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Derek, a couple of great videos, enjoyed both of them. A couple of notes of interest from the Petty Video.

Richard ran his first NASCAR Grand National Division race in Toronto, Ontario at the flat third mile paved track at the Canadian National Exhibition grounds. This was on July 18, 1958. He had raced in the convertible division but not the hardtops. Lee Petty won the race, 100 laps in his Oldsmobile. Richard also in an Olds finished 17th and was not running at the end with what they deemed "terminal vehicle damage".

In 1965 NASCAR banned the "Hemi" engine so Richard Petty quit in protest. He went drag racing. You saw the fellow working on the Barracuda and that was the Hemi powered match racer 43 Junior. His drag racing career came to a very sad ending on February 28, 1965 at Southern Dragway near Atlanta. Leaving the line something broke on the front end he had no steering nor brakes. The crowd was separated from the track with high tech safety equipment, a wire fence and a sand berm. The cars front wheel came off killing eight year old Wayne Dye who was standing with his father. Seven others were injured. It was a dark day in Richards life and although he tried drag racing again his heart was not in it.
 
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Derek, a couple of great videos, enjoyed both of them. A couple of notes of interest from the Petty Video.

Richard ran his first NASCAR Grand National Division race in Toronto, Ontario at the flat third mile paved track at the Canadian National Exhibition grounds. This was on July 18, 1958. He had raced in the convertible division but not the hardtops. Lee Petty won the race, 100 laps in his Oldsmobile. Richard also in an Olds finished 17th and was not running at the end with what they deemed "terminal vehicle damage".

In 1965 NASCAR banned the "Hemi" engine so Richard Petty quit in protest. He went drag racing. You saw the fellow working on the Barracuda and that was the Hemi powered match racer 43 Junior. His drag racing career came to a very sad ending on February 28, 1965 at Southern Dragway near Atlanta. Leaving the line something broke on the front end he had no steering nor brakes. The crowd was separated from the track with high tech safety equipment, a wire fence and a sand berm. The cars front wheel came off killing eight year old Wayne Dye who was standing with his father. Seven others were injured. It was a dark day in Richards life and although he tried drag racing again his heart was not in it.


I’m glad you enjoyed these Murray. The follow up information is exactly what I was hoping for. In the interview Lee omitted the entire drag racing part after the hemi was banned.
Thanks for letting us in on this. I can sure see why he didn’t want to bring it up. Terrible tragedy to live with.
The history of racing is truly interesting considering where some of these guys started and how they changed the face of the sport as the years went on.
 
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