Recently on The AMC Heritage Forum, Member AMX posted a link to this page in a discussion in “The AMC Racing Heritage“.
Here is the discussion on The AMC Heritage Forum: NASCAR Intrepid in AMC Racing Colors
Here is the link that AMX posted on the Forum: http://www.amcrc.com/penske.html
This is what is on that page, which is on the AMC Rambler Club’s
national web site. Very interesting read for those of us who remember
these particular days:
AMC Colors Fly Again in NASCAR
How many of you were watching the November 9th broadcast of the Winston
Cup NASCAR race and thought you saw a Red, White and Blue number 12
race car on the track? No, your eyes weren’t playing tricks on you, it
was part of Penske Racing’s celebration of its 50th NASCAR win.Penske’s
Ryan Newman was driving the #12 Red, White and Blue Dodge, and put it
on the pole and finished in the top 5. Want more details and some
pictures including a photo taken this week of the #16 Allison Matador, read on. But first I must give credit where credit is due.
The pole story is from the Jayski NASCAR web site at : http://jayski.thatsracin.com
The second story and all pictures where taken from the Penskes Racing web sit at: http://www.penskeracing.com
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#12-Ryan Newman won the Budweiser Pole
for the Pop-Secret Microwave Popcorn 400 at North Carolina Speedway
with a speed of 155.577mph [the same speed he ran in practice] in a
very cool looking car [the old red-white-blue colors of Penske Racing],
#25-Brian Vickers was the first driver out and held onto the pole until
Newman went out 46th and last, Vickers had a speed of 155.505mph and will start 2nd.This is the 2nd race in a row Newman and Vickers share the front row.
This is the third race in a row that Newman has won the pole. The rest
of the top five are #19-Jeremy Mayfield, #74-Tony Raines [his best
career start] and #9-Bill Elliott. Missing the race are #02-Hermie
Sadler, #71-Tim Sauter and #79-Rich Bickle.
Sunday November 9th’s activities had an early start for the Penske drivers as both were featured guests in the morning’s press conference kicking off the team’s celebration of their 50th win (which came at Michigan in August when Ryan visited Victory Lane).Part of the celebration sees Ryan’s ALLTEL Dodge decked out in the same color scheme as Penske’s first venture into NASCAR in the early 70’s, when Mark Donohue piloted the Penske AMC Matador to the team’s first win at the old Riverside race course in California. Rusty’s Miller Lite Dodge this weekend carries the famous and popular black and gold colors that adorned his Penske racecars from 1991 through 1996 — a period that produced 30 of the wins for Penske Racing South.
Don Miller, President of Penske Racing South, led the conference and
provided several historical facts and figures to the media gathered in
the infield media center. Bobby Allison wore his actual AMC Matador
racing jacket during his speaking portion of the conference. Show cars
of the Matador and Rusty’s Pontiac were positioned out in front of the
media center for photo opportunities.
“I grew up watching Rusty running that black and gold car out there
winning those races and I’ve seen the old photos of the Matador that
Mark Donohue and Bobby (Allison, who also was a featured guest in this
morning’s press conference) raced so successfully. I’m just so thankful
to have the opportunity to be a part of Penske Racing and I’m proud of
the winning history the team has.”
Chris Jenkins of USA Today wrote in his column that this weekend is a return
to “old-time” racing where tire management is the key concern for
drivers and teams and it will be highly unlikely that fuel mileage will
come into play. The track surface here is just so abrasive that speed
falls from the Goodyear Tires here from the very first lap of a run.
That is definitely the case here, even in practice and qualifying.This
morning’s practice was delayed some 15 minutes by an unusually slick
condition down between Turns 1 and 2. Track officials addressed the
issue and the cars finally hit the track just after 11:35 a.m. Jeremy
Mayfield paced the early part of practice and rookie Brian Vickers was
impressive as usual. But, just has been the case throughout the year,
Ryan and his Matt Borland-led team came alive and showed their practice
prowess.When the abbreviated session ended at 1:20 p.m., Ryan was atop
the speed chart with a lap of 23.533 seconds. Mayfield’s 23.675 was
second, Todd Bodine’s 23.711 third, Johnny Benson’s 23.713 fourth and
Bobby Labonte’s 23.849 fifth. Rusty struggled through practice and was
29th overall with a 24.093.
“We’re gonna’ have to pull one out of our (rear end), like we’ve done many
times before,” he said as he hovered over the shock dyno with crew
chief Bill Wilburn, engineer Roy McCauley and shock specialist Tom Hoke.
There are 46 drivers scheduled to make qualifying runs in the time trial
session, which begins at 3:05 p.m. The Penske cars are late qualifiers,
with Rusty scheduled out 42nd in the order and Ryan set to bring
pleanty of drama into the equation as he is the final driver to take to
the track.
The qualifying session began on time and Vickers was the first to take to
the track. He put up some fast numbers — a lap of 23.544
seconds/155.505 mph — for all the other competitors to shoot at. Jimmy
Spencer was noticed with his 23.681 and Tony Raines pulled a shocker
with his 23.574. Mayfield was out 28th and duplicated to the thousandth
Raines’ lap. He’d be put in front because of his point standings. Bill
Elliott was a threat with his 23.632. Rusty made good with his promise
to somehow pull out a fast lap as he clocked in with a 23.680 (154.611
mph).
But all eyes were focused on Ryan when he took to the track as the last man
out. He was on the wheel when he turned in a 23.533 (155.577 mph) to
knock Vickers from the point and pick up his 11th pole of the season.
Ryan and Vickers will make up the front row here on Sunday, with
Mayfield, Raines and Elliott rounding out the top five. Joe Nemechek,
Rusty (seventh), Spencer, Jeff Burton and Greg Biffle round out the top
10 starters.
Sunday’s Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn 400 has a 1:00 p.m. EST starting time and features live coverage by TNT-TV and MRN Radio.
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RYAN NEWMAN (No. 12 ALLTEL Dodge Intrepid) -
Wins 11th pole of the season, 18th career pole in 79 starts.
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“This is a good racecar. It’s done a lot of great things for us this year,
and the guys have done a great job. I’m just the guy who gets to sit
behind the wheel and steer it. To me winning 11 poles in a season means
a lot from a driver’s standpoint. It ties second for all-time most
poles in a season. To me, that’s a great feat. There’s definitely a lot
of great drivers in that category.
“He (Brian Vickers) is doing a great job. I told everybody that
last week in the media center. He’s obviously a talented young
individual who’s doing great things. Their team is working good
together. They’ve had a great opportunity to do a lot of testing. I
think that’s definitely paid off.
“To me it is what it is. We can’t manipulate the point system in any
way. We’ve had our failures this year, and that’s taken a lot of points
away from us or however you want to word it. To me to be a Winston Cup
champion you’ve got to have everything.
“Qualifying to me is no different than the race itself. I can wheel
the car, and I do a good job doing it. The guys do a good job setting
up the car. We’ve got to have a good engine. You put it all together
and you get great results. I think that’s what it’s all about. It’s not
just me and Matt (crew chief Borland). It’s everybody on the team.
“I didn’t watch (qualifying). Brian had a great lap, but ours was good enough.
“It’s not just Bill Elliott. It’s Darrell Waltrip and maybe Pearson
or Bobby Allison. It’s a great honor to be in the history of Winston
Cup and be second for all-time (poles in a season). It’s a great
effort. I’m not going to wear the jacket myself. It’s the team that’s
given me this opportunity. That’s the way I look at it. It’s an honor.
“I don’t think the short tracks, but I can think of three or four
DNF’s off the top of my head, Daytona, California, Talladega, that
resulted in crashes, and they’re far from short tracks. Michigan engine
failure in the first race, and those four races ended up in DNF’s and
that turned our season around. I remember saying engine failures last
year resulted in DNF’s and I sat up here last year saying shoulda,
woulda, coulda, too.
“We’re here to win races and beat the competition. Beating the
competition could mean two different things. It could mean winning on
Sunday or getting the most points for the Winston Cup championship.
It’s all how you look at it.”
I just love it when someone like Penske pops out with a great AMC tribute…
-mike
P.S. I wrote a post about the Penske days with the AMC Matador last October, in the Night Show post:
http://www.route66rambler.net/2006/10/10/night-show
