1968 Dart 340 GTS (68' Winternationals)

[Dan Bennett]

Originally Posted by Paul Ceasrine

Dan,

Are you sitting down,,,,,,,,
The E/S Class Winner,,,,,,,,was a 1968 Oldsombile Cutlass 'Ram Rod'
350 cubic inch / 325 Horsepower.
In 1969, they were called the W-31.

Ron Garey, of Chesron Oldsmobile (Columbus, Ohio) upset Bill Shrewsberry.
The Oldsmobile was running 12.70's.
Came out of nowhere to pull the upset.

Yes, Ron won Stock Eliminator at the 68' Springnationals
@ Englishtown too......

On the over-heating problems,,,,,,,,,blown cylinder head gasket
on the right side engine bank,,,,,,,#4, #6 and #8 gasket-centers were cooked.
The E/S Dart had previously run a 12.69 @ 109.10 at Irwindale, only 2-weeks
before the 68' Winternationals.

pc

Ah, the Chesron Olds. I should have remembered that.

It's interesting how much just a bit of tweaking will pick a car up. There was a W31 post in town that didn't impress anyone. But I bet it carried a 3.31 axle or some such. Those gears were no doubt there to minimize warranty claims but they sure didn't help anybody's street credibility.

These threads are among the best I've ever followed in the internet, but they're making me feel sadder and sadder. Back then Indy was really exciting as every major city had a couple (at least) dealerships sending examples of the cars anyone could buy. The trick was in how well you played the rules and that's what made a class win such a memorable thing.

Back to that street credibility thing, we quickly learned not to trust the factory hype nor the magazine tests. You'd see some awesome car appear (best example was a Boss 429) and then see it get embarrassed by an "average" musclecar.

In defense of Ford, the Cobra Jet was as impressive as the 390GT cars failed to keep up.

And in keeping with the thread subject, a lot of people learned that Chevy small blocks weren't invincible when the 340 came to play.