By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

NASCAR legend Richard Petty dropped by the infield media center just now to say a bit about the new NASCAR Hall of Fame that just opened in Charlotte, where he’s being inducted into the inaugural class of five. The King spoke with his trademark grace and humility, insisting he didn’t completely deserve a place in the Class of 2010–”I know we won a bunch a races and did all this stuff,” but that there were a ton of “them cats” who’d done a lot more for the sport on the whole. I know he means what he says, but Petty, despite having been retired from active racing for years, continues without equal to be the ambassador of NASCAR. At nearly 73 years of age, this guy is literally everywhere–remember we even ran into him at SEMA?–and his pulling for NASCAR, his warmth toward fans, and his tirelessness in drawing new viewers into the races doesn’t have any current equivalent that I can think of. The King is a class act, and I love that he even passed out Richard Petty party favors to the attending media, each one marked in Sharpie with his trademark ornate signature.

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Continue reading "Richard Petty Stopped By" »

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

I love NASCAR-branded 90′s GM’s. There’s just something so authentically redneck about them. Which makes it even more impressive when you find one that’s not totally thrashed. This Poncho seems to be the concept car for the Richard Petty 50th Anniversary Edition, and is being sold by Canepa, the boutique builder involved in the car’s design.  It claims to have only 1776 miles on the the 300hp supercharged 3.8. Check out the auction on eBay!

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

I thought this car looked pretty cool at SEMA, and was glad to hear it fetched $130,000 at Barrett-Jackson on Saturday. Proceeds from the sale will go to the Petty Family Foundation and its charities, which include Victory Junction and Paralyzed Veterans of America. Via Autoblog

By Brian Lohnes

BangShift.com

When we went for our weekly trip down the dark halls of CraigsList and saw the words Road Runner and NASCAR pop up in a listing, we cringed and clicked the mouse button. We were shocked to find a bitchin’ car that we’d proudly drive the wheels off of.

We were convinced that this thing would be a mess. Some hacked up, mullet-worthy creation that had been sitting behind someone’s house for a decade or so. Instead, this is a nicely done car, signed by Richard Petty, that has a nice drivetrain and all the right stuff to turn heads at any cruise night or car show.

Sure, it’s not for the owner who wants to blend in with the crowd, but hey, what hot rodder on Earth wants to meld into the crowd? Not us, that’s for sure! The price tag is steep, but not totally unreasonable as everything on the car is brand new and this baby is a turn key find.

Click here to see the CraigsList ad.

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

One thing I hate about SEMA? How slow the crowds move. I bicycle around 100 miles a week, so having to be in traffic with heards of fat dudes who drive down to the mailbox makes me want to kill myself. But anyway, on the way to the show this morning, Jen and I came up on a pack of particularly slow-moving folks, and I was reminding myself that it’s not OK to just bodycheck them out of the way, when I noticed Richard Petty was in the middle of the throng signing autographs. If you aren’t familiar with his signiture, it makes John Hancock’s look like it was done by a drunken four year old, and he was graciously autographing everything put in front of him. Long live the king!

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

I was really looking forward to seeing this car at SEMA, and so I was pretty excited to stumble across it on the way to the media center this morning. The BASF Petty Blue paint looks fantastic and I really dig the center exhaust. Sorry, no pics of the 426 Hemi under the hood, but I do have a ton more exterior pics after the jump!

Continue reading "Petty Garage Dodge Challenger at SEMA" »

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Up for sale is a retired superspeedway car built by Richard Petty Enterprises. It’s on the cheap side because it looks like it was only ever a promo vehicle, not an actual race car—though the seller claims it’s done some hot laps, the single-sponsor paint scheme (and the fact that Wix has only ever sponsored a No. 1 car for DEI) kind of gives it away. Still, it’s got the race-tuned 358 built by Petty Enterprises and all the other standard-issue NASCAR internals, and would surely cackle and roar as well as any veteran race-winner. What you’d do with it is a whole ‘nother matter—it’s not street legal, of course—but it’d be kind of cool to have!

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

NASCAR charity auctions seem to be all the rage right now, in keeping with the squeaky-clean image that the sport is constantly striving to project. These eBay auctions at least look a lot more worthwhile than the one-lap-in-a-pickup-truck auction that’s stagnating over at the Bristol Motor Speedway site. What you’re bidding on is the opportunity to bowl a few frames with "The King" Richard Petty, NASCAR legend and record-holder for number of career wins. You can also put in a bid for a game with mild-mannered No. 48 driver Jimmie Johnson, the defending Sprint Cup Series champion. And if you just like to win, you can elect to hit the lanes with Richard Petty’s son, Kyle. Hey, I don’t have anything against the guy, but if he bowls anything like he races the No. 45 car, you won’t have to worry much about getting beat. 100% of proceeds go to the Jimmie Johnson Foundation for children’s charities, and if you’re a fan of any of these racers, the prize is pretty sweet.

So it doesn’t really compare to the insane creation we posted this morning, but this 150HP CAT-themed bike is still burly as hell. Built by Orange County Choppers to resemble equipment from the venerable construction equipment maker, the bike features a vertical exhaust, "CAT yellow paint" and a square-tube frame. It’s not cheap—bidding starts at 100 grand—but all the proceeds will benefit Richard Petty’s Victory Junction Gang, which helps sick kids, and the winner will get to pick it up from the King himself. Pretty cool. 

The current (and 60th anniversary issue) issue of Hot Rod features their list of what they consider to be "the most influential hot rods of all time." They only included cars built since 1948, which is when Hot Rod magazine was born. So which car scored the number one spot? The General Lee. Mopar B-bodies did quite well–Richard Petty’s ’64 Hemi Belvedere scored the number four spot. Number two on the list was the American Graffiti coupe. And the ’64 Pontiac GTO press car was number three. I’m also a huge fan of number nine, the Batmobile. See the full list in the January issue of Hot Rod.