Richard Petty selling part of personal collection
NASCAR legend Richard Petty said that after “accumulating stuff” for 80 years, it’s time to sell some of his most famous cars, trophies and other items.
Petty’s iconic day-glow red and Petty blue 1974 Dodge Charger is going on sale at an auction on May 12 at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas, along with more cars, his 1981 Daytona 500 trophy and other items. Petty drove the ‘74 Charger to 31 wins, including his fifth Daytona 500 championship.
“We’re putting some pretty good stuff out there, some winning Daytona cars, some rings, some watches, some knives,” Petty, 80, told The Associated Press.
“You name it, we’ve got a little bit of everything. Some of the uniforms, some stuff that really meant something in my career.”
Petty said he has more cars and memorabilia than he can showcase in his museum in Level Cross, North Carolina. Having been to the museum I know exactly what he means.
“We feel like we’ve got enough stuff in the museum, and none of my kids really want it,” he said.
“They’ve got enough of their own junk. So we got together and said, hey, let’s throw some stuff out there and see if there are other people interested in some of the stuff we’ve got.”
Petty won a record 200 NASCAR Cup races, including seven at the Daytona 500, and seven Cup championships.
Also up for auction will be a trophy for Petty’s first Southern 500 win in 1967, part of his streak of 10 consecutive wins that year. The collection also includes a leather racing jacket signed by Petty, race programs, license plates, posters, trading cards, plaques and clothing.
Petty remains involved in NASCAR as the owner of Richard Petty Motorsports. Rookie Darrell “Bubba” Wallace now drives the No. 43 car Petty made famous, and he finished second with it at the Daytona 500 to open this season.
The auction will be conducted live and online by Julien’s Auctions, which estimates the value of the ‘74 Charger at $400,000 to $600,000 and the 1967 trophy at $100,000 to $200,000.
Keep in mind race fans Enduro and Blast from the Past Vintage Cars action takes place at Grandview Speedway on March 24th at 1 p.m. The first of six dates for the doubleheader shows. And then on Saturday, March 31st, starting at 12 noon, Freeto-the-Public practice action featuring all sorts of race cars. Great chance to see what the racers will be running in the new season. It is also a great opportunity to purchase a season ticket that gives you a reserved seat for all Saturday night events during the 2018 season. *** Bridgeport, NJ Speedway now has the support of Design for Vision/Sunglass Central for their new 3/8th mile speedway. The track will now be called the Design for Vision/Sunglass Central Speedway at Bridgeport.
Donald R. Manning, Sr. learned his trade in the New York City optical labs as well as in the military. He opened the first Design for Vision location in February of 1955 in Morrisville. In the mid-70s, a second location was added in Langhorne and operated by Don Manning, Jr. Over the years, other locations have been added so that in addition in Morrisville, stores now are located in New Hope, Newtown, Jamison, and Levittown in addition to three Sunglass Central locations that specialize in the area of both prescription and non-prescription sport sunglasses, sold for both fashion and function alike. All eye wear is still produced in the Manning’s state of the art lab in Morrisville.
Don Manning, Jr. is a former competitor at the Bridgeport Speedway with eight feature wins to his credit in the Small Block Modified ranks. Manning returned to competition with his son, Roger, midway through the 2016 season. Roger Manning first competed in the final DA’s Auto Body & Repair Rookie event of the season and then several weeks later, went out and captured the first feature win of his career in Bridgeport’s Crate/Sportsman division. The Mannings returned to weekly competition for the 2017 season where Roger picked up another feature win and was in the thick of the point championship battle right down to the final checkered flag of the season. For the 2018 season, the Mannings will make the move into Bridgeport’s headline division the Spirit Auto Center Big Block Modifieds.