With this section I am going to attempt to record some of the racing history of the Mopar Hemi. The factory sponsored teams, personal racers, and how the Hemi changed over the years.

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OVAL TRACK

1953

• Intro of the cast-iron headed Red Ram 241 Hemi
• Lee Petty earned 5 wins and 25 top five finishes

1954-55

• Dodge only won 2 races over these 2 seasons

1956

• Dodge came away with 11 victories this season
• Buck Baker (5), Lee Petty (2), Speedy Thompson (2),
  Royce Haggerty (1) and Jack Smith (1)

1957-63

• These seasons did not fair too well for Dodge

1962-63

• Chrysler began work on a big block engine
• The first 426 Hemi was assembled in Nov 1963
• The first 426 Hemi dyno was done in Dec 1963 (it exceeded the dyno's 400-hp max)

1964

• The new 426 Hemi debuts at the 1964 Daytona 500
• Paul Goldsmith, in a Belvedere, qualified first at 174 mph, 14 mph over the previous qualifying record
• Richard Petty qualified second with his 426 Hemi
  
  
• By the end of the race, Richard Petty had lapped the entire field
• 426 Hemi-powered Dodge and Plymouths took 4 of the top 5
  
  
• Overall for the season, Dodge wins 14 races and Plymouth wins 12
• Richard Petty won 8 races and had 37 top 5s
• David Pearson had 8 wins and 29 top 5s

1965

• NASCAR silenced the mighty 426 Hemi with rule changes
  "Cannot run an engine that is not available to the public"
  
• This actually applied to 426 Hemi in B-bodies, not C-bodies
  But C-bodies were too large for the Hemi to be advantageous
• Dodge and Plymouth racers sat out until mid-season when the rules were modified
• David Pearson won 3 races late in the season

1966

• Dodge offered the 426 Hemi as a production option
• The 426 Hemi was allowed back into NASCAR races
• Dodge won 17 races with David Pearson with 15 wins

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DRAG STRIP

• Larry Griffith
• Dick Housey
• Dick Landy
• Gary Ostrich
• Bill Shirley
• Ronnie Sox

1958

• Don "Big Daddy" Garlits breaks 170 mph with "Swamp Rat"

1964

• Don "Big Daddy" Garlits breaks 200 mph with 7.78 sec @ 201.34 mph

1968

• Gene Adams and Don Enriquez set a new Junior Fuel record at Orange County International Raceway running 7.84 (and 7.85) at 198.22 mph with a Hilborn-injected DeSoto Hemi
• Gene Adams and Don Enriquez ran a 7.78 at 201.34 mph at Lions Drag Strip in Wilmington, CA in their Hilborn-injected DeSoto Hemi
• Gene Adams and Don Enriquez set strip records for low ET and MPH in Irwindale, CA by running 7.70 at 197 mph in their Hilborn-injected DeSoto Hemi

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SALT FLATS

1953

• Dodge Hemi breaks 196 stock car records at Bonneville Salt Flats

1958

• Chrysler 300D Hemi sets Class E record at Bonneville with 156.387 mph