Marv’s Garage: wing cars didn’t just rule NASCAR

The late ‘60s saw NASCAR move from what were supposed to be “stock cars” and into the realms of all-out purpose-built racing machines, powered by thundering 600hp big-block 7-litre V8s and backed by fat sacks or corporate Detroit cash. Manufacturers pushed development of aero-slicked, mega-horsepower machines and it gave NASCAR some of the craziest, most dangerous racing they’d had.

It culminated in the 1969 and ’70 seasons as the Dodge Charger 500, and then the be-winged Daytona, took on Ford’s slicked Torino Talladega and Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II. Mopar fans saw their prodigal son Richard Petty move to Ford for ’69 as Plymouth didn’t have a wing car of their own, welcoming him back when the Plymouth Road Runner Superbird hit the scene in 1970.

While Disney might suggest the Pettys were the most successful in winged Mopars, it was actually Nord Krauskopf’s K&K Insurance team which took the ’70 championship in a one-year-old Daytona prepared by the legendary Harry Hyde.

Bobby Isaac steamrolled the season taking 11 wins, 13 poles and 38 finishes in the Top 10, then setting a closed-course speed record of 201mph at Talladega in the off-season. But with NASCAR realising the big-inch big-wing cars were getting too fast they started hobbling their performance.

This led to much consternation in the K&K team as to just how fast their Daytona really was. So, Nord loaded his race truck in September of 1971 and took the 426 Hemi-powered Dodge to Bonneville to set a stack of speed records and show them Ford fellas just how hard the Mopars could run.

On wet salt Bobby Issac goosed the K&K Dodge to a 216.9mph record for a stock-bodied car in a flying start, with 182mph for a stock-bodied car in a standing start. They then got the former dirt-track racer going on a 10-mile oval circuit, sliding the Charger to set another 26 endurance and speed records and stamp the Dodge Daytona’s place in race car lore.

It’s interesting to note that while we regard Charger Daytonas and Road Runner Superbirds among the most iconic American cars and most iconic homologation cars of all-time, few realise they were nearly impossible to sell back in the day! Dealers actually had to have the cars stripped of their wings and extended front noses, and converted back to a regular-looking Charger or Road Runner so they could move them off their lots . Most were 440 big-block-powered as the 426 Hemi was pretty much a flat-out race engine that required constant maintenance and didn’t like running around town to pick up milk and eggs.

That didn’t stop Jim Lindsley of California ordering themselves a Hemi Superbird in 1970, however. Brothers Jim and Larry Lindsley frequented land speed events of the day and Jim ordered his Hemi wing car with a bench seat and automatic, the only Superbird to leave the factory in that spec.

From Speed Week 1970 until around 1990 the LIndsley Superbird ran hard on the Bonneville salt, reaching up to 211mph with a mechanically-injected 426 Hemi under the bonnet. While this isn’t close to how fast other wing cars have gone out there (277mph is the mark to beat for a Mopar wing machine), the Lindsley car was one of the best looking once the Alpine White paint job was replaced with the awesome copper hue.

After a tow-car fire nearly cost them the race car the Lindsleys didn’t go back to Bonneville. Eventually the car was sold off and was restored to stock configuration as prices for Hemi Mopars (and Hemi wing cars in particular) skyrocketed. While it no longer pounds the salt, it’s awesome to see another angle to the Chrysler NASCAR aero warrior’s history that doesn’t involve steep banked oval tracks.