of the NASCARs here.Ithink he’sgot around
100 Nascars in his collection.” At that point, the
bronze No.3Chevy Camaro that was raced in
this year’sDaytona 500 by Austin Dillon rumbled
into the assembly area.
ARichard Childress Racing owned car,itw as
being driven at Goodwood by their Andy Petree,
who fell foul of the dreaded Molecomb corner
in practice and smashed it to pieces. After an
overnighter by his mechanics, plenty of whacks
with abig hammer andaspot of welding, here
it was ready to race again, albeit looking like
something fromaMad Max movie. Looking at
the beaten-up car,Anthony said: “I love these
NASCARs. They are built like an outside kludgie
(Scottish for toilet apparently). They do exactly
what it says on the tin.To drive them isavisceral
experience. The power,the directness of the
steering, the brakes, the stiffness and strength of
the chassis, everything.Ijust love driving them.
Mine isamuseumcar soI’ve got to take care of
it. Anyway,it’sabit down on power.It’sonly got
750 horsepower so I’m not going foratime. The
last oneIdrove had over 900 horsepower.”
The oldest NASCAR at Goodwood this time
was the 1981 Buick Regal in which the great
Richard Petty won his seventh and last Daytona500 and was driven by ‘The King’sgrandson,
Thad Moffitt.
On the Indycar front, three times Indy 500
winner Johnny Rutherford madeawelcome
return fromTexas to drive the 1978 ‘First
National City Special’ from the Indianapolis
Motor Speedway Hall of Fame. He told me: “This
car was driven by Al Unser Snr and is the only
one to win all three 500-mile races in one year.
That was Indianapolis, Pocono and Ontario,
California. It’s40years old but it runs good up
the hill. This is the first time I’ve driven it and I
heard that Al said it wasn’teasytodrive.”
Jeremy Smith took part in the ‘Shoot Out’ in
his 1993 Penske Chevrolet PC22 and hadahigh
speed, heart-stopping moment near the top of
the hill but kept his foot in and still postedatime
of 50.31 seconds, which was good enough for
fifth overall and earned him the award for Fastest
Post-1970 Single Seater.His speed across the
finish line of 138.9mph was the fastest of all and
was 4mph quicker than the overall winning VW.
However,you don’thavetogofasttohave
fun. The older the vehicle, the faster it seems.
Imet aladycalle dShelly Rossmeyer,aHarley-
Davidson dealer from Daytona Beach, Florida
who along withabunch of friends brought overDrift champVaughn Gittin Jnr screams his Mustang. ‘Hoonitruck’ gets an airing.
Jeremy Smith’sPenske
was fastest single seater.Johnny Rutherford.
Indy Champ Dario Franchitti in Bowes Seal Fast Special.
Sir Jackie Stewart looking good at 80.
RichardPetty’s ’81
Daytona 500winning Buick.Anthony Reid drove Dale Earnhardt Jnr’sCamaroNASCAR.
Chevy NASCAR.
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