Dick Landy 'Q & A'

[Paul Ceasrine]

Tim,,
I tried to post a private message. No good.
1967
There was the 67' Coronet (Model 440) W/O Hemi that ran in
SS/BA in 67', then SS/DA in 68'.
That car was part of the Landy 4-car contingent at the 68' Winternationals in SS/DA. Mary Ann Foss drove that car for awhile in early 68', including the 68' Hot Rod Magazine Drags at Riverside in
late-March 68'.
The other 67' car was the 67' Coronet R/T with the 440. I think Mike drove it. It was classed in B/SA, and sometimes competed in SS/EA.
Some articles state that it ran under the B/SA record (AHRA), and did run 12.35's.
Paul

[Paul Ceasrine]

Tim,
I saw that article that you stated. But Dick Landy didn't compete a
66' Dodge D-Dart (273/275HP in 1966). He was campaigning the
Dart F/C car with the long-nose. Match-racing it across the country.
That article is mis-leading. The car that they prepped and Dyno-tuned
for the article was a 66' white Dart 273/180HP 2-barrel, 4-speed. Black steel wheels. You can see H/S on the window.. The car fit into the H/S class for 1966
(15.60 - 16.99 wt/hp). The 180HP Darts had a weight break of 16.33.
I believe the article was to prove how important dyno-tuning was for
Junior Stockers also. Not sure what the H/S record was in early 1966,
but I think that Dart ran a bunch of 15.10's for the test.. Bone stock, probably way up in the high 17.00's.
The 1966 'Car Craft' article was a D-Dart with Cragar wheels and Prowler cheater-slicks. That car ran a 14.33, as stated in the
article.

[Paul Ceasrine]

Tim,
To try keep the years in line.
1968,
1) He ran a 1968' Dart 440 in SS/EA at the 68' Winternationals.
Not sure how long Dick Landy kept it, but I think Bob Lambeck campaigned the car for the rest of the year. At the 68' Winternationals, that car won its class, beating a SS/EA 68' Cobra-Jet, and made it to the semi-finals, before losing to Al Joniec in the Rice-Holman SS/E Cobra-Jet.
Not sure if that 68' 440 Dart was a GSS car, a factory-made or a DLI made car?
Dick Landy was not running it after the early-Spring 68'.
2) The 1967' W/O Hemi Coronet 'Model 440', which was campaigned as a SS/B in 67', and at the 1968 AHRA Winternationals, then as a SS/D car at the NHRA Winternationals one week later. They eventually put an automatic in it, and ran in SS/DA with Mary Ann Foss behind the wheel for the spring. Then she got her own SS/BA Hemi Dart in May 'Go Hummer II'
3) The 1968 Coronet R/T 440, driven by brother Mike ran in SS/F at the 68' Winternationals, and then SS/FA after that.
4) The 1968 Dodge Charger R/T Hemi 4-speed. Would have run SS/D despite weighing #3754lbs. (about 80lbs. heavier than the same classed 1967 R/O Plymouths and W/O Coronets, and with fresh-air intake hood scoops). But Dick built the car
for A/MP (68' Winternationals), where the added weight would work to his advantage. There are photos of this car their with #803 on the window, and the small hood scoop on the car.
Later, after the Winternationals, he changed the hood scoop to a larger low-profile one, much like the 65' A-990 Super/Stock cars.
That car was on the cover of the April 1968 Car Craft magazine,
with the bigger hood scoop.
Those were the (4) at the 68' NHRA Winternationals
Paul

[Geerhead55]

Check out the April 68' issue of Super Stock and Drag Illustrated magazine. Landy's Charger is wheelstanding on the cover, with the big hoodscoop, and in the article inside theres a shot of it running the little scoop. The car is setup for AHRA Superstock.
Theres also an article just before Landy's about the 68' Hemi Cuda factory mule, with some excellent photos of that car.
Danny Durham

[Paul Ceasrine]

Danny,
Good Hemi Hunting.
An odd-thing. In some early 1968 Dodge Promo's, Dick Landy has
a Charger R/T (SS/D car), with the standard hood.
Then there is the photo at the Winternationals, with #803 on the window, the car is classed in A/MP, and no R/T emblem on the front left hide-away light panel. and the car has the small scoop.
The April 68 SS & DI magazine cover has the Charger (no R/T emblem)
with the larger low-profile scoop. I know the AHRA permitted hood scoops for their S/S class.
They had cars all over the place. I read in one article, that he really didn't want to run the Charger in NHRA SS/D for 68, because of the weight break.

[Paul Ceasrine]

Tim,
The (2) 67' cars were blue/green base with white tops.
The W/O Hemi Coronet ran SS/B in 67', and through early 68' in SS/D.
I think the posted times were 11.10's, when the national record wasn't effected. Probably the best running of the cars.
That car was at Riverside at the end of March, running SS/DA with Mary Ann Foss on the window.
After that, kind of lost track of the car.
The 67' Coronet R/T with the 440 was a killer in B/SA, primarily in AHRA
events. Posted times 12.50's. It did bounce into SS/EA for the NHRA events, running 12.20's. Something was listed that it ran an 11.99, but I don't know. I think the SS/EA record for late-67 was around 12.20-ish.
Again, seemed to disappear in early 68.
PC

[Geerhead55]

Paul,,,I don't know how anyone would be able to find the old footage, but I remember that Dick took Keith Jackson of ABC's Wide World of Sports for a ride in the Charger, complete with in car camera. I remember that it was the first time I'd ever seen anyone do powershifting, as I was 15 at the time and didn't have a license, so I hadn't been exposed to that yet, but I recall it impressed me very much. I told all my buddies about the crazy guy with the cigar wailing on that shifter!
The last time I ever saw Dick personally was up here at Seattle around 76'. I got a couple nice shots of the Dart, one of him checking the oil, with the cigar of course, and had a nice talk with him. He was a very pleasant guy.
I recently tried to find his 70' Challenger in 1:18 die cast which I collect, but everyone is currently sold out until one turns up somewhere.
Take care, Paul,,,,,nice thread,,so is the musclecar one.
Danny Durham

[Paul Ceasrine]

Danny,
Thank you,,,but you must add a car to the 'muslcecar' thread.......
Even if its a 1965 Dodge Polara with a 225 6-cylinder Hyper-Pak!!
On Dick Landy, yes lots of hidden stuff.
Kind of the bridesmaid to Sox & Martin, on the Mopar factory stuff.
His general complaint, the B-Body Dodge's were about a 100lbs. heavier than the Plymouth's, cost him about .15 in ET.
There's a video of him at New York National Speedway, I think the
68' Super/Stock Magazine Nationals (July 68) in SS/B, with the Hemi Dart. It might be on BEEONVIDEO.
I'll check.
Paul

[art leong]

I owned his Pepsi Cola Challenger for about a year in the early 70's. It was at the PRI show last year

[Paul Ceasrine]

Art L,
Sure seems like Mr. Landy had alot of cars out their. I wonder if he kept any of them for any length of time?
In one of the Hot Rod articles, he stated he wasn't even sure of all the
drag race cars he had.

Tim,
On the promo photo's. Yes, confusing. Here's a guide.
He utilized Doug Headers for 1967. The promo photo with the
(2) 68' cars is from December 1967. Both the R/T 440 Coronet and Hemi Charger R/T have Doug's Headers emblems on the fenders.
In January 1968, both those cars had Hooker Header emblems on the fenders. Obviously, Hooker sponsored him for 1968.
PC