Rear  - Screw Adjustable Leaf Springs with Panhard Bar

During the 1971 NASCAR Winston Cup Season, the Wood Brothers and their Mercury Montegos were at the top of the superspeedway world. Driver A.J. Foyt competed in four events for the team with four poles and two wins to his credit.  Donnie Allison also drove for the team on 11 occasions, with one win and five poles.  Together, the two drivers combined for 11 Top-Five finishes in the teams 15 races during the 1971 season.

When presented with the opportunity to purchase one of the Wood Brother's superspeedway Mercury's from the 1971 season, James Hylton wasted no time in making the purchase.  The team already had two Ford Torinos in their stable for short tracks and the superspeedway Montego would make an excellent addition for the upcoming season.  The first outing for Hylton and the Mercury occurred on March 12, 1972, at Rockingham's Carolina 500.  Hylton started 19th and finished 6th, collecting $2,500 for his efforts.  The car was sponsored by Atlanta's Pop Kola Bottling Company and was painted Corvette Red.

The next appearance for the Mercury would be at Alabama International Speedway's Talladega 500 on August 6, 1972.  Hylton qualified the car 22nd for the 500 mile race and led 106 laps in route to a one car length victory over Keokuk, Iowa's Ramo Stott in Junie Donlavy's 1972 Truxmore Ford. The next closest competitor in laps led was Hueytown, Alabama's Bobby Allison, with 22 laps led in the Junior Johnson Coca-Cola sponsored Chevrolet Monte Carlo.  Hylton collected $24,865 for the win and etched his name in the history book by winning one of NASCAR's most prestigious races. 

After the race, the car received one of the most popular paint schemes in NASCAR history, the red, white and blue Pop Kola "tri-color".  The newly painted car was campaigned at Michigan's Yankee 400 by Cale Yarborough, who delivered a strong fourth place finish.  Hylton drove one of the short track Torinos to a fifth place finish after leading two laps. The Montego would compete in two more races in 1972, the National 500 (7th place) and the Texas 500 (11 place).

Hylton would continue to utilize the car throughout the 1973 NASCAR Winston Cup Season.  As the reason progressed, the one-time flood of Ford NASCAR parts and money had dwindled to a trickle.  Hylton realized that his racing future lay with the revitalized Chevrolet program.  The fabled 71 Montego would race its last race at Martinsville Speedway's Old Dominion 500 on September 30, 1973.  Hylton would race the car to an 8th place effort and collect $1,575. 

The car was brought to Riverside at the start of the 1974 season but was damaged in a hard crash with the wall in turn nine.  The car was sold to NASCAR driver Bub Strickler of Timberville, VA.  Strickler cut off the Mercury body and replaced it with that of a Chevrolet Chevelle and began campaigning the car on area short tracks.  The 1971 Mercury Montego would be raced on 25 occasions by Hylton with One win, two Top-Fives (8%) and 12 Top-Tens (48%) over the course of the 1972 and 1973, Winston Cup Series races.

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