The Most Iconic Drag Racing Cars Ever Built – Our car experts select every product we feature. We may earn money from the links on this page.
In high school, I drove a 1969 Dodge Charger and spent many wasted nights driving up and down a stretch of Woodward Avenue, just north of Detroit, stopping occasionally for ice cream at a stand near 14 Mile. In those days, we knew which cars were fast and sometimes even drove alongside them to see whose car was faster. But even then, we all know the legendary muscle cars that are really fast. Often special order, they were a step above the more commonly known muscle cars of the era. Some of them are specifically made for drag racing. Not that I or anyone I know did that. But if we have, we know better than to line up next to any of them.
The Most Iconic Drag Racing Cars Ever Built
Ford developed the Mustang Boss 429 to homologate its most powerful V-8 for its NASCAR-competing Torino. According to Hemmings, the Boss 429 package cost $1200 and gave you 375 hp. Well, 375 advertised horsepower. In its day, the Boss 429 probably made around 475 horsepower, but Ford wanted to keep the insurance companies in the dark.
Ridiculously Fast Drag Racing Cars
In its final days as an automaker, Studebaker offered a proto-muscle car in the form of the Super Lark (pictured right). Equipped with a 289-ci “R2” engine, the Super Lark is good for 0-60 mph in about seven seconds and a top speed of over 130 mph. Studebaker even offered a supercharged Super Lark that made around 335 horsepower, but no one knows how many were actually produced.
Car companies sought bragging rights over which cars were fastest and often produced groups of cars specifically for racing. How do you make a car go fast down a quarter mile? Take the smallest car you sell and shoehorn in the biggest motor you can. Dodge Dart, meet the 426 Hemi. It was a match made in a mad scientist’s dream and Chrysler actually sold these cars. Bare-bones Darts are sent to a local Hurst store missing anything that adds weight. Chairs, radio, carpet? Who needs them? Some body parts were replaced with fiberglass and some panels were acid dipped. The completed cars were often entered in Super Stock drag racing where they were turned into ETs in the 9s.
The Mustang is available in so many combinations and setups that it’s hard to name just one variant for this list. And Ford gave their stuff a lot of cool names. In 1971, you could buy a Mach 1 Mustang powered by a 429 CI Super Cobra Jet equipped with a Drag Pack. what are you saying How about a 4.11 with a Detroit Locker on the back. Functional Ram Air fed the power plant, back in the days before the Feds clamped down on cold air intakes. Maybe 500 or more of them roamed the streets back in the day.
If you didn’t get your driver’s license while piloting an AMC Gremlin, you probably don’t harbor the dark feelings many of us have when we hear “American Motors.” The folks who brought us the Pacer, the Matador, and the Gremlin took a stab at selling a race car and the effort was remarkable. A 390 CI engine pushed the Rebel Machine down the quarter-mile in the 14s, but with mods that an experienced weekender could apply, car magazines at the time said it could get into the 12s. But, like almost everything else AMC sold at the time, its looks weren’t the best suit. Even dressed in red, white and blue for the upcoming Bicentennial.
To All Veterans Street Racers, Which Car Do You Prefer To Use For Each Race Type?
Chevrolet also put a car on the road with an oversized engine in a small car. The Chevrolet Camaro is a smash hit from Chevy and is available in various packages with several engine options. When GM said it wouldn’t sell the car with its biggest engine, some dealers complained. GM allowed some dealers to use the Central Office Production Orders (COPO) process to special order anything they wanted. And at least one dealer ordered some Camaros with the ZL-1 aluminum block 427. 69 of these crazy beasts were unleashed, many taken to the drag strip.
There was a time when Pontiac ruled NASCAR more than half a century ago. The folks at Pontiac decided to pull out all the stops in 1962 and build a race car that would qualify as “stock” for both NASCAR and NHRA. Super Duty was the result. The base is a Catalina, powered by a 421 CI engine. And the outside of the car looks pretty stock. But underneath, it’s all car racing. The front clip is aluminum and the frame rails are swiss-cheesed to eliminate weight. Other parts of the frame are reinforced for versions set for circle tracks. Pushing it to the track is a high-performance engine that adds $1,200 to the selling price but is well worth it. The Super Duty can run a quarter mile in the mid-12s, a very respectable number considering the year.
It wasn’t just the small cars that people drove and Chrysler was more than happy to accommodate its customers who wanted to race bigger cars on the drag strip. W023 is the answer. Chrysler put the battery in the trunk, removed the heater and various unnecessary things, and then dropped in a Hemi. It was available with an auto or manual trans and the 4-speeds ran 4.88 gears in the rear. There is also a Plymouth Belvedere R023 sister car with a similar setup; 55 of each were built. They came without a factory warranty, a fairly common feature for factory race cars of the era.
Chrysler’s 426 CI Hemi engine found its way into a variety of street and race engines. By 1970, the end was near for the behemoth but racers who wanted to get in a few runs before the EPA killed the fun could order a Hemi Cuda with the “Super Track Pack.” Missing many of the things that would weigh the car down – like a passenger side mirror – the car has a 4.10 rear end to move it around. Even with a Hemi it is available with an automatic transmission. Just point the wheels straight and floor it. Assuming you’re on a sanctioned raceway, of course.
These Are The Coolest Racing Cars Of All Time
Ford decided it wanted to build a car specifically for the drag strip. At the time, the NHRA required a manufacturer to build and sell 100 examples of a car for it to be considered “stock.” Since it couldn’t be driven normally, Ford opted for fiberglass body panels on most of the car and even Plexiglas windows to save weight. The car was fueled by a 427 CI “high rise” topped with dual 4-bbl carbs. Among the other niceties is an aluminum scatter shield around the clutch – for those times when things get a little out of control. The pack can cover the ¼ mile in under 12 seconds with minimal effort. Later runs made with updated accessories saw them run under 10 second quarter miles.
Chevy loves their “Z” designations and one of their lesser known ones is a groundbreaker. In 1963, a savvy car shopper could ask for the Z-11 option package on the popular Impala. The car is equipped with a hopped up 409 CI engine with dual carbs and a host of internals that allow it to crank out the horsepower. But in order to reduce the strain on the monster motor, the car was shipped with only weight items reduced. No radio, front sway bar, heater, or sound deadener to slow this beast down. And, most sheet metal is aluminum. Some of these cars will record quarter mile blasts in the 11s. No more than 60 of these cars were built and very few of them survive.
The Skylark is a good-looking car, but Buick wants it to be fast, too. They marketed a “GS” version of the car earlier so they covered the X to give it the GSX designation when fitted with the high performance 455 CI engine. Stage 1 indicated a little more refinement, to the tune of 510 foot pounds of torque. That stat alone would make the GSX Stage 1 the Detroit torque champion until 2003 – when it would take the 10-cylindered Viper to unseat it. All that power powered the GSX Stage 1 through the quarter in the low 13s. Not bad for any car, let alone a Buick.
Super Sleeper 1972 Nova – /BIG MUSCLE Would you buy a 750-hp electric muscle car? Muscle on Mulsanne: The Camaro That Shocked Le Mans Wisconsin’s hidden muscle car gem
First Look: Stockseth Racing’s 2022 Pro Stock Camaro For Bo Butner Built By Rj Race Cars
Does Bentley Make the Best Muscle Car? Take 3: The Muscle Edition This muscle car garage is the ultimate enthusiast hangout Big muscle season finale
Dodge Prices New Muscle Models Maybach Muscle Car Debuts NYPD Adds Muscle to Patrol