Benny Parsons might not have had the amount of overall wins that bigger names of his day had, but he was good on one major account: consistency. He might not have been in first place, but you would be sure to find him in the top ten so long as the car held out. 1973 was the first year he took home the Championship, and he only did it with one win. Several cars, including a Ford and a Monte Carlo, but it was this car, the #72 Chevelle, that earned him the win, and some notoriety. On Lap 13 of the race at Rockingham, he was involved in a crash that ripped just about everything off of the right side of the car. Sheetmetal, bars…all of it, gone. The accident wasn’t his fault, but it looked like the season was done. But once the Chevelle had been towed back to the garage, other teams started bringing over parts and offering help to get Parsons back out onto the track. Rival cars were cannibalized and even other team members got to work on patching the Chevelle back together. Whether it was because they were cool with the easy-going Parsons or because they knew that Richard Petty was the sure-fire champ if they didn’t is up for contention. What isn’t debatable is that over an hour later, the Chevelle limped back out onto the track and while it was in no way racing, it did put enough laps on the board to clinch the championship for the year.
This isn’t a recreation of that car, it is that car, fully restored, prepared and ready to go. The 427 and T-10 four-gear are present, the Ford rear axle is under there, even the original gas cap is present (it was taken as a memento by a team member, and was returned for the restoration.) You are getting the full deal NASCAR as it was in 1973, good bad and otherwise. It’s nowhere close to street legal and never will be but who gives a damn when you’re looking at one of the rowdy big-block movers from NASCAR’s halcyon days? This is when winged Mopars, monster Fords and big-block Chevrolets that all were more than just facsimiles of a car didn’t just race, they went to war. Drivers pushed themselves to the limits in cars that could be outright tempermental. Foot-to-the-floor was the name of the game and tempers could and would fly at will. This is what made NASCAR popular when the nation as a whole saw the Allison brothers and Cale Yarborough beat each other stupid in the grass at Daytona in 1979. And you can own a piece for yourself, a car whose reputation is backed by a gentleman racer and the connections that teams make with each other when they aren’t at war on the ovals.
B. Parsons was also a great announcer on TV for years, this is what NASCAR race cars should be, not some spec. racer.
You see plenty of stock sheetmetal in there, and while it’s hard to tell, stock frame in the firewall area. Yep, those were the days. Interesting, that drooped front clip was apparently legal,what no profile gauges? (snort/lol)
The drooped front end is the first thing I noticed on the car. Pre-template days I guess!
’73 Chevelles two days in a row! Bitchin’!
MBGChuck is spot on! – Benny was real, himself and not contrived – He was a big man and needed the big ‘office’ in that Chevelle
Nascar as it should be!
By far, my favorite racer and announcer. I met him once at the California Speedway.
Out: The Car of Tomorrow
In: The Car of Yesterday
This is what I think of as a real “Stock Car”.
the pie cut fender dropped front sheet metal looks so good , would look great on a road going street version .
This is what a real NASCAR car looks like, not the shit on the track we have now.
Indeed, what NASCAR SHOULD BE!!!