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Original Message
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| RE: Part-III of the post......................... |
| By P - 12/28/2000 11:56:56 AM; IP 63.169.28.156 |
1967 saw another LeMans victory for the Ford 427 and 10 more hard-fought NASCAR wins. It seemed that the competition had finally caught up to Ford, the 426 Hemi was back on the track, and wins were distributed throughout the season for race numbers; 2, 4, 5, 10, 13, 28, 34, 36, 48, and 49. Cale Yarborough, Bobby Allison, Mario Andretti, Fred Lorenzen and Parnelli Jones were in the “W” column with Ford this year. (Chevrolet won 3 races this year, and Plymouth won 31, with Dodge winning 5).
1968 saw 21 NASCAR wins for Ford largely due to the utilization of the “tunnel port” engine. (Chevrolet won 1 race, and Plymouth won 16, with Dodge winning 5). The 427 Ford FE was the equal of the Chrysler 426 hemi this year. Chevrolet and their new big block 396/427 engine won one race, totaling seven wins in three years for Chevrolet.
1969 saw 26 NASCAR wins for Ford despite the fact that the Hemi was still racing, and so it goes, history reflecting the ebb and flow of the horsepower wars with the lead being held by one camp for a precious few seasons. (Chevrolet won none this season, Plymouth won 2, and Dodge won 22). Although Ford introduced its new 429 “Shotgun” engine this season, they continued to rely on the 427 to keep the wins coming during the introduction and development of the new engine. The final culmination of the 427 tunnel-port FE design was (and is) one of the finest big block high RPM push-rod competition engines ever built. Many will say it was the very best of its kind during its day; if you count up the endurance wins this engine garnered with the entire world watching, perhaps you will be one of those who will agree.
During the horsepower wars of the 1960’s there were many high performance engines developed by Pontiac, Buick, Oldsmobile, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Ford, Edsel, Studebaker and even American Motors had one. Many of the engines of the era that were “highly touted”, were essentially touted by the marketing departments of their respective manufacturers. Pontiac toyed with the idea of an overhead cam V8 but never developed one. A few low production hand built specials were offered by various manufacturers for quarter mile drag racing and to capture a headline now and then, but in that era the NHRA (for example) would consider almost anything produced by a manufacturer to be a “stock” engine. As a result, many “low budget” headlines were captured with engines that never saw true production for the general public. One manufacturer built a series of 12 Super Heavy Duty motors, and we’re still hearing about them 35 years later. In reality, a run of 12 motors simply didn’t exist in real terms. Ford Motor Company and worthy competitor Chrysler Corporation were the only two manufacturers who were really doing any serious endurance racing during this era. While drag racing did attract a lot of attention, it was not a seriously funded activity by Ford, with a few notable exceptions such as the 427 Fairlane Thunderbolt which was produced in very small numbers for racing only.
While there is a serious and loyal following for Chevrolet, with very good reason, the NASCAR records during the 1960’s obviously don’t speak well for Chevrolet. There are still “excuses” floating around 35 years later, but the real fact is “Chevrolet found itself during a several year drought with an engine design (the 348/409 big block) that reached it’s peak development in 1961, and simply couldn’t be developed much further”. Yes, Chevrolet did build a small run of prototypes referred to as the “Mystery Motor”, which were 409’s fitted with a new design cylinder head that didn’t meet NASCAR regulations for being a production motor. The fact remains that Chevrolet was caught with an un-competitive engine, and conveniently established a “non-racing program” until one was developed. In the interim, Chevrolet’s marketing department managed to hype the performance merits of Chevrolet high performance products in any other way they could, with considerable success.
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