The Factory Wars

chris3racing · 11-29-2012, 11:27 PM

During the seminar at the East Coast Drag Times Hall of Fame, Mr. Tom Hoover of Chrysler was one of the key speakers. I can not quote this exactly but here goes. Chrysler had several "Factory Teams" back then. The people in the upper offices only asked one thing that on Sunday they wanted a Chrysler car in the winner's circle. The racers, Sox & Martin, Landy etc. were instructed that they had a quota of doing at least two of the Super Car shows at Chrysler dealerships every week. If you are not old enough to remember these shows, the racers came to a Chrysler Dealership, transporter, cars, handouts the whole bit. Mr. Hoover noted that since the other Chrysler "Factory Teams" could not do these seminars all over the country, test and race, Chrysler did the testing for them and the Motown Missle program was this test.

Joe Pappas told a story about a test in which he had an old 8 mil video camera and was "tied into the back of the Motown Missle" remember no seat belts back there. He was to video from the inside of the car. A Chrysler 300, I think he said, was in the other lane with a guy hanging out the window video taping the Missle as it went down the track with little pieces of paper taped to it. Pappas commented that after he was tied in the back of the car Mr. Hoover asked "don't you think you might need to wear a helmet?"

Back in those days, a day at even the local tracks here in North Carolina, you could see the "Factory Wars". Car Dealerships were sponsors on local cars. Hendrick Chevrolet, Royal Dodge, old age just set in and I can't remember others.

These "Factory Wars" were what drew hundreds of drag race fans to little small town and big drag strips almost every night back in the "Match Race" days. Local racers would be added into a show with big name racers. The track operator advertised 8 car match race featuring Sox & Martin, Grumpy Jenkins, Don Nicolson, Don Carlton, etc., the other four racers were racers willing to get paid to travel to a track and be the first round loser. If one of them slipped a little bit maybe you could be in the final four. Next round Sox vs Jenkins and Nicolson vs Carlton and the final was what they came to see. Hundreds of spectators would be at the track on a Wednesday or Thursday night to see these races.
One night in Henderson, NC, myself, Ronnie Sox, Hubert Platt and Roy Hill were talking an it was a mutual agreement that it was a tough road but "no current "pro racer" has the fun we had back then. The stories from those days could fill volumns

11-29-2012, 11:27 PM	#6
chris3racing Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 528 Likes: 0 Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: The Factory Wars During the seminar at the East Coast Drag Times Hall of Fame, Mr. Tom Hoover of Chrysler was one of the key speakers. I can not quote this exactly but here goes. Chrysler had several "Factory Teams" back then. The people in the upper offices only asked one thing that on Sunday they wanted a Chrysler car in the winner's circle. The racers, Sox & Martin, Landy etc. were instructed that they had a quota of doing at least two of the Super Car shows at Chrysler dealerships every week. If you are not old enough to remember these shows, the racers came to a Chrysler Dealership, transporter, cars, handouts the whole bit. Mr. Hoover noted that since the other Chrysler "Factory Teams" could not do these seminars all over the country, test and race, Chrysler did the testing for them and the Motown Missle program was this test. Joe Pappas told a story about a test in which he had an old 8 mil video camera and was "tied into the back of the Motown Missle" remember no seat belts back there. He was to video from the inside of the car. A Chrysler 300, I think he said, was in the other lane with a guy hanging out the window video taping the Missle as it went down the track with little pieces of paper taped to it. Pappas commented that after he was tied in the back of the car Mr. Hoover asked "don't you think you might need to wear a helmet?" Back in those days, a day at even the local tracks here in North Carolina, you could see the "Factory Wars". Car Dealerships were sponsors on local cars. Hendrick Chevrolet, Royal Dodge, old age just set in and I can't remember others. These "Factory Wars" were what drew hundreds of drag race fans to little small town and big drag strips almost every night back in the "Match Race" days. Local racers would be added into a show with big name racers. The track operator advertised 8 car match race featuring Sox & Martin, Grumpy Jenkins, Don Nicolson, Don Carlton, etc., the other four racers were racers willing to get paid to travel to a track and be the first round loser. If one of them slipped a little bit maybe you could be in the final four. Next round Sox vs Jenkins and Nicolson vs Carlton and the final was what they came to see. Hundreds of spectators would be at the track on a Wednesday or Thursday night to see these races. One night in Henderson, NC, myself, Ronnie Sox, Hubert Platt and Roy Hill were talking an it was a mutual agreement that it was a tough road but "no current "pro racer" has the fun we had back then. The stories from those days could fill volumns