Anniversary of first 426 hemi raced today

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Ron Kirkpatrick

Ron Kirkpatrick

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Today in 1964 was first time 426 hemi was raced. I have pettys block from that race. Those engines had serial number cast in them upside down. I got paperwork from Chrysler about it
4057CB51-9EE5-409E-B70B-BB7FB048D67C.jpeg
 
Chrysler did some cool stuff back then, with a cast date of 2-8-64 to race day in 3 weeks, awesome.
 
Great effort by Mother. From the drawing board in July 1963 to not only finishing it's first, gruelling 500m race, but coming 1,2,3,4.
Some may not know that on the dyno leading up to the race, engines were blowing up due to core shift in the bores. New blocks were hurriedly re-cast & the winning block was cast on Feb 10.
Compare the Hemi to the POS Ferd 351C raced in this country & had to be extensively resigned to finish a race, let alone win. The most popular Ferd racer here commented, 'They blow up on the starter...'
 
brian6pac said:
Chrysler did some cool stuff back then, with a cast date of 2-8-64 to race day in 3 weeks, awesome.
Click to expand...
I read a story that the first Hemi’s made great power, but had a tendency for the block to crack in the cylinders when ran hard and long like in a 500 mile race. Those blocks cast and machined weeks before race day were an attempt to beef up the block where the cracks occurred. The change was successful.
 
my68barracuda said:
I read a story that the first Hemi’s made great power, but had a tendency for the block to crack in the cylinders when ran hard and long like in a 500 mile race. Those blocks cast and machined weeks before race day were an attempt to beef up the block where the cracks occurred. The change was successful.
Click to expand...

VERY SUCCESSFUL !
 
Just google "Petty's first 1964 Hemi". Read that interesting blurb the other day.
 
my68barracuda said:
kind of weird that the '64 Plymouth in the photo is connected to King Richard and is painted Red,,, that is not the way I remember it.
Also doubt that any stock bodied race car of that era would have the side and window trim present.
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I don't know about the red, but other "actual" photos of Petty show that some cars DID have the side trim

hard-petty-poses-for-a-photo-in-front-of-his-dodge-plymouth-circa-picture-id95920571?s=2048x2048.jpg


ard-petty-pits-his-car-during-the-daytona-500-on-february-23-1964-picture-id95920362?s=2048x2048.jpg
 
And this...........

DAYTONA BEACH, FL - FEBRUARY 23, 1964: Paul Goldsmith's No. 25 Ray Nichels Plymouth qualified 1st in the Daytona 500 at 174.91 mph, and finished 3rd behind Richard Petty and Jim Pardue. Goldsmith's NASCAR Cup driving career spanned from 1956-69, producing nine wins. (Photo by ISC Archives/CQ-Roll Call Group via Getty Images)

ul-goldsmiths-no-25-ray-nichels-plymouth-qualified-1st-in-the-500-picture-id98259058?s=2048x2048.jpg
 
Bewy said:
Great effort by Mother. From the drawing board in July 1963 to not only finishing it's first, gruelling 500m race, but coming 1,2,3,4.
Some may not know that on the dyno leading up to the race, engines were blowing up due to core shift in the bores. New blocks were hurriedly re-cast & the winning block was cast on Feb 10.
Compare the Hemi to the POS Ferd 351C raced in this country & had to be extensively resigned to finish a race, let alone win. The most popular Ferd racer here commented, 'They blow up on the starter...'
Click to expand...

Easy boy. Had the 351C been only five years prior in R&D, it couldda been a Hemi killer. Couldda, but wasn't.
 
^^In the same was that modern "pro stock" drag racing makes no sense, you have to go "back in time" to discover the reasons for the name
 
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