1964 S/SA National Record Setter with a Hemi

Mike Bassin · 06-16-2011, 07:59 PM

The first hemi car to hit the track at 75-80 in Maryland was owned and driven by Fred Leigh of Rockville, Md. I was the announcer at that time on Wed. nite test & tune sessions and we knew Fred had a new brown 64 Ply hemi automatic car on order. The date was about mid May 1964. Here comes Fred towing the new hemi car in, there were probably 50 cars and maybe 150 people total at the track, everything stopped to watch the new hemi make some runs. Fred drove it easy down the track and came back up to make the first run. I can remember this like it was yesterday. The car left fairly soft but by the time he went by the tower [ its about 150 ft. down track] I knew it was faster than all the stuff from '63. First run, 12.00 @ 120mph! Think of that, 48 years ago, just like it left the factory, no tuning, 120 mph. The sound of that car and all the hemi cars since will always take me back to that night. By the end of the evening, Fred ran in the 11.70s at 122 mph. Several weeks later, better headers and tuning the car would run mid elevens at 124.
Those were the days. Just got done announcing at Cecil County last Sat, John Pressley's nostalgia event, hemi cars were there, what a show!

06-16-2011, 07:59 PM	#11
Mike Bassin Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: East Berlin PA Posts: 134 Likes: 0 Liked 120 Times in 19 Posts	Re: 1964 S/SA National Record Setter with a Hemi The first hemi car to hit the track at 75-80 in Maryland was owned and driven by Fred Leigh of Rockville, Md. I was the announcer at that time on Wed. nite test & tune sessions and we knew Fred had a new brown 64 Ply hemi automatic car on order. The date was about mid May 1964. Here comes Fred towing the new hemi car in, there were probably 50 cars and maybe 150 people total at the track, everything stopped to watch the new hemi make some runs. Fred drove it easy down the track and came back up to make the first run. I can remember this like it was yesterday. The car left fairly soft but by the time he went by the tower [ its about 150 ft. down track] I knew it was faster than all the stuff from '63. First run, 12.00 @ 120mph! Think of that, 48 years ago, just like it left the factory, no tuning, 120 mph. The sound of that car and all the hemi cars since will always take me back to that night. By the end of the evening, Fred ran in the 11.70s at 122 mph. Several weeks later, better headers and tuning the car would run mid elevens at 124. Those were the days. Just got done announcing at Cecil County last Sat, John Pressley's nostalgia event, hemi cars were there, what a show!