dyslexic teddybear said:
Fascinating stuff. When you consider the bias, Petty's record with Mopar is even more impressive.
Thanks to Beenthere and Curtis. Always informative, and very entertaining.
Love this kind of stuff, please post more when you have time.
Petty's most impressive year (1967) should never have been when you consider what he was up against. After Ol' man France relented and let the Hemis back in in late1965, Ford said that it would boycott Nascar in 1966. A Ford "boycott" never seems to be 100% (which is why I'm telling everyone not to celebrate their "withdrawal" from supporting NHRA) so there were still very competitive Fords from the Woods Bros (Gurney , Panch), Holman & Moody (Lorenzen), Jr Johnson (Allison & others) and Ned Jarrett. Chrysler won most of the big races, though, and Ford kept threatening to throttle back some more on support. To keep Ford happy, Ol' man France made two very big concessions to Ford in the rules for 1967;
1) He allowed Ford to run it's Fairlane model which had a wheelbase several inches shorter than the Mopar "intermediates", Plym Belvederes & Dodge Coronets/Chargers.
2) If that wasn't enough, he allowed Ford to run a 2 X 4bbl setup on it's "tunnel-port" 427 motor. That's right folks.........Nascar which never before had allowed deviation from the 1 4bbl carb only rule (very early Nascar days are an exception, but that's another story) and never deviated again right up to last year's introduction of EFI, dangled this huge concession in front of Ford to get them to commit to a full factory effort in 1967. Chrysler was not happy and seriously considered dropping out of Nascar again. The 2 X 4bbl "tunnel-port" Ford motor was a killer combo (as everyone predicted at the time) and Ford teams won most of the big races in 1967, which is what Ford really wanted. The motor was not as advantaged on the small and intermediate tracks because of a narrow power/torque band and Petty went on a rampage with his Plymouth, winning
27 races that year, a record that still stands today. Of course, with Petty winning that many races, it took away virtually all the ammunition that Chrysler had to say that their Hemi package was now at a disadvantage. The irony is that the main thing that Nascar historians remember/write about 1967 is Petty's 27 wins, not the Ford victories at Daytona and the other big tracks. Unfortunately, the next year, Ford would add the very slick fastback Torino/ Merc Cyclone bodies to the 2 X 4bbl motor package and they went on a rampage which ended with Petty deciding to drive for Ford in '69.
Anyway, if you have any Ford-lovin' buddies, you can have some fun with them by reminding them of the extra carb they were handed by Nascar in 1967 & 1968 to run with the Hemis. I've got one or two on another discussion board and they are actually embarrassed when that topic is brought up. There are pictures and stories of the 2 X 4bbl "tunnel-port" on the web, I'm sure, but it's kind of a SHHhhhhhhhhh topic to Ford lovers.