In 1963 which car manufacture dominated the NHRA?

[TetanusShot]

'63 z11 impala, aluminum front end, 409 stroked to 427, rated at 430hp, and 50 built. Sounds like a max effort car from GM but you never hear anything about them. They must not have been very successful. I wouldn't know, I wasn't there.

 

[Crizila]

This car.

 

[Budnicks]

Mopar, Pontiac, than Ford

 

[super-bee_ski]

'63 z11 impala, aluminum front end, 409 stroked to 427, rated at 430hp, and 50 built. Sounds like a max effort car from GM but you never hear anything about them. They must not have been very successful. I wouldn't know, I wasn't there.

Yeah, I didn't include that car for a reason.

Quite honestly, my research data shows the Pontiac, Mopars and Ford were faster.



Holy Cow Mike Gaines!
Awesome!

 

[mightymopar]

Is it February 11th yet?

 

[ozymaxwedge]

I lived it !
View attachment 297119View attachment 297120I bought my Max Wedge 63 lite weight in 1963 when I was 21 yrs old. At first I raced AFX class then later in the year as SS/AA and the first part of 64 I still raced SS/AA then when the Hemi cars started showing up the max wedge aluminum cars ran AA/SA . ... but Ford then had the fiberglass front end 427 Galaxie 500's with the 427/425HP with the damn Ford-O-Matic and Mike Schmidt (Desert Motors,Ridgecrest CA) set both ends of our record. He consistently ran 12.1's and Max wedge aluminum nose cars were running 12.20s. Same thing repeated in 1965. We ran AA/SA that year also. That Ford dominated the National events but NOT the regional tracks because he was FORD FACTORY BACKED (and only 1 car)and he couldn't race at every track in the country every weekend. That is the report from a B Body member who raced every weekend with his Max Wedge 63 car during 63 64 and 65. NOTE: in 1966 I altered the wheelbase, tube frt axle, 26" engine set back, Hilborns on Nitro methane and was right in the middle of the first year of Funny Car Match Racing.

:notworthy::notworthy::notworthy: Mike, Just wanted to no if you ever came across or race against my car when the Milne Brothers owned it ? Was driven by Bill Hanyon and the Manager of Milne Bros Plymouth Bob Feuerhelm.

 

[Tempest 455]

Great posts by all! Love the back in the day photos!

Also need to consider the region races were taking place. Mopar backed cars were kicking butt in Detroit area and other regions. However, guys like Bill Jenkins that started with Chevy around 1960 (then went Mopar around 64/65), kicked some butt when he raced with Bowtie, both before and after that time frame. Same thing when Arnie Beswick would race at tracks regional to him. He was an amazing engine builder and tuner and would often dominate local tracks.

So as someone earlier posted, any car could win on a given day. Just because one brand dominated at one race, did not mean that was the case everywhere. I think the tuner/driver was as important (or more) than the car in some cases.

 

[khryslerkid]

This is a good video from American Muscle Car on Chrysler's Stock and Super Stock early history. ('62-'63 @ 9:30) Some real good footage and nice cars, Big Daddy, Ronnie Sox, Bob Reed interviews.

https://youtu.be/J65FxT8q_W4

 

[FIRST R/T]

'63 z11 impala, aluminum front end, 409 stroked to 427, rated at 430hp, and 50 built. Sounds like a max effort car from gm but you never hear anything about them. They must not have been very successful. I wouldn't know, i wasn't there.

i remember all the "hoopla" when this car hit ...it was refered to as the "mystery motor" car . It died off as quickly as it hit ...."

 

[TetanusShot]

i remember all the "hoopla" when this car hit ...it was refered to as the "mystery motor" car . It died off as quickly as it hit ...."

I thought they were supposed to be w-motor based not mkII mystery motors yet?

 

[Mike Gaines]

No, I never raced against this car. It was, I believe, a California based car and I was in the Midwest.
Mike

:notworthy::notworthy::notworthy: Mike, Just wanted to no if you ever came across or race against my car when the Milne Brothers owned it ? Was driven by Bill Hanyon and the Manager of Milne Bros Plymouth Bob Feuerhelm.

 

[Budnicks]

Anything that Ronnie Sox drove...LOL

 

[383man]

I thought they were supposed to be w-motor based not mkII mystery motors yet?

The 1963 Chevy Z11 was a W eng as it looked like a 409 but was worked to be 427 cubes.
I heard some 409's came with 2 head gaskets to drop comp some for the street and the racers would pull the heads and remove one of the head gaskets. Dont know for sure if its true and I believe that was on the 409 cars and not the Z11 with the 427 W eng as they were never street legal as far as I know. Ron

 

[Red Baron]

https://skunwerksmoparsuperstock.wordpress.com/cubic-inches-rule-ok/

 

[dvw]

It depends on what class? Stock, Super Stock, F/X. The F/X stuff wasnt production assembly line builds. By 63 Max Wedges had Stock and Super Stock covered most of the time. The Pontiac Tempest was an F/X car. Ford and Chevy had nothing to write home about in 63. In 64 Ford was very competitive.
Doug

 

[F4R/T]

So GM used the Z lingo all the way back then? What in the world does it mean ? About LS, low and slow? I’m being somewhat funny on this but they always you goofy terms.. I do recall hearing 409s were junk and wouldn’t hold together.

 

[Ceedawg]

So GM used the Z lingo all the way back then? What in the world does it mean ? About LS, low and slow? I’m being somewhat funny on this but they always you goofy terms.. I do recall hearing 409s were junk and wouldn’t hold together.

They certainly could guzzle gas with the inline two fours, Chevys drivetrain was junk, keep the u-joint-rear gear company’s in business. A buddy had a 62 bubble 4 speed 409 bored .125 over and couldn’t keep up or together. Called the Tennessee Stud. The local races they did ok but when the big boys showed up they fell to the wayside.

 

[Budnicks]

62

another 62

& another
Blair's Speedshoop

& another
Melrose Missile

 

[Budnicks]

63 Belvedere
AA/S Don Grotheer

another 63
Mr. 50/50 Jack Worst

& another 63
MW Dick Landy

& another 63
Ramchargers Hodges Dodges

an od one a Pick-up
D-100 B/FX running 12.69's @ 109.75

& another 63
Ramchargers Advert.

 

[Budnicks]

63 again
Fairlane 427cid S/S Butch Leal
(Latter know as the California Flash)

another 63
63 Galaxie 500XL 427cid AFX Phil Bonner
a 63 S/S next to it

& another 63
63 Galaxie 427cid Tasca Ford
(Mark-ski should like that one)

& yet another 63
racing against the Z11 Impala 409/Mystery 427cid of Grumpy Jenkins fame
extremely well-campaigned S/S car