Refused to Lose: Innovations with Dale Inman

Dale Inman was there for Richard Petty's first race at Columbia Speedway in 1958 and is still with Petty Motorsports to this day. From near tragedies to the greatest triumphs of all, winning seven titles and seven Daytona 500's, Inman has lived it all.
Listen to the full conversation on dirtymomedia.com or any major podcasting platform.

[@alvarsdzenis4739]

50-60 years later he's still gonna keep his secrets, secret. Good for you sir!

[@tertessa]

I met him at Richard Petty's shop back in 1992 he was really nice to my 10 year old son...took time to talk to him...

[@carrsllccarrillo6507]

Fan appreciation tour- Final season for Richard. I was only 12 at the time but saw the crew my only time at the june race of '92 in Michigan. Was cool to see the stp car fly by...

[@williamcap2236]

Thank you for doing this podcast with Mr. Inman ! love this guy i could listen to these stories all night man i miss Richard Petty racing got to see him win his 6th & 7th Daytona 500's

[@joshcorvette]

It was disappointing how tight lipped he was about whatever tricks they used. I’m sure having fresh cars and Maurice building HEMIs was enough, but man, it’s been 55 years, you’re not gonna get ruin your rep or get wins DQ’d.

[@howabouthetruth2157]

Exactly. THANK YOU. Someone here other than myself feels the same way. They didn't hesitate to do the things they did back then to win ( like they all did )......but now it's beneath him to tell the world like everyone else already has. I love this channel, I love Dale Jr. I quit watching NASCAR when they ruined the sport, and this is the only thing I watch anymore that is associated with it. But I gotta admit, the video title is totally misleading. Shoot, years ago, at least 25 drivers, crew chiefs & a few car owners all got together to do that long series of story telling, and most of it was about how they cheated. It was fantastic, and funny to boot. It's part of nascar history. But this man either thinks "he's above all that".......or he has insecurity issues that involve guilt, which is silly. Hell, I don't even know why they bothered posting this video.......or at least the video title.

[@richl9623]

@@7mtex300 I agree with you. Why beat a dead horse when those days are over. We all know they did it and quite frankly why talk about it. So when I say they all did that means every team did. That's just common sense.

[@onionhead5780]

I remember the same year Mark Rippin won the super bowl he was at Daytona in February after the super bowl and he couldn’t get in the pit area. I’ll never forget it. He was wearing cowboy boots and a cowboy hat. He kept saying, do you know who I am? The security people kept saying yes sir Mr. Rippin we’re sorry, we know who you are but you’re not on the list. Lol. Long story but me being a nobody got pulled out of the line and walked through the security right by him by a very important person that worked for Richard Petty. I sat in his trailer while he was in a meeting and brought a painting my sister in law did of the Goodwrench car that the lady that worked for Richard Petty was gonna have Dale Earnhardt sign. She brought it back to me with Dale, Theresa and Richard Childress signatures on it. I never understood why Theresa signed it but I still have it and will until the day I die.

[@conductorcammon]

Why the heck would Teresa sign it?!?

[@charlessnider883]

Mike , Dale, you need to add a big screen tv to the studio to show pics of things like that car with the roof blowing up imman was talking about. Showing pics for the older guys might help jar some memories as well Get em to open up about a particular race or car

[@Slinger43]

That's an outstanding idea! 💪

[@1234KeithB]

The scene vault is really good at doing that during interviews

[@randysiler7458]

Mr Inman is awesome! Had heard through the years of NASCAR that he was a class act. Y’all did not disappoint. 👍👍🇺🇸

[@adamborowiak4995]

I’ll tell you one of those tricks dale did with those Plymouth’s. Dale said he use to take the torsion bars & machine them down to where the bars had more flex, the left front would be turn down more then the other to help corner entry. After being machined, they would leave them outside to let surface rust & install them to hide what they did. That’s one of many that I know 😜

[@irongoatrocky2343]

Some People just gonna keep secrets to the grave and Dale Inman is one of those! When I raced it was never called it cheating, just 'Creative Engineering'! Like Smokey Yunick used to do look for what the rules didn't cover!

[@tennesseesmoky9012]

Dale Inman is a championship winning NASCAR Crew Chief and a Hall of Fame member. That #43 team was a leader in innovation in the history of the sport. Richard Petty and that #43 team were popular. For several years they were featured on the cover of multiple Hot Rod and Motor Trend magazines. Great interview. Thanks Dale Jr.

[@scottthomas4779]

I just met Richard and Mr Inman today and they were both very nice. Mr Inman has a great sense of humor and is very personable.

[@haroldmordt4421]

i had heard about the roof coming loose, didn't realize it was painted always thought it was a real vinyl roof! Have seen the pictures of them using duct tape (racer tape). The origin of the Petty Blue color was that when it came time to paint one of their first cars they had a half a can of white and half a can of dark blue, thus the Petty blue was born! Richard was always my favorite driver and still is .Named one of my sons after him!

[@jessicawells5145]

Yall Should get him to go in detail about the Daytona 500,68 Roadrunner,

[@jackolson8775]

Wow, he is as humble as the day is long. Another great one,Jr. ....and bud, whoever you let F' with your eyebrows for the commercial? Yeah, don't do that.🙂

[@mutantryeff]

Great interviews of real people

[@lancehurley9743]

Without Dale & Maurice..there would be no Richard Petty...believe it..

[@jasonwiggins6137]

I think Lee had a lot to do with it as well.

[@lancehurley9743]

@@jasonwiggins6137 only in the very beginning..probably first couple years..but,lee after couple years just let dale maurice and richard take everything over..from about 63 on ,it was all maurice & dale

[@jasonwiggins6137]

@@lancehurley9743 So, little impact from 58 to 64 as they raced together on the race track? You underestimate Lee's impact greatly. He built Petty Enterprises and headed the Business until his death in 2000. To quote Maurice: "Richard had his job to do and I had mine. Lee told us what he wanted and that's what we did." There is absolutely no doubt of Lee's impact until his death in 2000.

[@jackolson8775]

There has never been a driver who succeed solely on his own. (Although, A. Kulwicki was close) Look at Ganassi, both Larson & Kurt have won races there & its a good team. NOW look at Larson with Hendrick and remember Kurt Busch is not only a former Cup Champ, he won more than Larson while they were teammates. Gotta have the team, its way more than just the driver.

[@Slinger43]

Richard is on record countless times saying that he NEVER won anything on his own! 🤨

[@mikemckinney5491]

Wow, real man. Sad real men gone from nascar.

[@anitagarrison6916]

I wish y'all were able to include the photos that NBC uses in these videos.

[@jeffcoomer8680]

You want me to tell on myself for cheating? Funny .beautiful man right there.

[@sammylacks4937]

I didn't become a race fan untill 85, my first race coming as a designated driver getting a ticket to the Southern 500 Darlington when Bill won the million bucks. By this time and years following Richard Petty was getting older , not running like earlier years. I had wished I could have seen those races when Richard and David Pearson ran hard. Thankfully I found those races on YT and both the King and Silver Fox could drive the wheels off a race car in the day. Awesome racing.

[@jollyjakelovell4787]

From Dale Inman's lips to God's ears "It wasn't a vinyl top at Daytona '68" Now the myth of the vinyl roof can be laid to rest and forgotten.

[@RustyWells2]

I knew Dale wound not get anything out of Dale Inman on the tricks they did to the cars but just remember people who won most of the races back then and that will tell you how much they had to cheater up them cars because if they didn't they would have got left in the dust by the cars that did!

[@howabouthetruth2157]

Exactly. Literally everyone else has already come forward to disclose the tricks they did to gain a competitive edge DECADES AGO.............yet Inman refuses to disclose his. Honestly, that really bugs me about the man. You can bet he was perfectly willing to do those things back in the day..........yet he's NOT willing to share it like everyone else has. I think it's an insult to the true race fans. It's all part of the history for crying out loud.

[@sillygoose2508]

@@howabouthetruth2157 he's a respectable man and he's not going to say I cheated to win those races I feel him and would say get over it you lose all respect when you acknowledge your shanagains and mischievously behavior

[@gregpalmer3831]

Let him answer!!!!!

[@ronframe387]

Hershall McGriff's number 04 was purple and gold. Same paint design as Richards car. As a teenager I thought it was the coolest looking race car ever! Check out the 1976? Daytona program book. Pictures of the starting lineup.

[@reginaldhall6871]

I'm going to have to hunt up my program now

[@Slinger43]

Lotta folks thru the comments wondering why 40, 50, 60 yrs later Dale still won't say the thing's he created during his career, well it's simple really, if Inman, Junior Johnson, Harry Hyde & other legendary Nascar innovators started telling the world what they had come up with, one by one, the "You're a CHEATER" comments-posts-articles, accusations ect... would start flow'n like a raging river, so it never behooved any the these LEGENDS to spill they're guts, it's that great generations way to take those things to the grave with them & I, for one, RESPECT the Hell outta um for it! 💪

[@alanhyde1261]

Petty Enterprises was cutting edge. The competition was always playing catch up. Except Holman Moody and the Wood Brothers.

[@tstuff1213]

And look at them now. How the mighty have fallen :(

[@GoodOlRoll]

WB and HM was only on par with Petty when Pearson drove for them.

[@DDD-us6uu]

Love those stories !!! 😂😂😅😎

[@carrsllccarrillo6507]

Holy crap! 20: 1 steering ratio!? You have any idea how many times you have turn the wheel and to get it to go lock to lock? That's insane plus it was no power steering. Man talk about raw man power driving those fast torquey cars down the corner and maintaining car control on bias ply tires! Just mind blowing...

[@leestaples8269]

Yeah in those days, most of the drivers were big boys because that's what it took to drive them. Drivers on average now are small.

[@burnychaplin4601]

Yeah can you see the kids now days holding on to one of those big heavy cars without power steering wonder how many laps they could hold up at Darlington driving a 65 Ford with a 427 under the hood that's an experiment I'd like to see 🤠🤠

[@markcallaway2595]

Let Dale ANSWER the question !

[@Johnny.f.face1]

It's clear that he refuses to give any credit to anyone or anything that isn't Richard Petty. Solid guy.

[@donnabazicki7330]

Dale may not have wanted to tarnish Richards name by telling there secrets. Yes, it would have been interesting to hear what they did. Have to respect him for keeping his secrets.

[@charlessnider883]

Man Inman ain't gonna give any secrets Those secrets going to the grave with him

[@MrDredgedaddy]

He was tight lipped on the innovation part, you could tell. Smart man but kudo's to you Dale for trying.

[@howabouthetruth2157]

I mean no disrespect at all......but what's so "smart" about it. For crying out loud, it was all decades ago, and literally everyone else has already came forward to share the tricks they used. And it's not like those "tricks" would still be viable today........or that nascar is going to "banish him from the history books".

[@williamlostutter4047]

Richard petty has a reputation, I’m sure dale doesn’t wanna tarnish it

[@howabouthetruth2157]

@@williamlostutter4047 Again, I mean no disrespect, but that's silly. Dozens of other drivers & teams had reputations too. Hell, it's no secret that Petty Enterprises won some races using over-sized engines. There were others guilty of that as well.......but the Petty's doing it goes to show my point. Why not just tell the truth. Everyone else has.

[@buttslappingpirate]

Yeah, there was a slight bit of "aw, shucks!" deflection there. You don't win 200 races just by simply "building the car around Richard".

[@howabouthetruth2157]

@@buttslappingpirate Exactly. Thank you. Besides, it makes it all the more interesting to hear about the crafty innovations these guys used. It spices up the history.

[@daviclar867]

wish these were longer. I don't do podcast.

[@timh7833]

Dale jr., the picture behind Mr Inman should be of the subject, 43. Its great view for this video.

[@waltermckinney606]

Real Mechanics and crew chief's innovation was king...

[@tomland5837]

I use to follow NASCAR several years ago and enjoyed the races. With that said, who exactly is the Mike guy who co-hosts this show? Better question, who is he that he can cut Dale jr. off to ask a question????

[@jackolson8775]

Ha! Well, if you've noticed, Jr doesn't seem to mind.(if he did, he'd say so.) Mikes been with Jr for a long time. Personal Assistant? Probably the wrong title, but you get the idea.

[@joshcorvette]

He’s basically his right hand man. Formally I think he’s a PR man or personal assistant, I’m not sure which, but he’s been close with Dale since the mid 00s

[@stadleroux]

And he's been in Nascar for quite some time. Iirc, his first job was PR guy for Jimmy Spencer. Go and watch those videos to also find out more about Mike Davis.

[@tomland5837]

@@jackolson8775 Thank you for the reply!

[@kickstart3179]

He said listen Dale (Inman) all serious lol

[@harveynailbanger]

I think id ask the question like this, what rule changes did you initiate?... lol

[@howabouthetruth2157]

I find it rather disturbing: Everyone else has come forward to share the tricks they used DECADES AGO to get a competitive edge, and we ALL know they ALL did it.......or they weren't winning races, pure & simple. Yet this man refuses to come clean.......it's not like he "robbed a bank" or he's going to be stripped of anything, for crying out loud. Funny how you can bet he was perfectly willing to do such things back then.........but he's not willing to fess up today. It's part of racing history. I guess he feels shameful.......and that's silly.

[@johnobrien9718]

@@howabouthetruth2157 I see your point, and initially thought the same thing. But, after thinking about Lee, and the way he ran things so strict (hell, that was their source of income in the early years), then Richard and his honest values & openness maybe they didn't really want to "push the envelope". During their hayday, a healthy 413 (or the later 426) in a light weight body (all factory items btw) was usually MORE than enough... He actually made a great point, "if we wanted something aero, or body wise, on the car changed, we'd just go to Nascar and say it's for safety.... and they'd do it" I DO know one good story about them getting "pinched" for a sllliiigghhttllyy oversized motor told by Richard himself. Anyway, just a thought, have a good one

[@howabouthetruth2157]

@@johnobrien9718 How many years do ya think they ran Hemi's in NASCAR, compared to Richard's entire career. Richard won races with other engines, even other makes & models. Hey, I've always respected Lee & Richard Petty. I'm not trying to persecute anyone. But no one is going to convince this lifelong nascar fan that Richard ( or any other driver for that matter ) could win 200 races & 7 championships "with just the right motor"........or without playing around with the rules. EVERY nascar driver, crew chief, car owner from back in those days will tell you: If you're not cheating somehow, you're not winning, period. And there's a lot more to winning or placing strong than just having a stout engine. You honestly believe ole Lee "wouldn't cheat, if it was something he felt they could get away with"??? They all did. I know the Petty's ( among other drivers too ), were using over-sized fuel cells as well. Just sayin'........but Mr. Inman never said: "We never cheated"..........he just wouldn't spit it out by sharing details like everyone else does, all these years later. No biggie, we're all entitled to believe whatever we want. You have a great evening as well.

[@jeffhanson6844]

Changed every day every month every week till it wasn't stock car racing anymore

[@travisdavid7606]

So the 2006 Winn Dixie 250 Busch car how creative did y'all get with that car? That thing was a rocket!! I was there!

[@chevyblock550]

It was the transmission. Dale Jr. intentionally blew it with his burnout. Probably was a fall out transmission that were banned before that year and that trans picked up 3/10s and that was about how much faster Jr was compared to the field.

[@johnnymiller8938]

Plymouth / Dodge Corp. really helped with the technology when these guys were the team to beat.

[@michaelburkmier488]

I always wondered about that gold painted STP car?

[@shanew.williams]

Inman was gone from Petty Enterprises for approx. 2 years in the very early 60's when he enlisted in the United States Army.

[@lamarmcalister2449]

Hell yeah!!! No power steering like real man

[@michaelburkmier488]

What do you know about cars ? What make the coils keep burning up?

[@dishrod3516]

I can’t lie I wanted to hear about that Alaska motor.

[@michaelhayes1340]

Smart man

[@CR7659]

Friend of mine has an old chassis that came with the story it was once a Petty cup car and if you look up in the nooks and crannies it does have blue paint. No body tin at all. Coil IFS front and leaf rear with frame rails that look like they were unibody once. Guy at the museum said to look for numbers on the diff housing to try to narrow it down to if it's worth showing to Dale or Richard to see if it's legit. I sit here too dumb to even check the wheelbase to see if it's a 70a car or 80s car. Kind of interesting he's still going to keep the secrets but I don't blame him, if you could clone a Petty cup car to where it looked legit it would sell for stupid money

[@rickfranklin2891]

The King and his Court need to explain nothing....numbers don't lie.

[@timskiff9422]

Cant believe he wont tell the whole story.

[@feeneysmechanical6215]

Kinda surprised he didn't mention the Ford deal in 1969

[@AfonsoHenriques1139]

Snitches get stiches. Old school. I respect that.

[@Dmcleansr]

The reason he left was Kyle

[@richardsullivan7339]

What a disappointment, when I heard he was gonna be on the show, I was like now we're gonna hear some great stories of how they worked in the grey areas or how nascar had to change the rules because of things they were doing to their cars, but nope.

[@joegoveia6499]

Any plans on getting Carl Edwards on the show?

[@lamarmcalister2449]

I hope not

[@jeffcoomer8680]

Factory cars won the races the others ran the winners used parts.

[@sandiwalker761]

Who is Maurice?

[@dandrane1251]

Richard's brother.

[@randymyers8600]

@@dandrane1251 and the engine builder.

[@sandiwalker761]

Thanks. S

[@charlessnider883]

Engine builder and brother to Richard

[@jackolson8775]

He's a joker, a smoker, and a midnight toker.

[@antr7493]

Would love to see you have the following guests: Blue Collar Comedy Tour guys. Mario Andretti. The Millennial Farmer and his sons(both racers). Darrel Waltrip again. Trailer Park Boys Patrick Dempsey.

[@fuckcensorship69]

HANK 3.

[@klk1900]

Also you guys have to understand Richard pettys era when he won. I bet there was only 3-5 cars capable of winning a race at any time. So it’s not like they had to cheat they already had a car faster than the field so I doubt he doesn’t have a whole lot of cheating in those days. The cheating was having a manufacturer and the best equipment. Notice when the playing field leveled Richard never really won. That’s why I say Dale Earnhardt was by far the best driver his era you had multiple competitive cars and also Dale was driving around crap a lot and heavy tanks he still managed to win.

[@ericgajdos6888]

Ever have or thought to have Robin Miller on the show?

[@warhammer6968]

Are petty’s a mob family or something? Sheesh it’s like he was afraid to talk about the innovation.

[@kainhall]

dude acts like Dale JR is trying to trick him. . dude could say they ran 600 cube motors and sprayed a 500 shot of NOS NO ONE WOULD CARE!!!! at least today

[@timmccreadie328]

🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲

[@howabouthetruth2157]

Oh for crying out loud. I'm sorry, but I call em as I see em: Literally everyone else has came forward to share the sneaky tricks they innovated to get a competitive edge with their cars from DECADES AGO. Yet Mr. Inman refuses to open up about his tricks from back in the day. WE ALL KNOW that all these teams & crew chiefs did this sort of stuff, because if ya didn't, you were NOT winning races. Just as WE ALL KNOW that Mr. Inman had to be doing this sort of stuff as well. I find it disturbing that a man was willing to do what he had to do back then..........but can't admit it all these years later. "It was all Richard, we just built the car around him"........as if "they never worked in the grey areas or skirted the rules"..........BULLSHIT.

[@michaelcorvin4330]

Lighten up, Francis.

[@tedmartin4882]

These guys are putting me to sleep 😴

[@reginaldhall6871]

Blasphemy!! The King didn't need to cheat, honest winner for 199 of his wins

[@johnboland1401]

I think the hemi might have been strong enough not to need too much “innovation “.

[@gregpalmer3831]

Let him answer!!!!!!

[@Scoe91Til]

The problem is, he's not going to. 😂