Factory Cheater Superbird VS LS6 454SS

[nascarxx29]

Cool picture

[Ghoste]

Now, now.  All that "cheater" stuff is just hearsay.  No one ever actually tore the car down and proved it on race day.

[nascarxx29]

No not in the day it was legal till you were caught .A friend of mine Hemi Fred Ristagnio was Jack Wersts crew chief .Told me what mods were done to it

[held1823]

don't think for a moment that the bowtie was any different, regarding suspect modifications. there are some wild stories out there about this encounter.

it would be beyond cool if fred would drop in and share his firsthand recollections of the quarter mile golden days. plant a bug in his ear, dave.

[Ghoste]

Oh yeah, well of course it goes without saying that the Chevelle was cheating. 

[JB400]

Now, why would the competition have to cheat?

[Ghoste]

It takes a lot of whining to get a car banned.  Look how long it took GM to get the Hemi out of Pro Stock or even the wing cars out of NASCAR.  Its easier to cheat when you need immediate results. 

[tan top]

good picture  thanks for posting   

[Beep Beep Dave]

Who won the race?

Dave

[held1823]

Who won the race?

the photo seems to contradict my recollection (unless it was during qualifying?), but i thought they never ran heads up. i am thinking allen red-lighted on purpose before he would have faced werst. with allen fouled out, werst then red-lighted the bird, too. a win by either driver would have almost certainly meant a thorough inspection that neither car was guaranteed to pass.

i found this post on a chevy forum that somewhat jives with my memory, but both could be way off.

Arguably one of the most famous Super Stockers of 1970, the Fathom Blue, white striped Briggs Chevrolet/Truppi-Kling 1970 Chevelle SS 454 LS6 convertible, driven by Ray Allen, was also one of the most successful, winning nearly every NHRA-sanctioned race it entered in 1970. The "Killer Car", as it was called, dominated its competition in SS/EA, winning the US Nationals, the Super Nationals, the World Finals, and most of the division races it entered. In fact, Ray Allen's Chevelle was so dominant that Chrysler built a special Superbird with the sole intent of taking out Ray and his pesky Chevelle. Regrettably (or perhaps by design), Ray took himself out before Jack Werst's Superbird had a chance. By years end, Ray Allen's 1970 LS6 Chevelle convertible had laid down a best elapsed time of 11.05 seconds, set a National record in SS/EA with an 11.33 ET, and was crowned as the 1970 Super Stock World Champion.

[held1823]

ah, google to the rescue.

http://dragracingonline.com/features/featurecar/vii_9-superbird-c.html

[nascarxx29]

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,9978.msg118477/topicseen.html#msg118477

[Redbird]

Great Picture!

Was it qualifying or does it contradict the stories that have been told over the years?

I'd guess if one looked at the Ray Allen car there is/was lead and weight moved all around too.

I looked at the 5/50 car on day in the late 1970's at Jennings shop.

The 5/50car is really special, but I am never less than amazed at the need to embellish the stories. Everybody that had a top class car at the time moved weight around, changed wheelbases, staggered tires; so in that sense it was built using the thinking of the time. Too much was changed too much and it probably could not have passed a class winning tech.

A 512 inch engine could not have passed tech anywhere, so for me the idea that it had a class record at Atco is just a false myth. When the S & M car ran C/MP it was because of engine changes such as 12.5/1 pistons (12.25/1?) and other engine changes. A 512 inch motor in a Superbird at the time would get you legally into what class? Certainly not SS/EA.

As for the fender tag on the 5/50 car. It looks like most other Superbirds. The gate # 05 and the following 3 number code for the car produced for the day is like a lot of other production Superbirds. The Sequence number follows what would be seen on a production Superbird. The J # fits like a assembly line car. Brennan Cook's analysis shows the serial number fits in a known analysis of Superbirds (note in a run of Hemi Superbirds) and it is certainly a later car, but there are plenty of Superbirds after it-including Hemi Superbirds. It is not by far the last serial # on a Superbird (or J#). It is not on the NASCAR 1920 list but Brennan's analysis has an easily explainable analysis. The fender tag has an inspector's stamp. I think a lot of Superbirds were sales bank cars.

Everything from the door tag, to the firewall, to the seam sealer, to the interior (and it is an excellent reference for a white bucket seat interior including the proper door plugs-looks like a reference restoration for the interior) looks like every other assembly line car. It sure looks like a regular assembly line car to me.

From what has been said about the engine being moved back, I'd guess that was done by Jack Werst. I'd guess he and a lot of people know how to do that.

I am curious if the S & M Superbird was one of the later cars too?