Is the 56 Dodge 500 and the Chrysler 300 on NASCAR
track a stage promo photo, you asked?
Paul
That is a good question and I
can only give you my personal opinion after looking at the photo that is
on E bay. Back in 1956 the advertising was pretty crude compared to today's hi
tech advertising. I am sure we both have seen tons of photos from back
then, and 95% of them are real life photos and you can tell because of shadows
and positions the photos were taken from, etc. Plus staged photos always had
drivers or owners in them most of the time. Now although high
technology was not present back then, that does not mean there were
not good photographers who shot many many frames of film and
picked only the best photo for publishing. This I believe is the
best photo the photographer got from gosh knows how many photos he may have
taken at that time. Also in my 50 years of racing and attending races (
NASCAR & Drag Racing) and reading and looking at photos I have
never seen any categories of real photo and staged photos. As far as I know the
staged photos were done for Car Ads. I have never seen this car ad, have you?
Kiekhaefer favored Hemi Chrysler 300's that is why he had so many more
of them than the single Dodge 500 he raced, but he was always looking
at the potential of other Chrysler Hemi's. Common sense tells us if anything
could run with a big heavy Mighty Chrysler 300 it would be a little much lighter
Dodge Hemi 500 with a 39 cubic inch smaller engine.
Now Paul, that is just my opinion and I could be
wrong. (Even though I own a Marketing and Research Business for 25 years) But I
can tell you this----if that were a 1956 Plymouth Fury in that
photo running side by side with that great race winning Chrysler 300,
then I would have to have that photo no matter what it cost.
Ron Swartley
PS. Hey Paul, they did not have head phone communications
back then-----maybe they were signaling to each other.
A buddy of mine who owns a DeSoto thinks the Dodge driver
was told not to pass the Chrysler 300 under any conditions by Kiekhaefer who
owned both cars!!!!!!! LOL
1956 Plymouth Fury Stock Drag Strip Record Holder
1956 Plymouth Fury with Chrysler 300 D engine and solid
lifters
1958 Plymouth Fury with Golden Commando engine.
1965 Dodge Dart GT with 440 High Pro engine
1970 Plymouth Superbird 440-6 pak
1978 Chrysler Cordoba with 440 Hi Pro engine
Plus a bunch more that are not all
Mopar's