1964 S/SA National Record Setter with a Hemi

[jackarnew]

MIKE
I drove FRED's pro/ stock a few times for him, I think the 64 car was lettered MISTER BUTTONS> Is that correct?

Jack Arnew

[X-TECH MAN]

Originally Posted by jackarnew

MIKE
I drove FRED's pro/ stock a few times for him, I think the 64 car was lettered MISTER BUTTONS> Is that correct?

Jack Arnew

Yepper !

[Mike Bassin]

Jack,

That is correct, the first brown car was the '63 max wedge Plymouth which was also was brown, he called that one Mr. Buttons also. That car was fast and was regular week in and week out at 75-80. By the way, one of his tough competitors was Dave Reitz of the Bob Banning & Sons Dodge / Plymouth dealer Bounty Hunters team, Tom Sneedon was Dave's team mate. Dave Reitz was driving this past Sat. at the Cecil County Nostagia event. Dave rolled up in his re-creation '64 Dodge post car "Hounty Hunter" entry on his first time run. I introduced him and gave the fans some background on his driving accomplishments, he lays down a 10.98 & 121 mph with a .003 light! Dave is on the north side of 70 yrs old. Not bad!

[jackarnew]

Mike

I talked to Dave a few weeks ago as he lives next to a freind of mine .
He cook me into his garage and showed the Dodge to me. He said that Bob Jr. still drives the car some times.

Old drag racers never fade away they just restore and run again.!!!

[jackarnew]

Mike, were you at 75/80 on the .Friday night that Vernon Rawley came in direct from Grand Spalding Dodge with his 64 Hemi Dodge ?
He made a few runs and Ronnie Sox made two passes in it. Ronnie had a match race the next night at Cicle County, and did not unload his Comet.
On Ronnie's second pass in the car he lost the drive shaft on the line

Hemi's had a sound all their own, and the sound was POWER

[Mike Bassin]

Jack,

I do remember the '64 black 4-speed hemi car that Vernon Rowley drove. I don't recall the first time the car was run at 75-80. Funny how things stick with you though, Vernon made a run with that car with a passenger, don't know it was, he left the line and missed second gear, he stopped the car out near the food stand, maybe 250 ft. down track, re-launched and ran 109 mph from there down. That I remember well, just tickled me a car could run such a short distance and go that fast. Going back further, 1961 - 1962, Vernon had the Olds powered B/Roadster record for at time, he later switched to a sm. blk. chevy for power, then bought a '63 red max wedge automatic Plymouth. Those cars named "Mr. Speed" What a nice person he was also.

[X-TECH MAN]

Originally Posted by Mike Bassin

Jack,

I do remember the '64 black 4-speed hemi car that Vernon Rowley drove. I don't recall the first time the car was run at 75-80. Funny how things stick with you though, Vernon made a run with that car with a passenger, don't know it was, he left the line and missed second gear, he stopped the car out near the food stand, maybe 250 ft. down track, re-launched and ran 109 mph from there down. That I remember well, just tickled me a car could run such a short distance and go that fast. Going back further, 1961 - 1962, Vernon had the Olds powered B/Roadster record for at time, he later switched to a sm. blk. chevy for power, then bought a '63 red max wedge automatic Plymouth. Those cars named "Mr. Speed" What a nice person he was also.

That Red 63 MAX Wedge was the only car to get close to the 63 Z-11 "OLD RELIABLE" the day Aquasco Speedway had the $100 bounty on Stricker & Jenkins out of about 30 other cars trying to beat them back in 1963. 11.90's for the Z-11 and 12.0's for Vernon. The rest were in the 12.20's and up. I remember it like it was yesterdy.

[Paul Ceasrine]

Once the 64' Hemi's (64 1/2 mid-year S/S cars) hit the track in
May 1964, the Max-Wedges got pushed out into AA/SA.

I remember seeing an ad for a 63' Max-Wedge S/SA Plymouth with the
aluminum nose for $2350.
The ad stated former S/SA, a now a top running AA/SA.
Included, an extra set of Max-Wedge heads.
Must sell,,,,,,,$2350

On the front bumpers.
Not all of the 64' Race Hemi's came with the fiberglass front bumper.
Some came with the full steel (100 lb.) bumper.

pc

[treessavoy]

Originally Posted by Paul Ceasrine

Once the 64' Hemi's (64 1/2 mid-year S/S cars) hit the track in
May 1964, the Max-Wedges got pushed out into AA/SA.

I remember seeing an ad for a 63' Max-Wedge S/SA Plymouth with the
aluminum nose for $2350.
The ad stated former S/SA, a now a top running AA/SA.
Included, an extra set of Max-Wedge heads.
Must sell,,,,,,,$2350

On the front bumpers.
Not all of the 64' Race Hemi's came with the fiberglass front bumper.
Some came with the full steel (100 lb.) bumper.

pc

Paul,

I thought the '64 Hemi cars came with an aluminum front bumper just the alum Max Wedge cars of the same year?

JimR

[Paul Ceasrine]

Jim,

Bud Faubel, in his article about his 64 Dodge Model #330, stated
that not all Race Hemi's came with the aluminum front bumper.

Whether the factory was short of supply may have been the issue,
or only the selected top racers got the cars with the aluminum bumper.

If you got the aluminum front bumper, it saved an additional 75 lbs., and took the much needed weight off the front-end, to help those 7" slicks.

Bud stated, that the aluminum bumper was worth another .15 off the
Elapsed Time.

Paul.