{"id":37152,"date":"2020-04-26T07:00:02","date_gmt":"2020-04-26T11:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dodgegarage.com\/news-api\/?p=37152"},"modified":"2024-03-25T11:23:00","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T15:23:00","slug":"special-handling-the-426-hemi-drag-package-cars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/heritage\/2020\/04\/special-handling-the-426-hemi-drag-package-cars.html","title":{"rendered":"Special Handling \u2013 The 426 HEMI®<\/sup> Drag Package Cars"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It was the engine that rocked the world. It\u2019s four simple\nletters instilled fear into the competition as it powered its drivers to\nchampionships along the NHRA drag strips and NASCAR super speedways. It has set\nrecords for well over 50 years and continues to this day. It may have been born\nduring the height of the British Invasion, but the 426 HEMI\u00ae<\/sup> engine is as American as a\nFourth of July fireworks display. Its thunderous exhaust tone and screaming\nintake noises (from sucking mass quantities of oxygen into its dual four-barrel\ncarburetors) were a tell-tale sign when the 426 HEMI engine got unleashed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Since Chrysler\u2019s 426 HEMI engine was a double threat effort to win\nin both stock car and drag racing, unique engine packages were developed to\nsuit the specific needs of the uniquely different racing sanctioning bodies. In\nthe early years, NASCAR\u2019s rules were quite different than those imposed by the\nNHRA and AHRA, who governed many of the nation\u2019s drag strips in the 1960s. Both\ndrag racing organizations required a minimum number of vehicles with the\nspecific engine combination to be built in order to be deemed \u201clegal\u201d to run\nin the popular Super Stock classes. From lessons learned during the 426 Max\nWedge program the year before, Chrysler\u2019s engineers, led by the late Tom Hoover,\nquickly ramped up production of the 1964 Race HEMI \u201cPackage Cars\u201d to satisfy both\nNHRA and AHRA. The Race HEMI engine, with its unique aluminum or magnesium crossram\nintake manifold, dual Holley carburetors and other cool go-fast goodies, was\ndesigned for the drag strip or, as the Chrysler sales literature would say,\n\u201csupervised acceleration time trials.\u201d Like the earlier 426 Max Wedge that\npowered Dodge and Plymouth intermediates (otherwise known as the \u201cB-Body\u201d to\nthe Mopar\u00ae<\/sub> faithful), this platform with its generous engine bay would be a\nnatural home for the all-new King Kong 426 Race HEMI engine.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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1964 A864 426 HEMI DRAG PACKAGE <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the 426 Max Wedge production concluded in early 1964,\nChrysler began building their 426 Race HEMI Package Cars, code name A864. Sold\nstrictly for off-road\/non-street use, this engine was installed in the Dodge\n330 and 440 trim levels while the Plymouth division installed the 426 Race HEMI engine\nin its Savoy and Belvedere models. To save weight, a large part of the\nfront-end sheetmetal was replaced with much lighter aluminum counterparts\n(including the addition of a functional hood scoop), while other reductions in\nbulk included removal of the rear seat (sound familiar you Dodge Challenger SRT\u00ae<\/sup> Demon\nand 1320 owners?), using lighter front bucket seats, putting the battery in the\ntrunk for better weight distribution to aid in traction, and deletion of other creature\ncomforts such as the radio and heater to save a few pounds. Like the 426 Max\nWedge cars, the 1964 Dodge 426 Race HEMI Package Cars were built in the Dodge\nMain Assembly Plant in Hamtramck, Michigan, while their Plymouth counterparts\nrolled off the Lynch Road Assembly Plant in Detroit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So successful was the 1964 A-864\nRace HEMI enigne that is was an all-Dodge final for the Super Stock Eliminator title\nat NHRA\u2019s biggest event, the Nationals (now known as the U.S. Nationals) at\nIndianapolis Raceway Park. Roger Lindamood took his \u201cColor Me Gone\u201d Dodge to an\nupset win over the infamous Ramcharger racing team in basically the same car.\nNow the die was cast for the 426 Race HEMI as a proven championship engine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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1965 A990 426 HEMI DRAG PACKAGE\n<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the success of the 426\nRace HEMI engine in Super Stock for 1964, NHRA tried to reel the class back in. They\ndisallowed the use of what NHRA deemed \u201cexotic metals\u201d so that eliminated the\nuse of aluminum body components, but that didn\u2019t stop the Chrysler race engineers.\nFor 1965, the package code was now called A990 Race 426 HEMI and it was available\nin the Dodge Coronet or Plymouth Belvedere line. To shave weight, certain body\npanels, including the front bumper, were stamped from a thinner gauge metal and\nthe new aluminum HEMI cylinder head casting and magnesium intake manifold were\nused to shave more weight off the front. Also, many of the same techniques to\nreduce interior weight on the 1964 Package Cars were incorporated on the 1965\nA990 Dodge and Plymouth models. Like the 1964 Package Cars, the A990 Race HEMI engine came\ndown the assembly line, but this time both the Dodge and Plymouth models were built\nat Lynch Road in Detroit. The tradition of dominating at the drags also\ncontinued for the A990 Dodge and Plymouth drivers during the racing season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Eventually, many of the 1965\nA990 Race HEMI Dodges and Plymouths morphed into the growing A\/FX category, a\nprecursor to the Funny Car class. Factory involvement in this class was\nshort-lived, as not only were these cars dangerous due to the growing use of\nvolatile fuels like nitromethane in their now injected HEMI engines, but the\nrudimentary safety equipment of the era put the drivers at extreme risk. Safety\nissues and the fact that the cars no longer resembled the factory showroom\nmodels Dodge and Plymouth dealers were selling further reinforced Chrysler\u2019s\ndecision to develop a more production-themed HEMI package car for 1967. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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1967 A102 426 HEMI DRAG\nPACKAGE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Known in the Mopar world as\nthe RO23 (Plymouth Belvedere) and WO23 (Dodge Coronet), Chrysler\u2019s product\nplanners worked very hard with the race group in producing a Package Car that\nlooked like a factory showroom model. Chrysler wanted their factory drivers\nsuch as Ronnie Sox and Dick Landy to park their injected HEMI A\/FX cars, hang up\ntheir fire retardant nomex\/aluminized driving suits and face masks, and jump in\nthese RO\/WO package cars for the 1967 season. The factory wanted these guys back in\nproduction-based cars. Unlike the earlier A864 and A990 426 HEMI Drag Package\ncars, the 1967 RO\/WO was much tamer. The 1967 had basically a warmed-over 426\nStreet HEMI engine under the production steel with a lightweight hood scoop to direct\nfresh air into a pair of Carter AFB carburetors. Slight measures were taken to\nreduce weight, such as removal of sound deadening and insulation. Like the previous\nPackage Cars, a four-speed or automatic transmission were available and to keep\ncost down, the RO\/WO cars were also built on the line at the Lynch Road\nAssembly Plant in Detroit. Chrysler was hoping these cars would be a runaway\nsuccess, but the ever-changing rules imposed by NHRA and AHRA were handicapping\nthe car\u2019s true performance potential. Both Sox & Martin and Dick Landy did\nscore some victories in 1967 banging gears in their RO\/WO Mopar vehicles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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1968 LO23\/BO29 426 HEMI DRAG\nPACKAGE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been called the Mother of all Mopar 426 HEMI Package Cars: the 1968 HEMI engine-powered Super Stock Dodge Darts and Plymouth Barracudas. Many Chrysler folks said it couldn\u2019t be done, but the race group, under Tom Hoover\u2019s leadership, made it happen. The Darts began life as a GTS model while the Barracuda was coded for Formula S trim level. Partway during the assembly process at Dodge Main in Hamtramck, the cars got pulled off the line and sent over to an offsite modification facility run by Hurst. Here, the cars went through a labor-intensive step-by-step modification processes prior to completion. This major undertaking included modification to the engine bay to accept the mammoth 426 Race HEMI engine, trimming the rear wheel wells for tire clearance and removal of unnecessary weight, which included deleting the rear seat, radio and heater in the interior. The biggest diet came in the use of fiberglass fenders and a lift-off hood with a massive scoop molded in (this being the inspiration for the Challenger SRT Demon scoop design). The HEMI Darts and Barracudas still required finishing, including getting painted by their owners as the body panels were in primer and gelcoat. Regardless, the HEMI Darts and Barracudas began winning major races, including the prestigious NHRA U.S. Nationals in 1968, 1969 and 1970. Today, these cars are still heating up the quarter-mile thanks to the hardcore racers who compete in the annual Dodge HEMI Challenge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The DNA of the\nFactory HEMI Drag Package Cars of the 1960s still lives on in the 2020 Challenger\nDrag Pak. It carries on the commitment from Dodge and Mopar to provide racers a\nturnkey, factory-engineered, HEMI engine-powered drag machine that\u2019s ready for the\nstrip. This also includes the impressive track record of previous Challenger\nDrag Paks that have won NHRA championships and set new class records. If\nhistory repeats itself, and we\u2019re sure it will, the new Challenger Drag Pak\nwill continue the proud legacy of its legendary and highly sought-after 426\nHEMI forefathers of the 1960s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Check out these cool HEMI\nimages from back in the day!<\/p>\n\n\n\n