Richard Petty Race Talladega

We all think of David Pearson who won the NASCAR Championship in 1969 driving a Talladega but do you know who finished second? What was he driving? The answer is Richard Petty in a Talladega!

It was quite the story back in the day. Many of his MOPAR fans actually booed the King when he was driving a Ford. I don’t think it was easy for him but he did well and was back in a Plymouth for 1970. 

Rick Ochs passed along this article that was taken from a magazine years ago. The photos of the King’s car are also from Rick. This is the real deal and not a replica.

Over the years of looking for information on the Ford Talladega’s I have met and talked to some great people. One man was Mr. Alex Beam, you ee Mr. Beam found Richard Petty’s race Talladega.

Here is some of the information Mr. Beam sent me back when we ran this story in the March/April 1991 Fairlaner.

Mr. Beam found the car in March of 1982 in the basement of a tie factory Reid Shaw owned. The car was rebodied as a 1971 Mercury and had been run as the #72 in Many Grand National races out of the J.G, Dewitt stable.

Mr. Beam set out to restore the car back to the winning Talladega once raced by Richard Petty in which he also won his 100th race in.

Under the red paint Charles Craig of Gastonia, NC found the Petty blue paint of the roll bars and other areas. The one of a kind “thin sided” Petty seat was still in the car as was the Holman/Moody gauges in the dash, also the 69 race exhaust pipe were still on the car along with the fuel cell, fire extinguisher system.

The car started life with the tunnel port 427 engine as the Boss 429 was no approved by NASCAR yet.

The car was built by Holman/Moody for Richard and one of the few cars Richard raced that did not carry the words “by Petty” nor at any time on this car did Richard Petty’s name appear above the doors.

Also, the car never wore the Holman/Moody decals on the front fenders as other Talladega’s did that were built by the H/M team making this a 100% factory backed (Ford) Talladega.

A the time we first did this story the was in the Petty museum so that is where pictures were taken.

I would again like to thank Mr. Beam, Larna Davis and Kris Kenney. Also, Mr. Beam wanted to thank the King Richard Petty for the Petty Blue paint and information during the restoration done by Charlie Craig, plus John McKenize for the original decals.