This great old 1969 factory movie called The Chargers takes us along with the Dodge NASCAR teams through the ’69 Grand National season.
Produced by Peter Barnes and BBDO for the Dodge division of Chrysler Corporation, this famous little film (famous among old-school stock car fans, anyway) stars the five Dodge factory racing teams as they battle for dollars and glory over the 1969 NASCAR Grand National season. They included:
+ Bobby Allison driving the number 22 Charger owned by Mario Rossi.
+ Buddy Baker driving the number 6 owned by Ray Fox.
+ Paul Goldsmith driving the number 99 owned by Ray Nichels.
+ Independent Dodge owner-driver James Hylton.
+ Bobby Isaac driving the number 71 owned by Nord Krauskopf.
The film offers a rare opportunity to see all these drivers, owners, and mechanics at work in one of NASCAR’s most celebrated eras. You’ll marvel at how young all these legends look back then—especially Bobby Allison, who could pass for a college student. Video below.
This is the 1969 season. Allison drove a Ford in 1968 and Petty is driving one in this film. Loved the video. This era appeals to me much more than any of the later ones because the cars had “production” bodies and engines.
Didn’t the Dodge Chargers have wings in 1969?
The winged Daytonas didn’t come in until the fall Talladega race, 44th of the 54 race season, and I think they only ran the superspeedway races.
There was an interim car, the Charger 500. The original cars weren’t competitive against the Torinos so they moved the grille forward until it was flush rather than sunken. They also took out the sunken rear window and made it flush. They still couldn’t beat the Fords so they came up with the Charger Daytona.
The Chargers always looked slick but were not good aerodynamically. The first rear spoiler used in NASCAR was on the 1966 Charger because the tail was too light. I think they had the first front spoilers too.
All of Chrysler’s efforts were on Dodge. They had at least four teams, and the sleeker Charger body. Plymouth only had Richard Petty and his boxy Belvederes. That’s why Petty ran so many races while Pearson and many other drivers ran a limited schedule of mostly better-paying superspeedway races. The Plymouth could win on the short tracks.
Nope, this is 1969. Pretty bad typo, thanks for the catch.