Mopar Missile Memories
The story behind the legend
By Steve Reasbeck
Photos courtesy of www.moparts.com, www.prostockhemi.com (Fred Ristagno)

To some of us 1970 seems like yesterday. Thirty five years have passed quickly, and the world was a much different place than it is now. It had its problems, to be sure – the Viet Nam War and the racial tension that was rearing its ugly head across the country, just to name a few. On the flip side, gas was cheap, Detroit’s horsepower war was reaching its zenith, and the National Hot Rod Association was marketing drag racing as the "sport of the seventies!"

"It was different then" is a phrase all of us have grown up with. Used and overused by exasperated parents throughout the years, the phrase has been blown off by younger people since the beginning of parent/child relationships. However, as a parent myself, who grew up watching the sport I love through the sixties and seventies, I can tell you in total sincerity that it really was different then.

"It was not nearly as expensive then, or as intense," recalled Dick Oldfield. "Everyone was racing with everyday stuff, and it was incredibly fun."

For those who are relative newcomers to the sport, by that I mean those who became involved later than 1980, the name Dick Oldfield may not ring a bell. But even if you’re not aware of this man and his friends, rest assured that they may have been some of the most influential people in drag racing. A longtime employee of Chrysler, recently retired Oldfield was directly involved with most of the company’s early Pro Stock efforts, including the Motown/MoPar Missile program and those that came after it.

I was already familiar with Dick Oldfield’s name when I saw the first “MoTown Missile” 1970 Dodge Challenger run at the Inaugural NHRA Summernationals at legendary York US30 Dragway in York, Pa. It was the only time that event would be held there, as in subsequent years it would move to its permanent home in Englishtown, NJ.

His career had started to take off years before with an altered wheelbase ‘64 Mercury Comet that he campaigned on the old NASCAR circuit. Later, he progressed to a series of MoPar Super Stockers. His "Iron Butterfly" ‘64 Hemi Dodge made headlines when it detonated its Torqueflite transmission at the U.S. Nationals in 1969. The horrendous explosion virtually lifted the entire car off the ground. "It was long before the advent of high stall converters and that stuff,” said Oldfield of the incident. "Most everyone, including me, had the habit of making neutral starts. We would keep it in neutral, bring the revs up and then punch it into low, like a clutch car. When it worked, it helped quite a bit, but when it didn’t things could get pretty spectacular." NHRA quickly banned the practice, but not before quite a few man-hours were spent cleaning up starting-line messes.

When I saw the original MoTown Missile Challenger make its first pass, it was a real sight to see. When the car launched, it appeared that the entire rear suspension literally fell out from underneath it. "It had a leaf-link rear suspension, which was unique at the time. It was truly revolutionary," said Oldfield. “Another unique feature of the car was its Clutch Flite transmission, similar to the units that the Gassers had been messing with for quite a while.  We were trying to see if an automatic type deal was feasible for Pro Stock. The 2.45 first gear in the

Torqueflite did not launch the car well enough to be competitive. So, we used the transmission with a heavy flywheel and clutch to get the launch, and the weight of the flywheel would give it the inertia to leave hard. It was unpredictable, though, and when it launched well, it made a good pass. But there was no consistency. Breakage was also a problem because the cases of the trans would literally twist and break."

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The Clutch Flite would still be in the car when legendary driver Don Carlton made his first test pass at Gainesville in 1971. "He made one pass, then came back and told us to get it out of there and put a four speed in it, so we did," said Oldfield.

Carlton would go on to great success behind the wheel of the “MoTown Missile,” and with the subsequent Missile cars, which from now on would be named the “MoPar Missile.” The ‘72 Plymouth ‘Cuda graced the covers of several magazines, but despite its success, according to Oldfield, the car was "obsolete before we ever ran it. We had originally intended to build it as a tube chassis car, but NHRA informed us we couldn’t do it as it would be illegal. Imagine our shock when we showed a Pomona and there was “Grumpy” Jenkins with a tube chassis Vega!

“We immediately went home and started work on the next car, which was the Plymouth Duster that we would bring to the track a year later, in 1973."  Longtime Mopar engine guru Ted Spehar, who was one of the primary movers and shakers behind the entire “Missile” program, was able to make enough horsepower to keep the existing MoPar Missile in contention throughout 1972. "Teddy was a great, great engine builder," said Oldfield. “He was responsible for us remaining competitive." This in spite of the fact that NHRA attempted to render it otherwise by slapping extra weight on the Hemi-powered cars to give the non-MoPars a great advantage.

When the Duster finally hit the track, it was totally revolutionary. "We were the first ones to use on-board computers during testing," Oldfield recalled. To emphasize how technology has changed, he explained that the computer used had "eight channels, and weighed a hundred pounds. Today, that same deal would be about the size of a pack of cigarettes. It had sensors that plugged into different parts of the car, and would measure things like wheel speed, rpm difference when the clutch was disengaged between gears, and stuff like that. We found that it told us so much that we might as well not even test if the computer was not available".

The Duster proved to be a very successful car, winning the 1973 Springnationals at Columbus as well as quite a few IHRA and independent events. Unfortunately, the writing was on the wall for the Hemi in drag racing. NHRA simply added so much weight to any MoPar combination using the legendary powerplant that it became fruitless to continue. Racer "Akron" Arlen Vanke and Dick Maxwell, head of Chrysler’s race program, flew to Los Angeles late that year to meet with NHRA officials. NHRA officials answered “you betcha” when Vanke asked "if we work hard and get our combinations competitive with the current weight breaks, are you guys going to stack even more weight on us?" Vanke and Maxwell returned to Detroit and informed the brass that they would have to be "nuts to continue under these circumstances." Soon after many of the Hemi programs began to be phased out.

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"There was other stuff going on, too," said Oldfield. "The gas crunch, the environmental movement, all seemed to be hitting about the same time."

Despite these developments, though, some small block work was going on. "We built a flyweight Duster for a small block, and developed the W2 heads for it,” said Oldfield. “We got the car going 8.80s, but the blocks would literally split in half. Donnie would come back from a pass, the motor would cough, and Teddy would say “pull the pan.” Sure enough, the block would be split right down the middle."

There were several cars built that were never used. "We built a Hemi Colt, and never used it. The Rod Shop wound up with it." Oldfield said. “There was even an all-titanium chassis car on the drawing boards. We worked with Trick Titanium and the University of Michigan on it. It was to have a titanium chassis, four link, the whole deal. We put it on one of those stress machines (that literally shake the car) for a couple of days to see if it would take the stress, and it did just fine. We were going to build a Colt with it, but Chrysler nixed the deal."  

There were other cars as well. The infamous "wire car" that was built for Carlton but never run. "It had a monococque chassis, similar to an Indy car, and was extremely light,” said Oldfield. “The engine mounts and stuff were actually part of the chassis, and the whole chassis ended at the rear end. The entire sheet metal back of the car, deck, fenders, all that, was supported by wires, and would probably have collapsed had someone leaned on it. It was set up for a small block, and it would have been interesting had we ever run it." That car still exists somewhere in the Columbus, Ohio area, although its appearances are very rare and its exact whereabouts are unknown.

While this was going on, Carlton continued to have success with the program, using his famous stretched-nose Colt. "That car looked great from the stands," said Oldfield. "The stretched car worked well, and ran as a B/Altered. Clyde Hodges, Carlton’s head wrench, actually stretched the car out in his North Carolina shop, using a junk hood and fenders he had around. It was pretty flimsy, and somewhat crude, but it owned Competition Eliminator."

It all came crashing down in mid-1977. Carlton tragically lost his life in a Chrysler testing accident at Detroit Dragway in July, the gas crunch was  continuing, and there was pressure from the Federal government on the Big Three to get their priorities straight. "We were being watched pretty hard," said Oldfield. “They had me running bus engines on the dyno for fuel economy. The magic days were coming to an end."

Chrysler would literally drop out of the racing scene, not surfacing again until 1987 when Wayne County Speed Shop would resurrect the Pro Stock program with their Dodge Daytona. They had to overcome some corporate objections to do so, as Chrysler’s treatment by the NHRA was well-remembered by remaining Chrysler big-wigs. However, things have worked out fine in the intervening years. The Chrysler Pro Stock presence is well pronounced, the Hemi has made an incredible comeback in Super Stock racing, and Nostalgia Super Stock racing is extremely popular and very well represented by Hemi-powered entries.

What are the key players in this story doing now? Ted Spehar works for Ktech does a lot of IMSA and some NASCAR engines while Oldfield is retired from Chrysler now. "My nephew runs a Super Gas car, and I drive the motor home and sweep up," he said. Nostalgia Super Stock racing has caught his eye, however. "Vanke has tried to talk me into it, and it looks like it would be great fun. I attend the York Reunion each year, and the interest in this stuff is amazing."

So are you and your friends, Dick. It would be a pleasure to have you involved. Speaking for all Drag Racing fans, past and present, thanks for everything.    

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