392 HEMI Meets its Great Ancestors

Discussion of the 5.7L-6.1L-6.4L HEMIs.

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392 HEMI Meets its Great Ancestors

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392 HEMI Meets its Great Ancestors
http://www.redletterdodge.com/2011/03/0 ... ancestors/
To fully appreciate the 392, we need to go back five decades to the drag strips and sun baked dry lake beds of Southern California. It was the engine to beat in the Top Fuel and Gasser glasses throughout the late 1950’s and early 60’s. Legendary drag racers such as “Big Daddy” Don Garlits, Don “The Snake” Prudhomme, “TV” Tommy Ivo and many more blazed a trail and set new records everywhere they showed up. These pioneers of the sport realized early that the 392 HEMI had strong internals that would withstand the punishment of racing. However, it was the design of the HEMI cylinder head that allowed it to move the insane volumes of air and fuel, when a supercharger was bolted on. With the guidance of famed engine builder Keith Black, the growing high-performance parts industry began developing bigger superchargers, high-lift camshafts and headers and other hardware that would significantly increase the power of the 392 over any other production based V8 engine at the time.
Such an awesome photo!
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