We often hear about Barn Finds or cars lost and we are looking for; sometimes we just want to know more about some car we heard of but don’t know if it is real. Today, we bring you Part 1 of the mystery of the Talladega sold to Bill France for $1 and NO IT IS NOT THE SIGNATURE CAR! What Talladega is it? Why was it sold to Bill France? What is the VIN? All good questions but we aren’t going to tell you today. We will in a couple of days but we want to see if anyone can figure it out. Here is the evidence. Thanks to Marty Burke for his generosity, we all owe him big time!
H….Holman
M….Moody
9….1969
023..23rd car built
S….originally built incomplete(kit car)
Grand National Stock Car
Let’s see, exactly when was the very first Talladega race run in 1969????
Here is a lead for you….Bobby Unser… I was doing research on this very same subject when I came across your work. What I found was info from 1969 that says that Bill got the former Bobby Unser USAC dirt car. This is a quote from CAR and Driver Dec 1969 that discusses the PDA boycott and the race: “…Bill France’s own car, which would run with the leaders for 152 laps before expiring, was not only not representiative but wildly illegal. France had bought the car (formerly used by Bobby Unser for the USAC dirt races)….he tooled around the track late Saturday afternoon at 159mph(40mph off the pace)…the car had never been inspected or weighed. It was a 1969 Torino with a Talladega grille; the engine was set back a quarter of an inch too far; the pedals were illegal; the bumper had been flattened to keep the car from lifting; the fenders had been cut to reduce frontal area; and there was an additional water pump to clear mud off the front of the car. Tiny lund would drive it in the race…” He lead 23 laps before loosing the clutch. After reading this I researched Bobby Unsers car and found out that his winning Pikes Peak Hill Climb car was serial number HM9021S (the “S” stands for kit). And until I read your article about HM9023S I thought it was the same car. But Bobby drove a total of seven races in USAC with different owners and numbers. Bobbys hill climb car #HM9023S was owned by Ford President Bunkie Knudsen with #92. I think this car was never raced agian and went on display at Ford Autoramas around the USA. The rest of his races were run under the #15 and the owner was Holman Moody. Four of Bobbys races that year were at the Milwaukee Mile including his last race on Sept 7, 1969. This was just days before France got his car on loan from Holman Moody. Now if we can just find the serial number to that car or at least a picture of it. Oh and one last think….I FOUND a pic of France’s car racing on a dirt track around 1970-72 at what appears to be Tri-County speedway in Ohio . Thats just miles from my house. How can I submit that photo to help the research?
Thanks for your comment, send all info and photos to rfleener@comcast.net or Richard@TalladegaSpoilerRegistry.com.