NASCAR Lore - Famous Cars

Famous Cars

• Fabulous Hudson Hornet

  In the early 1950, Marshall Teague dominated stock car racing in NASCAR and USAC winning 27 of 34 events driving the lightweight, monocoque machine. Herb Thomas switched to the car in 1951, and went on to win the championship. He then dominated the 1953 Grand National season in the car.

• Aero Warriors

  In 1969, Ford introduced the Ford Torino Talladega to Grand National competition. The car featured a slick, aerodynamic fastback design. A year later, the Plymouth Superbird was Mopar's answer to the Torino. The Superbird featured a protruding nosecone, a massive rear wing, and was introduced also to lure Richard Petty back to Plymouth.

• Bill Elliott's Melling Racing Ford Thunderbird

  For several seasons in the mid to late 1980s, Melling Racing led by Bill Elliott produced a stable of Ford Thunderbird machines that saw much domination at superspeedways. In 1985, Elliott piloted the car to 11 poles and 11 wins. Among the victories included a dominating win at the Daytona 500, the fastest-race to date at the Winston 500 at 186.288 mph, and the Southern 500, which clinched the Winston Million. Elliott set the all-time pole qualifying record at the Daytona 500 in 1987 at 210.364 mph, and the all-time NASCAR qualifying record later that year at Talladega at 212.809 mph. Elliott also set the summer race pole record at Talladega at 209.005 mph in 1986. From 1985–1988, Elliot's dominating Ford won 25 races, 29 poles, and the 1988 Winston Cup Championship.

• Richard Petty's STP #43

  From 1972-1992 (driver) and 1993-2000 (owner) the famous car #43 entered by Richard Petty donned the easily recognizable "Petty blue" and red colors of longtime sponsor STP. During the 1993 season, the car #44 was utilized, Petty's first season after retirement.

• Dale Earnhardt's #3 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet

  After carrying the yellow and blue colors of primary sponsor Wrangler during most of the 1980s, Dale Earnhardt and RCR switched to the full-time sponsorship of GM Goodwrench for the 1988 Winston Cup season. Earnhardt had been sponsored by GM Goodwrench for two part-time years in the Busch Series, and as an associate sponsor in Cup for several seasons. Earnhardt's trademark black #3 became a fixture on the circuit, and contributed to his "Intimidator" nickname. Following Earnhardt's death in 2001, Kevin Harvick took over the ride, but the number was changed to #29. Speculation continues for 2014, after Harvick leaves Childress, that Austin Dillon (Childress' grandson) will use #3.

• Jeff Gordon's #24 DuPont Chevrolet

  Jeff Gordon's first career Winston Cup race was the season finale at Atlanta, and he the series full-time in 1993. From 1992-2010, Gordon's #24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet entry sported the colorful, popular, and widely recognizable DuPont paint scheme. From 1992-2000, the car was painted in the classic "Rainbow Warriors" scheme, and from 2001-2010, the paint jobs were updated to include a trendier design including flames, and various special paint jobs. Starting in 2011, DuPont's involvement was scaled back with the team, but still remained as a part-time/associate sponsor until DuPont sold the Performance Coatings to The Carlisle Group at the end of 2012; Gordon's last race with DuPont was at the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, which he won; it had been the only track with ten or more starts that Gordon had not won.

• The Tide Ride

  The Tide Ride is a nickname given to entries that have carried the sponsorship of the detergent brand Tide, a subsidiary of P & G over the years. It is known for its three-tone orange, yellow and white paint scheme. Introduced in 1987 by Hendrick Motorsports, the most famous and most successful term was that of Darrell Waltrip, who won nine races including the 1989 Daytona 500 in the famous livery.