1968 Plymouth Road Runner

[Greg Reimer 7376]

Originally Posted by Mike Gray

Greg, I was running my mustang at Irwindale at the same time (usually Wednesday nights)
What area were you from? I grew up in West Covina, spent time at Irwindale, OCIR and Whittier Blvd.

I grew up/lived in Temple City at the time. I sold the Runner in fall of '76. My other automotive excitement at the time was a red '62 impala SS with a 409, dual AFB's and all. With a 4 speed, 4:88's and some 10 inch slicks, it ran low 13's at around 106-107. It had spoked American mags, and was the most brutal car I ever drove. The torque waas so immense that most of my buddies couldn't believe what a full throttle power shifting run felt like in something like that. Here, 35 years later, I still do this stuff. Currenty, it's a red 68 Chevelle, either a K/SA 2 door hardtop, or an O/SA 4 door wagon.It's all still fun.Doesn't matter if its Winternationals, test and tune, or the Summit Racing Series.

[Paul Ceasrine]

When the 68' Road Runner first came out in October 1967, and
if you went to race it during the 1967 season,
you were classed in B/S or B/SA.

In 1967, the B/S class had a a weight factor 9.50 - 10.59 wt/hp.
The B/S class was that broad of range.

So the 3400 lb., 383/335 HP Road Runner was classed with
the 440 GTX's, 440 R/T's, 400 GTO's and 4-4-2's, and SS396 Chevelle's.
All of which had much higher horsepower.

And not to forget the #2950 lb. 'Z-28' Camaro 4-speeds.

On the road, The Road Runners could handle themselves, but on
the drag strip,,,,,,,,,,,sometimes it wasn't pretty in late-1967.

In 1968, when NHRA re-classed everything, the Road Runners were
classed in E/S or E/SA (10.00 - 10.49 wt/hp).
The automatic cars were much more successful than the 4-speeds.

pc

[Mike Brogniez]

Had a dark green 68 sedan with the rear pop out window and a black vinyl roof and tan interior stick (hurst) car.
There was quite a bit of work done to the engine, tranny, gears, front end and cranking those torsion bars as required.....
It was a fun drag car, with slicks and narrow fronts on Keystone mags...it also won its fair share on the street with the red lines and small hub caps.
Still have some of those trophies.....somewhere.....
The guy I sold it to totalled it two weeks after he bought it............
MB

[Paul Ceasrine]

Just pulled out an old 1968 Drag News,
found one of our friends winning in E/SA in August 1968.

Ran a 14.72 @ 95.50 MPH, in winning a Class Trophy at Dover Drag Strip.

A completely stock 383 engine and 727 automatic transmission, with Hooker Headers, 3.55 gears and 7' slicks,,,,,,,Oh,,, and 'foam dice'
hanging from the inside mirror.

Road Runner Fact;
The interesting thing about the 1968 383 Road Runners.
The 3.23 gears were standard.
The 3.55 gears could be ordered with the 'performance axle option' ($88)
The 3.91 gears could be 'special ordered', for an additional ($55), on top of the ($88) option.

4.10 gears from the factory were not available. Not because it was harmful to the cars
engine and drivetrain. It was because the Plymouth GTX sales and marketing department was afraid that a 383 Road Runner with 4.10 gears might outperform a 440 GTX with 3.55 gears.
And that, as we all know, would not have been too good for GTX sales.

[Paul Ceasrine]

Some 1970 performance tests by Sox & Martin with the Road Runner..