RE: [Chrysler300] 1962 Chevy versus 300H

["Laurence G. Johnson" <laurence_g_johnson@xxxx>]

This race was covered in the old Super Stock magazine (Before it was Super 
Stock and Drag Illustrated). I may still have the magazine if I look through 
my junk. The unique thing about the Dodge was that it was NOT a Max Wedge. 
It used service package cylinder heads with 2.08 intakes and 1.74 exhausts 
(a forerunner of the 300J head), a 292 degree flat tappet cam, and long ram 
intake manifolding (the 405 horse versions with the short dividers). I don't 
know how they shoehorned the long manifolds into the B body, but they did 
somehow.

I saw the same car at the '62 Indy Nationals, this time equipped with the 
Torqueflite. I was seated in the grandstand directly behind the starting 
line where the timing tower now sits. I could clearly see the long rams when 
they opened the hood to cool the engine between rounds. NHRA hot lapped the 
Super Stock field so the Ramchargers were pouring water over the radiator 
while pushing it back to the starting line. By the time they reached the 
finals the Dodge was steaming hot and ran poorly. They were beaten in the 
final by Hayden Profitt's 409, but the Dodge was much stronger than any of 
the 409's when the engine was cool in the early rounds.


> From: quentsmith@xxxx
> To: chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [Chrysler300] 1962 Chevy versus 300H
> Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 21:04:36 EST
> Detroit Dragway in 1962 had a match race with Don Nicholson and his 1962
> Chevy 409 Hardtop 4 Speed with the special roof making a run against a 
> Dodge 413.
> The RamChargers car had only a three speed manual transmission in it.
>
> The first race found the Dodge beating the Chevy by about five to
> seven car lengths. The crowd went nuts.
>
> In the second race the Dodge took off with a huge lead, about three
> car lengths before blowing the one to two shift and lost the race by about 
> six
> feet.
>
> The Dodge running was a two door sedan running the B body.
>
> The third and final run was a repeat of the second race with the
> RamCharger's driver missing the one to two shift after another huge 
> starting lead.
> The car lost the race by about two feet. Dodge definitely had the power and
> the speed to deal with the Chevy even with the disadvantage of the three 
> speed
> manual. It was not long after that the Dodges and Plymouths had four speed
> manuals available. Lurking in the wings was the Torqueflite transmission 
> that won
> a ton of match and sanctioned races.
>
> The 300 H would not be able to compete with the Dodge because of
> weight. Hot Rod magazine ran a 300 H in the 1962 year but it did not run 
> Super
> Stock like the B body Dodges and Plymouths.
>
> Quentin Smith (My father was a Chrysler Engineer)
> 300C, H, RamK
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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