Maurice Petty's Engine Shop: A Working Museum of NASCAR History! (Petty Brothers Racing)

Richie Penny's car was collected as well. Her dad wouldn't even mess with an engine unless it was on one of these stands. That's the way he did things back then. But that's off 1970. First engine we ever built for the Craftsman truck. We're about to walk into what was Maurice Petty and Associates engine shop. We're going to talk to Maurice's sons here. They got all kinds of history packed in here. It's insane. Dingdong. Come on in. Working on all 426 here today. Got a hose with us. I'm Timmy. Is this stuff you do every day? Just roll Hemies around. Yeah, obviously we do. Richie Petty. Hey, Mark Petty and Ramsey Pett. Hey guys. Hey y'all. What is this place? What are we standing in right now? This is what used to be Maurice Petting Associates. Actually, Petty Brothers Racing, Moonshine Speed Shop, Petty Shine, Chief Shop. Anything else you want to come up with? Some have called it. Can y'all name it something of a functioning museum? Yeah, that's that that's a better way of putting it. When you hear Patty Brothers, we're the Penny Brothers. So, what do you want to see now? Uh, I guess we can start with the old stuff. Where's all the old stuff? How far back you want to go? As far as you got. Well, you can. We go back to the to the beginners. We'll start right here. This is where we do our u our little YouTube channel. We do a little we bring in old guys and we do a little question and answer deal. And we're actually learning stuff from these old guys, but people that worked with our dad, worked with our uncle. But we have all these artifacts and stuff we've put in here that we've collected through the years that our dad collected, our grandmother collected. It's cool to us. We don't really know what we got, but we just know it's what we grew up with. I got a question about this garage door right here. Is someone just put that up one day and decided to put a man door in and Okay, this building originally was built back in 1971, back when uh 72 when they were uh getting into the kit car days and they originally built these buildings. They were going to rent them out for individual race teams to come in here. They was going to service them with with the kit car and service them with parts and they could rent out a bay. Well, the economy went to you know what during the 70s. So the the money dried up and Chrysler pulled out. So then this became a storage building. What was it Mark 91? Yes. Somewhere around 91. We moved down here. We our old shop we used to be up there in the old shop on the corner where all the petty started. Lee started, Richard Marsh started, Kyle started, and that's where we started. Yes, it's the weight room up there, and that's where we started. Okay. So, we moved down here in ' 91. And uh so anyway, we built these offices, and daddy said, "Well, we may need to expand, so leave the doors." So, so he just built around it. So, that's that's where that comes from. But this engineering right there. Yeah. But that's that's originally what that was for was uh it was going to be three three different race shops down here for people to rent out. Huh. But anyway, that's pretty cool. When we bought this building and 5 acres of land off of Petty Enterprises, well, Petty Properties, but this is the old shop. That would be the wait room up there. I guess you went through there a couple of months ago. You might want to get into it later. We was talking about that old Rusty Wallace car. That's That's one of those cars. The engine's out of it, but everything else is just like a come off the racetrack. We got old helmets in there from 1950, 1990s, and whatever. The flag itself, that's from the 1979 Daytona 500. Oh, here it is. Maurice Petty and Richard Penny, Bobby Alice, and Donnie Allison, and Junior Johnson's all signed. I just can't get I haven't caught up with Kale. You had been trying to get Kale to sign it for 10 years, but you know, it's hard to hard to get Kale to sign anything. So, we're waiting on that. We got all the stuff that goes back to 1949 when uh Patty Brothers racing, which was Julie and Lee Petty when they started. This is a Is this a sticker or like a water slide or something? That's what they used to put on the on the cars. This is an original. This would go up there like the driver's door. Like this year they got the 75th anniversary decal on all cars. That would have been the version. This is an original from that year. So this is what they one that never made it to a car and is older than my dad. He is older than all of us. That's 54. There can't be that many like examples of something like this left in the world. Not not not anywhere but here in NASCAR. Well, this just we're looking that they survive. This is something if you keep up with our Twitter, we we posted this. But these the in 59 they give each driver a medal just for participation award, I guess. But uh I don't know of anywhere I've ever seen these but here. The first Daytona 500. Each driver got one. So there'll never be a first one again. Yeah. Wow. We got the Lee Petty's Hall of Fame ring. We got Maurice Petty's Hall of Fame rings. And this here is the very first trophy. Petty racing. Lee Petty won it in October 1949. So there was only eight races running 49. Mark, I think that's right. So this is one of eight and that come from your neck of the woods. Pennsylvania's from above. We would be saying wow a lot during this I'm sure there's just in this we could spend hours just in this office and you still have all these engine parts and cars and well not all of them obviously but we got a few. We're we're we're a bit of hoarders so we don't throw nothing away but it's kind of nice now. I do want to correct you Mitch. This is a working museum. Just a museum. Now, here's working on my hoses right now. This bottom part of this, this is the 79 championship with the daddy's coat. There's his belt buckle from Western Cup. Champagne out of Victory Lane there. There's a picture of him back there. The awards banquet and all the little awards. So, you know, we we change it up every now and then, but this is kind of neat cuz we got all these old chicks and things and u Ralph Nhard. Yeah, Ralph. right here. This is Richard. This is our other grandfather, Red Miller. That's Lee Petty. And that's Ralph Nhard. Maurice Petty took the picture. Wow. So all that that's that's some greatness in that in that photo right there. There you go again. Wow. Look here, Logan. Speaking of him, he got a mechanics award in 59. I told you he was the first guy through the tunnel at Daytona. And Red Miller. Kenneth Miler. Keith Williams. Kale Yarboro's first cup win. He was the car owner. He was sort of a satellite builder of the home of Mooney cars right here in Randomman right down the road. Richard's first win, he sent Red Miller with him. That's that was his top mechanic at the time. When right here, I mean, you just you just shoot from in here, but won't get too far in here. This is this is where I do I got all my pictures and stuff that when we do our little archive digs and stuff and we make some videos and stuff. This is where we keep all our pictures. What is this thing here? This cabinet. Richie, go ahead. No, you tell them. Richie, you got it. Mark, you got it. Go ahead. Take over, Mark. Man, you know more about it than I do. 64. And this was in the back of the trucks. And this was this was just a uh a piece that they, you know, it might have been earlier than that cuz there's pictures of it with like that 413 back. Hang on. I got this. Uh, so the 413 was the motor before they ran the Hemis. So, I'm going to think it it was 62 or three. There's 64, right? Is that the picture of it? Yeah, it's in the back. You can't see it hardly, but that's it's in the back of the truck. Picture was the same cabinets with the earlier. Okay. Well, it might be 64. That's before me. I'm a 68 person, so that goes before me. It was in their trucks in the early 60s. And tell us the part of the story. Lee had his Oh, yeah. Well, grandfather used to keep it up in one of his old buildings. kept his golf balls and all his lawnmower parts where he worked on his lawnmowers and stuff and then they he they he was done with it and he's going to throw it out and we still use it to this day. We're going to make some waffles on it next week. Yeah. There you have it. Two mechanical awards. The daddy won. I guess this one that's either 64 or 67. Which one is that one? I can't 67. Yeah, 64 is in the NASCAR hall of fame. That's where that one's sitting. So, we got this one here. He's the first engine guy in the Hall of Fame, wasn't he? Well, yeah, but I mean, he's P Enterprises. He's owner, crew chief. I mean, you name it, he did it. This is off Pete Hamilton's pit. Uh, this was a pit sign. You'd see you'll see him out there holding up, tell him to thank and show the back out of it. I still drink seven up to this day. But that's off 1970 P. Hamilton Daytona 500. Um, Tallaladega both wins that year. And then that's a nose off of it. The actual car. Well, I don't know if that was actual. That was just one laying around. We're going to call it is today. Yes, it is. Real one. That's the one. See, that's the that's the way it looked on the car. Watch you step. Oh, there's my glasses. I can't see. As we shuffle by the five in the corner. This is 1950, I believe. This is 52 Darlington. This is Lee Petty, 42. But besides 24, that's Julie Petty. That's his brother. He was driving that day. But he was mostly known for being a a car owner mechanic. He was probably the best mechanic of all the Petties. What's going on in this picture right here? Wilsboro 72. Bobby Allison driving for Junior Johnson. and Richard and Bobby had a little bit of a feud going on since ' 68, but it kept going on and on. Well, I think at this race Richard went on to win it and Bobby ended up in the backstretch. These guys come out of the stands ready to fight Richard cuz this Junior's home track, right? They're going to take up for Junior Johnson. I think they'd been up there sipping on that White Lightning. Well, Daddy, he's he's waiting on him. He picked up that helmet. He he cleared them. He he he decked them and laid them out. That's right before he hit that old captain. He out there for years. I got one that looks like the around and find out face. Oh yeah. Oh, you don't that's when that was his bodyguard. You didn't mess with Richard Petty. If you mess with Richard, you got Marsh. Is there another picture where that'd be cool if there was another frame where there's like, you know, like mid contact. You know, it's just that back in them days, people didn't take a lot of pictures and that was just that just be a happen stance that somebody got that one. That's crazy that that this one was even taken. Yeah. Oh, yeah. 125. And that's one of them or that's it. That's the one of all the Daytona wins. That's the only thing they won in in the qualifying races. So that's kind of a a neat thing. And Richard only won or Petty Enterprises only won one pole position. That was 1966. So of all the success, they spent more time worrying about winning the race than the pole positions, I guess, in the qualifying races. That makes sense. Yeah. Well, their their record shows it. What is that you're leaning on right now? This is a R5 P7 Dodge engine from 2002 3 somewhere in that neighborhood. This is actually how me and you started talking, wasn't it? You was interested in this engine, this this style engine. Yeah, we actually uh right after you called, you must have called somebody cuz like we got it sold now. So anyway, and this one over here is a spec headed Dodge motor that uh was it Hooters Pro Hooters Pro Cup or Yep. Uh, and and actually we did better with the cast iron heads than we did with that. I because that cylinder head never really was meant for that block. Is that a that that was an R block? It's R3 block just like the That's an R3. Yeah. Okay. Well, that's the problem was 59° heads with 48° block, right? Yeah. And see how it's got that was for a W 7 or a W8 head cuz it's got the extra bolt holes on the bottom. See how it's got the extra bolt holes? When we first that would be for these we started this deal. It was it was an R. Same same deal. Same premise. That's a different block. Then it went to R1 and we had a couple of R2s and then it went to R3. So well the reason why we got engines like this cuz we we we actually built the engines for Richard's truck program 95 to what 04? No. Uh well yes but we we work directly for Chrysler there from Right. But but that's where those engines come from. We was part of that. Yeah. And we did the development work for the Chrysler short track program. That was 03 cup engine came from. That was 034. That's a W7 headed motor right there. So that that was only about a year or two that it it the Yeah, that was actually the first engine. You can uncover if you want to, Mitch. That was the first engine we ever built for the Craftsman trucks and it ended up becoming pit stop truck. What year were this put together? 96. 96. So this is probably when did Dodge start doing the truck series 95 95. So this is what like the Dodge truck series origin engine pretty much. Pretty much. Yeah. And we were basically running a street car engines against race engines at that time. At that time. Exactly. Did this share architecture with like the LA small block exactly things? That's about all I know about Mopar. Need to know about that's that's you're spot on right there. Spot on. Wow. See, I'd never, you know, you know about the R5 and the R six, but I always wonder what came before that. And it would have been the R3, which was the or just the R1. The the the the first ones we built was for your late model in '95. We had the T original TA blocks working and it went to an R block. Yep. And then the R1 finally came in and then the R2 only did a couple of those and then R3 took over. Yeah. It's confusing for us to bring the camera over here. Yeah. There's a little history of the block. What most people call a X block is actually a K block. That was out of the TA block. Exactly. Right. This one right here. Yeah. And and when we first started this program, our dad called one of his old friends and needed that block. So, we were building all our stuff off of that. And wasn't that basically the Keith Black block from the Trans days? Yeah. From the Trans 70s. Yes, sir. They were lighter than That's what TA is. Yeah. And you got a 184 bow tie block. Is that an SP2 in front of it? Yes. I was trying to figure out where that one come from, but yeah, that's what this is. Uhhuh. And what is this? This the just hanging out here. Um, we're actually restoring the 74 Daytona 500 winning car for a customer and we're actually waiting on it to get blasted right now. And as soon as we do, the body man's on standby to paint it. But that engine that was rolling through here that you asked me, that's actually going in that car. It's got a complete race transmission from 1970. All that's actually 71 uh engine that probably came from that did come from here. But I we dug it out of um Huntsville, Alabama. Huh. Uh what was that? B&B or RNR? It's RNR. RNR Speed Shop in Huntsville, Alabama. two old fine gentlemen and they had been sitting down there since Tallalade of 71 or two. Yep. And I don't know how they some old dirt car driver was actually running it in dirt and it it was in foul shape when we got it. But you know, typically daddy he wouldn't have painted the blocks like that. But all see how look how the freeze plugs are done. Yeah. And all the safety wiring. That's definitely traces of Petty Enterprises from back in the day. And it was like that when you got it? Yeah. All I did was clean it up. And my daughter actually helped me do the epoxy because that was another one of our dad's uh trademarks was putting epoxy around the the frost plugs. That's the interesting kind of stuff like Yeah. I mean, it's like I said, he just they always went the extra mile here, wouldn't you say? Well, it's like they always told us that their their success didn't come from no one big thing. It was all the little things added up together. When other people was having stuff like that fall off, their stuff was staying in. Well, and they raised so much they, you know, they about seen everything. So, if they had a problem, they made sure it didn't happen. Yeah. Exactly. Have you done this thing? Yeah. But I didn't make a power pool. I was like, you know, I guess my nuts turned to raising, so to speak. I I didn't want to tear it up. I mean, I can't That's Well, I call that the unicorn. You're not going to find another engine like that with all the complete stuff. the bell housing, the rat roster intake, which is all magnesium. I mean, one of the old Chrysler engineers told me that was either 75 or 100 pieces between all the Chrysler beams of that that's got a separate oil pump on the inside. It's a scavenge pump. So, there's two oil pumps on this car. I mean, on that motor. It It's It's very interesting. And like I said, it's I didn't want to tear it up. I just I made sure it ran. It runs fine. Uh, and it's going in the car as soon as we get her painted. You have a dyno in here? Yeah. Come on. I like all this paneling. It really gives it that um that museum vibe. This shop was actually built during the kit car days and and they had it separated off the pan over there. I told him. Oh, you told him. Okay, cool. You're So this the paneling is that original to the kit car days? The 1970s. Yep. So they were going to rent this out to the Lake Mall guys. So we've been in and out of the Lake Mall racing all our lives. 1985. Did you put the dyno in here? We we did most of this our you can tell we we did most of it ourselves. Uh but yeah, we we we figured we really wasn't beholden to any brand at the time and we said we need to be able to run a Ford Chevrolet or Dodge or Studebaker gets back on we would definitely probably entertain that idea. But basically, we took all this is old roll bars from up, you know, up there and we took and made our own little chain fall where we put anything on here. All you got to do is put a little adapter button and u little uprights and you're in business. So maybe a 2hour period you can be running a Ford Chevrolet or Dodge, you know. Oh, tell the story about the Stavola thing. Oh yeah, you had to get me on that one. The only reason why I even knew who you were, uh, you did an episode at Stavoas and Greg Peterson was there talking about the the the drive shaft off the dyno. It looked just like this. And I'll never forget we came back there in shop one day and heard that thing zinging up and all a sudden it went to a whole another level zone up like another five grand and heard a hell of a racket. So we all come running cuz he killed it. Timmy Petty's standing here and he's just going like he's just staring up there like this and he's white as a ghost. We're like, "Timmy, you all right, dude? What the hell happened?" He's like, "Drive shaft broke." He just points and the drive shaft stuck in the ceiling right there. It had a little stubby drive shaft on the back of dyno and that thing broke and went flying and stuck in that damn ceiling. I'll never forget the look on his face. He was just like, "Gosh, that broke." Obviously, we don't have the plywood ceiling, but it's about as high as that. And uh run one of them old V6s and that thing come unhinged and screwed in the ceiling like a drill bit. Beat this thing that drive shaft screwed in. And so, how old were you now? 26. I was probably a little younger than you sitting there worried about my job going they're going to fire me over this one which it wasn't my fault you know but it just I had to be the guy holding the handle which is this is built a lot like the Stavola dining room cuz I worked there with the Almond boys and uh I don't know we just we that's the way you did…