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Interesting history of an original aluminum Max-Wedge car running in West Coast NHRA events;

This 1963 Plymouth Savoy has seen it all on a drag strip

John Dourlet is the latest Featured Flyer for the second time and this time it's with an iconic 1963 Plymouth Savoy.

www.nhra.com

Many of the names mentioned in the article are long time West Coast Mopar racers who are still actively racing their cars in NHRA events.

 

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THE MASSIVE DODGE HEMI SHOOTOUT HAD A HUMBLE BEGINNING | Competition Plus

When noted drag racing historian Bret Kepner served as a Sr. Editor for the legendary drag racing magazine Super Stock & Drag Illustrated, he had no idea an assignment would one day spawn into one of the more revered drag racing programs. "Steve Collison had this grandiose plan for this mega...

www.competitionplus.com

 

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Great shot (shared from the HAMB board) of one of the original Altered Wheelbase Mopars built by Chrysler to race in NHRA's AFX class - this one owned/driven by Dave Strickler. When Ford threatened to pull their 427OHC Mustangs out of that class because these AWB Mopars could easily spank them, NHRA told the Mopars that they would have to run as "Altereds" instead (note the class designation on Strickler's window). Most of the big prize $$$ paid out in those days was from independent tracks that were not members of NHRA and those tracks were more than delighted to welcome these AWB Mopars in open doorslammer competiion.

 

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The next step up for the Chrysler built AFXers as shown in post above was to replace the carbs on the Hemis with injectors so they could run even more impressive et's to make drag racing headlines (and good ad copy for the independent track operators trying to draw in more spectators). Here (shared from the HAMB board) is a photo of "Dandy" Dick Landy's injected AWB Dodge.

Here is a shot (also shared from the HAMB board) looking back over the hood at Landy looking very determined to spank the competitor in the opposing lane - hopefully a "Brand C" car.

 

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Looks like "Big Daddy" Don Garlits had a Dodge "doorslammer" to race one model year earlier than the one I showed back in post #445. Photo "shared" from the HAMB board.

 

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Another great shot (shared from the HAMB board) of Tom Crutchfield's SS/BA A990 package Dodge Super Stocker. More on Crutchfield and this car back in post #429 on P22 of this thread.

 

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Repost of ND historical article from post #435 which was replaced by an ad .

Mopar driver Gregory Gay wins @ the 1999 Keystone Natls. Gregory Gay is still active in NHRA racing but is driving a Mopar in a lower class.

 

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A Couple of shots (shared from the HAMB board) of the (pre-340") Mopar performance A-block in drag racing action The 235HP 273" which was offered in the early 'Cudas & Darts was rated a little too high in hp to be a killer car in class racing. The 340" packages are still great performers in NHRA class & Stock Eliminator to this day.

 

[drphlbrt]

Decades ago, 1981-82, there was a local guy in Yakima, WA that had 2 ’65 Barracudas that he & his wife would drag race at the local track, Renegade Raceway. His was a purpose built bracket racer, black with a 383/727auto & hers a daily driver white with a 340/727auto. He ran 11.80’s all night long at the Friday night drags & she ran high 13’s-low 14’s. Several times they ran thru the money bracket field ($20 buy in) & faced off at the end of the night for king (or queen) of the valley. I wish I had some pics of their cars. Side by side at the top end with one or the other a nose ahead depending on who cut the better light. They were great at weekend warrior racing & would trailer the black ‘cuda around the Pacific Northwest with their kids on weekend races/vacations. Always liked the looks of the ‘65 ‘cudas & I think those 2 were the ones that cemented them in my memory.

 

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Decades ago, 1981-82, there was a local guy in Yakima, WA that had 2 ’65 Barracudas that he & his wife would drag race at the local track, Renegade Raceway. His was a purpose built bracket racer, black with a 383/727auto & hers a daily driver white with a 340/727auto. He ran 11.80’s all night long at the Friday night drags & she ran high 13’s-low 14’s. Several times they ran thru the money bracket field ($20 buy in) & faced off at the end of the night for king (or queen) of the valley. I wish I had some pics of their cars. Side by side at the top end with one or the other a nose ahead depending on who cut the better light. They were great at weekend warrior racing & would trailer the black ‘cuda around the Pacific Northwest with their kids on weekend races/vacations. Always liked the looks of the ‘65 ‘cudas & I think those 2 were the ones that cemented them in my memory.

My sister owned one for a few years. She liked it but it only had the 273" w/2bbl so it wasn't really a performance car. They were moderately popular and didn't cost Chrysler much to design and produce - basically just a Valiant chassis and body with an altered roofline and rear window.

 

[drphlbrt]

My 1st car was a ’65 Ruby Red Metallic Dart GT, 273 4bbl Commando, 904 floor shift. ‘65 was the best looking year for Darts & Valient Barracudas. 😁 IMHO.

 

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Photo (shared from HAMB board) of Hayden Proffitt racing his Max-wedge Plymouth at the old Lions dragstrip.

Proffitt was a regular top contender for the NHRA title of "Mr Stock Eliminator" (the equivalent of Pro-Stock champion today) in the mid 60s with his Plymouths. Since NHRA only had 2 National events back then, the "Mr Stock Eliminator" championship was decided by accumulating points at designated events during the year at NHRA sanctioned tracks. Here is my own shot of Proffitt's Plymouth at a points meet at the NHRA track at Lodi, Calif (yes, that Lodi).

Another shot I took of Proffitt during elims racing against Bill Hanyon, another top contender for "Mr Stock Eliminator" in the Milne Bros Plymouth. (Sorry the images are so small - a telephoto lens was way beyond my pocketbook back in those days.)

Hayden Proffitt went on to race an early AMC bodied Funny Car a few years later. He lived into his 90s and just passed away this last summer.

 

[GoManGo0406]

View attachment 92299

Oh, to have a time machine and a few grand cash... Funny, Mr. Norm's old phone number now belongs to a pediatrics doctor out of Lurie's Children's Hospital in Chicago...

 

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Someone else was at Lodi the same day that I was and had color film and a better lens. Here is Hayden Proffitt in an elimination run against Tommy Grove in the "Melrose Missile". Grove & Proffitt were usually at the very top of the list for "Mr Stock Eliminator" in '63 & '64. Tommy Grove won the NHRA Winternationals Top Stock Eliminator title in both 1963 & 1964 in his "Melrose Missile" Plymouths.

 

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You-tube video from 1970. The only Fords and Chebbbies you'll see in this one are getting beat by Plymouths (or Dodges called Plymouths). Looks like it might originally have been a video which was shown to/by dealers to promote the Plymouth "Rapid Transit system" which was their promotional theme for 1970.

 

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Photo from the June issue of "National Dragster" of one of the legends of NHRA Pro Stock racing - the small block powered Plymouth Arrow of Bob Glidden which went on a tear in the 1979 race season.

IIRC, Glidden won every NHRA Natl event that year, save two, and one of those he lost to another Mopar Pro Stocker, Randy Humphrey's Volare, as mentioned in the above text.

 

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Another Mopar Pro Stock racing legend................

Darrell Alderman won 3 NHRA Pro Stock Championships in the 1990's.

 

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Next car up for Hayden Proffitt from the one shown in post #474 above..........

(Photo shared from the HAMB board)