After Harry Hyde sued Jim Stacey for not paying the bills to keep the team going a court Judge ordered the Dodge Magnums (3 of them I think) and spare parts padlocked behind a fence in June 1978. Stacey rented this Chevy and an Olds and hired pit crews on a week by week basis to keep Neil Bonnet (and Ferril Harris for two races) going thru the end of the season. The financial disruptions (and the switch away from the superbly prepared Hyde Dodges) really messed up the rest of Neil's year with only one top-10 finish (after parking the Magnums) to show for his superior talents.

One of the very few times in the 80's when there was more than one Mopar on a race track. In 83 Cecil Gordon campagined this #24 Imperial (a former Negre Bros Mirada re-skinned) in ARCA and in the 8 cup races he managed to qualify for. As Buddy Arrington generally only ran the Dodge Mirada (either in all Blue or this blue/red scheme) on the short/medium tracks I'm guessing that's where this pix is from. Buddy suffered a down season in 83 (after his 1982 7th place in points effort) by finishing in the top 10 only twice. Cecil's best finish in the Imperial was 15th, but only had one DNF in his eight races. After the 83 season he sold the car.

Oops bud. Should be in the 80's section..;)

Buddy Bakers Pety built 71 Charger. This car raced thru the end of the 72 season (painted STP red) and then was sold to Ray Elder who raced it as a Charger until end of 77. It was then re-skinned as a Magnum for the 1978 season and raced until 1983 in ARCA. The car was discovered last year virtually intact (as a Magnum) in a junkyard in SoCal and is now owned by Mr. Darryl Kinnane who (as of our last correspondance) is restoring it though he is waffling between making it a Petty Magnum, or putting a Charger body back on it and making it look like this picture. I have been trying to persuade him to keep it as a Magnum, as it is the only one (other than Marty Robbin's in the Talledega museum) still in existance!

Cecil's last machine for CUP races was this #24 Chrysler Imperial. I believe I read somewhere that this car was Norm Negre's 81 Mirada (which was run approx 8 times by Dave Marcis, Rick Wilson, and Randy Becker during the 81-82 seasons) and was reskinned to an Imperial (as it was a bit cleaner for the superspeedways) and then sold to Cecil just before the start of the 83 season. Cecil managed to qualify for 8 races (though he tried on several more instances) with 15th being his best finish. After the end of the season Cecil sold the car and retired. The car probably made its way to ARCA though hard to say.

Painted and built by Dave Irwin.........I own the car and I just like to display it!!!!

Hey thats's mine wooooooooooooooooohooooooooooooo

The GTO and the Wildcat are both mine.I burned the paint on the roof of the Buick,that's why it looks dull.I took it home after the show and sanded the area with 12000 paper.That helped a bit but to really correct it would mean a repaint or a vinyl roof(neither of which I'm willing to do.
The Pontiac was done box stock with added foil,a black interior,and then Modelwaxed.Came out nicely for not much effort.

very true!!! he had 11 or more entries

Check out who it is built by. This is the man!!

What a way to start a career in the big time,Neil knocked off Richard Petty for his first two wins at Richmond and then Ontario.

This picture is more likely to be from 1987.

Mike Miller drove this car in 1979.

I believe this picture is 1976, Trickle drove a 1977 Firebird in 1977. I don't believe he had the Mustang anymore in 1977.

One of Petty's Chargers in its final season (1977) colors. These cars raced up until the January 1978 Riverside race, then were replaced with newly built Magnums.

Buddy's 74 Charger in its 1977 season colors. Buddy alternated between this Charger and a 1974 bodied Road Runner (with an almost identical paint scheme) from 1974 to 1977. Both cars were re-skinned as Magnums for 1978.

Petty at speed in the first half of 1978 in his Magnum. Richard had 7 top five finishes (including a pair of seconds and a pair of thirds) before he bought a used Monte Carlo from Cecil Gordon in late July 78. The switch to Chevy actually resulted in Petty doing worse. He should have stuck with the Dodge and eventually he would have gotten the handle and won a race.
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Thanks for all these comments!

Pat

After Kyle cut his teeth in early 1979 racing the Magnum in ARCA (winning at Daytona on outing #1) he raced in five CUP races starting with the AUG 79 race at Talledega, where he finished a very impressive 9th. Too bad he didn't keep the blue/white color combo, as it's far more attractive than the colors here.

A great photo of Kyle Petty's ARCA Magnum. Might be at Daytona, or at a later race. The blue/white colors really make the car look sleek.

An interesting photo taken w/i the last two years of one of Petty's 71 Plymouths that a collector found in a junkyard out west and had restored to running condition, and races on the vintage circuit. Who ever did the resto did an outstanding job, as the car looks like new.