Chrysler's Motown Missile: Mopar's Secret Engineering Program at the Dawn of Pro Stock. Geoff Stunkard

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ participants: Chrysler engineer Tom Hoover, engine builder Ted Spehar, and driver Don Carlton. Each of them established a reputation as an expert in his respective field. All three had a certain drive not often found in any discipline, the type of drive that can only lead to success over the long run if everything is on a level playing field. And the three of them functioning in harmony was a beautiful thing.

      That stated, not a single one of them would have taken sole credit for what happened in the era that the Motown (and later Mopar) Missile program began. The team was surrounded by people who valued hard work and had a passion to win.

      For Hoover, leading the factory development program, it was his fellow engineering cabal, many of them former members of a drag racing team called the Ramchargers. By the late 1960s at the height of the Detroit performance era, they remained strategically placed in Chrysler Corporation management, marketing, and development. Dave Koffel, liaison for the racers who began working for the firm in mid-1968, once noted they worked for a number of bosses over the years, but the focus never wavered. Whatever was needed to succeed was done. You will meet many of them on these pages.

      For Spehar, it was the crew of guys who worked with him at his engine shop. Car builder and driver Dick Oldfield, engine-building associate Leonard Bartush, and shop manager Mike Koran shared in that effort. Ted himself was always in close association with factory boss Tom, who is reverently referred to as “Mr. Hoover” to this day. In his role of developing pieces for the racing environment, Spehar did relentless and thorough testing, finding solutions to problems that had never been seen before. Sometimes shown in the periodicals of the day working on an engine-based challenge during a long race weekend, Ted was typical of the mechanical geniuses the sport attracted, and the machine spoke for his effort.

      Carlton, also bespeckled in black rims like the other two, was perhaps the person least expected to be the image of a drag racer. In an age of Aquarius and toughguy drivers, Don was not someone normally showing up in beefcake photos. However, put him in a 4-speed race car, and he was quickly a hero to the fans. Indeed, his competency as a driver quickly proved itself in his native North Carolina, and he came into focus for the team in 1971 after driving stints with other teams. Once the factory turned the team over to Carlton full-time, Dick Oldfield would come to work for him, as would another die-hard wrench named Joe Pappas, and Don would continue maintaining his own race operation on his family property in the South, assisted by Clyde Hodges and fellow driver Stu McDade.

      Together, this collective was to change the focus of the sport from its sometimes shade-tree roots into something that could be quantified by computer science, applied practically for answers, and then used to dominate the sport. The data generated for this program helped all Chrysler factory-associated Pro Stock teams, not just their own, and some advances were also applied to further benefit all racing of this type.

      In every good story there is a nemesis, and in this case it would end up being those in charge of parity. You see, this volume is about a single Chrysler team but encompasses everyone who raced these products. Early on, they won. They won a lot. As the other popular (and frankly better-selling) Detroit products were beaten on a regular basis, those enthusiasts complained to listening ears in the sanctioning bodies who ran organized racing. These so-called “high sheriffs” of the rule book in turn steadily applied conditions that would eventually make all Chryslers in Pro Stock uncompetitive, regardless of how much effort and money these men and their associates put forth. If it is said that life is unfair, this would certainly be the case for these teams that put so much focus into this era to no avail.

      But this is no place to whine about all of that. As you progress through this book, you will get a real sense of the time when this effort happened, the people who made it possible, and the drama of the sport of drag racing in the upper echelon of the factory hot rods. In later years, when a much greater amount of money was spent on research into competition engineering (coupled with an almost boring level of product conformity), development would allow for performance levels undreamed of in the age of the Motown Missile.

      This photo was sent to Don Carlton (standing, center) from Wally Parks following the 1972 win at Gainesville and is in Don Carlton Jr.’s business office.

      But these guys did it first. For many fans of this era, they also did it best …

       Noted artist David Snyder created this symbolic view of the legendary Woodward Sunoco garage during the era of the Silver Bullet Plymouth, seen parked outside. The passion for performance is what spearheaded the work that led to the Motown Missile on a more national scale. Jimmy Addison owned the service center at this time. (Photo Courtesy www.davidsnydercarart.com)

      Chapter OnePreflight Check in Autumn 1969:Origins of the Motown Missile

      Dusk began to fall as Jimmy Addison worked to get the nondescript Dodge ready for the night, his work-worn hands up underneath it inside the lit garage bay. Outside the Sunoco station, automobiles in bright shades of paint cruised by, some drivers looking over briefly at the car hoisted up on the lift, others more intent on getting to Ted’s drive-in restaurant, to the next stoplight, or beside the next wise guy. There was a rumble outside and the ring of the service station bell as a rich green Corvette roadster with factory side-pipes rolled up to the pumps. Any 435-hp L71 Tri-Power out on Woodward wanted what was needed, and what was needed was gallons of Sunoco 260. After a quick glance from Jimmy, one of the young guys in the garage bay wiped off his hands and walked out to see a young executive (maybe right from GM) and his lady friend sitting inside the brand-new car. He saw the $20 bill hanging out the window, heard him say “Fill ’er up!,” and started the pump. Jimmy went back to work underneath the rough-looking 1962, getting the Max Wedge Mopar ready to win some Saturday chump change.

      * * *

      Addison became one of the legends of Woodward Avenue in its heyday. Muscle cars and marketing were the going thing in the bedroom-community suburbs of Detroit, and this long stretch of four-lane pavement running northwest from the center of the city to the town of Pontiac was considered by many to be ground zero for the cause. Indeed, so much so that Pontiac, the car brand, originator of the GTO, had run a national advertisement showing a new version of its tiger with a Woodward Avenue street sign prominently displayed that was clearly intended to show everyone which way was up.

      For the cruisers and the crazies, up was someplace close to 19 Mile Road (near where the popular local eatery Ted’s drive-in was located), and then it began a circuit southeast toward Ferndale or to 9 Mile Road. Each of these east-west numbered “Mile” streets was named for the number of miles from the center of the city of Detroit. On a busy night, most participants would turn around and make the circuit a few times, perhaps stopping at Addison’s Woodward Sunoco fuel depot for a tank of hi-test fuel if the ride required it. The respectable ones all did.

      Addison was a short, stocky guy noted for a somewhat gruff demeanor and a fearless driving style. A former line mechanic for an Oldsmobile dealership, he had been at the Sunoco station at 14 Mile since 1968 and would soon own it himself.

      Thanks to Ted Spehar’s meticulous engine building skills and the car’s unkempt outward appearance, the stroked Max Wedge 1962 Dodge was something of an unknown terror on the street—which was good for business if your business was street racing and dudes such as that guy in the ’Vette were looking to impress a member of the other sex. They had money. You wanted to take it. Let the best man win.

      At any rate, while the Woodward Dream Cruise has now become a part of yearly American automotive СКАЧАТЬ