Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Atlanta Motorama at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. 4-26 and 4-27

GET YOUR MOTOR RUNNING



 



From: www.henryherald.com

HAMPTON — There will be monster trucks, old racing cars, lawnmower racing, and even a car valued at one million dollars at

The two-day event will feature some of the newest and most unique motoring machinery in the industry for car enthusiasts.

One of the featured events will be a 1964 Plymouth at the Petty’s Garage display, which will give event visitors an up-close view of a car raced by Richard Petty out of one of the most successful garages in NASCAR history.

Of Petty’s 200 race victories, all but a handful of them came under the Petty Enterprises banner.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Petty’s first Daytona 500 win in 1964, the same year of his first of seven series championships.

Petty’s car will be part of the Petty’s Garage display at Motorama that will showcase the high-performance speed shop based out of the same famous compound that housed Petty Enterprises through decades of NASCAR victories and championships. Petty Enterprises has amassed a total of 268 NASCAR Sprint Cup victories. While a majority of those wins have come from Richard Petty, other race winners include Lee Petty, Buddy Baker and Marvin Panch.

Another feature at the event will be a restored 1930 Duesenberg Model J valued at $1.2 million, which is owned by Fayetteville’s Jack Miller.

The Duesenberg brand was considered to have produced the fastest and most luxurious cars in America during its prime. The Duesenberg Model J is indeed a rare vehicle, as less than 500 were built between 1929 and 1937. They were driven by the upper echelon of society with the likes of gangster Al Capone, movie star Clark Gable and billionaire Howard Hughes having been known to own Duesenberg Model Js.

The Model J owned by Miller was originally owned by the family of Lew Wallace, a Union Civil War general, who later went into politics and was also the author of “Ben Hur: A Tale Of The Christ.”

Originally purchased in 1998, the car has been restored as close to its original version as possible. That has meant seeking out parts for the car that are both original and authentic — including the car’s eight cylinder, 420 cubic inch engine.

“It’s important to me to do that, but it’s more important to whoever the next owner will be. There are so few Duesenbergs out there,” Miller said. “You only see about three or four of these come on the market each year, so people are going to want them to be authentic as they can be.”
this weekend’s Atlanta Motorama at the Atlanta Motor Speedway.
DIRECTIONS

Richard Petty photo from : http://blog.classiccars.com

Should be a lot of fun.

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