[Chrysler300] 300F "SPECIALS"

["Burton Bouwkamp" <northburt@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Rich,

It was exciting to read this documentation. I was in charge of planning, preparing and running these six 300F "specials" on the beach (Daytona Beach) in February of 1960. After an embarrassing Chrysler showing at Daytona in 1959, my boss Chrysler Chief Engineer Bob Rodger assigned the job of getting the "top dog" recognition back for the Chrysler 300. We did it with the 300F after a team effort that took nearly a year. The next day after the speed trials, the Daytona Beach Morning Journal newspaper headline "CLASS 7 BEACH RECORD FALLS" brought tears of pride to my eyes. One year's efforts by a half a dozen engineers and mechanics had paid off!

I of course know Gregg and talk to him about once a year.

Three minor corrections in the documentation:

(1) Six "specials" ran at Daytona - not seven. The seventh fastest car was a 
     standard production 300F driven by R. C. Wooten. At 126.6 MPH he was 15
      to 18 MPH behind the "specials".

(2) Tim Flock (not Warren Koechling) set the old record (139.4 MPH) in a
     Carl Kiekhaefer prepared 300B. I was there in 1956 but had nothing to do
     with preparing or running this car. Bob Rodger sent me to Daytona in 1956
     as an observer and to help Brewster Shaw (local Chrysler dealer) in any way that
     I could.

(3) Goodyear designed and built the special "Bluestreak" tires for these cars. I am unaware  
     that Gregg had any design input. The tires absorbed less than 10 HP/tire at 100
     MPH. Normal bias ply tire power absorption at 100 MPH is 15 HP. (Many of our suppliers made 
     meaningful contributions to this flying mile effort. For example, Perfect Circle made low tension 
     piston rings for the motors in the "specials".)

Burt Bouwkamp

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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