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1970 Hemi Cuda Pikes Peak Race Vintage Car

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model	Misc. [ click here for more Misc.s ]
status	Real car / Reference
date entered	17/04/2009 01:41:51
description	This is my 1970 HEMI CUDA vintage race car. This car was first built and raced in the 1972 Pikes Peak Hill Climb in the stock car class. It has an interesting history, and a great pedigree, with the chassis engineered and built by Mike Woolley, of NASCAR fame. Mike was the head engineer and chassis builder for Harry Hyde’s NASCAR K&K Insurance race team. Hyde and Woolley enjoyed great successes and many wins together. For those unaware, Harry Hyde was the inspiration for the character Harry Hogge, played by Robert Duvall in the movie “Days of Thunder”. Hyde was tabbed in 1965 as the crew chief of the new K & K Insurance team. Hyde moved from Kentucky to North Carolina and spent three years forming the team, which really began to jell in 1969. After settling on Bobby Isaac as their driver, the team dominated the short tracks and won 17 races in their powerful Dodges. They fell out of 18 races however, costing them the championship. In 1970, they won 11 times in 47 races, grabbed 13 poles, had 38 Top Ten finishes and won the Winston Cup championship. Later that year, Hyde also directed Isaac's record-setting run of 201.104 mph around Talladega, on November 24, 1970, a mark that stood until 1983 when Cale Yarborough broke it. For his tremendous accomplishments, Hyde was named Mechanic of the Year, and was inducted into the Mechanics Hall of Fame. In 1971, the K & K team went to the Bonneville Salt Flats with Isaac as the driver and set 28 world speed records for different distances, many of which still stand today. Those records were set in a winged Dodge Charger Daytona that was the very first car donated to the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1978, five years before the Hall of Fame opened its doors. During his career, Hyde's cars won 56 Winston Cup races and more than $4 million dollars with drivers that included Isaac, Bobby Allison, Buddy Baker, Cale Yarborough, Neil Bonnett, Dave Marcis, Geoff Bodine and Tim Richmond. Hyde always relied on his chassis builder and engineer, Mike Woolley, to build the lightest and stiffest chassis, with impeccable handling. Mike’s expertise led the K&K team to many victories, and he took his expertise to Pikes Peak and built many successful hill climb cars, including Ron Kirkpatrick’s race winning HEMI Charger driven by Ted Foltz, Gay Smith’s ultra light Ford Torino, as well as several others. His success, as well as a sponsorship conflict, lead to his permanent ban from the hill, however, he continued to build more cars in secrecy in a hidden room in his shop. The number of cars he built in secrecy still remains unknown, as he has only shared the details of building this CUDA so far. The car began life as a 1970 B5 Blue, disc brake 4-speed Hemi car, and preparation for the Peak began almost immediately. The car was slightly modified for racing, with the addition of a 6 point roll bar, safety window net, relocated fuel filler, and wide rims and tires by its first owner. The doors were also bolted shut to meet the rule requirements, however, the bolts could be removed and the doors would still open. The car was not completed in time for the 1971 Pikes Peak Hill Climb, and the car was sold to Steve Huntsman, who raced it in 1972. Steve repainted the car white and blue, and raced it with the stock Hemi in 1972 with Elliott’s Body Shop as the sponsor. The car entered and raced the 1972 Pike Peak Hill Climb, as well as other timed mile and hill climb races. In 1973, Steve repainted the car Silver with Maroon, and again raced the car successfully at Pikes Peak as well as other events. For 1973, Steve removed the disk brakes and added the drums. Steve explained here: HELLO AGAIN ANTHONY, I WAS JUST SETTING HERE WITH MY THOUGHTS AND I THOUGHT YOU MIGHT WANT TO KNOW A MEMORY I HAVE ABOUT THE CAR, IT MAY BE UNIMPORTANT TO YOU BUT I WILL SHARE IT WITH YOU. IN 1972 THE CAR HAD POWER DISC BRAKES ON IT. THE FIRST TIME I DROVE IT I COULD NOT STOP THE CAR. I WOULD TELL JIM BARROWS, MY PARTNER AND JB, OUR MECHANIC, ABOUT THE PROBLEM AND COULD NOT GET ANY ACTION ON IT. SO I DROVE THE CAR THAT WAY IN 72. IN RETROSPECT I BELIEVE WE WERE DRAWING THE VACUUM FROM THE WRONG SIDE OF THE CARB. ANY WAY I HAD TO START BREAKING WAY TO SOON FOR THE CORNERS AND IT HAD TO COST ANY EXTREME AMOUNT OF TIME LOST. SO FOR 1973 WE HAD TO MAKE A CHANGE. JB SUGGESTED WE GO TO MANUAL BRAKES AND WOULD PREFER DRUMS BECAUSE THERE WOULD BE LESS DRAG. SO I FOUND A LOCAL SALVAGE YARD THAT WOULD TRADE ME STRAIGHT ACROSS, REMEMBER MONEY WAS TIGHT FOR US AT THAT TIME. WELL THE DIFFERENCE WAS AMAZING AND I COULD FINALLY RUN CLEAR TO THE CORNER TO BRAKE. I WAS IN HEAVEN. YOU CAN'T IMAGINE HOW GOOD IT FELT TO FINALLY SLOW IT DOWN. WELL SO MUCH FOR THAT STORY. AGAIN, BEST REGARDS STEVE. After Steve raced the car for 2 seasons, he sold it to Chuck Elliott, who had helped him with the car and also sponsored it. Chuck subsequently stripped the car down to bare metal, and repainted the car White with Blue again. Chuck enlisted Stan McGahan to build a new race Hemi for 1974. I had the pleasure of speaking with Stan about his build up of the engine, and he told me that he still has the Petty race catalog with the part numbers circled that he used to build the 1974 race Hemi for this car. Stan’s engine proved to be a handful in the short Cuda, so Chuck sold the car to Gay Smith of Gay Smith Racing after the 1974 Pikes Peak event. Gay Smith was looking for another car for his partner Kent Sappenfield to drive. This car would complement Smith’s Mike Woolley built ultra light 600hp Ford Torino for the 1975 season, and Chuck offered him the Cuda. Clearly, the Cuda was not as competitive as the other more modified cars, so Hyde was contracted to rebuild the Cuda, in total secrecy, and make it a race winner. Mike Woolley proceeded to gut the Cuda and apply his skills to make it a winner. He modified his design from the NASCAR Dodges, and created a new set of blueprints for the Cuda. The doors were removed for weight savings, and acid dipped door skins were welded and seamed in place. The roll cage was extensively rebuilt with the side beams that protruded into the doors for safety. A secondary NASCAR style roof shield was also installed. The rear suspension of the car was gutted, and the rear pickups were extensively modified with “stock Plymouth parts,” and secondary trailing arms to keep the axle stable. The entire cowl was removed, along with the inner fender wells and radiator support. The front was stiffened NASCAR style, with tubular steel that tied into the new inner roll cage. The trunk was removed, and a new acid dipped trunk was added to keep the weight aft of the axle to a minimum (the original trunk was returned to Steve Huntsman many years later, as a souvenir-it is still hanging on his wall). All of this weight saving was done to redistribute the weight. Since the rules mandated a minimum weight of X pounds per cubic inch, Mike took as much weight out of the car as possible, and added the remaining required weight right over the rear axle, but not behind it. The large tube in the trunk of the car is the ballast bar. This helped get all of the power of the NASCAR Hemi to the ground. “Redistributing the weight” was also one of the secrets that made Harry Hyde’s cars so difficult to beat. Anybody who has seen one will recognize the similarities to this car. The nose and tail panels were cut out, and replaced with a current year grille and tail section to comply with the “3 year old” rule that stipulated only current model year cars could enter the Pikes Peak race. This was the major reason the car was forgotten later in its career, as it was actually mistaken for a worthless 73 Cuda. Body stampings, the 70 only spec headliner mounts, and the filled in side markers (visible from inside only) were the keys to uncovering its true history. Mike’s Cuda was extremely quick in testing, and proved to be a fast contender. Everybody that actually knows about this car says the same comment: “That car was the fastest car to not win the race in 75.” Many questioned who built the car so well and sorted the chassis to balance with its nimble wheelbase and massive horsepower. Gay Smith never gave up Woolley’s secret to protect Mike, and himself to a certain degree. Mike also told me an interesting story about the build of this car. Gay Smith had apparently taken some of the hard work invested in this car by its crew for granted, and this did not go over very well with Mike and the team. Mike expressed his feelings to Gay, who consequently had a special piece of artwork commissioned featuring this car and Woolley’s innovative Torino, to show his appreciation to the team. The piece was featured in the 1975 Pikes Peak Hill Climb Program. (A copy of it, with written comments from Mike is included in the pictures. Take the time to read his comments on this picture.) Kent Sappenfield drove the newly modified Cuda for the 1975 season, and he was amazed at the transformation. The car was clearly a front runner, as all of Mike Wooolley’s cars were, and Kent admitted that it was a lot of car for any driver to handle. While practicing for the race the following day, Kent built too much speed into the corner, and the Cuda slid off of the road, damaging the right rear quarter, and the original Hemi K member. The team had worked too hard to let their 1975 season end with a DNS, so they worked feverishly throughout the night the repair that car. Chuck Elliott again stepped in, and riveted on a quarter, filled, sanded, and painted the car for the next day. The front suspension was replaced, and the car was on the track again for the next morning. The race looked promising, until the car got away from Kent again. This time, it slid off of the road and bottomed out on a large rock. The rock caught the edge of the bell housing and tore a chunk of the block and the bell housing off of the engine, ending the Cuda’s day early. (The picture of Kent sitting on the hood is from this incident.) The engine was repaired and remachined, and it went back into the Cuda, but in 76, the car was sold to Ron Red, who raced it extensively. The car competed extensively throughout the West Coast, and even entered some International events for several years. It was featured on “Wide World of Sports” in the opening segment. Unfortunately, Ron suffered a tragic fatal racing accident in another car, and the Cuda was sold by his widow. The car eventually ended up in another famous racer, Woody Walcher’s hands, as Greg Lane remembers: Hello Tony I was doing my somewhat regular race hemi search this morning and spotted your car. I am not 100% sure but I believe a friend of mine used to own this car of your for a short time. I kind of remember that seven on the door but my friend got a 70 hemicuda Pikes Peak Hill Climb car in a car deal. I kind of remember it being in 72 cuda theme but I just can't be sure I am remembering the car correctly. My suspicion is this is the same car though because how many Pikes Peak Hill Climb 70 hemicuda's could there have been? For sure the car he got in the deal was a hill climb car though. What happened was back in the early 80's a friend of mine told me about a 64 race hemi car over in Grand Junction Colorado. He was going over to buy it and I waited for him to bring it home. I went by his shop and there was no car. He is a Plymouth guy so he didn't by the 64 because it was a Dodge instead. He gave me the number and I called the guy. I couldn't afford to buy it so I passed it on to a friend that could afford it. I went with him over to Grand Junction form our home town of Denver. When we go there the 64 Dodge turned out to be Bud Faubel's 64 'Hemi Honker' race hemi. He bought the car for 9000.00 and it came with a ton of parts and this hill climb car. My friend didn't really want the hill climb car but the guy told us we had to take everything in the deal or the deal was off. I didn't really look at the cuda when we were over in Grand Junction but I do remember that interior pretty well and I would swear that is the same interior. I also do remember it looking like a 72 instead of the 70 hemicuda it was supposed to be. The guy we got the car from was Woody Walcher (not certain of the spelling) and I don't believe he still lives in Grand Junction but I might know someone that can find him. I do remember Woody telling us that it was an original 70 hemicuda that was converted to a Pikes Peak Hill Climb car. If you want to reach me you are welcome to call me and we can talk more. Best regards ... Greg Lane The Cuda then fell into the hands of Carl Sabel, and he ran the car from 1982 to 1989. Carl and the Cuda were actually featured on Wide World of Sports for a gutsy move that was unintentional. Carl's friend, who was also entered into the race, told Carl that the WWoS camera crew was at the bottom of one of the hills, and that he should go through that section at wide open throttle so the cameras could hear the Hemi open up. Carl's friend had practiced through this area, and he was driving a significantly slower car than the Hemi Cuda. Carl had no idea about the conditions of the course here, so when he got to the spot, he punched it and left it to the floor. The car was approaching the camera flat out, and it jumped and got air for over 70 feet (length, not height..) That is how the famous shot of the Flying Hemi made it into the introduction of Wide World of Sports. The car landed fine, and continued on the race, and Carl was shaken, but even more amused when he saw the footage. The car was then retired, and changed hands a few more times before I got it. It is still in the colors that Carl had Raced it, and I will restore this car when I get the time, but TGRs and TGXs are allowed in the house, so for now, they get worked on first.
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Hemi Cuda in 1973

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PPHC 1975

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1970 Hemi Cuda Pikes Peak Race Vintage Car

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