Obsessive Compulsive: Winged Cars II

This Site Is Dead! Last updated some time in 2002. Here for archival purposes. This is where the action is.

Here's where it gets tricky. In late 1968 the guys in the racing program at Chrysler asked for sketches and ideas for improving upcoming 1969 models in terms of aerodynamics, the goal being to beat the sleek fords. John Pointer and Bob Marcell independently came up with similar designs for improving the same model, the Dodge Charger 500. The Plymouth division blew off the meeting because they figured since they had Richard Petty, they didn't need gimmicks. Once the '69 Charger 500 lost in Daytona, they decided to rush the '70 model. In order to qualify for the '69 season of NASCAR racing, Dodge had to have 500 cars (hence the name) ready for sale in dealerships by April 15th. In other words, they had 8 months to finish designing and testing, building and shipping 500 new model cars. On top of that they had to cut through all the red tape associated with the process of bringing a car to production which many considered downright ugly. It flew in the face of conventional asthetic design. If you look at pictures from that era of racing, the winged cars look like missiles compared to the competition. Think Doctor Who vs. Kubrick's Space Odyssey 2001.

Race Day: The Charger Daytona is Unleashed

Amazingly, the Charger Daytona (named Daytona after the track) was ready to run at the brand new Talledega Raceway in August of '69. The teams at the wind tunnel and the Chrysler test track were in constant communication, often making adjustments via the phone. All objections to the unconventional nature of the car had been squelched by the results. The car had performed well during the acelerated testing period and the drivers and execs were anxious to race. Unfortuantely, questionable safety conditions on the hastily paved new track would cause controversy. The fledgling Professional Driver's Association was formed to stand up to NASCAR Pres Bill France, and a walkout ensued. More than 20 drivers from other divisions were brought in to fill the gap. Bobby Isaac's car had mechanical difficulties, but he still managed to finish fourth. The only other Daytona in the field was being driven by Richard Brickhouse, a then struggling driver who was sent to the majors by Chrysler to compensate for PDA walkouts. Brickhouse hadn't even test driven the car before the day of the race, but he still managed to place first. Adding to the controversy, Charger 500 driver Vandiver claims to have beaten the Daytona due to a screwed up lap counting scoreboard. Instead of losing by seven seconds, he figured he was 7 seconds away from lapping the winner.

The Birth of the Superbird: Plymouth Woos Petty.

At the end of the '69 season, Daytona's had done surprisingly well. The design of the car had exceeded the tire technology of the time but driver's were becoming accustomed to the Daytonas. Richard Petty had left Plymouth to race for Ford because he was upset that Plymouth felt complacent enough to dismiss aerodynamic work of Dodge and Ford by not designing a new car for Petty. Chrysler wouldn't even let him drive a Daytona, so he bailed. Plymouth wised up and offered to build Petty a winged Plymouth, among other things, in order to bring him back. Plymouth had the aerodynamic data from Dodge and set about picking a car to revise. The end result was a Road Runner with modified Coronet fenders, and a brand new wing and nose. Overall the Plymouth looks flatter and lower than the Daytona. It's fins are wider and are raked at a lower angle. Petty blew an engine early on in the Dayton 500, and his teammate Pete Hamilton also took first in his first ever winged car race (He placed 5th in the qualifying race), albiet with less contoversy than the previous year's similar Daytona win at Talledega.

The Beginning of the end:

Overall, winged cars did well that first full season of racing. They tended to do better on the larger and therefore faster tracks. More often than not it seems that races were lost because of tire or mechanical failure as opposed to a failure in the design of the car. The other car companies took notice and began taking a serious interest in aerodynamics. The '71 season looked to be very promising, but Chrysler wasn't just sitting back and waiting, they were considering winged car advancements for different models as well, and all for naught. Bill France felt he was losing control of NASCAR racing to auto companies. He came up with a "specialty car" rule limiting the engine size of the winged cars and future designs by other manufacturers, effectively ending their competitiveness, and possibly leading to the homogenized bores you see on the road today. In 1971, and partially as an afront to Bill France, driver Dick Brooks ran a Charger with a meager 305 cubic inch engine (as opposed to the usual 426 C.I.) To the shock of everyone, he managed to gain the lead by lap 60 and keep it for 18 more laps. Ironically, driver Pete Hamilton collided with Brooks and took him out of the running.

Winged Cars off the track:

In order to race NASCAR, a car model would have to made available in certain numbers to consumers. The number was calculated in part by the amount of dealers in the operation. As a result, approximately 500 Charger Daytonas and 1900 Superbirds made it to the show rooms. Public reaction to the winged cars was mixed. They loved to watch them race, but weren't ready to buy one. it didn't help that insurance companies were very critical. A Charger Daytona was priced competitively with a regular Charger. The result was a $4000 price tag and a real or imaginary loss of $1500 per car due to speacial parts and manufacturing considerations. For some reason Superbirds were harder to sell than Daytonas. And so the end of NASCAR racing meant the end of the winged car for consumers. The cars continued to be crowd favorites on the smaller circuits as well as attention getters on the street if you were lucky enough to see one.

Next Page: Where can I get one today?

page one

page two

page three

page four

Who is Kilwag? Contact Kilwag.