{"id":78085,"date":"2024-04-18T14:05:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-18T18:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dodgegarage.com\/news-api\/?p=78085"},"modified":"2024-04-02T10:17:03","modified_gmt":"2024-04-02T14:17:03","slug":"hemi-barracuda-special-order","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/heritage\/2024\/04\/hemi-barracuda-special-order.html","title":{"rendered":"HEMI\u00ae Barracuda Special Order"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

B029: THE ULTIMATE SUPER STOCK!<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

— PLYMOUTH’S SUPER STOCK PACKAGE CAR FOR 1968
— CODE NAMED BO29 AND RESERVED FOR DRAG RACING USE
— HURST PERFORMANCE INSTALLED THE 426 RACE HEMI\u00ae<\/sup> ENGINES<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The genesis for the idea behind this story came as a result of an informative two-and-one-half-hour-long phone conversation with Bob Tarrozi, Chief Engineer for the 1968 Super Stock race program. Tarrozi shared with me the whole story, the challenges he ran into with engineering the car, which was known as “The Mule” and it’s outlined in his available book, listed below. In addition, he explains his dealings with the personalities he worked with on the project, which included Bob Cahill, Dick Maxwell and Dale Reeker, plus others in the racing department. His book, Turk – The Lives I’ve Lived<\/em>, is a great reference to the project and also features a lot more Mopar\u00ae<\/sub> insider stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE FIRST CAR<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
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When working inside the Race Group in late 1967, the entire HEMI\u00ae<\/sup> A-body car program was his, except that he didn’t have much to do with engine development. He had an analytical approach, especially when it came to taking weight out of the car, which was part of it, as was developing a rear suspension system that could handle the power of the race HEMI engine that would be the source of power. He and Larry Nolton, a mechanic from the Woodward Garage, put that first car together. The general idea was to provide Plymouth racers with a suitable, fast and well-built Barracuda to compete in the SS\/B and SS\/BA (automatic) NHRA classes. The individual racers would get their cars and after blueprinting the engine, and selecting their camshaft design, it would be ready for competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was January of 1968 when the mule was taken west to the California drag strip, Irwindale. An incredible amount of engineering had gone into this prototype car, and at the track there was some thrashing and detail work performed. The engine was very close to the previous “A990” HEMI engine from 1965 package cars, only now with cast iron heads rather than aluminum. The mule had a race-prepped TorqueFlite\u00ae<\/sup> and one thing that Tarozzi had noticed, and he was the test driver, was as it went down the track at speed, the front end had a tendency to “dance around” with a toe-steer problem. It wanted to go left-right-left at full speed down the quarter-mile. A special steering arm was designed that solved the problem. The “Super Stock” leaf spring that Tarozzi designed worked fantastic, with six-cylinder torsion bars fitted up front for maximum weight transfer abilities. The mule car was deemed a success and from there, an agreement with Hurst Performance was made where Barracudas and Darts were sent to Hurst for conversion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FIRST MAGAZINE EXPOSURE<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Bob Tarozzi was the driver for the “mule” car when it ran for the first 1\/4-mile testing on the Irwindale track, Saturday, February 10, 1968. When these B029 cars first hit the drag strip, they were ran, as per NHRA category at the time, “Super Stock\/B and Super Stock B\/Automatic” when the class records were: SS\/B 11.05 @ 127.29 mph, SS\/BA 11.25 @ 125.04 mph. Before too long, the ’68 HEMI package cars were moved to the SS\/A and SS\/AA classes because of their much quicker and faster times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early press reports on the car detailed the features of the car, listed it as an SS\/A and SS\/AA contender, and based on the Irwindale test session, it was stated that “easy” 10.2-second times were possible. If there was a list of the “Skunkworks Team” that was responsible for the car from start to finish, it would be listed as follows: Dick Maxwell, Tom Hoover, Bob Tarozzi, Ted Spehar, Dan Knapp, Larry Knowlton, John Bauman, Dan and Ron Mancini, Richard Chrysler, Tom Tignanelli and Jerry Gross.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How it worked in early 1968 was like this: The Chrysler\/Plymouth dealers were advised that a new performance vehicle was being released early in the year (in very limited numbers) and these were no ordinary cars, they were special-built from the word go and were not intended for regular passenger car use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s how the official announcement letter, dated February 20, 1968, was worded:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To: All Plymouth Dealers<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Subject: 1968 HEMI Barracuda Super Stock<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Chrysler-Plymouth Division offers for the 1968 models a 426 HEMI-Powered Barracuda Fastback for use in supervised acceleration trials. These cars will weigh approximately 3,000 pounds and have been designed to meet the 1968 specifications of the major sanctioning drag strip organizations.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The HEMI-Powered Barracudas will be available through production in limited quantities in March. To order this vehicle, use the Barracuda Order Form and specify Body Code BO29 and Transmission Code, either 4 Speed Manual, Code 393, or Automatic, Code 395. No other specifications are necessary.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Description of Components<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n