Will Jeff Gordon win it all?
Q: You lucked out on the Jeremy Mayfield pick at the beginning of the year for your Chase for the Nextel Cup predictions. Who do you think will win it all? — Abbey P., e-mail from the Carolinas
A: Well Abbey, luck really had nothing to do with the Mayfield pick in late January. I felt that given the team’s results in the last quarter of 2003, it was coming together very well. Jeremy is also a very competent driver — albeit at times candidly and truthfully outspoken. His win at Richmond proved that!
As for who I think will win the first-ever NASCAR Nextel Cup, I’m still going with my original pick, Jeff Gordon. Now, with that said, I’d love to see Mark Martin win it all. He really deserves it and would be a wonderful Nextel Cup champ. Can he do it? Yes he can.
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Q: I enjoyed your column on Roger Penske and his AMC race cars. However, didn’t he have lots of trouble in 1970 with the Javelin? Also, what about the Rebel funny cars on the drag strips? Do you remember them? — C.S., Michigan
A: Yes and yes. As for the Penske Javelins in Trans-Am, they blew quite a few engines that first year, but in 1971, as the column explained, they won the championship for AMC. Penske also went through similar problems with the AMC Matadors he ran on the NASCAR tracks, but was able to win five races for the brand during the years 1973 through 1975.
As for that Rebel Funny Car, you are no doubt referring to Hayden Proffitt’s 1967 Grant’s Piston Rings-sponsored Rambler Rebel SST, which was powered by a 400-plus cubic-inch nitro-powered AMC engine. He had limited success with the car, and although never a big winner, Proffitt was a big hit on the match-race circuit.
There were also the AMC Javelin funny cars of Dick Bourgeois and Marv Eldridge a few years later — and the most successful AMC racing effort in the quarter-mile, the Pro Stock Hornet of Wally Booth. Dick Maskin and Dave Kanners also ran a potent Hornet X.
Booth, who was previously a Chevy racer, won the ‘74 NHRA Gatornationals and then U.S. Nationals and World Finals in ‘76 with a Hornet Pro Stock.
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Q: How many races did A.J. Foyt run in his career in NASCAR? I know he won several big races. — Paul P., e-mail from Pennsylvania
A: Paul, A.J. ran a total of 128 races from 1963 to 1994. However, he never started more than seven races in one season, and was known to run only the big-paying events. His record includes seven wins, six seconds, four thirds, eight fourths and four fifths. He also won 10 pole positions.
Foyt won Daytona’s Firecracker 400 in 1964 and 1965, Riverside in 1970, the Atlanta 500 and Ontario 500 in 1971, and the Daytona 500 and Ontario 500 in 1972. Foyt’s best performances came in the early ‘70s. In 1971, he raced to four pole positions, two wins and four top-five finishes in only seven starts. He showed similar stats in 1971, earning three poles, two wins and five top-five finishes in just six starts. He truly is one of the world’s best ever racing drivers.