Original hemi dart information

[Charlie A]

Slow day at the office. Bringing a couple of old posts forward for your viewing pleasure!

Originally Posted by Paul Ceasrine

On a lighter note,

January 15, 1968

Chrysler Press Release,

Chrysler Performance and Dodge have announced today with plans to go forth with a special drag race car program.

On February 18, Dodge will be building '60' special performance
drag race cars for the NHRA Super/Stock class.
These cars will designated for the SS/B or SS/BA class.
Chrysler has petitioned the NHRA to class these cars in the top class of SS/A or SS/AA , but the NHRA has reserved the top class for the
possibility of another manufacturer building an even lighter and higher horsepowered car.

The Darts, will be designated in the weight class and horsepower rating of 6.00 to 6.99 weight-to-horsepower.
These specially built cars will carry approximately 3000 lbs,. and
will be powered by a special 500 horsepower Race Hemi engine.

Specifics of the engine have not been revealed.

Currently, the '60' proposed cars will be available in both a race
automatic transmission or a special manual 4-speed.

At the moment, '35' cars will carry the special automatic transmission
with a race-ready 2600 RPM stall torque-converter.

The other '25', will be equipped with a Hurst 4-speed shifter, and
modified manual transmission, with the removal of the syncronizers,
for speed shifting.

All cars will have lightened body parts, to reach the lowest possible
weight, which includes fiberglass front fenders and hood, and thin-steel doors.

Included will be special .080" thickness lightweight side glass panels.
Corning Glass Corp, of Corning, New York will supply '60' sets of single-layer
thin glass,,,,,

Currently on board,,,the Chrysler Performance/Dodge Race Team
includes veterans Bill Flynn, Dick Landy, Gene Snow and Shirley Shahan.
These racers will be getting their cars first, to perform advance testing.

Bill Fynn from the northeast, Dick Landy and Shirley 'Drag-On-Lady'
from the west coast, and Gene Snow from the south, will help cover the
corners of the NHRA sanctioned tracks.
A list of current Super/Stock and former A/FX drivers has been compiled, in an attempt to get the best possible drivers for these
race-ready Hemi cars.

Times are expected to be in the 10.80 range, with speeds up to
130 MPH.