Why was Dodge banned from NASCAR?
Dodge Charger Daytona was a mechanical masterpiece, a winged terror and an aerodynamic marvel.
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Dodge Daytona Charger. Image via National Motor Museum.
Dodge, an American brand of automobiles, produced three different models named Dodge Charger Daytona. The Dodge Charger Daytona was made to beat the competition in NASCAR. They were modified Dodge Chargers. The name was taken from the early auto racing hub, Daytona Beach, Florida, which still hosts NASCAR’s premier event, the iconic Daytona 500. It was way ahead of its time, though. It was the first vehicle to reach 200 miles per hour in NASCAR, setting the bar too high.
The rules and regulations in motorsports keep changing every year, especially in the big leagues like NASCAR and Formula 1. These changes were one of the reasons why the Dodge Charger Daytona was banned from competing in NASCAR. Back then, Dodge was still owned by Chrysler (an American automobile manufacturer), and they built the Hemi, which was known as the Chrysler Hemi Engine. It was popular in the 1950s and 1960s, so much so that boats opted for a marine version of the engine. Every car wanted to have one.
The Hemi engine was spectacular. The Dodge Daytona was significantly more powerful and aerodynamic than the other cars. The brand successfully created a car that could win any NASCAR race. This car was the first to reach 200 miles per hour during a race. Their success rate was very high as the Hemi engine cars won around 41 percent of the stock car races in the 1964 season. The 440 Mopar big-block and 426 Hemi V8 engines helped the cars dominate the field. The Dodge Daytona was a powerhouse on track.
The Dodge Charger Daytona was created for winning. And it fulfilled its purpose. It won the first race of the 1969 season, the Talladega 500. Buddy Baker reached 200 miles per hour on the same track. The car went on to win 6 more races. Dodge Daytona’s sister car, the Plymouth Superbird, won 8 races in 1970 and set various records the same year. They even got the nickname “Winged Warriors” because of their large wings.
Why was the Dodge Charger Daytona banned from NASCAR?
The legendary Dodge Charger Daytona was so good that it was banned from NASCAR. Yes, it is true. It was never criticized for its poor design but rather the opposite. As mentioned earlier, during the 1964 stock car races, the Hemi won 26 of the 62 races. It is 41.9 percent. It is a lot for one engine manufacturer. Half of the races that year and previous years were dominated by Chrysler/Dodge. All this grabbed the attention of NASCAR officials. NASCAR thought people got bored of the constant winning.
This was something similar to Formula One. Mercedes AMG Petronas were dominant and walked away with driver’s and constructor’s championships. From 2014 to 2021, they won the constructor’s championships for eight consecutive years. So the common idea was people lose interest when they already know who will win. But unlike Formula 1, NASCAR did not change the rules and regulations to get Dodge to redefine their car. Instead, they banned the Hemi. NASCAR changed the rules to ban cars with huge wings as the Dodge had.
The Political side of Dodge ban
Dodge and Chrysler were delighted with their Hemi engine’s performance. But there were politics in the racing even back in 1965. NASCAR did not ban them only out of concern for fans. There were hidden conflicts within the competition. There were tactics deployed among other teams as well. In 1964, Bill France, the founder, and owner of NASCAR, had the final say in that subject.
According to Hotcars and other sources, “Hemi was banned not for technological reasons, but because it wasn’t readily available in cars from Dodge or Plymouth assembly lines, ‘readily’ being the key concept.” The dispute was that it was costly for an average buyer. Hence, for all the above reasons, the iconic Dodge Charger Daytona was banned from NASCAR.
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