One of "Big Willie" Robinson's HEMI Daytonas.



Sometime after founding the International and National Brotherhood of Street Racers in 1968, Big Willie acquired a pair of 1969 Dodge Charger Daytonas – one in orange with a black tail stripe and one in green with a white tail stripe. Rumors that will never be confirmed suggest that the Chrysler Corporate gave Big Willie the orange car while the green car was purchased at a low, special price.

He would drive and race the orange car and his wife, Tomiko, drove and raced the green car. Both Charger Daytonas were decorated for track action, with the International and National Brotherhood of Street Racers logo on the doors, the Keith Black Racing Engines logo on the front fenders, Willie and Tomiko’s names on the quarter panels and unique “graffiti” on the Daytona tail stripe. The stripe on Big Willie’s orange car had the word “King” painted over the Daytona logo while Tomiko’s car had “Queen” painted just below the base of the huge rear wing. Also, the orange car had “Big Willie and Tomiko” on the rear quarters while her green car said “Tomiko and Big Willie”, putting preference to the name of the person who drove and raced each car.

Also, while Big Willie’s Daytona was heavily modified to serve as a full-blown race car, including acid-dipping the body to remove weight, Tomiko’s Daytona was closer to stock, featuring full interior and all of the items needed to serve as the tow vehicle for the orange car. Early on, Big Willie relied on a modified 426 HEMI engine, but he would eventually swap in a 556-cubic-inch HEMI engine from Keith Black Racing Engines. The aftermarket hood of those HEMI engine-powered cars carried the moniker “African Elephant” to signify that HEMI engine power under the hood. Unfortunately, years of racing the acid-dipped orange King Daytona with that monster KB HEMI engine power destroyed the car, forcing Robinson to retire it from racing while the Queen Daytona car was lost in an on-track crash sometime in early 1973.