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Post by ricklou on Sept 22, 2009 9:09:12 GMT -5
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Post by pmossberg on Sept 22, 2009 9:19:28 GMT -5
Ah things are getting backt o normal around here! Thanks Rick!
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Post by donmoos on Sept 22, 2009 9:39:12 GMT -5
Rick,
What year was that and how long did they race it?
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Post by ricklou on Sept 22, 2009 10:31:52 GMT -5
Don, The year was 1978 and they ran it for 20 events switching to a Chevrolet at Michigan in August.
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Post by donmoos on Sept 22, 2009 10:37:03 GMT -5
Thanks Rick,
I was thinking closer to 1980, but I think they all looked the same for a several years.
how was the performance of that model. It appears to have some aero advantages to the ford next to it.
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Post by revilo on Sept 22, 2009 10:51:25 GMT -5
As I recall, it drove like a brick. Richard abandoned it in favor of the Monte Carlo, I think. The aero was hopeless. And we call the car of tomorrow a POS.
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Post by songsmith1950 on Sept 22, 2009 10:52:15 GMT -5
Was that the car that made Richard give up on Chrysler? They were actually pretty cars and rode well. For that era that is. But it was a Mopar!
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Post by ricklou on Sept 22, 2009 10:58:15 GMT -5
The Magnum was a brick and bigger than it's competition. They just could not get the car to work. Petty Enterprises was busted at Charlotte for the trunk being too long if you can imagine that. Someone joked that Richard should have Samsonite Luggage for a sponsor looking at that trunk.
They had to take the car back to Level Cross, fix it and bring it back. Richard finished 8th in the World 600. There may be some inacuracies with the story but this is what I remember kinda ....LOL
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Post by chilipepper on Sept 22, 2009 11:12:46 GMT -5
I love all this history and I especially love all the pictures!
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Post by donmoos on Sept 22, 2009 11:43:51 GMT -5
I recall the Mirada pic you posted that never got run becuase it was aero junk.....it was around the same time wasn't it?
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Post by ricklou on Sept 22, 2009 12:07:21 GMT -5
They tried the Mirada before the 1981 season but could not get it up to speed. That may have been more to do with motor as much as anything else .....don't really have the answer on that one.
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Post by pmossberg on Sept 22, 2009 12:36:06 GMT -5
Here you go.
More aero than engine....
Summarized from the awesome book “The Cars of The King” By Tim Bongard, Robert Coulter:
Teams had to introduce their new 100 inch wheelbase cars by the 1981 Daytona 500.
Richard ran his last Monte Carlo at Riverside on January 11 1981 in the Winston Western 500, finishing fifth.
Petty enterprises looked to run the Mirada. It looked like it might be fast. And in Richard’s own words, “We were still Chrysler people deep down inside.” So they built a Mirada and took it to Daytona to test.
Dale asked Richard to take it easy until he had the car figured out. After a few tentative laps, Richard came into the pits. Dale was pleased Richard had “taken it easy” and told him, “Okay Richard, you can open her up.” Richard simply replied, “I was opened up.”
The problems were mostly aero. Later in the test session, Richard shut the car off on the back stretch. Typically, a Winston Cup car could coast around three and four and down pit lane. The Mirada only made it past the third turn.
RPE packed it up, returned to Level Cross, stripped the sheet metal & engine and according to Richard and Dale, 24 hours later the car was a Buick Regal.
Some notes from other sources:
Lee Iaccoca personally asked Richard Petty to campaign a Mirada.
Testing by RPE, Junior Johnson and others showed the car was around 8 mph slower than than the GM and Ford cars of the day.
Arrington Racing/Buddy Arrington ran a Mirada during the 1981 to 1984 racing seasons with 17 top-ten finishes. Dave Marcis ran a Mirada in four races, and Dick May in three, in 1981, but their cars were plagued with mechanical issues, finishing several laps off the leaders.
Up until the end of 1984, Miradas raced from time to time, but were not competitive. The cars problem stemmed from poor aerodynamics, poor supply of racing grade engine parts, and the fact that it was much larger (dimension-wise) than the FORD and GM cars it was racing against.
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Post by ricklou on Sept 22, 2009 13:36:50 GMT -5
Nice read Paul, I have some pics of Arrington's Mirada and it was bigger. He did well with it considering. Didnt Arrington also drive a Chrysler Imperial a time or two ?
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Post by donmoos on Sept 22, 2009 13:41:08 GMT -5
Now that's impressive, Imperials where boulders not just bricks.
This is getting more like the old PE site all the time......gosh I missed these threads.
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Post by pmossberg on Sept 22, 2009 14:21:38 GMT -5
An Imperial? Did they leave the leather "sofa style" cushions in the thing? Bumpers that weigh more than engine blocks?
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