Pop got a lot of coverage when he was in California building engines for boats, Bonneville, drags, short track, off road, NASCAR. He moved to Idaho and really slowed down. Years before he left California he was asked to move east and build engines for a NASCAR team but he never told me which one. It wasn't for Petty, but Petty might remember racing against the engines, built by Bill LaRoy, when he came west to race in California. I remember the day Cale Yarborough was fuming at his crew when he couldn't pass the #93 Dodge on the back straight at the old Riverside road course. What really made it bad was the Dodge had cracked an exhaust port and was only running on seven cylinders and he still couldn't get the #11 Chevy around it.
