American Motors Corporation (AMC; Commonly referred to as American Motors) was an American automobile manufacturing company formed by the merger of Nash-Kelvinator Corporation and the Hudson Motor Car Company on May 1, 1954.
In NASCAR, AMC raced its Matador model in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series from 1972 through 1978, and also raced the Javelin in the Grand American Series. In the Cup Series, AMC backed Penske Racing in a part time effort throughout much of its tenure. Racing pundits initially scoffed at the notion of an AMC entry, but it was innovative in being one of the first oval stock cars to use four-wheel disc brakes.
The AMC Matador won five races in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, 2 at Riverside in 1973 and 1975 with Mark Donohue and Bobby Allison driving, respectively, 1 win at Ontario with Bobby Allison, and a sweep of the 1975 races at Darlington. Allison also won a Daytona 500 Qualifying race in 1975 and finished second in the Daytona 500 a few days later.