VINTAGE ROAD RACING QUESTION
The Challenger T/A's and 'Cuda AAR's all ran destroked 340 6 pack engines in 1970.. They were fragile back in the day, but ran with the best of the rest. Maybe some info from Dan Gurney could help for a period correct race car. I have several old books. The infamous "D" Darts of 1966 and 1967 would be worth researching, too. They were very competitive back in the day. Paul.
the 66 D-darts were intended for classed drag racing. There was one that happened to used for a regional SCCA A-sedan car. The competitive Mopar 1966 Trans Am cars were not developed from those. The 1966 Team Starfish Barracuda was crewed by Chrysler employees after hours.
there’s nothing really unique on a D-dart that transfers to Trans Am rules. Carb, cam, headers can be changed in Trans Am rules.
I’m not sure I would call the 1970 305 mopar motors “fragile”. This was their 1st year back in competitive trans am since the 1st year of trans am; 1966. BTW one of the old 305 Trans Am motors finished 3rd at the 1971 Daytona 500.
From 1967 to 1969 Trans Am got serious with factory support and teams. The Chevy, Ford, AMC, Pontiac cars got a lot of factory support. Way beyond what Mopar put into the 1966 effort. So, when Dodge and Plymouth jumped back in 1970 they were way behind in the development curve.
Some of the 1970 DNF’s that look like motor issues were due to other things. Like transmission issues. Tranny not working right will over-rev a engine. Then disaster.
Then mid 1970 season Chrysler cut the funding. And from the start Chrysler didn’t put near the funding and support that Ford did. For example, there’s pics of 69 Mustang Trans Am race cars put in wind tunnels with 1970 year updates on them. In 1970 AMC threw big bucks at Penske, proven ‘69 Champ, to switch.
Also the 1970 Dodge and Plymouth teams were competitive against each other. The motors were developed at first together then branched off. It wasn’t a 100% sharing harmony between the teams.
There weren’t partnership motor programs back then, like we see today.
