Helping Hummers[Photos 116-0401.SCUP 7A and 7B on disc.]Every maker of 4x4s supports the Tread Lightly! program that promotes the responsible use of public lands. So it's no big whoop that Hummer is on board with such a wholesome idea too. But Hummer has gone one step beyond and established "Hummer Helps," which aims to promote socially responsible four-wheeling and included a grant of $100,000 for Tread Lightly! to distribute to clubs helping restore recreation areas that need care and cleaning.
To demonstrate what they have in mind, Hummer helped clean up a trail in Drummond Island, Michigan, where they found this derelict International Travelall to tow out of the woods and back into our collective consciousness. We'd forgotten all about the Travelall... Hey, we left some luggage in one back in 1972 while shuttling to Detroit Metro! Was there a gray American Tourister two-suiter in there?
Racecar Of The MonthRichard Petty's '72 Plymouth Road Runner[Photos 116-0401.SCUP 11 color transparency]When Richard Petty was creating the legend that would lead him to be called "The King," it was mostly in a series of Petty Blue Plymouths. But Petty's last Plymouth added a second color and ushered in a whole new era for NASCAR.
With the factories fleeing in the early '70s, NASCAR needed to attract new sponsorships to the series. In 1971, they snagged the R.J. Reynolds to sponsor the whole series and create the Winston Cup. And every team was going to need a consumer product sponsorship of its own if it was going to thrive in what NASCAR now calls the modern era.
The agreement Petty signed with Andy Granatelli's STP was a state-of-the-art sponsorship. Theoretically, STP "bought" the Petty Enterprises team, but in reality it was a long-term sponsorship agreement intended, at first, to promote STP's then-new oil filters. It was generally assumed at the time to be the most lucrative deal in stock car racing up to that time.
But would Petty now drive an "STP Red" car? In a compromise, the mostly Petty Blue Plymouth wore thick STP red stripes to create a distinctive paint job that would last as long as the sponsorship right through the 1990s.
Petty had a stunningly successful '72 season winning 8 of the 31 races, finishing in the top five 25 times, and in the top 10 a full 28 times. But by the time of Talladega's Winston 500 (the 11th race of the season) Petty was swapping between his trusty Plymouth Road Runner and a sleeker Dodge Charger (both ran 426 Hemi engines). All of Petty's wins came in the Plymouth and he won the Winston Cup that year, but it was obvious that the Dodge was the future. During the '73 season, Petty would be in a Charger at every race.
So the '72 Road Runner was Petty's last Plymouth.
This One Is OptionalNHRA Museum Invaded by a Mazda![Photos 116-0402.SCUP 10 on disc]Photo courtesy of the NHRAIn a direct assault on all that is V-8 and wonderful about drag racing, the NHRA inducted Abel Ibarra's rotary-powered Mazda R-100 into the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum in October. It becomes the first sport compact-or import-racer so honored by the museum. The induction ceremony was part of the NHRA Sport Compact Night of Champions. Who knew that there were sport compact champions?
"We're really excited to bring Abel's R-100 to the Museum," said Sam Jackson, executive director of the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum. "I helped organize Abel's first exhibition run at an NHRA national event in this dynamite car, and he made a great pass that had the crowd on their feet and folks in the tower wondering what they had just seen. Abel's classic Mazda R-100 is the perfect car to represent sport compact pioneers in the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum."
The R-100, which was built in 1996 and campaigned by various drivers until this year after Ibarra moved on to an RX-7, joins a hall that is otherwise almost completely filled with V-8 machinery. Should you visit the NHRA Museum in Pomona, California, we suggest shielding your children's eyes when approaching Ibarra's Mazda.