NASCAR Trivia Question

[Marty Little]

OK you NASCAR historian types here's one for you. Over the years Petty Enterprises put many non family members in their cars at various races. They normally carried numbers 42 and 43 but at times others in the 40s as well. Probably the most famous non Petty in a Petty blue MoPar was Pete Hamilton in a 7 Up backed Plymouth Superbird winning the 1970 Daytona 500 in a huge upset over David Pearson and Bobby Allison.

Name two Florida based drivers who each drove one race for the Petty team and each finished in the top 10 in that single drive. Extra points if you know the car number of each. Hint - the cars were Petty blue and and the body style was Plymouth.

Enjoy.

[Trash Inturn4]

My guess would be LeeRoy Yarborough #43 and Bobby Johns #46

[clincher47]

Bunky Blackburn (42) and Marvin Panch (41)?

[ancrdave]

Marvin Panch (Daytona Beach) won the World 600 in 1966 driving #42 for Petty... He also finished 4th in the Southern 500 at Darlington and 6th in the National 500 at Charlotte...
Bunkie Blackburn (Daytona Beach) drove #41 for Petty in 1962 finishing 10th in the World 600 at Charlotte and 8th in the Southeastern 500 at Bristol...
Bobby Johns (Miami) finished third in car #46 in the 1960 World 600 driving for Petty... By the way, Richard and Lee Petty were both disqualified in that race - don't know why....
Art Malone (Tampa) drove one race for Petty in the 1961 Old Dominion 500 at Martinsvile in car #42 and finished 8th...
Rick Wilson (Bartow) ran 29 races for Petty in #43 during 1993 but had just one good finish, an 8th at Sonoma...
All were driving Plymouths except for Wilson in a Pontiac....

How about that Marty!!!

Other non-family drivers for Petty Enterprises included Bob Welborn, Joe Weatherly, Jimmy Lewellen, Tiny Lund, Ralph Earnhardt, Bobby Myers, Jim Reed, Jimmy Thompson, Bill Lutz, Jim Paschal, Darel Dieringer, Speedy Thompson, Bob James, Buck Baker, Lee Roy Yarbrough, Paul Lewis, G.C. Spencer, Dan Gurney, Hershel McGriff, Buddy Baker, Dick Brooks, Morgan Shepherd, Jimmy Hensley, Wally Dallenbach, Jr., John Andretti, Bobby Hamilton, Sr., Steve Grissom, Buckshot Jones, Greg Biffle, Christian Fittipaldi, Jerry Nadeau, Ted Muscgrave, Steve Grissom, Jeff Green, Bobby Labonte, Chad McCumbee, Kenny Wallace and Boris Said...

Petty Enterprises operated for 60 years... 1949-2008.

[Rick Anges]

Art Malone also ran one other NASCAR race in which he finished 10th at Daytona, here is a good question for you....Who was the car owner for this run?

[ancrdave]

That was the 1962 Firecracker 250 and he drove a car owned by NASCAR driving legend Jack Smith...

[Jimmy McKinley]

Rick Wilson (Bartow) ran 29 races for Petty in #43 during 1993 but had just one good finish, an 8th at Sonoma...

Wasn't the Petty Enterprises car numbered #44 for the '93 season after Petty retired from driving, not #43?

[Marty Little]

NASCAR Trivia Question

Well, Dave covered it from end to end and the names I was looking for were Art Malone and Bobby Johns. I'm going to speak to Malone and find out how he came to get both the Petty and Smith rides and why they were only for one race each.

Johns' drive came at Charlotte for the inaugural World 600 as Dave mentioned and he was picking up rides wherever he could that year. He ran 19 races in 1960 for several different car owners. Richard and Lee were both disqualified for cutting through the infield after suffering flat tires when the track surface began to break up. At that time there was a opening in the middle of the backstretch wall/fence and a road that led to the pit/garage area on the front side and several drivers used this "shortcut" after suffering flats and all were DQ'd. Bobby finished third and Mrs. Lee Petty didn't want to pay him as her boys made zero, but they finally worked it out and that was Johns' only drive for the Pettys.

Marty

[Marty Little]

NASCAR Trivia Question

Over the years the Pettys have used the numbers 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, and 46 that I'm aware of. Lee is most well known in the 42, Richard in the 43, Maurice and others in the 41, Pete Hamilton in the 40, several in the 44, Adam in the 45 and Johns and others in the 46.

Early on the Petty cars were not "Petty blue" but rather red and white, all white etc. I believe that it was 1960 when the now famous "Petty blue" came into being when they mixed some leftover paints in the shop and when finished it was that shade of blue and they stayed with it for years.

Marty

[Gary J]

Didn't Dick Brooks drive a plain white Petty car in the 85? Firecracker 400 or Daytona 500?

[Frasson118]

Dick Brooks drove a Maurice Petty owned #1 at a Daytona 500 (can't verify the year). It was possibly the year that Richard bailed out of Petty Enterprises, and drove for Curb Motorsports. It ran un-sponsored and folded quickly.

[Gary J]

Thanks Jerry, I was there ,Daytona 500 85 . It was a plain white #1; Said Petty racing on rear quarter, I thought the 43 was Curb then too. I'm sure because it was the last year I attended that event.