The 60s was a pivotal time for nearly every facet of humanity. The growth of the Civil Rights movement, Hippie-ism, the introduction of The Beatles, the space-race (and the accompanying first man on the moon), JFK’s assassination, Ford dethroning Ferrari at Le-Mans, and of course the aforementioned Cold War… no, not the one that birthed the idea for the SR-71 Blackbird, but the one brewing in NASCAR. The one which gave way to two other magnificent winged-warriors: The Dodge Charger Daytona and Plymouth Superbird. In particular, today’s story is specifically about the Daytona…
We don’t begin our tale in the 60s though…
It actually begins a couple months ago. Before the new year, I was having a conversation with a Viper owner in the Middle East. The topic turned to NASCAR, one thing led to another, and I brought up the legend that Ford spied on the Charger Daytona during its development with a plane. A pretty wild story to begin with, because how desperate do you have to be to go that far to spy on a competitor? However, I might have accidentally embellished the story that little bit further. My recollection was that Ford didn’t merely spy on the Daytona’s test runs with a plane, but that they did it with a proper spy plane. Like a U-2 or something else from the period. Keep in mind, each of the Big Three had some form of military division back then (yes, even into the 60s), so it didn’t seem far-fetched in my mind that Ford could somehow get their hands on a real spy-plane.
Further, you’re talking about an era that followed shortly after World War Two ended. Why is that important? Because of the post-war prosperity that ensued (for the United States) thereafter. Yes, not all American automakers enjoyed this new influx of riches, but Ford? Let’s just say this was another reason why it seemed plausible to me the Blue Oval would have some “disposable income” available for an expensive purchase…
Obvious question is obvious then: Did Ford really use a Military or near-military style spy-plane to check up on their Omega-M competition?
No, so let me tell you what really happened…
Now we begin our story in the 60s. Ford was conquering NASCAR, like Mercedes did in F1 for years and Redbull after that. Or Audi with the Quattro during Group B, or Scott Dixon in Indycar. Point is, Dodge wanted to end Ford’s reign, and decided their NASCAR efforts more seriously…
The first attempt at NASCAR domination spawned the Charger 500: A flush-grille-mounted, flying-buttress-deleting variant of the iconic second-gen B-Body Charger. While these improvements were good enough to give the Charger 500 a top speed of over 185 MPH in race trim, it wasn’t enough to embarrass Ford. Thus, the Mopar men went back to the drawing board…
Their second attempt… oh their second attempt… would be the try that spawned the infamous “winged warrior” known as the Dodge Charger Daytona. Named to one-up the Ford Torino Talladega, the Daytona was the answer to Dodge’s stock-car troubles. However, it certainly didn’t appear that way during initial testing…
See, as the car’s maiden voyage at the Chelsea Proving Grounds (a Chrysler stronghold) came to a close, the end result wasn’t that impressive. Eking out a lackluster 194 MPH top speed. Though this did bring it ahead of the Charger 500, it wasn’t the 200+ MPH Dodge were looking for. Thus, an investigation was promptly conducted.
Naturally, the engine was thought to be the suspect of the poor pace, so they popped the hood to see what was what. Much to the test driver’s confusion, everything looked to be kosher. Nothing appeared faulty, broken, degraded, or obviously wrong. What was the deal then? Well, not long after additional tests were conducted, said test driver (Buddy Baker at this time) got in touch with the test manager. And by “got in touch” I mean hopped out the car, inquired about the lack of pace, and received a simple answer in return. Buddy was told flatly “Ford” as the test manager pointed upward, which is where multiple small aircraft could be seen flying around in the skies above.
That is what really happened. Not U-2 style military aircraft, but most likely Cessna’s filled with rival engineers. Desperately trying to see how much faster the hard-charging Charger had become with the fancy new aero gear.
But Is This Story Even True, and Which Sources Are Correct?
For the first question, I fully believe it is. Stranger things have occurred, and there a couple articles (and an archive) that all mention aircraft flying around Chelsea Proving Grounds during this period. The airspace isn’t restricted either, so it’s not like it would be impossible to rent a little Cessna for some not-so-casual peeping on the aero assassin. And above all else, we know Ford has gone to war for less, so there’s motive to protect their streak of wins.
Regarding who have the story correct, just three: Allpar (arguably the most credible source out there for all things Mopar), Sportscarmarket.com, and themotorhood.com. All three of these sources accurately state that the aircraft in the skies over Chelsea during this time were small/light airplanes. Motorious, on the other hand, is noticeably more ambiguous with their wording. Claiming Ford had “spy aircraft” to check up on the Charger. Though not incorrect, it does leave the mind up to its imagination as to what planes exactly Ford used to do their spying. Was it specifically a “spy-plane”, or was it a regular plane used to spy? Obviously we now know it’s the latter, but I think you see the problem with their choice of words…
Speaking of other sites that cover this story, I highly recommend you check out the piece on Allpar about this topic. It goes way more in-depth on this tale than I do here, and is a truly excellent read for any Moparian. Or anyone interested in the history of NASCAR honestly.
There you have it though: Did Ford spy on the Charger Daytona’s test runs? Absolutely. Did they use a proper spy plane to do it? Not even close. Hope you liked this journey into clarifying history!
By the way, you want to know the best part of this story? The engine was actually altered, but not conspicuously. Underneath the air filter, it was discovered that a tiny, noticeably more restrictive carburetor was placed on the engine. After a couple days when the Ford Flyers finally dispersed, they put the normal carb back on it and the Daytona reached 204 MPH. Hilarious!
Credits:
Allpar: For having the story and being an utterly trustworthy source.
Aero Warriors: The archive I mentioned earlier. While it had exceedingly little in relation to this story, it did make mention of it which helped corroborate the existence of the aircraft for the test, and simply for being an insanely cool resource on these cars.
Sportscarmarket.com: For being another website with this hard-to-find story.
Motorious: For having the most visible article on this topic. While a bit embellished, it was the piece that gave me the idea (and necessity) to do this article in the first place.
