For those that have asked me about "writing a book", here it is, cover to cover.
The age old question, “Where were you in Sixty Two?”
There is always a lot of talk about “nostalgia” and about “The glory years of Super Stock drag racing”. In my opinion (I was 23 years old in 1962), there were no “glory years” when it came to Super Stock drag racing, there was only one glory year. 1962.
1962 was a pivotal year in “Super Stock” drag racing. It was probably the ONLY year in which factory produced Super Stock drag cars could be purchased by anyone off the showroom floor, driven on the street and taken down to the local drag strip and raced. These were cars that were not designed or modified just for racing, although they were high performance cars. These were cars that you could purchase without “knowing somebody”. These were cars the factory produced in quantity, not just a dozen cars exclusively for competition. It never really happened prior to 1962 and it was over by 1963.
And the interesting thing is that all the major brands, Chevy, Ford, Pontiac, Dodge and Plymouth participated in this unique and one time phenomenon in 1962.
In 1961, the Chevy 409 engine was factory installed in only 142 cars. Or, you could have purchased a 1961 Chevy with a 283 or 348 engine, and purchase the 409 engine separately over the counter at a Chevy dealer, and installed it yourself. That’s exactly what Dyno Don Nicholson did. His original white 1961 “bubble top” was originally equipped with the 348 engine, and Don did an engine swap. That was legal in 1961 but by 1962, NHRA mandated that the engines had to have been factory installed.
Chevy produced 8,909 cars with 409 engines in 1962, cars that anyone could purchase from your local Chevy dealer.
In the Chevy camp in 1962, racers like Hayden Proffitt, Butch Leal, Ronnie Sox, Dyno Don Nicholson, Dave Strickler and hundreds of other guys were drag racing with the Chevy 409, the same basic car that anyone could purchase at your local Chevy dealer. Of course, the serious racers “blue printed” their engines and modified the cars for racing in NHRA Super Stock, right up to the allowable modifications for the class. But anyone else could do it too. It didn’t take a lot to change over to the Atlas Bucron rear tires and add some exhaust cut-outs, and some 4:11 or 4:56 gears. Anyone could make these modifications and race at the local drag strips on Sunday, with a reasonable chance of winning the S/S class.
By 1963, the drag race Chevy’s such as the Z-11 were not usually seen in Chevy showrooms. They were in short supply and almost unavailable. GM’s decision to pull out of racing also didn’t help much. For all practical purposes, Chevy was done with Super Stock after 1962.
Over at the Pontiac dealers, the mighty Super Duty 421 could get the crowds excited. Again, these cars were available to anyone with the cash, but in much smaller quantities than the Chevy 409’s. Only 180 Catalina sedans and 16 Grand Prix cars were factory produced with the 421SD engine. Well known Pontiac racers in 1962 included Arnie Beswick, Jess Tyree, Arlen Vanke, Harold Ramsey, Lloyd and Carol Cox and Don Gay. The other 170 plus showroom 421 SD Pontiacs were snatched up by people that just wanted a fast car or wanted to do some S/S drag racing with the big name racers.
In 1963, the famed “swiss cheese” stockers were given to only a select few, and as race cars only, and never saw the inside of a Pontiac dealer showroom. Like Chevy, Pontiac never offered a true Super Stock car after 1962.
The Plymouth and Dodge dealers were selling their new 1962 models with a short- ram wedge 413 cubic inch engine, the majority of which were equipped with an efficient 3-speed Torqueflite automatic transmission. These cars, weighing in at a light (for the time) 3400 pounds could rattle off mid 13-second elapsed times and even high 12’s with the optional 4.56 rear end ratio. The stock headers even had a place for open exhaust when the customers decided to go drag racing. The 413 Max Wedge was available to any and all that wanted one. 214 Dodges and 298 Plymouths were produced by the factory with the 413 Max Wedge engine. Once more, drive it to the track, race, and drive it home.
The new 1962 Dodge and Plymouth’s were an instant hit. They had been good performers in the past but were less than exciting style wise and didn’t attract a lot of showroom attention.
By 1963, aluminum front clips had all but eliminated these cars from the legitimate “street ” car category. So, again, 1962 was an important year for Mopar. Hundreds of regular enthusiasts raced their Dodges and Plymouths at the local drag stirps successfully, along side Bud Faubel, Roger Lindamood, Al Ecstrand, The Ramchargers, Dick Landy, Bill “Maverick” Golden, and Tommy Grove.
And then there were the Fords.
If any one company was responsible for the “street n’ strip performance” phenomenon off the showroom floor, it had to be Ford. Ford actually released the first of their “serious” Super Stockers in 1960, a 352-inch High, 360 HP Performance engine.
In 1961, the Starliner could be had with an updated 390 inch engine with triple carbs, but in 1962, the 406 engine was available to all who desired it, right off the showroom floor. The power was there but the cars were a little heavy for drag racing but were popular on the street.
Ford, like most of the rest of the manufacturers, changed to a more “race only” configuration for 1963 with a special light weight Galaxie. Here again, the lightweight Galaxies were no longer street cars available in the show rooms. Racers like Gas Rhonda, Les Ritchey, Len Richter, Bill Lawton (Tasca Ford) were well known Ford Super Stock racers in 1962 and raced along side the other 406 Ford enthusiasts.
1962 was really the first and last year that the multi carb, solid cam, big inch, “street n’ strip” cars were manufactured in Detroit and could be purchased directly from the local car dealers. Sure, you could still purchase cars with the big-inch engines after 1962, but they were watered-down for street use. They were not Super Stockers. 1962 was the TRUE glory year for the Super Stockers, before the words “emissions” and “crash testing” and “fuel mileage standards” got in the way of all the fun.
I have always felt that had NHRA and the Automotive Companies wanted to, they could have extended the real Super Stocker years for a long time. As in 1962, the cars themselves should have all been (and were) true production vehicles, not cars with light weight body components and limited availability. Larger displacement engines (such as the 409) were just another extra cost “option”, and available in any or all production Chevys. The Z-11 “option” in 1963 should have been an engine option only, and not the entire car. The 427 engine should have been an extra cost option available in any Chevy sedan, a sedan built with a steel body just like all the other production sedans. This goes for the Pontiacs, Fords and Mopars, too. The Ford Thunderbolt should have been available to anyone that wanted a performance Fairlane, with the extra cost 427 engine. The car itself should have been the standard all steel production Fairlane, with the optional 427 engine. In short, any “performance options” should have started and ended with the engine only, and not any body or chassis parts.
All the Super Stockers should have been based on standard production street legal vehicles with VIN numbers that satisfied all the rules and regulations for driving on the street, in my opinion, exactly like it was in 1962. All body panels and chassis components must be identical to the body panels and chassis components used on any other model of the same style vehicle. Light weight body panels or chassis components are not permitted in any of the Stock Classes.
Here are the basic regulations, right out of the 1962 NHRA Rulebook for the Stock Car Section: “Twenty Three (23) classes in this section for American factory production automobiles. Classification is based on shipping weight divided by advertised horsepower rating. All cars must be factory assembly line produced and generally show-room sales available.”
So, where were you in 1962? Yeah, I know, some of your parents weren’t even adults yet. But I remember it like it was yesterday. I wish I still had my old 409 bubble top to play around with. Heck, I wish I was 23 again too.