The Rocket

[ricklou]

Greatness can be measured by dominance as comparisons of then and now will always be made. The icon's of sport create a legend that is long lasting setting the bar for others to reach for.



Richard Petty's legend is for the ages as the King of Stock Car Racing.

[pmossberg]

I think it was quite nice of Richard to face the camera in the black & white shot. Very courteous!

Do you know where the photo was taken? The sponsor says Clift Chrysler Plymouth of Knoxville TN. But the only Clift sponsorship I can find is for the 1968 Atlanta race:

1968 racing-reference.info/drivdet?id=pettyri01&yr=1968&series=W
1967 racing-reference.info/drivdet?id=pettyri01&yr=1967&series=W

I went searching for Clift Chrysler of Knoxville, and found only Anna Margaret Alley Elder's obituary:
www.legacy.com/obituaries/knoxnews/obituary.aspx?n=anna-margaret-alley-elder&pid=139670955

She died in February 2010. She had worked at Clift Chrysler. I hope she got to attend the race where her boss sponsored the future King!

Okay, this was a weird post, i admit that. But sometimes it's fun to take a phrase (Clift auto in this case) search on it and see where the search takes you.

Maybe we lost a fellow Petty fan!

[pettycash]

These were sponsors BEFORE decals/vinyl. Guessing PE kept a couple of buckets of Petty Blue paint and high gloss white paint on the truck. Seems like every track they ran a different Plymouth local dealer sponsored them.

But routinely, I see my Tennessee peeps were regulars on the flanks of the 43 during the 60s.

[pettycash]

By the way, I think it would be way cool to have one of those Petty Blue crew shirts from back then - minus the sweat stains of course.

[songsmith1950]

Notice there are no big pit boxes or grand stuff of today. Only what they had to have to do the job. I love those old pics!

[ricklou]

The top shot is probably from Atlanta, the bottom is from Darlington