Among the various forms of stock car racing, one of the least known is the attempt to compete with genuine prototypes and GT sports cars at endurance racing events like the 24 hours of Daytona and Le Mans. In the early seventies, « Big » Bill France talked to IMSA in order to let his cars complete their grids at big events like Daytona and Le Mans. (Photo courtesy Dick Pierson)
One must remember that in 1974, the first big oil crisis just had hit us in the western world. Thrifty and small cars what was the public asked for the following year, which explains the success of such dull vehicles as the Mustang II or the Gremlin. The big OEM almost all pulled out of factory backed racing, since there was no need to advertise high horsepower anymore. This caused the fields of most endurance events to shrink. That is where, NASCAR, the ever business minded racing organization, saw its chance to expand and bring the sport great international exposure. IMSA and ACO were happy to accept new challengers that would revive their events.
Let’s not forget that FORD with its COBRA and GT40 effort did just that in the sixties. That is how it was decided to create a new category next to the Group 1 (showroom stock Touring cars) to Group 6 (full fledged prototypes), which was to be called the “Grand International”, as you can see on the sticker of the McGriff Dodge at Le Mans. The idea was pretty simple: take a NASCAR type tube frame cage on a stock platform chassis with stock suspensions and a steel body, just like it ran Grand National or USAC events, let it use big block V8 power, in order to make good speed, and fit it with head-, brake-, and taillights, as well as a windshield wiper.
The rear suspension was on leaf springs, as you can see from this photo of the Charger’s inspection at Le Mans. The front was A-arms on stock type chassis rails, just like for the Grand National Cup. The brakes could be either drums or discs; the latter were to be preferred for road courses. The next question that you might ask is how these big stockers performed next to the CSL BMWs and Gulf Mirages. I’ll go into that soon, here on your “Olympia Charger” weblog! (Photos Courstesy Linda McGriff)
