1964 Dodge Hemi - High Flyer - The Honker Flies Again

In the beginning, things were pretty simple. Stock cars ran in one class of drag racing, and modifieds ran in the other, then the top guys ran each other, and the last man standing was the overall winner. That changed in the late '50s as drag racing evolved. Interested executives began showing up for the Nationals in Detroit in 1959, and by 1960, the factories were beginning to step away from the self-imposed anti-racing ban of 1957 and slip packages out the back door to make their car the winner on race day. King-of-the-hill races were no longer part of the equation; each type of eliminator brought honor to the guys (and occasional gals) who could win them.

One guy who became a famous driver back in the early '60s was Bud Faubel, a Pennsylvania car salesman. An Air Force pilot who had flown in combat over Korea and Vietnam, he had originally raced circle track cars and had even gotten some help from Chrysler executive Bob Rodgers back in the '50s for that effort. NASCAR great Marvin Panch came up with the name "Honker" for Bud's fast cars in this era. Starting in 1960, he was factory-backed for the new sport of drag racing, first with 383 cars, then Max Wedges. By the time this Hemi car came into being, he was being tuned by Bill Grumpy Jenkins, who had become a Dodge Boy with driver Dave Strickler that season.

Bills' tight wrench work and Bud's driving ability would lead to both ends of the S/SA record in May 1964, one of the first big numbers in Super Stock by a 426 Hemi engine (and this 11.53/123.79 would hold that honor until early August when Hank Taylor took it away at Phenix City, Alabama). Bud also finished in the top 5 for Division 1 points in Top Stock that year, a real achievement considering the competition he was up against.

The '64 Hemi cars have become some of the most important race machinery in today's collector market, and for good reason. They represented the furthest frontier of production-line, stock-bodied, drag-car development at the time. The Ford Thunderbolts released months earlier had made use of fiberglass body pieces, but Chrysler decided to stick with aluminum that had characterized the Max Wedge cars that had preceded the Hemi, and bolted together the requisite 50 examples for S/S legality. Numbered code 7 on the buildsheet, it included aluminum doors, front fenders, hood with undimpled scoop (the Max Wedge versions had a dip in the middle of the forward opening) held on with a large wing nut on all four corners, radiator support, and other small pieces; a few like this one even got aluminum front bumpers.

Coded A-864, the engine had come off its dominating performance at the Daytona 500 to be retrofitted with the Max Wedge-type cross-ram design supporting a pair of carbs (these were carter AFBs at initial release, with an official Holley replacement mandated soon into the production run), a Prestolite transistorized ignition layout, 12.5 compression (a few steel-nosed versions got an optional 11.0 compression version), and steel-tubing-type exhaust manifolds. It was a tight fit that required a change to the right-side, upper-control-arm bracket to get into the engine bay.

With handlers like Dave Strickler and Al Eckstrand working the new A833 four-speeds, guys like Bud held their own using the infamous dashboard-mounted "typewriter" automatic shifter, pushing 500-plus horses through the new A727 Torqueflite, a creation that had let Chryslers dominate the doorcar eliminator for most of the early '60s. Without the high-rev shock of dumping the clutch, an 831/44 rear was considered efficient and strong enough for the environment, crammed with a 4.56 ring that kept the motor at rpm ranges where it enjoyed breathing-above 4,000 (there is an even steeper 5.13 gear in the car now).

To keep the Dodge light on the scales, the interior was basically gutted-lightweight seats, no radio or heater, the back seat replaced by a cardstock panel, aluminum door hinges, and no body sealer. One striking touch in the '64 Dodge Hemi S/S was the use of red as opposed to black in the interior. As with the Max Wedge cars, the battery (a fat one at that) was moved into the trunk. All in all, it was package set on kill, which it did on regular occasions during the later half of 1964.

After Bud sold it in 1965, it went to New York, and its racing heritage became limited. It later ended up in the Midwest, which was where car broker/restorer Steve Banker found it in the late '80s, with much of Bud's signature paint and graphics intact. It was restored to the standards of that time and was a star exhibit in a private musclecar assembly out west.