'65-'65 NASCAR racer found
 

Ragtop Man suggested I post this here, I'm a new member so I hope this is the proper forum. The linked video shows the former Worth McMillion NASCAR Pontiac 2+2 being rescued from the Virginia woods.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10200369098215551

Please note, the video isn't mine and I don't know who rescued the car. I hope to get more information from Worth's son John so I can follow the restoration. I have done a fair amount of research on this car though, NASCAR Pontiacs are sort of a hobby of mine. I do know that the car was originally a real '65 2+2, white with red interior, that Worth McMillion converted into a NASCAR Grand National Series race car for the 1965 season. 1965 was an unusual year in NASCAR, Chrysler had withdrawn its factory funded teams over a dispute over the legality of the Hemi and the Ford teams were the only teams receiving factory funding. In order to generate more fan interest by promoting a diverse starting lineup NASCAR funded a few Mopars and Chevrolets and provided incentives for other makes to compete. This car entered approximately 35 races between 1965 and 1968 and scored eight Top-10 finishes and one Top-5. Along the way the sheetmetal was updated to the 1966 bodywork it currently wears, the 1965 sheetmetal was no longer eligible after 1967.

Everyone has heard the legends of NASCAR's moonshine roots, Worth McMillion was the flip side of that story. Worth's day job was as a Federal agent working for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms tracking down bootleggers, moonshiners, and moonshine runners. Then, on the weekends he competed against some of those same people on the race track!

Here are some photos of Worth's car as it originally appeared:

http://images59.fotki.com/v222/photo.../196319-vi.jpg

http://images56.fotki.com/v701/photo.../196323-vi.jpg

http://images108.fotki.com/v191/phot.../196315-vi.jpg

I find it interesting that the only lettering to survive is on the doors. You would think the 1/4 lettering would've survived in some form.

The car in the video had a 66 front end

http://s11.postimg.org/tzfc60i9v/Sk_rmklipp.jpg

The race trailer off to the side in the video also was #83 on it so this is probably a racing family and that was the grandfather/fathers car sitting down behind the homestead. It's not uncommon in racing families for the next generation to keep the same number of the older generation or such as the case in the Petty family successive numbers, Lee had #42 Richard 43# Kyle had #44 and Adam was #45.

The reason for no lettering on the car was possibly the conversion to a 66 never was completed, or they lost the sponsorship. The doors could be used because little difference in the sheet metal. Reasons for re-skinning cars back then were ineligibility for a certain year because of rules, and also there was a bonus for winning a race with a current model year as opposed to a car 2-3 years old. This kept the cars appearance current and I know many cars that were just re-skinned in later metal over the winter if the car was still viable to run another season.

Dealers sponsored a good many of these cars and wanted the latest model year on the track due to the win on Sunday sell on Monday aptitude.

Didn't know that but it make sense. I often wondered how they could afford and
have the time to build new cars each year. Interresting these NASCARS, we didn't
have, or have, this kind of racing in Sweden.

Powhatan is about 45 minutes from me, and that looks like my driveway in the video. Funny. Cool find and even cooler story.

Many questions: box or open frame? Restorable?

Its going to need a few fenders ,quarters, doors and a frame for starters

Bunch of '65, 66, 67 2 doors & 4 door big Pontiacs out there for sheetmetal,
just have to know where to look ;)

Maybe this was a back up car ? The letters are red on the 65 in the nice pics from track and this one has black letters and 66 front ?

There were no backup cars in that era of NASCAR, you wrecked it you were finished until you repaired a car or built another. Teams like Holman and Moody or the Pettys could have a backup car at their shop, but they didn't travel with 2 cars in a trailer as they do now, everyone had an open trailer capable of hauling 1 car. A privateer would not have the luxury of any spare cars in the mid 60s the purses were hundreds of dollars, not millions like they are now.

The sport was regional centered in the Southeast, not nationwide as it is now and many of the races were still run on dirt tracks or horse tracks at this time. At this time a little guy could still run NASCAR and this car and driver was one of those little guys. We had that I know of 5 local drivers from my area in NW PA that drove at the Daytona 500 and a couple finished in the top 15 in this era.

How was it verified that it's the same car? I see a 66 front clip where the 2+2 gills were cut out and patched, also a 66 Bonneville tail panel.

I always wondered if any 65's raced in NASCAR...were there any others? What about old 65 B-Body drag cars too?

Johnny Ditch from NY state in the Jamestown area raced a 65 Catalina a few times in NASCAR. The car was white, with black and white stripes roughly about 4 inches wide over the hood, roof, and deck lid running the length of the car. The number was U2, anyone that would have seen the car would remember the different paint scheme.

They had I believe an SD NASCAR 421 engine from an earlier year, I know it was a 421 because I talked to him about the car, just not sure if it was a SD or not. I do know it was an expensive engine built by one of the better engine builders of that time.

Johnny Ditch ran Pontiacs up until about 66 and then kind of retired out of the sport, always painted the same way and number was always U2. Later on he drove a few cars for other owners locally at our dirt tracks..

Deadhead, that's porn. I know it when I see it. May have been slow as January mollasses, but damn is that a race car or what?

To the original post, are you claiming that the car being trailered with the 66 front clip is THE car driven by Worth?

Are there any other pics or vids that further establish a provenance?

The numbers on the doors are not the same as what's on the door on the car in the video and the front clip is anybody's guess...

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't that a Catalina hood in the first color pic showing the front of the car?

...I apologize if I am seem like a nay-sayer but the video is not convincing me.

I agree 100% There is so much going on in that Pic.

The Middle Pic looks like a '66 hood to me. Hard to say for certain.

If it were me I'd transfer the NASCAR parts to a suitable donor. Looks like a lot of headaches otherwise.

Any of you guys look at Keith Vrabecs pictures of when Roy Tyner first built his GP and all the changes along the way the car went through? These cars change colors all the time and after the car is wrecked, they're not going to pay a sign painter and a painter every time they have to change sheet metal. Back then the numbers were put on in a pinch with masking tape when they were in a hurry to get to the next race. Cars got painted with whatever paint they had lying around, sometimes it was brushed on house paint.

Sheet metal on oval track cars would probably be changed at a minimum of twice a year, lots of patching and straightening in between too. If you made a full year you were damn lucky, or the car sat more than it was raced. If you made it through the full year without changing sheet metal you were going to change it over the winter for sure. Original parts on this type of a car mean nothing. This is a full contact sport, it's not like drag racing where sheet metal never gets changed.

Probably the reason the chrome louvers were removed from the 2+2 fenders is because they require no chrome trim on the cars because during contact these pieces fall onto the track and puncture tires. My guess rather than loosen all the nuts it was quicker to burn that section out with a torch and patch it. Or it was a take off with slight damage from a body shop, or a junkyard someone had already cut the chrome off of it. Body shops and wrecking yards are the main source for sheet metal for these cars because if there was slight damage it couldn't be used and many times they were given away for free. Free is just the right price for a privateer.

When I was running and building oval track cars a wrecking yard sponsor was almost a necessity to get sheet metal plus keeping an eye out for dead cars that looked like their next stop was going to be the crusher. Buying a car for a few bucks to get the good body parts and scrap the rest meant the body parts were free. I can't even count how many fenders, quarters, bumpers, door skins, etc. I've changed on oval track cars. The amount of oxygen and acetylene used and the piles of coat hangers I've used to weld bodies back together would be a good amount.

Chances are the roof is the only original sheet metal part on that car and the
VIN is probably long gone too. It would be unusual if there is a title for the car either. The only way to know if it's the car, is to believe whoever has been entrusted with the car all these years, most likely a family member. This wasn't a Petty car or an Allison car, it was some guy that filled the field that had a dream of being a big time race car driver and make some money along the way. There's no payoff to lie about the history of the car because it will never be really valuable.

This is great that Worth is getting some press!!! These pictures came from the Racers Reunion web site. Ray Lamm is on that site. Before you guys speculate too much about what the car may or may not have been let me provide a little information. I worked for Worth during that time frame (1962 to 1967). I was with him when he picked the car up at Brauer Pontiac and was with him at most of the races that the car ran. As you can see in one of the photos, he had a second car, the # 80 '64 Pontiac. I worked on the cars and sometimes drove the second car for him. The '65 started life as a Catalina, (it was not a 2+2 as reported) equipped with a 421 HO Tri-Power motor, 3 speed manual trans and radio & heater delete and dog dish hub caps. I remember well the evening that we picked the car up, it was brand new, we drove the car from the dealership in Powhatan, Va. to Amelia, Va where Worth's shop was. We stopped at the local truck stop for something to eat and to show the car off before taking it to the shop to start the conversion to a GN race car. The car got about 50 highway miles put on it. The 421 was removed and replaced with a '62 SD motor. The car was originally white with red lettering. Towards the end of the run for the car it was getting pretty beat up so the body panels were straightened and the car was painted a pale yellow and the numbers were black. By then there was no sponsor so there was nothing else written on it. Actually I think someone gave him the yellow paint was the reason for the change of colors. I believe it was a gallon of paint that got mixed by mistake. Grand National cars were only allowed to run 3 years so we made an attempt to convert the car over to a '66 so that it could be run another year,the car was taken to the race in Richmond in the spring of '68 but the NASCAR officials would not let him run it. They said didn't look enough like a '66. I believe the last race for the car was the fall race at Martinsville in 1968. The car then was parked and parts off of it were used to build a '67 GTO. The GTO was never finished, Worth then bought a '69 Gran Prix but this was never finished either. One thing that I can't explain, (it's been a long time ago) is the right front fender, i recall that Worth got a bunch of '66 stuff from Lacy's Auto Parts in Richmond to make the change, that is a 2+2 fender (you can see where there trim was) however it doesn't look like it ever had any paint on it but we painted the car before we went to Richmond. The car has been setting in the woods for 45 years, I guess maybe the paint just faded away.
I hope this answered any questions or doubts about the car.....it is the real deal