NASCAR 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona

[THarrison351]

Aero Wars! It was pretty clear by the early '60s aerodynamics were going to play favor to NASCAR's superspeedway racers. By the late '60s, fastbacks, spoilers, drooped front ends and doing anything necessary to get the car though the wind fastest was the name of the game. In 1968 Ford had a winner with it's Torino and Mercury had a winner with it's Cyclone. Dodge failed with the Charger. It's grill was a brick and the rear window tunnel was a vacuum (lift). Aero was a little better with the Plymouth Road Runner, but only because Richard Petty cheated it up. Come the beginning of 1969, Dodge would be ready with the new Charger 500. The rear window tunnel was filled with a flush window, a Dodge Coronet Grille flushed up the front end and they put aero aids on the  A-pillars to help move the air around the windshield. Well, it almost worked, these Charger 500s were faster, but Ford and Mercury had a new car too. The Torino Cobra to be renamed Talladega once the Boss 429 was approved and the Mercury Cyclone II. So, it was back to the drawing board to add an eighteen inch pointy extension to cut through the air. To balance the  car, they needed a spoiler at the rear. A lip spoiler wasn't going to do. A wing! The height of the wing is not just because of aerodynamic balance or to get it in the wind, it also allows clearance for the trunk to open. Also, unlike the street cars, the race car's vertical stabilizers attached to the rear fenders actually have steel tubes underneath them attached to the top of the rear frame rails. Now Dodge had a car that would go around Daytona at 200 MPH! So after two seasons and only six wins for the Daytona, NASCAR said enough is enough and to prevent cars from getting even faster, all future cars like the Daytona, Superbird, Talladega, and Cyclone II would have a carburetor plate restrictor or a maximum engine size of 305 cu in and that was the end of those aero wars. So, a number of years ago, a diecast company called Icon started marketing 1/24 scale University of Racing Legends stock cars. I think the first was Bobby Allison's 1968 Mercury Cyclone. A very nicely detailed model which led to diecasts of 1969 Ford Talladegas and Cobras, 1965 Ford Galaxies, 1971 Mercury Cyclones and more 1968 Mercury Cyclones. As you can see,  a lot of Ford products. Where are the GM and Chrysler cars? Rumor had it about five or six years ago, Icons was going to release some Chrysler cars from the sixties and seventies. It was about the same time that other NASCAR diecast companies were scaling back on production and here they are about ready to tool up a new diecast. Fortunately for us they did release a new car, the 1969 Dodge Charger 500. Wait, what? No wing cars? Well, it was something at least. After they released four cars, Icons announced the wing cars would be next. Here's a little background on the cars. Because I have a Franklin Mint Richard Petty Plymouth Superbird I could compare and verify what I thought was true. When the Charger 500s were released, the chassis looked awfully familiar. I guess to save tooling cost, Icons acquired the old FM petty Superbird chassis dies and created a new body for them. They have all the mistakes the FM car had. Incorrect wheels (slotted wheels), incorrect exhaust (left side only exhaust) and the roll cage has a triple bar head rest which was a Petty exclusive. I actually contacted the people at Icons about this and they got back with me, but as you can see from the pictures the only change made was the exhaust exiting from both sides and that's on the Daytona. There have been rumors of possibly some Superbirds being produced, I certainly hope so. If they have the Petty chassis dies, they should have the bodies. Anyways on to the pictures. I grouped all the cars together. They're all the same, just different colors. If you don't know the drivers, or can't read the names, they are #71 Bobby Isaac also the 1969 Grand National Champion, #30 Dave Marcis, #42 Marty Robbins a country music singer who liked to race, and #99 Richard Brickhouse a substitute driver for Charlie Glotzbach who boycotted the first Talladega race. Subsequently Richard Brickhouse would be the first driver to win in a Daytona that day.

[randyc]

Wow!  Those are nice.   Marty Robbins has quite a history in country music.  And racing.   That's really a nice set of cars.  I did see a 65 Galaxie racer diecast this weekend.  NFS, but still got to look at it.   Those are nice as well.  Thanks for sharing your collection.  I find myself looking at the backgrounds as well to see what might be coming soon.  

[kilrathy10]

These do look pretty awesome.... ?

[Gramps46]

I really appreciate your sharing these NASCAR beauties down here in the diecast dungeon.  We don't get to see them very often.  Like Randy I have been watching the table background and wondering if we would see these.

[Geno]

Those are awesome, the FM Petty Superbird would go great with these.

[NYLIBUD]

Somebody likes Super birds and Daytona’s.They look great.

[THarrison351]

13 hours ago, Geno said:

Those are awesome, the FM Petty Superbird would go great with these.

I have the FM Petty Superbird and the Icon Daytonas share DNA with it in the chassis. I'm hoping because Icon has the dies for the chassis they still have the rest of the dies and will eventually release other NASCAR Superbirds.