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Post by ricklou on Mar 4, 2010 19:01:27 GMT -5
Richard Petty has won and lost Daytona in every way imaginable. Domination, luck, strategy, blowing up and crashing. Richard has many defining moments in his career and Daytona is at the top of the list. His accomplishments at the famed speedway likely will never be matched. Fate smiled on Richard at Big D in 1973 as he won the Daytona 500 for the fourth time. Allthough Petty was in the hunt all day Buddy Baker had the car to beat. Late in the event with Richard leading a fast closing Baker pulled into the garage with an expired engine as the King wiped his brow and cruised to the checkered flag, the first for STP in the Great American Race, Luck played a big part at Daytona in 1974 as Richard and Donnie Allison were heading the field late in the event. Donnie's Digard Chevrolet was extremely quick but Allison's Chevy suffered tire failure running over debrise as he passed the pit road entrance costing him precious time on the track. Richard also suffered a flat tire but this happened before pit road allowing for a quck stop and giving him his fifth Daytona win. Richard attributes alot of his success to running the same cars for many years and by having the same people working on them. Concerning Daytona, Richard mentions that some guys were faster and some slower but we ran the same and it kinda worked out. We just showed up to race. It is hard to argue with success
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Post by pmossberg on Mar 4, 2010 21:46:20 GMT -5
Great post Rick.
I'm a week away from finally meeting the King. Not to mention Don Garlits and Sterling Moss. Some trio eh?
Richard is the Grand Marshall for this year's Amelia Island concours. And he and the two other gents named above are doing a couple seminars, meet and greets and autograph sessions.
It's gonna be an awesome weekend!
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Post by songsmith1950 on Mar 5, 2010 7:44:06 GMT -5
Wow Paul! Three of my alltime favorites. Sterling Moss was a legned in sports cars for sure. And Garlits was drag racing. Pics!
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Post by olblue on Mar 6, 2010 11:28:22 GMT -5
AH HA, top pic. There's my proof what we were talking about a while ago. Richard did use his initials for a head rest (RLP) and not always a peace sign. I built that same exact car (model) in large scale. The body came in clear molded plastic, then i painted it a year or so after getting tired of the clear body of course. The model came with the RLP head rest. I seen it in other cars as well. Thank you Ricklou.
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Post by pettycash on Mar 6, 2010 12:07:50 GMT -5
That 74/75 era Charger and paint scheme with the small STP on the hood is THE car that grabbed my attention as a kid. Combined with the chrome/silver wheels, few if any cars could match its look - or performance - on the track.
And this particular photo looks big enough and hi-rez enough to use as my laptop desktop graphic for a while. Thanks.
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Post by ricklou on Mar 6, 2010 18:05:43 GMT -5
Both of these pics were exapanded to post here. The top pic is from Ray Lam's collection and the bottom is from Sports Illustrated.
The STP Dodge is an Icon in Nascar's history and Richard hold's many beacons through the course of auto racings lineage.
It is here thanks to Tom and his wife that these archives exist.
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Post by ricklou on Mar 6, 2010 19:02:42 GMT -5
Paul, surely you will enjoy the Island and we look foward to hearing about your trip !
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Post by mugley on Mar 7, 2010 1:35:15 GMT -5
good read thx
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