Classic movie
 

One advantage to working nights is that I'm still wide awake at 5:40 in the morning. That's especially good when AMC is showing "The Last American Hero," which is loosely based on the life of Junior Johnson. It came out in 1973 and has a lot of good racing scenes featuring footage from actual NASCAR races. It's amazing how cool those cars were compared to the "car of the future" models that NASCAR uses now. If you haven't seen the movie, check it out sometime.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070287/

I've seen it
 

Was several years ago . But I really enjoyed it . I was in the Army with a guy that lived next door to The Petty family . Had many picture's of him with Richard . Some of the stores he told . Would have made a great movie. Wonder if he made it back from Nam. Was in NCO Infantry at Fort Benning Ga. 1969 . I had a 66 Plymouth Belvedere two door hard top bench seat 4 speed . And he had a new yellow 69 Road Runner . I transferred to Scout Dog School the last day before graduation. By my choice. Gave up E-6 to get in .

They did make a movie about Richard Petty back in 1974 called "43-The Petty Story". It stared Richard Petty (playing himself...talk about type casting), Darren McGavin and Noah Berry Jr. Tells the story of how Richard got started in stock car racing. Not the best car movie ever filmed...but not the worst by a long shot. If you are a Richard Petty fan, it's worth the search.....

Will have to see if I can find it .
 

I followed NASCAR when I was young . Fireball Roberts and many others. Didn't have favorire Car . But guess the Mopar's and the raw power the Hemi had did have a effect on me. Since the first nice car I purchased was a year old same as new 66 Plymouth Belvedere two dr Hard top with bench seat 4 speed and 361 engine. But the guy I was in the NCO school who lived next to Petty and was good friend's with all the family told me some wild stories. And believe most where true . Bruce my friend had new 69 Yellow Road Runner. And I got to drive it. posting a picture took of my Plymouth that my brother took and sent to me while in Nam . I don't have any of it .

I really didn't have a favorite car until I started following Richard Petty in the Mid-70's. He was always my favorite driver and so I became a fan of Mopars. I was never a big Plymouth fan as I liked the "upscale" trim levels of the Dodges better, but when I first saw the Superbird I just knew I had to have one. (Wish I still had it...a yellow 4-speed Hemi car) I remember all the people back in the day that would laugh at it....the same people that would kill to own one today....
I visited his work shop/Museum in Raddleman (Spelling?), NC many years ago...it was truly special. In my mind, Petty made NASCAR (what it use to be, before cookie cutter cars). He did many things back in the day to get an "advantage" over the others....sometimes they worked, such as mounting the body to one side of the classis to make the car handle better...to some ideas that didn't, such as the vinyl top that came loose during a race. those were the days...not creating....just looking for an advantage within the gray area of the rule book. Unlike Smokey and his "banana" race car (65-66 ?) Fun times.....