THE RACE HEMI AND BEYOND
Since much of Chrysler’s big-block Wedge program had evolved from work done on Hemi engine sizes in the 1950s, it was recognized early on that the path back to stardom in the racing world was most easily accomplished by bringing back the Hemi, rather than a slow, incremental evolution of the Max Wedge. In 1963, when Chrysler directed powertrain engineers Tom Hoover and Don Moore to develop an engine that could win Daytona, the A311 Indy program was dusted off and work began to reverse-engineer a Hemi-chambered cylinder head for the R/B-series big-block. Work was completed on the second-generation Hemi, a 426ci behemoth dubbed the Race Hemi, and it handily dominated the 1964 Daytona 500 with a 1-2-3 sweep.
Furious that Chrysler could steal their thunder out from under them, Ford protested to NASCAR, and by the end of
