Exclusive Photos THE RETURN OF PETTY's 43 JR CUDA

This is one of the most important historic stock-body design drag racing cars in existence. Raced during 1965 by Richard Petty when Plymouth was boycotting the '65 NASCAR Grand National stock car series, this car was found and restored and the photographs were taken 50 years after it won B/Altered at the 1965 NHRA Springnationals.
This was the second Barracuda the Petty family built. The first car was destroyed in an unfortunate and tragic accident that Richard Petty had in February 28, 1965 at the Southeastern Dragway in Dallas, Georgia outside of Atlanta. That car had featured a carbureted 426 Chrysler Hemi with a crossram. The car here was updated with the injectors developed by the race engineering group at Chrysler led by Ramcharger members Tom Hoover and Tom Coddington. It was believed Dale Reeker was involved in the construcution of this second car to prevent further suspension breakage related issues.
Richard Petty returned to NASCAR right here at Bristol in late July 1965. He would run short track races until the final event at Rockingham, but also fulfilled some later racing dates with the homebuilt Hemi'Cuda. The car was sold and went through a few issues before being located by Ron George, who is a collector not of racecars but of 1965 Barracudas.
Ron and his brother Rich had the car for decades in unrestored condition but gave it to the Petty Garage operation when that opened up at a commercial enterprise. This original shop is responsible for how it looks here.
Its public appearance at the 50th Anniversary of the race allowed Geoff Stunkard to photograph the car in its most-remembered location. For the first time, these photos are being seen as a collection, as well as addition background on the 426 Hemi race era of 1965, the car's history and its significance as a restored racecar today. #barracuda #thundervalley #richardpetty

[@plymouthdie-castreplicas]

Thanks so much for this video, Geoff. I love early A-body Barracuda drag cars like Petty's 'Cuda, McEwen Yeakel 'Cuda or Golden Commandos 'Cuda. Iconic Mopar drag terrors!💪🏁

[@pocketfuloducks1062]

This is a really cool story, thanks for sharing it

[@moparconnection]

Hey! Thanks for the shout out, Geoff! Great work as always.

[@gszookeeper77]

Thank you. Appreciate the mention from a week ago.

[@vincentenk4449]

Keep it up Geoff! I ABSOLUTELY miss the magazines, I've always been a big fan of your articles. Thanks for doing this for us!

[@gszookeeper77]

Thabks. Truly appreciate the response. It ain't perfect but I going to keep working at it.

[@RoyMiller-d8y]

M enjoying your channel Geoff 😊

[@dh2360]

Grew up building Petty scale models of his 1960s and 1970 race cars even if it was all before my time, still enjoy the classic stock car races.

[@dale_mopar_mathews]

crystal clear photography Geoff , well done from Dale

[@gszookeeper77]

Thanks, buddy.

[@geezer4962]

Thanks for showing this, love the original "funny cars".

[@nzsaltflatsracer8054]

Turning a 65 Barracuda into a straight axle gasser takes all the ugly out of them. After a lot of hunting & scrounging I have all the period correct stuff to "fix" mine.😃

[@gszookeeper77]

Tried yesterday. Went to voice mail.

[@perrylankford4269]

After the tradgety, it was reported that Richard Petty never drove in another Dragrace.

[@gszookeeper77]

And research proved that was not the fact. The win at Bristol is obviously the most visible evidence. He never drove the car involved in the accident again...

[@moparnut6286]

😎👍🇺🇸 DA 💣

[@roberthill2219]

Please call Jim Hall, Geoff. He lost your number. Please.