Rear  - Screw Adjustable Leaf Springs with Panhard Bar

In the late sixties and early seventies, Lee Roy Yarbrough and Junior Johnson were the team to beat on the superspeedways of the NASCAR Grand National circuit.  From the 1968 season through the 1970 season, Yarbrough and Johnson captured ten wins, seven poles, 36 Top Fives and 44 Top Ten finishes.  During the 1971 season, Yarbrough left NASCAR for Indy car racing and Johnson turned his racing attentions toward Chevrolet.  Fortunately, James Hylton was able to purchase one of their 1969 Mercury Cyclones at the beginning of the 1971 season to add to his stable of race cars. 

The 1969 Mercury was painted in a paint scheme that paid tribute to the legendary red, gold and white cars of Rex White.  Hylton began his career as a mechanic for White in 1960, the year that White won the NASCAR Grand National title.  The debut of the car was at the 1971 Miller High Life 500 at Ontario Motor Speedway in California.  Hylton and the Mercury started 12th and raced to a 10th place finish and collected $2,250 in the process.  The Mercury's next race would end on lap 436 of the 492 lap Carolina 500.  The 18th place finish in the wreck-plagued event would mark the lowest finishing position in the car's career.

The next seven events would produce no finish lower than 12th for the car and would include a fifth place finish in the 1971 Talladega 500.  In its nine race Hylton Motorsports career, the 1969 Mercury recorded 1 Top-Five and 7 Top-Ten finishes and posted $15,810.00 in earnings.  The car ran its last race at Rockingham's American 500 on October 24, 1971, garnering a seventh place finish.