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First of all, check out Dan Elliott's site, its great. Of the 56 Dodge Grand National prowess l think its fair to say that only the Chrysler could hang with the Dodge and claim superiority in most cases but hey it was the Beautiful Brute. A lot of sources say that the Dodge faired well on short tracks because it was lighter and had a shorter wheelbase, however this didn't apply when compared to Fords and Chevys which were both lighter and shorter and out numbered Dodges to an almost ridiculous extent. A closer look at the 56 season would show that a lions share of the races were a half mile or less, I think it was 39 of the 56, with only a couple less than half a mile. All these would be considered short by today's standards and several more were less than a mile. When looking at the very few mile plus races Dodges were in the top five in all but a couple and most of the time in the top two or three places with a win in Portland. Of the 13 paved races 4 were in Portland and of just a few Dodges entered Dodges finished with a win, a second, and a third, the lone Dodge in the other race had taken the pole. Martinsville was paved and Dodge won both races there, finishing 1 2 3 in the first race. In the longest races of the year Daytona and Elkhart, both races road courses, The Dodge sat next to the pole winner at Daytona and won the Pole at the Elkhart race, While it didn't fair as well in the finishes of the road course races attrition was a large contributor at Daytona with some very good drivers knocked out in early wrecks, Dodge still registered a 10th out of 70+ cars. At Elkhart it was very widely reported that Keikhaefers gas was sabotaged and this was right at the end of the long winning streak which was creating a lot of anti CK feelings even amongst his drivers. Frank Mundy states he could (paraphrased) have won the race in a cake walk with the pole sitting Dodge he relinquished to Buck Baker in a points move, this car came in 8th and was listed as not running at the end. I think with an overall view of the Grand National scene one should conclude Dodge was top shelf equipment. That's my take. Tim in Golden, 56D500-1
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