Original hemi dart information

[Jason Oldfield]

OK, here's the story right from the horse's mouth:

My uncle was racing the Dart, and sometime after Indy but before the last Division 1 points meet, he blew the motor in the car racing at our local track, Lancaster Dragway. Lancaster ran on Thursday nights, and as part of his contract with the Erie County Dodge Dealers he had to race the car at least once a week at a local track. Lancaster worked out well for him because he could race there on Thursday night, and then leave for the big race for the weekend right after.

Anyway, my uncle had a voucher from Chrysler for a free motor, so he called to get the motor, but they told him they didn't have any more. However, they did say that they had a CAR for him to drive, if he was interested in that. The deal was that if he took the car, he had to also agree to race the car at the World Finals in Dallas too. My uncle was near the top of the Division 1 S/S points standings, and he thinks it was the points meet at Atco that was that weekend, so he felt like he didn't have much choice. So, he drove to Detroit to pick up the car from some guy named Ted Spehar. When he picked up the car (the Iron Butterfly), it was the first time he met Ted. He then took the car to NJ, and Ted and Tom Hoover flew there a day later.

Wally Booth was driving the Iron Butterfly prior to my uncle, including at Indy. It was sometime at or after Indy that Wally and Ted had some type of falling out and split up, which was why the car was available.

A note about the run with Mancini - my uncle had him covered, which is why Mancini tried a neutral start with the car and blew the transmission. I couldn't immediately find the picture, but there is a famous picture that most of you have probably seen before of the carnage of that explosion.

So, there you have it - the story of my uncle and the Iron Butterfly...