Three years ago, while Marc Peters hauled corn, he saw a 1973 Ford Gran Torino in a Kansas farm field. He didn’t know then it would become a tribute car to the ageless NASCAR legend Red Farmer.
“It was rough, but it was all there,” Peters, of Henderson, Nebraska, said. “I bought it on sight with the idea of building a Wood Brothers tribute car. That idea was short lived, though, when I did some research and found out that the Wood Brothers only ran a ’73 Gran Torino in the 24 Hours of Daytona — a car complete with headlights and all of its glass. That wouldn’t do.”
Finding Inspiration
The Ford Torino was used for just two years in NASCAR, according to Peters.
“I looked at all of the old photos of ’73 Torino stock cars I could find,” said Peters. “When I saw a picture of [Red Farmer’s] Torino I knew that iconic car was the one to make a tribute to.”
Marc Peters sought Farmer for his blessing.
“I contacted Red’s daughter, Bonnie,” Peters said. “She told me I could not talk to Red on the phone because he had a stroke and was almost deaf. She spoke to her dad and got permission for me to complete the project.”
Building the Tribute
To keep the car all Ford, Peters dropped the ’73 Gran Torino body on an old Crown Vicotria IMCA stock car.
“We put the effort and artistry into this project,” said Peters. “I went to the Hall of Fame to view Farmer’s actual car. One example of the detail in car’s creation is that I looked at the number paint and saw It was more gold and less bronze than I had thought. It took us a year to pull it all together.”
Farmer’s original car had a Ford Boss 429 cubic-inch engine. Peters’ car has a Ford 351 Cleveland engine. The yearlong project by Peters and friend Preston Switzer included Mel Franz completing the engine and Autocraft Collision & Graphics finishing the paint and decals. Peters built the car to compete in the Midwest Classic Stockcar Association. However, the Talladega Short Track then reached out to him.
“Word spread that I put this car together, and the Talladega Short Track said, ‘Bring it down. You can be the pace car,’” Peters said. “So, I did just that.”
Talladega Short Track promoter Adam Stewart then contacted Farmer to unite him with the tribute car during the track’s Ice Bowl.
“It was the best thing I ever experienced as a racer when I saw Red’s face lit up the first time he gazed upon the tribute car,” said Peters. “Red, 92 years old and still on the dirt-track scene — he owns the late model driven by his grandson Lee Burdette — thought the tribute car was so cool. He took a Sharpie and signed it.”
The Future for Marc Peters
The experience encouraged Peters and Switzer to continue building tributes to famous race cars.
“I already spoke with Eddie Wood to do a tribute car to David Pearson’s No. 21 from 1971,” Peters said. “Then we picked up a ’71 Roadrunner — you guessed it, it will have the number 43. Then we found a ’69 Mercury Cyclone to become a tribute car to the No. 12 of Donnie Allison. I even called Lee Holman at Holman-Moody, where they still build GT40s with 427s. He said good luck trying to find a 427 tunnel port or a Hemi like they raced in the day, but we’ll still try.”
While recently traveling through Kansas, Marc Peters spotted an ’87 Thunderbird. He bought it.
“Davey Allison — my first hero,” Peters said of his plans for the T-Bird. “I keep telling myself that this obsession has to stop, but I just can’t stop.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
