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Old 12-02-2009, 11:29 PM   #280
Jason Oldfield
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Default Re: Original hemi dart information

A point of clarification on my uncle's '68 Hemi Dart:

He didn't ever own it. It was owned by the Erie County Dodge Dealers of Western New York. It really wasn't co-sponsored by Ken-Ton Dodge (which was in Kenmore / Tonawanda, NY, hence the Ken-Ton name, which is a northern suburb of Buffalo, NY, and where me, my dad, and uncle all grew up), as Ken-Ton Dodge was just one of the Erie County Dodge Dealers. I won't say they weren't more prominently involved, as it is possible that is the dealership that my uncle picked up the car from (since that is where he was living at the time), but in theory all of the Dodge dealerships were in it equally.

The car WAS co-sponsored by Jan-Cen Automotive, which is where my uncle worked at the time (formerly owned by Jim Janis, and now owned by his sons, the most famous of which is Mike Janis, who is a multi-time Pro Modified champ). The car was run in both '68 and '69 - '68 was the horrible paint with the cowboy hats. My uncle despised that paint scheme, and was able to convince the Erie County Dodge Dealers to let him repaint the car the maroon and black paint scheme for 1969.





I'm not going to claim these pictures as mine, and I believe the picture of the '69 car is one of Tom Kasch's pictures, so I'll credit him here for that picture, if not for the '68 picture as well.

Lastly, I COULD be wrong, but I don't believe my uncle quit racing the Dart to race the Iron Butterfly. I believe he was racing Ted Spehar's Iron Butterfly BEFORE he race the Dart in '68 and '69, and then when Ted contacted him about coming on board to race this new class called Pro Stock, he stopped racing the Dart, and moved to Detroit to help kick the Motown Missile program off. But, I could be wrong about the succession of events there, as the Iron Butterfly could have been just a temporary thing for my uncle to race while they built the first Missile. I'll ask my uncle next week when I see him at PRI.

One final comment - there shouldn't be ANY questions as to the details behind the Dart my uncle raced, other than what may have happened to it after he stopped racing it. My uncle is still readily accessible, and is more than willing to answer any questions any of you may have.
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