Richard “The King” Petty’s name echoes through NASCAR like thunder rolling over the plains. Over 35 seasons, he entered 1,184 races, conquered 200 of them, and claimed seven Cup Series championships.

The Pontiac Trans Am powered by the 6.6-liter V8 saw its final year of production in 1979. Killed off by Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standard, the rowdy Big Block T/A was to be no more.

While turbochargers are now a fairly common way to squeeze more power from a small engine, this approach was still in its early days in the late ‘70s. Due to the crisis that wreaked havoc in the ...

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