Challenger makes history today

CanadianGT said

Actually what happened was. Nascar was getting lots of complaints from ford and gm about how the hemi was kicking butt so they banned the hemi. The next season richard petty ran a barracuda in drag racing and didn't circle track he nicknamed his car "outlawed" to coincide with the banning of the hemi in nascar. Chrysler while floating around in mediocrity without the hemi then came out with the Wing car and dominated once again. Which nascar subsequently banned because we were once again way better.

Click to expand...

You're talking about the hemi ban of '65, which was lifted shortly afterward. The hemi was already back in use when the wing cars were introduced.

The wing cars were a result of the aero wars between Dodge and Ford during the '69 season. Early in the season Ford created the Torino Taledega and Cyclone Spoiler, and Dodge created the Charger 500, with small mods like flush mount grills and windows. Ford was winning this battle early in the season, so Dodge came out with the Daytona. The Hemi engine was in full use, and Ford had thier newly designed Boss 429, made legal by stuffing them into a handful of Mustangs.

In 1970 the Mopar wing cars dominated, so Nascar changed the rules to limit wing cars to 305 cubic inch, or carry alot of extra weight. 1971 saw alot of wing cars with hot small blocks, still winning races. Eventually Nascar changed the rules again (1972 or 1973?), effectively outlawing wing cars.