Proving Ground: A History of Dodge, Chrysler, and Plymouth Racing

Proving Ground: A History of Dodge, Chrysler, and Plymouth Racing by Book

There is little argument that motorsport has served as a fantastic test bed for vehicle technology since the dawn of motoring as owners and manufacturers have sought to prove that their vehicle is the fastest, most reliable or most fuel efficient, or ideally all of these. Chrysler’s involvement in organised racing goes back to 1925 when the company was only a year old and one of their sporting cars finished a fine seventh at Le Mans and within a few short years Chrysler had acquired Dodge and launched the Plymouth brand along with a spare parts division named Motor Parts. Mopar has long been a watchword for high performance in the USA and this reputation was built on the stock car ovals and on the drag strips. The legendary Hemi V8s have powered all manner of machines from Lands Speed Record attempts, through power boats and even short oval Sprint cars. This fascinating and superbly illustrated volume takes us through that rich history though we are a little surprised that the section on the Viper seems to concentrate on club racing cars in America and not the serious competition at Daytona, Le Mans etc in which they enjoyed a fair degree of success.