In 1971, Chrysler unveiled the third generation of B-Body cars. The company needed a replacement for the Superbird and Daytona, which had been banned from the NASCAR tracks. The Charger 500, which had taken their place, needed refinement for aerodynamic performance. The result was a car with sweeping fuselage-like styling. While Ford and Chevy were cutting back on the horsepower of their production cars, Chrysler kept the powerful HEMI motor in production one more year so the motor could be used in their NASCAR machines.

One of the most interesting stories involving these machines involves country singer Marty Robbins. Marty Robbins wasn't a professional racer, and his car wasn't sponsored, but his successful singing career allowed him to afford the high cost of building and competing in NASCAR races, if only for a few races a year. He averaged three or four races a season and raced in 35 Winston Cup races total. Of those, Marty had six top ten finishes. His best was a fifth place effort at Michigan's Motorstate 400 in 1974.

Even if it didn't compete in many races, or dominate the ones it did compete in, Marty's Dodge invariably got the attention of fans. Extravagantly colored for its time, the purple and yellow #42 Charger stood out like a sore thumb. A lack of sponsorship gave Marty a more prominent place to paint his name on the car, rather than on the roof near the driver’s window, where the other drivers' names were. His name was plastered across the whole quarter panel!

On May 7^th, 1972, at Talladega Motor Speedway, Marty and his Charger put on the greatest show of their careers. Marty started the legendary race in ninth place, but troubles early on caused him to fall a lap behind. Citing troubles with his carburetor, with NASCAR's permission, Marty pitted to have it replaced. After the pit stop, Marty and number 42 came alive. The Dodge Charger lived up to its name and “charged” through the pack and making up for the lost lap and then some. Robbins finished the race in 18^th place, but in the process of making up his lost lap passed some of the biggest names of the day. The crowd watched in awe as the brightly colored Charger flew past legends like Buddy Baker and Richard Petty.

After the race, NASCAR officials were so impressed at Robbins amazing comeback attempt that he was informed that he was to be given the rookie of the race honors. Before the award could be given Marty Robbins discretely walked over to a race judge and suggested that he take a look at the carburetor on his Dodge. Upon inspection it was revealed that the carburetor was running without a restrictor plate. Marty Robbins' admission got him disqualified from the race along with a $250 fine. When asked how he felt about getting a fine instead of $1,300 in prize money, Robbins smiled and said that it was worth every penny to see the look on the face of NASCAR's top drivers as he passed them so effortlessly.

Another, nobler, Marty Robbins story occurred at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1974. A multi-car accident in front of Marty left the track blocked completely by disabled vehicles. Selflessly, rather than hit one of his fellow drivers, Marty pointed his Charger into the wall. The car was traveling 160 mph when Marty purposely crashed it to avoid injuring his NASCAR heroes. Marty escaped the wreck, but suffered a broken tailbone, several broken ribs, two black eyes, and 37 stitches in his face!

To most of the country, Marty Robbins was a famous country singer who gave the world songs like 'Devil Woman' and 'El Paso', but the drivers he raced against in the Winston series had a different opinion of him. Perhaps Buddy Baker illustrated this point best. “I never thought of Marty Robbins as a country and western singer,” said Baker. “I thought of him as a race car driver.” That’s high praise to say the least.

In 1971 Buddy Baker and Richard Petty drove MOPAR’s factory sponsored B-Bodies, Petty in the #43 Plymouth Road Runner and Baker in the #11 Dodge Charger. Although that year was the last year of factory sponsored MOPARs, the model continued to find success on NASCAR tracks. Part of that success was due to the fact that many of the top drivers who were attracted to Dodge during its domination of the sport in the mid to late 60s had stayed with the brand. The third generation B-Body Charger remained in production until 1975. At that time, the Charger name continued, but was re-styled as a clone of the Chrysler Cordoba.

By John Garrison

John Garrison has been writing since the age of eight when he wrote his first short story. His love for the craft has remained ceaseless ever since. Despite writing for a living, he still finds time to work on his latest screenplay or novel.

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