Car Number Histories: No. 41

ATLANTA -- The roster of drivers who have piloted the No. 41 reads like a Who Was Who in racing: Curtis Turner, Joe Weatherly, Richard Petty, Buck Baker, A.J. Foyt.

Unfortunately, as you can tell by the names, most of the success was a very long time ago. In fact, the No. 41 hasn't visited Victory Lane since Curtis Turner won at Rockingham in 1965.

But it's not from lack of trying.

Turner, one of the stars of his day, won in a Buick at Langhorne in NASCAR's first season. He followed up with four wins and four poles the next year while driving an Oldsmobile.

Turner won at Dayton in 1951 while Bill Blair drove an unusual No. 41 1/2 to victory at Daytona that season.

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In 1952, Turner made seven starts in a Hudson, then won once in 1953 in 19 starts after returning to his trusty Olds. That same year, Jimmy Lewallen drove the first Petty Enterprises Plymouth bearing the No. 41.

With Turner turning his attention to the No. 99 Ford, the No. 41 disappeared from the scene until 1958, when Whitey Norman finished fourth at Gastonia in a Chevy.

Turner returned to the No. 41 Ford in 1959, winning at Concord and Hillsboro, while Joe Weatherly piloted the car to a second-place finish at Hickory.

The No. 41 only made token appearances the next two seasons, showing up at Daytona in 1960 for Gene White and 1961 for Elmo Henderson.

But in 1962, Petty Enterprises latched onto the No. 41 as a team car to Jim Paschal's No. 42 and Richard's No. 43.

Lee Petty, seriously injured the year before at Daytona, returned to the driver's seat in 1962, sharing duties with son Richard and nephew Maurice. In addition, Bunky Blackburn drove the car that year.

The No. 41 returned to the winner's circle six times in 1963, five for Richard and one for Paschal. Weatherly and Jim Hurtubise also took turns behind the wheel.

	A.J. Foyt saw Victory Lane once in the No. 41. Credit: Autostock

In 1964, all three Pettys, Paschal and Buck Baker shared the ride, with Paschal winning at Charlotte and Richard chalking up a victory at Harris.

That would be the final year for Petty Enterprises and No. 41.

In 1965, A.J. Foyt won the Firecracker 400 in a No. 41 Ford, while Turner won at Rockingham. Turner finished second in a Wood Brothers entry at Hickory in 1966.

Then the number fell on hard times.

Dorus Wisecraver made his lone NASCAR start in the 1967 Daytona 500, finishing 29th.

Then open-wheel drivers tried their luck without success: Al Unser at Riverside, Swede Savage at Daytona, Foyt and Bobby Unser.

The No. 41 went into limited action from 1974 until 1983, with drivers like Grant Adcox, Dean Dalton, Ernie Stierly, Stuart Huffman, Dick Brooks, Richard Childress, Sterling Marlin and Joe Millikan at the wheel.

Ronnie Thomas drove the car for five consecutive years starting in 1983, never finishing in the top 10 in 61 starts.

Joe Booher, Jim Bown, Ted Thomas, Larry Pearson, Dave Marcis, Greg Sacks and Hut Stricklin had the same lack of success, until Phil Parsons and Trickle combined for a trio of top-10 finishes in 1993.

The No. 41 returned with Joe Nemechek as full-time driver in 1994, with a third at Pocono the best effort in 29 starts.

Ricky Craven then climbed aboard for two seasons, getting three top-fives and 20th in the points in 1996. Steve Grissom drove the No. 41 for two years, finishing 21st in the standings in 1997.

Then David Green took the wheel in 1998, followed by Trickle, Rick Mast and Gary Bradberry, all in limited starts.

Ganassi Racing renewed a full-time commitment to the No. 41 in 2002, with Jimmy Spencer finishing 27th in the standings, replaced by Scott Pruett for one road course event.

In 2003, Casey Mears took over the ride and failed to crack the top 10 in 35 races.