My love for cars and racing continued as my
dad, my brother and I began to build our own
race cars and enter them in the Grassroots Mo-
me almost by accident when a college friend of
mine had borrowed so much money from me that
the only way he could repay me was by giving
me his 1970 Cuda. I owned that car up until a few
years ago when I met Richard Rawlings from the
segment of Garage Rehab in Ybor City and I ended
up selling him the Cuda. I had told him that I
had a ‘71 Charger and that led to a discussion
about turning the car into a Petty car.
At this point I should back up and tell you how
I got the Charger.
I’ve always wanted a ’71 Charger R/T. I know,
Petty never really drove an R/T and we know
this because his cars didn’t have the unique taillights
or the “shark gill” door accents that were
only on ‘71s and he didn’t start driving them until
the ’72 model came out. That’s cool, I like the
’71 R/T and its unique features. The 440-6 option
always enticed me as well. My ideal Charger R/T
would have been one of impact greens, no sunroof,
no vinyl top, bumpers painted
to match, 4-speed, front and rear