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NHRA killed the hemi in pro stock by assigning it a very uncompetitive weight break..

so with the swipe of a pen the 426 hemi was dead in pro stock...after several years of trying..all further development on the PS hemi was stopped..



Not completely true. NHRA went to 500ci for everyone and the Hemi just could not compete with the wedges. Jeff Wick kept trying until the late '90's. Even Bob Glidden had to give up on the Shotgun motor.




NHRA instituted the ps weight breaks in 1972...chrysler pulled the plug on the hemi a couple years later....nhra went to 500 inch motors in 1982...

yes a few people continue to run the hemi...but once the factory money stopped...no one was doing any R&D...

a SS/HA hemi today turns over 9000 rpm with the new valvetrain that has been developed..



That is so true as the Hemi Dominated Pro Stock in the 70 to 72 Era. The added weight in 72 slowed them down and Wally Parks of NHRA even told some of the racers they wanted more GM and Fords to win and not the Mopars all the time so they made the Hemi's run heavier cars then GM and Ford. So politics is even in racing. Then Bill Jenkins was allowed to run his tube frame Vega at the 72 Winter Nationals and everything Changed in Pro Stock.

On a side note the best eng that ran as good as the Mopar Hemi was the SOHC 427 Ford eng. But they never put it in a production car and it did not stay together as well as the Hemi. When Don Nicholson had his 427 SOHC eng Maverick in the 70 to 72 Pro Stock era running good it could run with the 426 Hemi but it was hard to keep it running great and parts were scarce for it since it was never a production eng. And Mickey Thompson had the 427 SOHC in his Funny Car Mustang in 69 and 70 and it ran as good as the Hemi when it ran right. It had overhead cams and it was a Hemi and it could rev good with the overhead cams. Also NASCAR would not let Ford use it so thats why Ford went to the Boss 429 pushrod semi Hemi eng. Ron

Last edited by 383man; 11/06/11 01:54 AM.