In 1963 which car manufacture dominated the NHRA?

[Budnicks]

63 Z11 Ol' Reliable 427cid Lightweight car
Grumpy's car, very successful, driven by Dave Strickler
(of Dodge fame later)
he won 90%, 9 of every 10 match races he entered with it

another 63 Mystery 427cid car
1 of 57 made

 

[Budnicks]

63 Tom Hoover

another 63
Bounty Hunter, max wedge car

 

[Budnicks]

another 63 Plymouth 426 advert.

I like this advert.

 

[Budnicks]

63
Tempest AFX Arnie the farmer Beswick
really successful car

his 63 Grand Prix S/S Passionate Poncho

another 63 Pontiac 421cid famous S/S
Tin Indian III Arlen Vankey (later of 1968 BO29 Hemi 'cuda fame)

 

[Budnicks]

63 7-11 Packer Pontiac/Grand Prix S/S
Flint Detriot
sold for huge $$$'s at Mecum

another 63
Max Wedge Savoy
famous Melrose Missile III,
1963 Winternationals champ

 

[Budnicks]

63 Dave Strickler's MW Polara,
yep it's Grumpy Jenkin's tuned

The Dodge Boys S/S

another 63 shot Honker & Bounty Hunter Dodges

 

[33 IMP]

Man 128 mph in the 1/4?

Thats 10 second mph.

Seen an audi A8 run 10.8 @128

Rock hard seven inch slicks. They didnt record 60fts then, but i bet they weren't great.
Edit: sorry, i guess my post wasnt real helpful. I didnt realize this was a five year old thread.

 

[Budnicks]

63 Polara S/S MW Goodies Speed Shop
from Fremont (later Baylands Raceway) California

another 63
Garlits Dodge Dart Massey Motors S/S Polara MW

another 63
Another of Arnies cars
Tempest

another of his Tempest's

another Tempest, Another Alen Vanke car

 

[33 IMP]

I suspect that those tempests were influential in the development of the gto a year later.
I think i remember that GM decided to quit supporting factory racing sometime in 63. By 1964, all the factory supported pontiacs and chevys were gone, nascar and nhra. Thats why the rest of the decade was ford vs mopar.

 

[Budnicks]

I suspect that those tempests were influential in the development of the gto a year later.
I think i remember that GM decided to quit supporting factory racing sometime in 63. By 1964, all the factory supported pontiacs and chevys were gone, nascar and nhra. Thats why the rest of the decade was ford vs mopar.

Yeah my stepdad Bob race a 64 GTO in H/SA IIRC late Dec. 1963
he got his from Meridian Pontiac in Concord Ca., he knew someone deal
(as he'd call it) raced it too, until late 1968-ish
later other GTO's & Firebirds, mostly out west all up & down Calif.
(he knew Mickey Thompson, another Pontiac guy, thru his buddy Wes)
it was all backdoor stuff, back door engineering stuff
Pontiac was a real player, so was Chevy
(even Old's to a lesser extent, Buick was too, not as much Drag Racing)
just not openly supported by the factory
they had factory-sponsored guys, thru the back door channels
engineers & parts help etc., just all hush-hush
not much in the body in white deals like they did prior

I know most here probably know this too...
John Delorean was one that "allegedly" promoted it
he wanted the 64 GTO/Tempest platform performance options
light 2 dr midsize car with big engines
(what became, the term quoted by some journalist 'the Muscle car formula')
& Pontiac heads/beancounters 'fought him' the whole way
you could get it (perfomance stuff) in a special order package org.
like the Bobcat, special dealerships
(sort of like the COPO program from GM/Chevy later)
until they saw the 64 GTO was selling
to the youth crowd 'like hotcakes'
they started to even promote it
'the "tiger" under the hood performance aspects' in 1965
later even the 400cid Ram Air III or IV
400 Firebird or Trans Am, the 455cid SD, 'the Judge', etc. etc. etc.

I was just a lil' dude, when it was happening
I didn't start even going to the track with Bob until 1966-67
I was 7-8, when he 1st started taking me...
I loved it...
I was addicted to Fuel Altereds, Gassers & AFX Cars

 

[383man]

The thing I like about the Mopars was anyone could buy a Max Wedge as they were all street legal in 63. I believe most Pontiac stuff you had to buy at the dealer parts counter and add it to the car. I dont think Pontiac sold their cars with the good stuff as you had to add alot of the Super Duty bought over the counter. I believe in 63 Ford had much of their good parts sold over the counter. And I dont think the Thunderbolt was street legal. As for the Max Wedges in 63 you just had to know how ask the dealer to buy one. And they would fly in stock form. Hot Rod took a 63 Belvedere with the low comp 11.0 Max Wedge 426 and added 4.56 gears which you could buy the car with them gears dealer installed. They added Atlas bucron tires and cranked up the torsion bars a little popped the cutout open and ran 12.69 @ about 112, That was with the eng completely stock. Heck it would not take much to put them in the 11's. Ron

 

[Frustration]

I was born in '68, so I wasn't there. I'm a drag racing historian though. Been reading articles since i could read...not just Hot Rod and Car Craft, but the good ones like BRUSA. I've been going to E-town, Maple Grove, Island, Cecil, etc... for all of my 52 years Since '84 I have raced every year. I've always been a Mopar guy. My dad and Grandfather both purchased new '69 road runners. What I can say from running N/SS, brackets, etc is that Mopar has had their suspension sorted from the jump. They didn't have axle hop, even with lots of power. Also, when Mopar came out with the torqueflite, 4-speeds became less competative. Remember, these cars in '63-'67 had no traction whatsoever. Tires were garbage. The automatic allowed them to have better control of the launch. Before that time, 4-speeds ruled. Mostly due to no good torque converter technology. Looking for an alternative to damaging, Neutral Slams, Art Carr among others figured out how to make an automatic work through the torque converter. All factories made good horsepower. As we all know, getting it to the track was the key. Lots of frustrated racers, that were great at handling a clutch and 4 speed got beat by Mopars with an automatic.

To comment on the early comments in this thread...remember, lots of our Mopar heroes ran other brands before moving to Ma Mopar. They saw the light, and they were the best of the best. Ronnie, Arlen, and lots of others. That being said, I love 'em all. I'm glad the nostalgia scene is as strong as it is and has been. For my money, a clean, vintage, nostalgic car is the only way I'll ride.

 

[cjd1963]

The thing I like about the Mopars was anyone could buy a Max Wedge as they were all street legal in 63. I believe most Pontiac stuff you had to buy at the dealer parts counter and add it to the car. I dont think Pontiac sold their cars with the good stuff as you had to add alot of the Super Duty bought over the counter. I believe in 63 Ford had much of their good parts sold over the counter. And I dont think the Thunderbolt was street legal. As for the Max Wedges in 63 you just had to know how ask the dealer to buy one. And they would fly in stock form. Hot Rod took a 63 Belvedere with the low comp 11.0 Max Wedge 426 and added 4.56 gears which you could buy the car with them gears dealer installed. They added Atlas bucron tires and cranked up the torsion bars a little popped the cutout open and ran 12.69 @ about 112, That was with the eng completely stock. Heck it would not take much to put them in the 11's. Ron

Yes and no...just about anyone could a MW car in 63 but they weren't all street legal. 11.0 cars were more suited for street use but the high comp. cars weren't. They were generally radio and heater delete cars and came with these disclaimer stickers.

 

[Ceedawg]

Yes and no...just about anyone could a MW car in 63 but they weren't all street legal. 11.0 cars were more suited for street use but the high comp. cars weren't. They were generally radio and heater delete cars and came with these disclaimer stickers.

View attachment 1068236

Hec I got 4 cars that are radio delete and two of them are heater delete NOW. Definitely don’t need no radio garbage-noise. lol

 

[Endangered Species]

Jim Kramer has this car. It's not painted the same though

 

[early2drsedan]

pontiac swiss cheese cars and 63 421 sd tempest to low low of a production number to run s/s they had to run fx class in 63 and 64 i would say mopar

 

[33 IMP]

All i know is that in 63, the main players were the 427 chevy z11, a stroked 409, pontiac 421 super duty catalina, with or without swiss cheese (the tempests were strictly a/fx!), and the 427 galaxie, up from previous year 406. All the above were available with light body parts, fiberglass or aluminum, cause they were all at least 400 lbs heavier than the maxwedge cars. They were also all four speeds, in an era of rock hard seven inch slicks, and that was still plenty of traction to bust up the unbelievably weak rearends under the chevys.
So mopar responded with easily the best auto trans of the time, and light body parts of their own. If current cars being raced is any indication.....when was the last 427 galaxie, z11 chevy, or 421 sd you have seen running stock or super stock? There are still a few maxwedges running. I think a 413 max was nhra stock world champ last year.
Now, 64, That was an interesting year. Chevy and pontiac are gone, GM racing ban, and ford has a 427 hi-riser in a lightweight fairlane thunderbolt, and mopar has a lightweight race hemi. Wish i couda been there!!!

 

[383man]

Yes and no...just about anyone could a MW car in 63 but they weren't all street legal. 11.0 cars were more suited for street use but the high comp. cars weren't. They were generally radio and heater delete cars and came with these disclaimer stickers.

View attachment 1068236

But they were all still street legal if you wanted to tag and drive them. I am not sure that sticker came on the Max Wedge cars for sure as I know it was on Hemi cars but from all I have read and researched any Max Wedge car in 63 could be tagged and drove off the lot if they wanted to. There was even a guy who tagged a 64 Hemi Dodge and drove it home from the dealer which I did not think you could tag the 64 Hemi cars but I guess you could ? Ron

 

[Ceedawg]

But they were all still street legal if you wanted to tag and drive them. I am not sure that sticker came on the Max Wedge cars for sure as I know it was on Hemi cars but from all I have read and researched any Max Wedge car in 63 could be tagged and drove off the lot if they wanted to. There was even a guy who tagged a 64 Hemi Dodge and drove it home from the dealer which I did not think you could tag the 64 Hemi cars but I guess you could ? Ron

Ron, I thought the only cars not taggable were the 68 Hemi Cuda and Dart (bill of sale only) and maybe those 65 FX cars.

 

[cjd1963]

But they were all still street legal if you wanted to tag and drive them. I am not sure that sticker came on the Max Wedge cars for sure as I know it was on Hemi cars but from all I have read and researched any Max Wedge car in 63 could be tagged and drove off the lot if they wanted to. There was even a guy who tagged a 64 Hemi Dodge and drove it home from the dealer which I did not think you could tag the 64 Hemi cars but I guess you could ? Ron

I'm not disputing the fact that you could not tag a high compression car and drive it on the street, it was done for sure. The picture of the disclaimer that I posted earlier is in my 63 Savoy. It was in there when I bought it in 1977. Craig