hemidave - 2017-04-23 4:00 PM
A Nascar history buff thought that since the wagon has a NASCAR logo on the door, it was most likely a track vehicle used to keep the field of cars in place during only the "warm-up" laps.

hemidave - 2017-05-16 8:31 AM
Petty on the track

hemidave - 2017-11-26 8:21 AM
'56 Dodge

just so we can read without scrolling back and forth due to oversize photos up the page:

Dave --
According to my December 1959 copy of "Rod Builder" the gentleman in the bottom photo with the SonoRamic Commando engine is Jack E.
Charipar, who was then Chief Engineer, Plymouth-DeSoto Division, Chrysler Corporation. Two interesting points in the pic:

- Please note the engine colors, red block with gold valve covers, ram tubes, and air cleaners. This was the official color scheme for the
'60-'61 sonoramic engines, either the 361 or the 383 CID version, although considering how assembly lines sometimes work, various other
versions can well have come about. Since no '61 413s ever came off the assembly line in the '61 model year as they were "dealer-installed"
or special order options, only God knows what color they might have been.

I was fortunate to have talked with Jim Thornton who handled some of the driving on the Ramchargers' '61 S/S Pioneer and he said that the car they
got from Taylor Dodge in Detroit did have the 413 in it when he first saw it, but he didn't know how it got there. Al Eckstrand didn't have any info
either. The black-and-white pics I've seen of that engine don't give much of a clue as it doesn't have air cleaners and the valve covers are chrome.
- The carb linkage is also interesting.

It is the early ball-joint type that was superseded fairly soon into the model year by the more familiar
slotted rod. I have a copy of a tech letter from Chrysler stating that the early model should be replaced by the later one, but somehow or
other my early production '60 Fury kept and still has the old version.
Joe Godec

Lee Petty's Airborne Car

Among the brightly-colored, historically-significant stock cars at Memory Lane, there are also several badly abused chassis, a clear
reminder that cars making contact at high speeds can result in horrific car crashes. One such example is a car Lee Petty drove at a
qualifying race in 1961 at Daytona. Going into Turn 4, his car became entangled with fellow driver Johnny Beauchamp's, both cars
slid up the banked curve, through the guard rail, and flew out of the track. After the crash, which surprisingly both drivers survived,
Petty's car was unceremoniously parked in his family's backyard. Years later, it was uncovered, and the remains were moved to the
museum, as a reminder of the image of Petty's #42 Plymouth sailing out of the speedway.