RON MYSKA and his Ford Torino Talladega.
Photos by Keri Luiz/Staff

By Keri Luiz
Assistant Editor

Sonoma Raceway is gearing up for its 21st annual Historic Motorsports Festival this weekend, when more than 400 historic race cars — some dating back before World War I — will grace the 12-turn, 2.52-mile road course.

Locally, Ron Myska, vice chair of the Benicia Economic Development Board, has just finished getting his car ready for the event. And what a car it is.

Of all the historic cars that will be seen Saturday and Sunday in Sonoma, Myska’s car has a unique back story that is second to none. The 1969 Ford Torino Talladega was once owned by Junior Johnson and driven by LeeRoy Yarbrough, who drove it to five of his seven NASCAR victories in 1969 — including the Daytona 500.

Piloting the Talladega, Yarbrough also won the Daytona Firecracker 500, the Atlanta Dixie 500, the Darlington Southern 500 and the Rockingham (N.C.) American 500.

1969 was a great year for racing, and a great year for Ford, said Myska, owner and president of Benicia-based All Points Petroleum. Not only did Yarbrough drive a Ford that year, but Cale Yarborough, Richard Petty, David Pearson and Bobby Allison all did, too.

That all changed the next year, Myska said, when Ford got out of racing. His Talladega was sold “out the back of the race car shop” and was not driven competitively after 1973.

Eventually restored, the car belonged to a friend of Myska’s for years but “when I first saw this car I said, ‘I gotta have this car,’” he said. He bought it about a year ago.

Still piecing together the Talladega’s history, he said there are some details he has been able to confirm. One concerns the car’s most glorious moment.

“In the Daytona 500 that LeeRoy Yarbrough won, he was running the (Mercury) Cyclone until he wrecked it in practice. They had to park it. So our Talladega got kicked in to service and ran that race,” Myska said. “And won.”

This weekend, Myska and a group of “drumbrakers” will run their cars in the 1963-73 Grand National Stock group at the Historic Motorsports Festival.

The race is technically an exhibition and not a true race, and “you want to put on a good show, but you don’t want to wreck the car,” Myska said.

“I’m expecting to have a lot of fun this outing.”

THE FORD Torino Talladega, middle, before restoration.
Keri Luiz/Staff

If You Go
The Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival is Saturday and Sunday at Sonoma Raceway, 29355 Arnold Drive, Sonoma. Visit racesonoma.com for more information.

Sharing is caring!