Dodge Charger NASCAR History

I'll admit that I am not a real big NASCAR fan, but while doing research on the Dodge Charger history of the late 1960's and early 1970's I learned that it had an affect on NASCAR. Performance was raised and eventually new rule changes had to be made due to the dominance of the Charger for NASCAR racing. Here is the story...

Ford was dominating NASCAR during the mid 1960’s, and Dodge hoped the Charger could compete. Dodge entered the Charger into the 1966 NASCAR season and the speed was there, but they quickly realized that the car did poorly on the faster tracks. The car had some sever slipping/rear lift, caused by the shape of the car which acted like a wing. Airflow over the top moved faster than the air underneath, exactly how a wing works. Engineers put a small lip spoiler on the car and this helped, and NASCAR rules required the option needed to be on production models also. This made the 1966 Dodge Charger the first American mass produced car to have a spoiler. Dodge won the NASCAR Grand National Championship with 14 first place finishes.

Dodge Charger 500
Nothing changed much until 1969, when Ford was starting to do well in NASCAR again, with their lower power but highly maneuverable models. Dodge was finding that there was still a lot of slipperiness when teaming the Charger with the top of the line engines (440 Magnum and 426 Hemi). Engineers found that the front grille created quite a bit of drag, and the rear window which was tunneled was creating lift. Designers put on a 1968 Coronet Grille, and made the rear window flush with the rest of the body, and the Charger 500 was born.

Dodge Charger 500 street models came standard with the Magnum 440, and the optional 426 Hemi. Only 500 Charger 500’s sold, and about 100 of them were bought for racing and gutted, making this a truly rare model.

Dodge Charger Daytona
Dodge did not receive the performance it was looking for with the Charger 500 modifications, so the engineers went back to the wind tunnel and drawing boards, and came up with the Charger Daytona. The only way to combat the lifting was with a gigantic rear wing 23 inches high and an 18” nose extension in the front. This made the car very aerodynamic, and helped keep the car on the ground tight no matter how fast you were going around the racetrack banks. 200 MPH speeds were easily hit, and no other car in NASCAR could compete. Over 1000 models were sold within the first days of the release to the public

NASCAR rules changed for 1970. Instead of requiring 500 models be sold to the public for the model to be allowed into NASCAR, the new requirement was 50% of the manufacturer dealerships. This meant 1,920 were needed to be built. Upper management decided to produce the Plymouth Superbird for racing, which was basically a similar front extension and wing on the Plymouth Roadrunner. The Plymouth Superbird driven by Richard Petty, did well in 1970, but new rule changes for 1971 all but ended the new “aerodynamic” designs. Any aerodynamic model, which included large wings and front extensions, could only have a 305 ci engine. There was no point in producing a car like this for racing, and the fad ended.