[Beentherebefore]

A couple more photos of the "Iron Butterfly" SS ' 64 Dodge (shared from the HAMB board). This car has quite a history and is still being raced today, IIRC.


Ted Spehar built & raced it with Wally Booth, who later went on to fame racing an AMC Hornet in Pro Stock. It then went to Dick Oldfield who raced in the Super Stock division and was a many time winner and broke several class records in this car.

More on this car's history back on Post # 337, P17 of this thread.

 

[Beentherebefore]

Fremont Dragstrip, 1964 Fremont, Calif.

An early 1964 appearance of the "Melrose Missile VI" which I shot @ Fremont when it was there to do some AFX testing. This car was one of 4 early Hemi prototypes built by Chrysler (2 Plyms, 2 Dodges) as test beds for the 50 (each brand) lightweight Hemi drag cars that the company would produce later in the year. A discerning eye will notice a slightly shortened (from stock dimensions) wheelbase on this car - a modification that would prove successful for helping with overcoming traction problems caused, in part, by the narrow tires in use at the time..........and eventually lead to the much greater w/b alterations on future factory supported Mopars.

The driver at that time was Tommy Grove who had won the "Mr Stock Eliminator" title (would be the equivalent of a Pro Stock Championship today since there were only 2 NHRA National events that year) at the Winternationals in an earlier model SS Plymouth.

Another shot of the same car (shared from the HAMB Board) in action at another track. You can notice a little more alteration to the wheelbase.

Once it was confirmed that the awb cars were substantially quicker, the movement to awb cars was on for those racers that wanted to make front page news in the drag media with their "doorslammers". These cars were the ancestors of the modern day Funny Cars.

 

[Beentherebefore]

ND headline from 2003 Route 66 Nationals in Chicago in old ND found in box pulled down from garage rafters. Testing out a new computer system much more complicated than the old one, Much more to this article when I can figure out a less complicated way to get my file stuff to transfer to this site.

 

[drphlbrt]

Looks like it works! Unless you mean the one on that vintage Melrose Missile. 😄😄

 

[Beentherebefore]

The rest of the photos from article mentioned in post #483 above.......

Both Jerry Bennett and Gene Mosbek are still racing Mopars in NHRA natl event competition. Bennett has switched to a 340" Duster but Gene Mosbek is still racing the same '64 Plymouth shown in these photos. I don't think either of them get much (if any) support from Mopar in spite of their decades of loyalty.

 

[Beentherebefore]

We used to hear about this Mopar racer even out in Calif in the early 60's...........

Drag Racing HISTORY: The Legacy of Mr. Plymouth

Robert Nance is a Southern Gentleman who was a Ringgold, Georgia dairy farmer who went drag racing and WON! He started racing in the 1950's and made a name for himself locally, which led to a factory-backed arrangement with Plymouth, starting in 1962. He raced Max Wedge cars in 1962 and 1963, moving into a Hemi-powered Plymouth in 1964 and beyond. By 1965, Robert Nance and hired driver James Lake campaigned two cars, a Super Stocker and an A/FX car. This led to two funny cars in 1966 and 1967, and Robert eventually landed another factory race car, a 1968 BO29 Hemi Barracuda. He went on to build a Plymouth Duster Pro Stocker and a Plymouth Duster Super Stocker, which still lives on to this day and proudly wears the Mr. Plymouth name on the door! Follow along as we document Robert Nance's racing career, from his earliest days running on the Daytona measured mile beach course to his final days of bracket racing in the 1980's. Through this history lesson, you'll see lots of great photos and video clips from back in the day, as well as an up-close look at the surviving Plymouth Duster Super Stocker, which still lives in North Georgia and races at nostalgia drag racing events in the Southeast. A Hemi legend, Robert Nance's legacy lives on!