life after Super Stock for the Hemi A-bodies?

[68hemiss]

There are a number of "Factory" cars still racing (kinda)
Chuck Comella
Harold Leiter
Jim Pancake's Barracuda
Rayburn's Barracuda - I belive has been sold to another racer
Randy Hopkins Dart
There are others as well

[Frito]

I was going to suggest he get up with you or Dell. How about the Lewis & Keys cuda? They were entered for Indy but a no show this year.

[hemidup]

I gotta feeling Lambeck's Dart will make a showing in 2011.

[hemicop]

The BO29 & LO23 cars were truly a "Jack-of-all-trades" sort of car. As others have said, many became Pro Stockers, some "match-race" cars which resulted in quite a few getting carved-up and many went on as pretty successful "class" cars, running as intended in S/S or Modified Production or even in some Gasser classes., You can find pics of cars like "Psychotic Reaction" running M/P or Lambeck's car carrying "gas" (B?) designation or more often than not A/MP. These were "natural" cars for the class as they already had the big engine/small car concept scienced out from the factory & the owner's match-raqcing experience allowed him to set-up the car above & beyond the S/S rules yet be familiar with running the car all-out & however he wanted.
As I recall the original S/S rules didn't allow for any tubing or anythingyet allowed whatever tire could fit without rear-end narrowing , so Mopar was smart enough to carve on the rear quarters of the Darts to allow a larger tire to fit without having to settle for a (relatively)small slick---the 'Cudas didn't have that issue.
As to when the narrowing of rear-ends came into play, I believe that was right at about 1973 when P/S really took off, development was coming by leaps-and-bounds, so the necessity of larger tires just evolved. Actually if you look under one of S&Ms early 'Cudas you'll see a leaf/link set-up & big tires--- kind of a cross between the still used 4-link system yet with leafsprings.

[John Lang]

Jim Keyes was going to race , but his new Engine wasn't done ! He was there as a watcher ! ..........John

[hemicop]

The interesting thing about these cars that anyone tha follows them knows, is that these cars didn't have NEAR the budget Mopar gave its NASCAR contingient. If you look at these cars closely they didn't have near the forethought or completeness of the '65 cars but that's what actually made them so great --- a ton of deleted stuff, cheap A-100 seats, basically a street Hemi with big pistons & an x-ram, sometimes they weren't even complete cars when shipped!
Sadly we'll never see this kind of stuff again. The DragPak cars come kind of close but even allowing for inflation the DP cars are far more money than the old S/S were..........

[doolie]

In the early days of the Division one NHRA Pro Stock circuit there were many Hemi Darts & Cudas competing. Those types of cars competed at the national event level for a few years with less than stellar results. I remember herb McCandless running one and Melvin Yow if my fuzzy mind is working.

[Paul Ceasrine]

doolie,

1970 was the 'First Year' for Pro/Stock,,,,

like you said, many of the 68' Hemi Darts and Barracuda's left
the Super/Stock ranks, and went into 1970 Pro/Stock with 'as is' cars...

That's where the money was, in Pro/Stock Meets and Match-Racing,,,

On the other hand, guys with 68' Camaro's were dropping in 427's or
Rat-strokers in their cars, along with Tunnel-rams...

In 1970, the early part of the year, the Mopar A-Body Hemi's had the
jump on the competitors in Pro/Stock,,,,,,,,,,

as a 68' Hemi Barracuda set the record at 10.09,,,,,,,,

But, by mid-year, the 68' Camaro's with Tunnel-Rammed 427's (ex-A/MP cars) caught up...,,,,,,,,,,,,,and were running 9.90's,,,,,,,,,

I do remember in NED 1, many of the 'freshened-up '68' Hemi's were running between
10.20's and 10.50's,,,,,,,,,, while the 'tired' SS/B and SS/BA cars were running 10.70's and up,,,,,,,

They were too costly to build,,,,,

[Geerhead55]

Originally Posted by Paul Ceasrine

doolie,

1970 was the 'First Year' for Pro/Stock,,,,

like you said, many of the 68' Hemi Darts and Barracuda's left
the Super/Stock ranks, and went into 1970 Pro/Stock with 'as is' cars...

That's where the money was, in Pro/Stock Meets and Match-Racing,,,

On the other hand, guys with 68' Camaro's were dropping in 427's or
Rat-strokers in their cars, along with Tunnel-rams...

In 1970, the early part of the year, the Mopar A-Body Hemi's had the
jump on the competitors in Pro/Stock,,,,,,,,,,

as a 68' Hemi Barracuda set the record at 10.09,,,,,,,,

But, by mid-year, the 68' Camaro's with Tunnel-Rammed 427's (ex-A/MP cars) caught up...,,,,,,,,,,,,,and were running 9.90's,,,,,,,,,

I do remember in NED 1, many of the 'freshened-up '68' Hemi's were running between
10.20's and 10.50's,,,,,,,,,, while the 'tired' SS/B and SS/BA cars were running 10.70's and up,,,,,,,

They were too costly to build,,,,,

He may not have had the record,,, but the early part of 1970 seemed to belong to Bill Jenkins and his '68 427 tunnel rammed Camaro, as he had back to back wins at the Winternationals and the Gatornationals, and also ran in the 9.90 range that day in Pomona, the first time Pro Stock was contested in NHRA national event competition. His opponent in each final was of course, Ronnie Sox in his Hemi powered '70 Cuda.
Danny Durham

[Paul Ceasrine]

Danny,

At the 'major events' Bill Jenkins was 'a step-ahead' of the others,
which included the 70' Winternationals and 70' Gatornationals,
but a local tracks throughout the northeast NED 1,

it was Ed Miller, Bob Gaudreau, Ken Montgomery, Bob Banning,
and Jack Arnew, running the 68' Hemi Super/Stock cars.

Also, Bill Flynn, Bill Stiles and Chuck McJury and the Mutt Brothers
(running an ex-Sox & Martin Barracuda)

The 427 68' and 69' Camaro's started popping up in July 70'.

Lets not forget, the Hemi's swept the other events in 1970;
Super Stock Magazine Nationals
Springnationals
Summernationals
Indy Nationals
Supernationals
World Finals