line...