PC: Penn Central era Racing

[Gene.Fusco@xxxxxxxx]

Jerry wrote:

> Enjoy the photos, and have a happy Valentine's Day. And may
> Earnhardt win the Daytona 500 again tomorrow... :-)

Gag... cough, cough, choke...

Sorry Jerry.  Anyone *but* Earnhardt.  I was really hoping Rusty Wallace
could pull it off this year, but I'll settle for Jeff Gordon.

As for who had the right stuff when PC was (barely) alive and kicking, that
would be Richard Petty and Mopar.  To hope either would return to NASCAR
would be extremely wishful thinking on my part. :^)

Chrysler was more or less *legislated out* of competition by NASCAR in the
late 60's and early 70's. The first blow was after three 426 Hemi powered
cars took 1st, 2nd and 3rd at Daytona in 1964. The next was when the top
five spots at the 1969 Talledega 500 were taken by Chryslers. The following
year Mopar cleaned up again at the Daytona 500. Out of the top 10
positions, a Mopar finished in 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th and 10th. Since
then, Chrysler has appeared to have made every effort possible to *not*
design a car that could be used in NASCAR. (Trucks don't count :^)

(An interesting aside to this aside is the underlying reason all of these
 events took place. By the late 60's NASCAR's philosophy turned from the
 technical merits of racing, pitting car manufacturer's engineering
 departments against one another, to the "even playing field" philosophy we
 see today where it is the driver's & team's abilities that are showcased.)


To drag in some true Penn Central relevance:

Does anyone have any photos from the 1968-1971 time frame showing *any*
Chrysler products on open auto racks.  Prefer Muscle Cars on Penn Central
equipment, but would like to see what might be out there.

Signing off with my other .sig...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gene Fusco        | (970) 206-5404                Gene.Fusco -AT- lsil.com
S/W Development   |      Life's too short to drive slow, ugly cars.
LSI Logic         | 1971 440 Challenger ragtop     1986 360 Ramcharger
Fort Collins, CO  | 1966 318 Satellite             1994 3.5l Intrepid ES
KB0ZMZ            | 1972 426 Hemi Duster race car  1994 LeBaron ragtop