The famous 1970 Plymouth Road Runner Superbird driven by 'King' Richard Petty shown here on display at the Richard Petty Museum. (Photo courtesy of C. Kirkman at Flickr.com)
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NASCAR: There has never been a more beautifully sleek stock car than the Plymouth Road Runner Superbird or its near-twin, the Dodge Daytona. In the golden era of American muscle cars, these high-winged aero warriors with the pointed nose were superfast on the superspeedways.
Indy car: So many iconic cars to choose from, but two choices are Parnelli Jones-driven machines. The 1963 Indy 500 winner, one of the last of the front-engined roadsters to win, was a beautiful #98 J.C. Agajanian Special known by the nickname “Calhoun.” Four years later, Jones was back at the Speedway behind the wheel of the “Whooshmobile,” the four-wheel drive turbine-powered machine in day-glo orange. Jones was within sight of the checkered flag when a $2 part broke and denied the turbine a victory. The Speedway changed rules for the following year, resulting in Lotus cars with a triangular shape that looked as much like a doorstop as a racecar. And I can’t fail to list the blue and yellow Johnny Lightning-sponsored cars that carried Al Unser to two consecutive titles in the early 1970s.
Sprint Cars: So many cars – so little cyberspace. Any of the mid-70s Maxwell-built cars were aerodynamically sleek and beautiful but I’ll opt for the jet-black R&H Farms #40 sprint car driven by local Midwestern heroes like Dick Sutcliffe, Thad Dosher and Eddie Leavitt. Simple, clean and beautiful.
Sports Cars: From the era of Steve McQueen’s movie LeMans, the Gulf-sponsored Porsche 917s were among the most beautiful cars ever in their blue livery with orange striping.
Enough from me. Now it’s your turn.
Jade Gurss is the owner of fingerprint, inc., a sports publicity company. He has written two New York Times Best Sellers, including what is believed to be the biggest-selling motorsports book in American publishing history (Driver #8 with Dale Earnhardt Jr.). His two decades of publicity and marketing experience involves nearly every category of motorsports, including nine innovative seasons as NASCAR publicist for the Budweiser brand and Earnhardt Jr. His blog can be seen at:
http://fingerprint.typepad.com
The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or Speed Channel
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