When it comes to talking about Mopar's racing heritage, it is virtually impossible to not include the Chrysler Hemi in one form or another. The versions built in the '50s proved their worth on the speedways rather quickly as competitors built them for racing, but in 1964, the factory unleashed the engine that would make Mopars the most feared machines on either the street or track. Bred primarily as racehorses, the 426 Hemis built from 1964 to 1971 became the stuff of legend. So, to celebrate that, we will let some prime movers and shakers of the performance era tell tales about their involvement with Detroit's finest.
392 vs. 426
Due to my close relationship with Chrysler, I was well aware of the development work on the new 426 Hemi long before it was public knowledge. Prior to the release of the engine, Chrysler sent me five complete crated Hemis. Swamp Rat VIII was the first 426 car we ran, and Connie Swingle was driving for me at the time. We struggled for two years with the 426 and couldn't get out of the 8-second zone at 192 mph. Conversely, people who were running the old 392 were in the mid-7s at 214 by now. We weren't the only ones having the problem; the Ramchargers, and just about everyone else, were locked in the 8s struggling with the 426. With the 392, you ran 34 degrees of timing; 35 degrees would burn a cylinder, so we were running the 426 at 34 degrees, just like the 392.
In 1966, we were racing at National Trail Raceway near Columbus, Ohio, and could only run 190 mph. On our way to the next race at Rockford, Illinois, I made up my mind to run the engine at 40 degrees, blow it up, and put a 392 back into the car. At 40 degrees, the car went 7.55 at 214. I figured I'd go to 50 degrees and grenade it for sure-it went 7.40 at 219! We had found that the secret to the 426 was fuel volume and lots of spark advance. With the stock Chrysler aluminum heads, we went 6.77 at 222 mph; with worked heads, a Keith Black 31/48-inch stroker crank and 30 percent blower drive, we could run 6.15 at 243. We were showing 1,600-1,700 hp and turning the motor in excess of 8,000 rpm, and we were still using the stock block, exhaust valves, and rocker arms and shafts.
-Don Garlits, abridged from Mopar Muscle, Vol. 1, No. 2
The Riot of '65
We went to the Super Stock Magazine Nationals in York, Pennsylvania, that summer with the Golden Commandos altered-wheelbase car. It was a fabulous race. Everyone who was anyone was there, and if you weren't anyone, forget it. By then, the cars were really, really radical, and we were wearing a lot of safety equipment and burning nitromethane. That day, I raced in an Unlimited Class they had developed. Hour after hour it went on.
Jon Lundburg was announcing, and he knew how to work the crowd. There were thousands upon thousands of people there that night. I remember they were letting people in for free by the time it got dark and you couldn't move in the place. Nobody was manning the gates. We had won some money earlier in the night and I went to go collect it; they had put all the cash in this shed. Baskets full of it. It was literally falling out.
It was an unbelievable sight. People were on the track and the cars were rushing down between them. I thought for certain that somebody was going to get killed. There was no place to sit, and moreover, the cars were wheelstanding. In the darkness, people down the track had turned on their headlights so we could keep racing.