Tragic debut

[THE CHARGER PUNK]

a rare pic of talamadge princes daytona at his 1st and last race in nascar(ex-hilton car), looks like he was keepin up with glotzbach(glotzbach won the race),he died a few laps after the 1st pic was taken, as from mcg he was killed instantly by the hit to his door so i believe he was dead when this 2nd pic was taken(can see its talamadge prince car as he ran 78 while hylton prior 2 selling it ran 48)
apparently this car still exists, personally i couldnt own a car someone died in-MATT

[tan top]

i have read about that  fatal accident  a few times over the years ( tragic)  but never saw any pitcures of his daytona .  thats intresting the daytona still exists ,  any one know were its at   

[THE CHARGER PUNK]

apparently carolina bought by an annonymous person

[THE CHARGER PUNK]

yea kinda strange knowing the person is dead in the 2nd pic

[Ghoste]

It is strange (to understate).  I have heard something about the car still existing as well.
Would you want to own it?  I'm not sure I would.

[69_500]

I would definatley want to own it. Its a Daytona,

[hemigeno]

Here's the pic of Tab Prince that I bought from the NASCAR Archives several years ago:

[Ghoste]

I think the idea that somebody was killed tragically in the car would creep me out.  Does anyone know if it's being restored or left in it's as last raced condition?

[nascarxx29]

[THE CHARGER PUNK]

id think id get it for being a daytona but restore it and sell it , im with ghost it would just creep me out that princes last moments on the earth were in this car-MATT

[FastbackJon]

Makes me wonder what happened to the car that Earndhart Sr. was i n when hedied...

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

That is horrible .

69.242.44.136

[Shakey]

That is horrible .

69.242.44.136

What does this mean Chris?

[Troy]

That is horrible .

69.242.44.136

What does this mean Chris?

That's an IP address (the id of a computer on the internet). It means someone is posting under two user names to mask their identity. Of course, anyone with the right permissions can spot it easily.

Troy

[Shakey]

That's what I thought!

So....who is it?

[LilRedDave]

Makes me wonder what happened to the car that Earndhart Sr. was in when he died...

I believe it is sealed up in a NASCAR facility probably never to see the light of day again.

[Ghoste]

That's what I thought!

So....who is it?

And why?

[Blown70]

Why on the hood of the 99 car does it read 429?  Someone screw up the 6?

[Ghoste]

Overbore?

[Blown70]

Overbore?

Ok sure.  Just never saw it before.   

[Shakey]

That's what I thought!

So....who is it?

And why?

Curiosity

[BigBlockSam]

 

[hemigeno]

The ACCUS/FIA engine displacement limitation that NASCAR went by back then was 7 liters (or is that litres??).  Roughly 429cid.

Ray Nichels (car owner of the #99) I guess didn't like the insinuation that the Ford guys had any kind of an advantage over the Chrysler Hemi, so he changed his car's hood ID to 429cid.  It wasn't much of an overbore to take a 426 displacement engine out to 429 anyway, so it was a common practice with some teams even if it didn't show up on the hood.

NASCAR did routinely check the CID of the engines back then too, so they weren't normally able to get away with an illegal engine.

[Ghoste]

That's what I thought!

So....who is it?

And why?

Curiosity

No, I meant why would someone want to go to the bother of doing that?

[Charger_Fan]

I wouldn't mind owning that car. It's not the car's fault that it wasn't able to keep it's occupant alive.
Cool pics.

That's what I thought!

So....who is it?

And why?

Curiosity

No, I meant why would someone want to go to the bother of doing that?

Well, it's not me, so everyone can relax now.

[hemigeno]

It's not the car's fault that it wasn't able to keep it's occupant alive.

Put an asterisk by that thought.

Tab's car had an oil line come loose, and he spun out in his own oil - then got T-boned in the door.

I'm glad I don't have to worry about making the decision about what to do with a car like that.  There are pro's and con's no matter what you would do with it.

[Shakey]

It's not the car's fault that it wasn't able to keep it's occupant alive.

Put an asterisk by that thought.

Tab's car had an oil line come loose, and he spun out in his own oil - then got T-boned in the door.

I'm glad I don't have to worry about making the decision about what to do with a car like that.  There are pro's and con's no matter what you would do with it.

Wonder who was in charge of installing / checking the oil lines that day?

[hemigeno]

It's not the car's fault that it wasn't able to keep it's occupant alive.

Put an asterisk by that thought.

Tab's car had an oil line come loose, and he spun out in his own oil - then got T-boned in the door.

I'm glad I don't have to worry about making the decision about what to do with a car like that.  There are pro's and con's no matter what you would do with it.

Wonder who was in charge of installing / checking the oil lines that day?

I shouldn't have said that it came loose - it may have broken instead of worked its way loose.  I don't recall the exact circumstances, but I remember reading about oil from an oil line causing the spin.

Most of these independent small-time guys did not have professional pit crews, and a lot of times their crew consisted of friends or family members who could attend the race.  Tab had purchased the car from James Hylton, who was another independent owner/driver.  Hard to say how much real prep work that Tab or his crew had to do to the car, as it was the same car James had campaigned under #48.  Back then, it wasn't nearly as difficult to make the race if you had half-way decent equipment (and a race Daytona qualifies as halfway-decent equipment!).  There were probably about a dozen cars that were truly capable of winning the race, and the rest were essentially field-fillers. 

[Shakey]

It's not the car's fault that it wasn't able to keep it's occupant alive.

Put an asterisk by that thought.

Tab's car had an oil line come loose, and he spun out in his own oil - then got T-boned in the door.

I'm glad I don't have to worry about making the decision about what to do with a car like that.  There are pro's and con's no matter what you would do with it.

Wonder who was in charge of installing / checking the oil lines that day?

I shouldn't have said that it came loose - it may have broken instead of worked its way loose.  I don't recall the exact circumstances, but I remember reading about oil from an oil line causing the spin.

Most of these independent small-time guys did not have professional pit crews, and a lot of times their crew consisted of friends or family members who could attend the race.  Tab had purchased the car from James Hylton, who was another independent owner/driver.  Hard to say how much real prep work that Tab or his crew had to do to the car, as it was the same car James had campaigned under #48.  Back then, it wasn't nearly as difficult to make the race if you had half-way decent equipment (and a race Daytona qualifies as halfway-decent equipment!).  There were probably about a dozen cars that were truly capable of winning the race, and the rest were essentially field-fillers. 

I know how this works.

A few years back I was on the crew of the # 1 Canadian Tire Chevrolet in the CASCAR series up here in Canada.  Getting ready for the big race at the Molson Indy in Toronto, with many reps from CTC there to witness us run for the checkered flag, the driver's brother / cousin (can't recall) didn't seat the drive shaft in properly and it spun out on the warm up laps.  Didn't even get a chance to start the race.   

[Ghoste]

That sucks.  Way, way, way better than dead obviously but it still sucks.

[69_500]

I'm still in awe of who is posting under 2 different IP addresses, and for what reason.

[Ghoste]

Well, it isn't me either.

[Highbanked Hauler]

id think id get it for being a daytona but restore it and sell it , im with ghost it would just creep me out that princes last moments on the earth were in this car-MATT

               Absolutely EVERYTHING on that car would be bent.The shock wave that went through that car would have been unbelievable.         Hold  a steel bar in one hand and hit the bar with a hammer and you get the idea of what an impact does. I've done crash work forever and anything can be fixed,it depends on how much money you want to spend and what you can get for parts.  Al

[Mike DC]

Owning that car would be in interesting question.

Off the cuff, it's easy to read this thread and say: "Well, I sure wouldn't want that thing.  Too creepy."

But then again, we're talking about a REAL VINTAGE NASCAR DAYTONA here.  One that raced.  One that was owned by miltiple recognizeable drivers.  One that (because of its history) might be selling for a lot less than the typical going rate for such things.  It's enough to make a person re-think the superstition and maybe reason with themselves that the car is still an interesting historical item worthy of care & preservation.

 

[Ghoste]

It's only partly superstition for me (and susperstition doens't seem tome the right word but I don't know what is).  The other question is what to do with it.  Restore it to as raced?  Restore it to as wrecked?  Leave it alone and undisturbed like the Titanic or something?  And then what?  Send it to Talladega for display with Wellborns collection?  Sell it at B-J?  Too many questions.  I won't lie, if it were cheap I'd buy it but it will never be on my must acquire at any price list.

[69_500]

I would just want it because it is a race Daytona. Nothing more nothing less. Then again I'd take any street version of a Daytona too.

[Ghoste]

So what would your preferred course of action be with that one?

[69_500]

Purchase it, and restore it to as race trim. I'd put it back the way it was at the start of the race.

[arrow]

Maybe Doug Schellenger will chime in on this - Im pretty sure this car was up for sale awhile back , but I cant remember the details

[Mike DC]

     
Smart money says it'll probably get restored back to "un-wrecked" condition as the Hyton car.  That would be more recognizeable/likeable and easier to minimize the connection to the fatal wreck.   

Although I wonder if it's more interesting as it was sitting wrecked.  Seriously, how many Daytonas that are unrestored and still essentially in 1970 race-day condition?  "Survivors" in the old-car hobby are as rare & interesting as anything else.  It's not like a lot of 1969/70-era NASCARS are still sitting around ignored and in original shape.

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But the death in the car can't be ignored.  I wouldn't put the car's hulk very high on my want-list. 

If I was in control of it, I might try to approach the family/survivors of Prince and see if they had any thoughts on the issue of the car.  Who knows?  Maybe they'd say they're sure he would have wanted it restored, or racing again, or if they'd rather see it preserved, etc.