Chevrolet Corvette (C2)
The Chevrolet Corvette is the second generation of the Chevrolet Corvette sports car, produced by the Chevrolet division of General Motors for the 1963 to 1967 model years. The 1963 Sting Ray production car's lineage can be traced to two separate GM projects: the Q-Corvette, more directly, Mitchell's racing Sting Ray; the Q-Corvette, initiated in 1957, envisioned a smaller, more advanced Corvette as a coupe-only model, boasting a rear transaxle, independent rear suspension, four-wheel disc brakes, with the rear brakes mounted inboard. Exterior styling was purposeful, with peaked fenders, a long nose, a short, bobbed tail. Meanwhile, Zora Arkus-Duntov and other GM engineers had become fascinated with mid and rear-engine designs, it was during the Corvair's development that Duntov took the mid/rear-engine layout to its limits in the CERV I concept. The Chevrolet Experimental Research Vehicle was a open-wheel single-seat racer. A rear-engined Corvette was considered during 1958–60, progressing as far as a full-scale mock-up designed around the Corvair's entire rear-mounted power package, including its complicated air-cooled flat-six as an alternative to the Corvette's usual water-cooled V-8.
By the fall of 1959, elements of the Q-Corvette and the Sting Ray Special racer would be incorporated into experimental project XP-720, the design program that led directly to the production 1963 Corvette Sting Ray. The XP-720 sought to deliver improved passenger accommodation, more luggage space, superior ride and handling over previous Corvettes. While Duntov was developing an innovative new chassis for the 1963 Corvette, designers were adapting and refining the basic look of the racing Sting Ray for the production model. A functional space buck was completed by early 1960, production coupe styling was locked up for the most part by April, the interior, instrument panel included was in place by November. Only in the fall of 1960 did the designers turn their creative attention to a new version of the traditional Corvette convertible and, still its detachable hardtop. For the first time in the Corvette's history, wind tunnel testing helped refine the final shape, as did practical matters like interior space, windshield curvatures, tooling limitations.
Both body styles were extensively evaluated as production-ready 3/8-scale models at the Caltech wind tunnel. The vehicle's inner structure received as much attention as the aerodynamics of its exterior. Fiberglass outer panels were retained, but the Sting Ray emerged with nearly twice as much steel support in its central structure as the 1958—62 Corvette; the resulting extra weight was balanced by a reduction in fiberglass thickness, so the finished product weighed a bit less than the old roadster. Passenger room was as good as before despite the tighter wheelbase, the reinforcing steel girder made the cockpit both stronger and safer; the first-ever production Corvette coupe, a futuristic fastback, sported an unusual styling element for its time period – a divided rear window. The rear window's basic shape had been conceived by Bob McLean for the Q-model; the rest of the Sting Ray design was stunning. Quad headlamps were retained but newly hidden – the first American car so equipped since the 1942 DeSoto.
The lamps were mounted in rotating sections that matched the sharp-edged front end with the "eyes" closed. The Corvette continued to use hidden headlamps until the C6 model debuted in 2005. Coupe doors were cut into the roof. Faux vents were located on the coupe's rear pillars; the fastback design was adopted by another GM car, the third-generation Buick Riviera that debuted in 1971, with the "Boattail" nickname applied to the larger Buick design. The Sting Ray's interior carried a new interpretation of the twin-cowl Corvette dash motif used since 1958, It was more practical, now incorporating a roomy glovebox, an improved heater, the cowl-ventilation system. A full set of round gauges included a huge tachometer; the control tower center console returned, somewhat slimmer but now containing the clock and a vertically situated radio. Luggage space was improved as well, though due to a lack of an external trunklid, cargo had to be loaded behind the seats; the spare tire was located at the rear in a drop-down fiberglass housing beneath the gas tank (which now held 20-US-gallon instead of 16-US-gallon.
The big, round deck emblem was newly hinged to double as a fuel-filler flap, replacing the previous left-flank door. Though not as obvious as the car's radical styling, the new chassis was just as important to the Sting Ray's success. Maneuverability was improved thanks to the faster recirculating ball, or "Ball-Race", a shorter wheelbase; the latter might ordinarily imply a choppier ride, but the altered weight distribution compensated for it. Less weight on the front wheels meant easier steering, with some 80 additional pounds on the rear wheels, the Sting Ray offered improved traction. Stopping power improved, too. Four-wheel cast-iron 11-inch drum brakes remained standard but were now wider, for an increase in effective braking area. Sintered-metallic linings, segmented for cooling, were again optional. So were finned aluminum drums, which not only provided faster heat dissipation but less unsprung weight. Power assist was available with both brake packages. Evolutionary engineering changes included positive crankcase ventilation, a smaller fl
Graham Hill
Norman Graham Hill was a British racing driver and team owner from England, twice Formula One World Champion. He is the only driver to win the Triple Crown of Motorsport—the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Indianapolis 500 and the Monaco Grand Prix, he appeared on TV in the 1970s on a variety of non-sporting programmes including panel games. He liked painting in his spare time. Hill and his son Damon were the first son pair to win Formula One World Championships. Hill's grandson Josh, Damon's son raced his way through the ranks until he retired from Formula Three in 2013 at the age of 22. Hill and five other members of the Embassy Hill team died in 1975 when the aeroplane he was piloting from France crashed in fog at night on Arkley golf course while attempting to land at Elstree Airfield in north London. Born in Hampstead, Hill attended Hendon Technical College and joined Smiths Instruments as an apprentice engineer, he was conscripted into the Royal Navy and served as an Engine Room Artificer on the light cruiser HMS Swiftsure, rising to the rank of petty officer.
After leaving the Navy he rejoined Smiths Instruments. Hill did not pass his driving test until he was 24 years old, he himself described his first car as "A wreck. A budding racing driver should own such a car, as it teaches delicacy and anticipation the latter I think!" He had been interested in motorcycles but in 1954 he saw an advertisement for the Universal Motor Racing Club at Brands Hatch offering laps for 5 shillings. He was committed to racing thereafter. Hill joined Team Lotus as a mechanic soon after but talked his way into the cockpit; the Lotus presence in Formula One allowed him to make his debut at the 1958 Monaco Grand Prix, retiring with a halfshaft failure. In 1960, Hill joined BRM, won the world championship with them in 1962. Hill was part of the so-called'British invasion' of drivers and cars in the Indianapolis 500 during the mid-1960s, triumphing there in 1966 in a Lola-Ford. In 1967, back at Lotus, Hill helped to develop the Lotus 49 with the new Cosworth-V8 engine. After teammates Jim Clark and Mike Spence were killed in early 1968, Hill led the team, won his second world championship in 1968.
The Lotus had a reputation of being fragile and dangerous at that time with the new aerodynamic aids which caused similar crashes of Hill and Jochen Rindt at the 1969 Spanish Grand Prix. A crash at the 1969 United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen broke both his legs and interrupted his career; when asked soon after the crash if he wanted to pass on a message to his wife, Hill replied "Just tell her that I won't be dancing for two weeks."Upon recovery Hill continued to race in F1 for several more years, but never again with the same level of success. Colin Chapman, believing Hill was a spent force, placed him in Rob Walker's team for 1970, sweetening the deal with one of the brand-new Lotus 72 cars. Although Hill scored points in 1970 he started the season far from fit and the 72 was not developed until late in the season. Hill moved to Brabham for 1971-2; the team was in flux after the retirements of Sir Jack Brabham and Ron Tauranac's sale to Bernie Ecclestone. Hill was known during the latter part of his career for his wit and became a popular personality - he was a regular guest on television and wrote a notably frank and witty autobiography, Life at the Limit, when recovering from his 1969 accident.
Hill was irreverently immortalized on a Monty Python episode, in which a Gumby appears asking to "see John the Baptist's impersonation of Graham Hill." The head of St. John the Baptist appears on a silver platter, which runs around the floor making putt-putt noises of a race car engine. Hill was involved with four films between 1966 and 1974, including appearances in Grand Prix and Caravan to Vaccarès, in which he appeared as a helicopter pilot. Although Hill had concentrated on F1 he maintained a presence in sports car racing throughout his career; as his F1 career drew to a close he became part of the Matra sports car team, taking a victory in the 1972 24 Hours of Le Mans with Henri Pescarolo. This victory completed the so-called Triple Crown of Motorsport, alternatively defined as winning either: the Indianapolis 500, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Monaco Grand Prix, or the Indianapolis 500, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Formula One World Championship. Using either definition, Hill is still the only person to have accomplished this feat.
Hill set up his own team in 1973: Embassy Hill with sponsorship from Imperial Tobacco. The team used chassis from Shadow and Lola before evolving the Lola into its own design in 1975. After failing to qualify for the 1975 Monaco Grand Prix, where he had won five times, Hill retired from driving to concentrate on running the team and supporting his protege Tony Brise. Hill's record of 176 Grand Prix starts remained in place for over a decade until being equalled by Jacques Laffite. Hill married Bette in 1955, they had two daughters and Samantha, a son, who himself became Formula One World Champion—the first son of a former world champion to emulate his father. Before taking up motor racing, Hill spent several years invo
National Corvette Museum
The National Corvette Museum showcases the Chevrolet Corvette, an American sports car, in production since 1953. It is located in Bowling Green, off Interstate 65's Exit 28, it was constructed in 1994, opened to the public in September of that year. The museum is located only a quarter mile from the Bowling Green Assembly Plant, where Corvettes have been made since 1981. Public tours of the assembly plant are available. In addition, Chevrolet allows Corvette buyers to take delivery of their new vehicles at the museum, with a VIP tour of the plant and museum included for the buyer and up to three guests. In karst areas stormwater from roads, parking lots, roof drainage during heavy rains washes soil down into natural karst voids in the limestone bedrock creating void pockets in the soil that reach the surface as cover-collapse sinkholes. After some rainy weather, on February 12, 2014, such a new cover-collapse sinkhole 40-foot-wide and 25-foot-deep opened under the floor of the Skydome area of the museum.
Video from the museum’s security camera shows the collapse occurring at 5:38 AM local time. Since this did not occur during visiting hours no one was injured although much of the Skydome area concrete floor collapsed. Cars were on display in the yellow cone-shaped Skydome, a separate structure attached to the main museum. Eight rare and one-of-a-kind Corvettes, portions of the display stands and rails, large concrete floor slabs and dirt fell into the sinkhole, causing serious damage to some of the Corvettes; the Corvettes involved have an estimated value of a million dollars. The remaining 20 cars in the Skydome were removed from that area. Between March 3, 2014 and March 6, 2014, 5 of the 8 Corvettes were recovered from the sinkhole; the spire area of the Skydome is being reinforced before work starts on removing the final three buried cars. A drone camera investigated inside the sinkhole. A microgravity geophysical survey indicated the possibility of additional voids extending from the main sinkhole toward existing sinkholes to the north and south.
Exploration in the sinkhole discovered a cave passage 80 feet below the Skydome floor and that this unknown cave had an unstable area in its roof that collapsed. To provide independent structural support for the site, 46 micropiles 7 inches in diameter were installed to an average depth of 141 feet to reach competent bedrock. Structural engineering work included a one-foot thick concrete slab poured on top of the sinkhole debris a double layer of metal sheet pilings, filling with 4000 tons of sand to support a new concrete slab floor; this structural engineering work on the sinkhole was estimated to cost $3.2 million. As this extensive work started, the museum reopened the day after the sinkhole appeared although the Skydome remained closed until September 3, 2015. On February 12, 2016 the Corvette Museum opened the “Corvette Cave In” exhibit, an interactive display about the sinkhole collapse, the cars involved, karst landscapes, more. Like the Dishman Lane sinkhole collapse in 2002 in Bowling Green, the Corvette Museum sinkhole shows altering the natural stormwater flow accelerates creation of sinkhole collapses.
Too much soil moisture or too little soil moisture reduces soil strength to result in collapses of soil cavities. Collapse of a soil cavity can trigger the collapse of a cave roof where there are pre-existing weaknesses in the underlying bedrock. Clusters of sinkholes are indicators where additional sinkholes will form: Sinkhole density is an important factor for determining the area most prone to sinkhole development. Where a closed depression has collapsed into a sinkhole we know that the underlying subsurface contains unstable voids, a cave system. In areas where active sinkholes have developed there is a greater possibility that a new sinkhole will form; the Kentucky Geological Survey provides "Generalized Geologic Map for Land-Use Planning" for many individual Kentucky counties showing where there are clusters of sinkholes. The museum sponsors the Corvette Hall of Fame for individuals who have been involved with the Corvette automobile and made significant contributions in their respective fields.
Each year, between four persons are inducted into this select group. 2016 List of sinkholes of the United States 21st century sinkholes Official website Bowling Green Assembly Plant official website Official Corvette website Chubb Corporation, Our Stories: National Corvette Museum - "Flying Cars. Crash Landing."
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker that has its main headquarter in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903; the company sells automobiles and commercial vehicles under the Ford brand and most luxury cars under the Lincoln brand. Ford owns Brazilian SUV manufacturer Troller, an 8% stake in Aston Martin of the United Kingdom and a 32% stake in Jiangling Motors, it has joint-ventures in China, Thailand and Russia. The company is controlled by the Ford family. Ford introduced methods for large-scale manufacturing of cars and large-scale management of an industrial workforce using elaborately engineered manufacturing sequences typified by moving assembly lines. Ford's former UK subsidiaries Jaguar and Land Rover, acquired in 1989 and 2000 were sold to Tata Motors in March 2008. Ford owned the Swedish automaker Volvo from 1999 to 2010. In 2011, Ford discontinued the Mercury brand, under which it had marketed entry-level luxury cars in the United States, Canada and the Middle East since 1938.
Ford is the second-largest U. S.-based automaker and the fifth-largest in the world based on 2015 vehicle production. At the end of 2010, Ford was the fifth largest automaker in Europe; the company went public in 1956 but the Ford family, through special Class B shares, still retain 40 percent voting rights. During the financial crisis at the beginning of the 21st century, it was close to bankruptcy, but it has since returned to profitability. Ford was the eleventh-ranked overall American-based company in the 2018 Fortune 500 list, based on global revenues in 2017 of $156.7 billion. In 2008, Ford produced 5.532 million automobiles and employed about 213,000 employees at around 90 plants and facilities worldwide. Henry Ford's first attempt at a car company under his own name was the Henry Ford Company on November 3, 1901, which became the Cadillac Motor Company on August 22, 1902, after Ford left with the rights to his name; the Ford Motor Company was launched in a converted factory in 1903 with $28,000 in cash from twelve investors, most notably John and Horace Dodge.
The first president was not Ford, but local banker John S. Gray, chosen to assuage investors' fears that Ford would leave the new company the way he had left its predecessor. During its early years, the company produced just a few cars a day at its factory on Mack Avenue and its factory on Piquette Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. Groups of two or three men worked on each car, assembling it from parts made by supplier companies contracting for Ford. Within a decade, the company would lead the world in the expansion and refinement of the assembly line concept, Ford soon brought much of the part production in-house in a vertical integration that seemed a better path for the era. Henry Ford was 39 years old when he founded the Ford Motor Company, which would go on to become one of the world's largest and most profitable companies, it has been in continuous family control for over 100 years and is one of the largest family-controlled companies in the world. The first gasoline powered automobile had been created in 1885 by the German inventor Carl Benz.
More efficient production methods were needed to make automobiles affordable for the middle class, to which Ford contributed by, for instance, introducing the first moving assembly line in 1913 at the Ford factory in Highland Park. Between 1903 and 1908, Ford produced the Models A, B, C, F, K, N, R, S. Hundreds or a few thousand of most of these were sold per year. In 1908, Ford introduced the mass-produced Model T, which totalled millions sold over nearly 20 years. In 1927, Ford replaced the T with the first car with safety glass in the windshield. Ford launched the first low-priced car with a V8 engine in 1932. In an attempt to compete with General Motors' mid-priced Pontiac and Buick, Ford created the Mercury in 1939 as a higher-priced companion car to Ford. Henry Ford purchased the Lincoln Motor Company in 1922, in order to compete with such brands as Cadillac and Packard for the luxury segment of the automobile market. In 1929, Ford was contracted by the government of the Soviet Union to set up the Gorky Automobile Plant in Russia producing Ford Model A and AAs thereby playing an important role in the industrialisation of that country.
The creation of a scientific laboratory in Dearborn, Michigan in 1951, doing unfettered basic research, led to Ford's unlikely involvement in superconductivity research. In 1964, Ford Research Labs made a key breakthrough with the invention of a superconducting quantum interference device or SQUID. Ford offered the Lifeguard safety package from 1956, which included such innovations as a standard deep-dish steering wheel, optional front, for the first time in a car, rear seatbelts, an optional padded dash. Ford introduced child-proof door locks into its products in 1957, and, in the same year, offered the first retractable hardtop on a mass-produced six-seater car. In late 1955, Ford established the Continental division as a separate luxury car division; this division was responsible for the manufacture and sale of the famous Continental Mark II. At the same time, the Edsel division was created to design and market that car starting with the 1958 model year. Due to limited sales of the Continental and the Edsel disaster, Ford merged Lincoln and Edsel into "M
Fireball Roberts
Edward Glenn "Fireball" Roberts Jr. was an American stock car racer. Roberts was born in Tavares and raised in Apopka, where he was interested in both auto racing and baseball, he was a pitcher for the Zellwood Mud Hens, an American Legion baseball team, where he earned the nickname, "Fireball" because of his fastball. He enlisted with the United States Army Air Corps in 1945, but was discharged after basic training because of his asthma, he raced on dirt tracks on weekends. In 1947, at the age of eighteen, he raced on the Daytona Beach Road Course at Daytona, for the first time, he won a 150-mile race at Daytona Beach the following year. Roberts competed in local stock and modified races at Florida tracks such as Seminole Speedway. "Fireball" Roberts continued to amass victories on the circuit, despite the changes in NASCAR, as it moved away from shorter dirt tracks to superspeedways in the 1950s and 1960s. In his 206 career NASCAR Grand National races, he had 32 poles, he finished in the top-five 45 percent of the time, in the top-ten 59 percent of the time.
He won both the Daytona 500 and Firecracker 250 events in 1962, driving a black and gold 1962 Pontiac built by car builder legend, Smokey Yunick. In 1961, temporary president of the Federation of Professional Athletes, was in dispute with NASCAR president, Bill France, over the Teamsters' Union affiliate – the FPA – which he and Curtis Turner had helped organize and which France was trying to disband. Unlike the banned Curtis Turner and Tim Flock, Roberts soon returned to the NASCAR fold. On May 24, 1964, at the World 600 in Charlotte, Roberts had qualified in the eleventh position and started in the middle of the pack. On lap seven, Ned Jarrett and Junior Johnson collided and spun out and Roberts crashed trying to avoid them. Roberts' Ford flipped over and burst into flames. Witnesses at the track claimed they heard Roberts screaming, "Ned, help me", from inside his burning car after the wreck. Jarrett rushed to save Roberts. Roberts suffered second- and third-degree burns over eighty percent of his body and was airlifted to a hospital in critical condition.
Although it was believed that Roberts had an allergic reaction to flame-retardant chemicals, he was secretly an asthmatic, the chemicals made his breathing worse. Roberts was able to survive for several weeks, it appeared he might pull through, but he took a turn for the worse on June 30, 1964, he had slipped into a coma by the next day. Roberts died from his burns on July 2, 1964. Roberts' death, as well as the deaths of Eddie Sachs and Dave MacDonald at the Indianapolis 500, six days after Roberts' crash, led to an increase in research for fire-retardant uniforms, it led to the development of the Firestone RaceSafe fuel cell, all race cars today use a foam-backed fuel cell to prevent fuel spillage of the massive degree that Roberts had. Fire-retardant coveralls would be phased in leading to the now mandatory Nomex racing suits. Roberts had lost his close friend, Joe Weatherly, in January 1964 at the Motor Trend 500, at Riverside, California. There were many sources reporting that Roberts was retiring, since he had taken a prominent public relations position at the Falstaff Brewing Company, that the race in which he was killed was to be one of the final races of his career.
Despite having his career cut short and having never won a Grand National title, Roberts was named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers. Other career accolades he won include induction into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1990, the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1995. In 2000, the city of Concord, North Carolina, named a street near Charlotte Motor Speedway in his honor. Former driver Ned Jarrett has stated. After Roberts' death, NASCAR mandated that all drivers wear flame retardant coveralls while on track, they instituted the five point safety harness, the special, contoured drivers seat, all still requirements on all NASCAR entrants. The "Fireball Run", named for Roberts, was started in 2007; this streaming TV "adventurally" series, headquartered at Universal Studios in Florida, covers 40 teams as they compete in an 8-day, 2000 mile race and life-sized trivia game to raise money for missing and exploited children organizations. The Fireball Run is credited with assisting in the recovery of 38 missing children.
In 2013 Roberts was nominated for induction in the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, North Carolina, he was included in the 2014 induction ceremony. The novel The Last Good Kiss by James Crumley features an alcoholic bulldog named Fireball Roberts. "Fireball" Roberts web site Fireball Roberts at Find a Grave Glenn "Fireball" Roberts at NASCAR.com Glenn "Fireball" Roberts at the International Motorsports Hall of Fame Glenn "Fireball" Roberts website and career stats by son-in-law Fireball Roberts driver statistics at Racing-Reference
Richard Petty
Richard Lee Petty, nicknamed The King, is a former NASCAR driver who raced from 1958 to 1992 in the former NASCAR Grand National and Winston Cup Series. He was the first driver to win the NASCAR Cup Championship a record, seven times, winning a record 200 races during his career, winning the Daytona 500 a record seven times, winning a record 27 races in the 1967 season alone. Statistically, he is the most accomplished driver in the history of the sport and is one of the most respected figures in motorsports as a whole, he collected a record number of poles and over 700 Top 10 finishes in his record 1,184 starts, including 513 consecutive starts from 1971–1989. Petty was the only driver to win in his 500th race start, until Matt Kenseth joined him in 2013, he was inducted into the inaugural class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2010. Petty still is active day to day, as a NASCAR team owner in the Cup Series and owner of Petty's Garage in Level Cross, NC. Petty is a second generation driver, his father, Lee Petty, won the first Daytona 500 in 1959 and was a three-time NASCAR champion.
His son Kyle was a NASCAR driver. His grandson, was killed in a practice crash at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on May 12, 2000, five weeks after Lee's death. Adam's brother Austin works on day-to-day operations of the Victory Junction Gang Camp, a Hole in the Wall Gang Camp established by the Pettys after Adam's death. Petty married Lynda Owens in 1958, she died on March 25, 2014 at her home in Level Cross, North Carolina at age 72, after a long battle with cancer. They had four children—Kyle Petty, Sharon Petty-Farlow, Lisa Petty-Luck, Rebecca Petty-Moffit; the family resides in Petty's home town of Level Cross, North Carolina and operates Richard Petty Motorsports. The Richard Petty Museum was in nearby Randleman, North Carolina but moved back to its original location in March 2014. Petty was born in Level Cross, North Carolina, the son of Elizabeth and Lee Arnold Petty a NASCAR driver, the older brother of NASCAR personality Maurice Petty, he began his NASCAR career on July 1958, 16 days after his 21st birthday.
His first race was held at CNE Stadium in Toronto, Canada. In 1959, he was named NASCAR Rookie of the Year, after he produced 9 top 10 finishes, including six Top 5 finishes. In Lakewood, Georgia in 1959, Petty won his first race, but his father Lee protested, complaining of a scoring error on the officials' part. Hours Lee was awarded the win. In 1960, he finished 2nd in the NASCAR Grand National Points Race, got his first career win at the Charlotte Fairgrounds Speedway. 1963 was his breakout year, winning at tracks like Bridgehampton. In 1964, driving a potent Plymouth with a new Hemi engine, Petty led 184 of the 200 laps to capture his first Daytona 500, en route to 9 victories, earning over $114,000 and his first Grand National championship. Joining in the Chrysler boycott of NASCAR due to the organizing body's ban of the Hemi engine, Petty spent much of 1965 competing as a drag racer. Petty Enterprises installed the Hemi in the new compact Barracuda and lettered "OUTLAWED" on the door, he crashed this car at Southeastern Dragway, in Dallas, Georgia, on February 28, 1965, killing a six-year-old boy and injuring seven others.
Petty, his father Lee, Chrysler Corporation faced lawsuits totaling more than $1 million, though Petty and his team came to settlements with the lawsuits within 1 month of the suits being filed. Afterwards, a second Hemi Barracuda was built, this time with an altered wheelbase and with Hilborn fuel injection; this car was lettered with a large "43 JR" on the door. The car was successful, winning its class at the Bristol Spring Nationals and competing in many match races against well known racers such as Ronnie Sox, Don Nicholson, Phil Bonner, Huston Platt, Hubert Platt and Dave Strickler. After returning to NASCAR once the Hemi was reinstated, Richard continued drag racing the 43 JR until early 1966. On February 27, 1966, Richard Petty overcame a 2-lap deficit to win his second Daytona 500 when the race was stopped on lap 198 of 200 because of a thunderstorm; this made him the first driver to win the event twice. 1967 was a milestone year. In that year, Petty won 27 of the 48 races, including a record 10 wins in a row.
He won his second Grand National Championship. One of the 27 victories was the Southern 500 at Darlington, which would be his only Southern 500 victory, his dominance in this season earned him the nickname "King Richard". He had been known as "the Randleman Rocket". In 1969, Petty switched brands to Ford, due to his belief the Plymouth was not competitive on super-speedways, he would finish second in points. Won back in 1970 by the sleek new Plymouth Superbird with shark nose and towel rack wing, Petty returned to Plymouth for the 1970 season; this is the car in which Petty is cast in the Pixar film Cars, in which Richard and Lynda Petty had voice roles. On February 14, 1971, Petty won his third Daytona 500, driving a brand-new Plymouth Road Runner and beating Buddy Baker, by little more than a car length en route to another historic year, making him the first driver to win the race 3 times, he won 20 more races and claimed
Chevrolet
Chevrolet, colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors. Louis Chevrolet and ousted General Motors founder William C. Durant started the company on November 3, 1911 as the Chevrolet Motor Car Company. Durant used the Chevrolet Motor Car Company to acquire a controlling stake in General Motors with a reverse merger occurring on May 2, 1918 and propelled himself back to the GM presidency. After Durant's second ousting in 1919, Alfred Sloan, with his maxim "a car for every purse and purpose", would pick the Chevrolet brand to become the volume leader in the General Motors family, selling mainstream vehicles to compete with Henry Ford's Model T in 1919 and overtaking Ford as the best-selling car in the United States by 1929. Chevrolet-branded vehicles are sold in most automotive markets worldwide. In Oceania, Chevrolet is represented by GM subsidiary, having returned to the region in 2018 after a 50-year absence with the launching of the Camaro and Silverado pickup truck.
In 2005, Chevrolet was relaunched in Europe selling vehicles built by GM Daewoo of South Korea with the tagline "Daewoo has grown up enough to become Chevrolet", a move rooted in General Motors' attempt to build a global brand around Chevrolet. With the reintroduction of Chevrolet to Europe, GM intended Chevrolet to be a mainstream value brand, while GM's traditional European standard-bearers, Opel of Germany, Vauxhall of United Kingdom would be moved upmarket. However, GM reversed this move in late 2013, announcing that the brand would be withdrawn from Europe, with the exception of the Camaro and Corvette in 2016. Chevrolet vehicles will continue to be marketed including Russia. After General Motors acquired GM Daewoo in 2011 to create GM Korea, the last usage of the Daewoo automotive brand was discontinued in its native South Korea and succeeded by Chevrolet. In North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks.
Due to the prominence and name recognition of Chevrolet as one of General Motors' global marques, Chevy or Chev is used at times as a synonym for General Motors or its products, one example being the GM LS1 engine known by the name or a variant thereof of its progenitor, the Chevrolet small-block engine. On November 3, 1911, Swiss race car driver and automotive engineer Louis Chevrolet co-founded the Chevrolet Motor Company in Detroit with William C. Durant and investment partners William Little, former Buick owner James H. Whiting, Dr. Edwin R. Campbell and in 1912 R. S. McLaughlin CEO of General Motors in Canada. Durant was cast out from the management of General Motors in 1910, a company which he had founded in 1908. In 1904 he had taken over the Flint Wagon Works and Buick Motor Company of Michigan, he incorporated the Mason and Little companies. As head of Buick, Durant had hired Louis Chevrolet to drive Buicks in promotional races. Durant planned to use Chevrolet's reputation as a racer as the foundation for his new automobile company.
The first factory location was in Flint, Michigan at the corner of Wilcox and Kearsley Street, now known as "Chevy Commons" at coordinates 43.00863°N 83.70991°W / 43.00863. Actual design work for the first Chevy, the costly Series C Classic Six, was drawn up by Etienne Planche, following instructions from Louis; the first C prototype was ready months before Chevrolet was incorporated. However the first actual production wasn't until the 1913 model. So in essence there were no 1911 or 1912 production models, only the 1 pre-production model was made and fine tuned throughout the early part of 1912. In the fall of that year the new 1913 model was introduced at the New York auto show. Chevrolet first used the "bowtie emblem" logo in 1914 on The L Series Model, it may have been designed from wallpaper. More recent research by historian Ken Kaufmann presents a case that the logo is based on a logo of the "Coalettes" coal company. An example of this logo as it appeared in an advertisement for Coalettes appeared in the Atlanta Constitution on November 12, 1911.
Others claim that the design was a stylized Swiss cross, in tribute to the homeland of Chevrolet's parents. Over time, Chevrolet would use several different iterations of the bowtie logo at the same time using blue for passenger cars, gold for trucks, an outline for cars that had performance packages. Chevrolet unified all vehicle models with the gold bowtie in 2004, for both brand cohesion as well as to differentiate itself from Ford and Dodge, its two primary domestic rivals. Louis Chevrolet had differences with Durant over design and in 1914 sold Durant his share in the company. By 1916, Chevrolet was profitable enough with successful sales of the cheaper Series 490 to allow Durant to repurchase a controlling interest in General Motors. After the deal was completed in 1917, Durant became president of General Motors, Chevrolet was merged into GM as a separate division. In 1919, Chevrolet's factories were located at Michigan. Y. Norwood, Ohio, St. Louis, Oakland, California, Ft. Worth and Oshawa, Ontario General Motors of Canada Limited.
McLaughlin's were given GM Corporation stock for the proprietorship of their Company article September 23, 1933 Financial Post page
Dave MacDonald and Ken Miles in Shelby Cobras finish one-two at Dodger Stadium in March 1963
Dave MacDonald in Shelby King Cobra Lang Cooper CM/1/64 at Riverside Int'l Raceway in 1964
Widow Sherry MacDonald (holding street sign with her husband's name), along with both son Rich and daughter Vicki (behind her), at Dave MacDonald Drive street dedication at housing community developed on the old Augusta International Raceway site in Georgia. Other racers pictured are Frank Warren (holding his own sign), Pamela Trivette (holding her father's sign), and T J Kelly. 2006
Rich MacDonald, Sherry MacDonald and Eddie Sachs III meet up for a 2016 Indianapolis 500 race day photo near the site of the 1964 crash.
Dave MacDonald's son Rich behind the wheel of 2017 Sebring Tribute Cobra released by Shelby American and Superformance. Finished in Dave MacDonald “Cotati livery” the car is modeled after perhaps the most famous of all Shelby Cobras, CSX2128. MacDonald ran CSX2128 to its first victory at Cotati Raceway in May 1963; also pictured is Shelby American photog Dave Friedman (in car) and Lance & Deborah Stander.
