Chrysler got the jump on everyone...
Chrysler got the jump on everyone in 1964 with powerful hemi-head 426cibig-blocks and slippery, lightweight intermediate stock cars. As aresult, the 426 Hemi dominated the NASCAR circuit in 1964. Here's thestarting line-up at Daytona in 1964. Ford and Mercury teams started backin the pack.
For 1965 Holman/Moody began building race cars from "bodies in white"for the first time. When the bodies of the Holman/Moody '65s werereunited with their frames, a cage (still simple by modern standards)was installed along with an all-new fire suppression system designed toavert another tragedy like the one that befell Fireball Roberts in 1964.That having been said, fuel cells were still two seasons in the futurein 1965. In place of the previous Ford serialization, HM kept track oftheir '65 chassis by attaching alloy VIN tags that carried "C5HM-10044through C6HM-10076 serial numbers (some intervening numbers wereassigned to A/FX Mustang drag cars).
In 1966 Bill France and his inspectors found both Smokey Yunick's andJunior Johnson's heavily modified cars to be NASCAR "legal" and let themrace. Curtis Turner put Smokey's Chevelle on the pole and Fred Lorenzenqualified the "Banana" Galaxie third. By mid-race, both had beensidelined by mischance, but a new day had arrived in Grand Nationalracing-one that soon mandated the used of body templates during theinspection process.
At one point in the 1967 season, Petty won ten races in a row. At year'send, he'd racked up 27 wins in 48 starts. His closest Ford competitionwas Dick Hutcherson, who scored but two wins in his Holman/Moody built,#29 Fairlane. But the winds of aerodynamic change were on the horizonfor 1968. And those winds would sweep Ford and Mercury right into thewinner's circle.
David Pearson took the empty seat at Holman/Moody that had been vacatedby Fred Lorenzen when he'd retired the season before. Pearson won mostof the races that Cale Yarborough and Lee Roy Yarborough didn't in 1968.
For the 1969 Daytona 500 NASCAR claimed Ford hadn't built enough Boss429 Mustangs to make the engine legal, so a last minute scramble to swapengines (to the 427 Tunnel Port) before the race start ensued. As aninteresting aside, history records that it was a then little knownHolman/Moody wrench named Robert Yates who built the 500 winner's enginethe night before the 1969 Daytona 500.
 Ford drivers, like Fred Lorenzen...  Ford drivers, like Fred Lorenzen (pictured here at Daytona) began the1966 Grand National season at the helm of block-long Galaxie stockersthat were about as aerodynamic as concrete blocks. Worse yet, theyweren't permitted to use Ford's 427 Cammer. In April, Ford boycotted theseries. |  Bill France, desperate to...  Bill France, desperate to get Ford back on the track, allowed Ford teamsto take major steps away from the original concept of a "stock" car.Holman/Moody was allowed to cut the unit body front end assemblies offFairlane intermediates and graft on revised '65 Galaxie frame members.These frames were better able to accommodate big-block racing engines. |  Ford's aerodynamic edge was...  Ford's aerodynamic edge was so pronounced that Richard Petty jumped shipand became part of Ford's "Going Thing" in 1969. Petty went on to winten Grand National races that year. |