1965 Barracuda 'The Politician' ~ Ralph Costa

[69 Cuda 440]

1965 Plymouth Barracuda

'The Politician'..... Ralph Costa {Birmingham, Michigan}

Ralph Costa captured the highly competitive 'F/SA' Class at the 1965 NHRA Nationals
at Indy by running consistent 14.10's @ 99 MPH.

The 1965 NHRA National Record for 'F/SA' ...... 14.10 @ 96.57 MPH

When need be, Ralph could get the 'potent' Barracuda 273/235 HP into the 13.90's.

 

[ddartdude]

Ralph was a great guy. The first time I ran into him, he was showing his '56 Chevy Panel Delivery at a car show at I-696 and Van Dyke. I believe it was Rinke Pontiac at the time. It was refered to as "The Politician III". He told me that Ted had been working at KaTech (sp?) and that the D/Dart was still around. Was able to track the D/Dart down because of him.

After I got the car, he let my wife and I come over and look through his man-cave -- aka trophy room. He was kind enough to let me borrow all the time slips from "The Politician" and a couple of pictures that he had.

As we were leaving from that visit, he said here, and gave me half of the time slips.

I think he was know as The Politician" because of the way he handled situations at the track. That was a good thing back then. I saw the Panel Delivery for sale over on RacingJunk last year.

I'll see if I have any other stuff on him.

 

[ddartdude]

SuperStock & FX Magazine --- June 1966

View attachment Costa's-Cuda003-a.jpg

 

[Keith Mopar]

awesome info guys...

 

[ddartdude]

Car Craft -- March 1966

 

[69 Cuda 440]

Alan,

Great Articles,

There are photo's of Ralph's 1965 Barracuda at the 1966 Detroit Autorama.

A big display with N & S Automotive.

'Downriver Chrysler-Plymouth'...... Eureka ~ Wyandotte, Michigan

 

[ddartdude]

Alan,

Great Articles,

There is a photo's of Ralph's 1965 Barracuda at the 1966 Detroit Autorama.

A big display with N & S Automotive.

'Downriver Chrysler-Plymouth'...... Eureka ~ Wyandotte, Michigan

I believe Joe Stevens daughter Patrice is selling photos of cars/events that he took. He was the photographer at Detroit Dragway back in the mid 60's. He also took the Autorama photos. I tried to find stuff on the D/Dart but she never found anything. She can be reached at memoriesondisplay@lycos.com.

 

[69 Cuda 440]

SuperStock & FX Magazine --- June 1966

Alan,

Is that a 1965 Valiant Signet 273/235 'Commando' also running in 'F/SA'.

 

[ddartdude]

The Valiant has I/SA on the front fender just in front of the door. I believe this is from The Nationals at Indy. Check out the partial sign in the background.

 

[Gib Warnick]

The Valiant has I/SA on the front fender just in front of the door. I believe this is from The Nationals at Indy. Check out the partial sign in the background.

My 65 Valiant 100 2 door sedan stripper ran F/S The convertible was probably a Signet and weighed more

 

[Gib Warnick]

Alan,

Is that a 1965 Valiant Signet 273/235 'Commando' also running in 'F/SA'.

Looks like the ragtop driver was asleep at the tree....should have gotten a head start on the Cuda

 

[69 Cuda 440]

1965 Valiant Signet 'convertible'

Shipping Weight........ #2895 lbs.

273/180 HP ~ '2-Barrel'

1965 NHRA Class

2895 lbs ~ 180 HP = 16.08 Wt/Hp = I/SA

 

[ddartdude]

SuperStock & Drag Illustrated -- Dec 1965
This is from the 1965 NHRA Nationals
The photo was captioned Ralph Costa's Politician defeated the Patterson Motors entry on the final run for the hotly contested F/SA class.

The resuts were from Hot Rod Magazine -- Nov. 1965
In the article, it says Ralph beat the '58 Pontiac of Dick Baker for the class title.

 

[69 Cuda 440]

Alan,

Great Stuff...........

Ralph Costa took out Dick Baker.

Dick Baker was a Parts Manager for 'Brake' Pontiac/Cadillac out of Waynesboro, Pennyslvania.

He ran a 1958 Pontiac Bonneville ~ 370/300 HP - 'Tri-Power' in 'F/SA'.

The 1958 Pontiac's had a hold on the {12.50 to 13.99 Wt/Hp Class} until the 1965 Barracuda 273/235 HP's
showed up and ruined their Party.

1958 Pontiac Bonneville {#3815 lbs.}

 

[ValiantRacing]

That is some good old Info right there

 

[69 Cuda 440]

Alan,

In late-1964,

Chrysler {Plymouth} wanted to offer the 273 4-Barrel in 'two combinations' for the 1965 Models.

The 273/225 HP {which was the original 273/235 'Commando'}.

And a 273/235 HP 'Commando-HP',

Which was to have factory installed 'Forged-True' 11.5-1 Lightweight Pistons, Chrome Oil Rings
and TRW Bearings.

And with the #3447 Carter AFB {600 CFM} with a 1 7/16" Primary and 1 11/16" Secondary
mounted on the stock 273 Barrel cast iron Intake, but with the bore holes cut out for an open-plenum.

 

[Hyper_pak]

Any one have a picture of the Quicksilver Barracuda?

 

[ddartdude]

Any one have a picture of the Quicksilver Barracuda?

I would suggest starting a discussion on this in the General Forum. If it's an early a-body, maybe in that forum. More people will see it there. Include the year, model and the area the car may have raced.

 

[Hyper_pak]

Yea, I could do that, I was hoping to get this old thread going again!

 

[ddartdude]

Yea, I could do that, I was hoping to get this old thread going again!

69 Cuda 440 passed away a few years ago. Ralph Costa also passed away.

 

[Hyper_pak]

I saw where 69 Cuda 440 had not posted in a few years, so I was afraid of that. Did not know about Ralph either. Thank you for the heads up. I started a 64-65 Barracuda Drag Race thread looking for the QuickSilver car.