Aero Testing the 1973 Mopar Missile Drag Racing Car (Plymouth Duster)

Aero Testing the 1973 Mopar Missile Drag Racing Car
(Plymouth Duster)

story by Stewart Pomeroy; photos by Joe Pappas and Dick Oldfield

The Chrysler drag race group had a very limited budget.
Renting a full size wind tunnel was out of the question. They had to do it the old fashioned way,
taping cotton tufts to the car, then using a chase car with the racer traveling at high speed passing the chase car.

Someone had to hang out of the chase car taking
pictures, and some one else had to be strapped in the back seat of the race car taking pictures of the tach and other instruments.
Now that is hard core.

The Plymouth Duster version of the Mopar Missile was, according to Joe Pappas, a Butler chassis built in late 1972, originally run as a 1972 and updated to a 1973. It was the most successful of the Missile cars, winning most of the major events it entered (mainly IHRA but also the NHRA SummerNationals at Columbus).

The aero testing required someone to take pictures from the outside, and someone to take pictures from the inside:

A great deal of information can be developed photos of the car as it is driven at high speed.

Photos collected and saved by Stewart Pomeroy

Drag Racers	The Dodge Ramchargers: Dodge Employee-Racers The Golden Commandos: Plymouth Employee-Racers Mike Buckel: Ramcharger recollections (the 1960s in detail: series) Don Garlits, racing legend and innovator (interview) Bill "Maverick" Golden, successful racer and original wheelstander Don Prudhomme: record setter "the Snake" interviewed, 2013 Ellis Brasher's early Hemi drag racing Rich Fox's cars, including a record-setting four-cylinder 1932 Plymouth Don "The Beachcomber" Johnson Bruce Lindstrom: a man and his Goldfish 2011 Drag Racing Hall of Fame Reunion in Henderson We Were The Ramchargers
Drag Cars	The Little Red Wagon - first wheelstander The High & Mighty - original funny car Dodge Pro Stock second generation Hemi 99 (2006) Firebrewed 1965 Coronet funny car, in 2011 NHRA in 2010: Pomona Winternationals | Arizona Nationals The Golden Commandos' Goldfish The Pro Stock Hemi Neon - busily setting records Chrysler racing contract, 1969-1970 Daily-driver Road Runner vs 300C SRT-8 on the strip
Mopar Missile, Motown Missile	History of the Mopar Missile - interview with the car's historian Mopar Missile builder and mechanic Joe Pappas (2009 interview) Motown Missile and Sox & Martin Duster: match racing in 2009 Mopar Missile Aero Tests (1973) - numerous photos, including driver's perspective Night of Fire with the Mopar Missile (2009) with Ben Donhoff interview Testing hood scoops for the Mopar Missile - 1970s photo essay Motown Missile: 1972 Plymouth 'Cuda factory drag racer "Wire Car" - ultra-lightweight 1974 Plymouth Duster drag car

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