The Crown Vic of Matthew Schmitz certainly doesn’t look like the typical one. It sports a big wing, taking inspiration from the 1970 Plymouth Superbird Richard Petty and the movie franchise Cars made famous.
Schmitz debuted the car, without graphics, this past weekend during a practice session at Beatrice Speedway. He built it for Salina Speedway in Kansas.
“When the rules were written [for Salina Speedway], they said have fun and make cars that the fans and kids could remember and cheer for,” Schmitz, of Frankfort, Kansas, said. “I thought the single most recognizable car in racing is Richard Petty’s No. 43. I messaged the track and said I wanted to build a replica of that car for the Crown Vic class, and asked if I could put the wing on it. They said yes.”
Schmitz has lettering on order for the Crown Vic. He’ll run his usual number 40, but in the style that Petty ran. A Dinoco decal will adorn the hood, just as it did on The King in Cars.
After racing hobby stocks for years, Schmitz feels reinvigorated with the change to Crown Vics for 2026.
“I race to have fun,” Schmitz said. “When I began getting frustrated with racing a hobby stock, I decided to make a change.”
Schmitz found a Crown Vic with the top trim package and 230,000 miles on the odometer.
“For 2004, it was quite bougie — it even had heated seats and a sunroof,” Schmitz said. “The old couple who owned it loved the car, but they couldn’t get in it anymore.”
“I pulled the engine out [and] I put in a fresh set of timing chains,” Schmitz said. “Then I resealed all the gaskets — that’s it. It runs really well.”
The local rules for Crown Vics keep the cars fairly true to OEM specs. However, Matthew Schmitz had to make one change.
“I installed a NASCAR-style exhaust,” Schmitz said. “I knew [it] had to sound like The King’s car.”
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.
