Allison asked for full authority to make changes to the car and Donohue agreed. Allison and crew chief John Woodward adjusted the car to his liking by using the shop’s massive parking lot as a makeshift testing ground.
The Matador was lightning fast at Daytona and Allison qualified second, with David Pearson in the Wood Brothers Racing Mercury on the pole. Allison contended for the victory until an engine problem developed with 15 laps remaining. Still, he brought the Matador home fifth with Pearson winning the race.
Allison drove six additional races for Penske that year, winning the season finale at Ontario (Calif.) Motor Speedway on Nov. 24, 1974.
While walking through the Atlanta airport on Thanksgiving Day to catch a connecting flight from Los Angeles to Alabama, Allison saw a newspaper headline that read, “Allison Illegal —Fined $9,100.”
“I dropped my hang-up bag off my shoulder, fished a dime out of my pocket and bought a paper. That’s how I found out about it. There it was in the Atlanta newspaper in two-inch high letters on the headline,” Allison said with a laugh. “I said, ‘Wow! I’ve got to find out what this is all about. This guy has the same name that I do, and I read that it was me.’
“It was an illegal roller tappet (camshaft) in the motor and NASCAR found it. The engines were built by another company outside of Penske and they had their own engineer that didn’t want me to be involved with that part of the race car.”
Allison drove the Matador to victory in both NASCAR Cup Series races at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway in 1975.
“Two of the neatest wins of my career came in 1975 at Darlington Raceway in the spring 500-mile April race there and the Southern 500 in September,” Allison said. “In the April race, I needed to get back on the lead lap after a bad pit stop. David Pearson and Benny Parsons crashed with 17 laps to go while battling for the lead and that put me in the lead after running third.
“Then we came back and won in September and that was absolutely great for me,” he added. “The Matador was really, really good. I led in all but three races that year but near the end fell back and lost the race because of bad rocker arms in the engine. In most of them, I could have eaten an ice cream sundae I was so far ahead. Then, something would happen, and I’d be in the garage.”
On Aug. 19, 1975, Allison was deeply saddened to learn that Donohue had died from injuries suffered in a crash while practicing for the Austrian Grand Prix.
“I really liked Mark a lot,” Allison said. “I could communicate well with him, maybe a little better than Roger because he had so much going on with the multi-million-dollar deals he was always working on. Roger was, and still is, an absolute professional with everything he does. I really enjoyed driving for Roger. Still, I could always talk with Mark about what I felt the car needed.”
By season’s end, Allison and Penske knew changes needed to be made to the sleeker, more rounded 1974 Matador. It drafted well but would have performed much better with a rather simple modification to the front end. AMC executives wouldn’t hear of it and Penske switched to Mercurys in 1976 with Allison as his driver.
“There had been some changes at American Motors at that time and the focus was really shifting away from motorsports,” Penske said recently. “After the 1975 season, there was an opportunity for our team to move in a different direction and it was time for a new challenge.”
Penske was happy to have incredibly talented drivers help build the Matador program.
“When you think about it, that was really a Hall of Fame driver lineup with the Matador,” Penske said. “Mark (Donohue) worked tirelessly to get the most out of a car and his engineering background and experience really helped with development. Dave Marcis brought experience in NASCAR and, of course, he went on to help us in IROC as well. Gary Bettenhausen drove in USAC and was a winner for us in Indy car competition and Bobby Allison was a pure NASCAR racer who brought a lot of credibility and respect as someone who won a lot of races and knew how to deliver. They all did a great job for our team.”
Allison left Penske’s team after going winless during the 1976 season. In 1977, he fielded the Matadors on his own with only five top-five finishes and 15 top-10 results.
Still, Allison was the most successful driver in the car while with Penske with four NASCAR Cup Series victories. He also won sportsman and USAC events driving the Matador in 1977 for a total of seven victories.
“I was convinced the Matador was good enough to win anywhere and that’s why I went back to it in 1977,” Allison said. “The aerodynamics on the car were great and were comparable to the other makes of cars. I tried hard to make them work. I won the most races in the Matador, so I feel it was a success.”