Odd looking Petty Charger at Daytona 500 photo!!

[Nacho-RT74]

That's a 71/72 body vs a 73/74 body.

Talking about the fenders/bumpers like he is pointing out, that’s not relevant.

 

[odcics2]

Anyone notice that the Petty bumper is 90 degrees to the ground in spite of the body rake?
The Frank Warren bumper is stock. Petty pulled the BOTTOM of the bumper forward.
That allowed the body template on the top to still fit.
More air over the car, better drag number, better handling. Pretty slick!

 

[DeltaV]

Anyone notice that the Petty bumper is 90 degrees to the ground in spite of the body rake?

Crafty

 

[Pecos Bill]

The lower body line in the door is missing on Petty's car.

 

[odcics2]

I’ll let these photos do the talking.

 

[autoxcuda]

The lower body line in the door is missing on Petty's car.

I think this is a later chargers. 76-78 maybe?

Slab side has better aero than tucked up rolled rocker panel. Creates a side skirt.

Can Am, FI, Indy etc all had sides like that by this time.

Interesting with all these charger pictures you can see the body aero "evolving". I don't think one body style was every used for such a long time. So you don't notice the aero evolution in the other make during this same time period. I'm sure the other makes were doing thing too.