1969 Atlanta 500

[gunny426plymouth]

ahhhh NASCAR! back when you heard "Dixie" plaed before and after a race!

[bradgotch]

I think the camera man in the "camera car" may have been shitting himself.

[bradgotch]

I want that 429 in my 60 F100!

[NicoleYGaston]

Today's Nascar driver's moms wouldn't let their sons race these cars. This wasn't kid stuff. These were the glory days, the real deal. Big blocks baby. Thanks for sharing!

[SuperSlowMonte]

I own a '68 Torino... it's really cool to watch it race!!

[silverbird58]

charlie (99) still has the track record of zero to 199 mph in one lap

[altfactor]

The footage from the "camera car" was actually shot on film.

The race was not shown live.

It was taped and edited down to fit "Wide World", and probably was broadcast the following Saturday.

And, the race was probably edited down to between 45 and 50 minutes.

I suspect that the only time "Wide World" devoted an entire show to a NASCAR race was the Daytona "500", which would be edited down to 75 minutes (after commercials) and shown the following weekend/

[mitchblack]

Long live the Boss 429. In it's final 'D' port incarnation, it made ~640 horsepower on Holman-Moody's engine dyno- about 30 horsepower better than Chrysler's Hemi. Chrysler complained and Nascar relented - allowing the winged Mopars. That was the only way Chrysler was able to remain competitive with the Boss on the super speedways.

[joshuaschargers]

@mitchblack Uh, Chrysler didn't have to 'complain' to nascar to get their winged cars in. They were in R&D soon after the Charger 500 was built, they planned to bring them to nascar no matter what Ford was doing. As for keeping up only with aero, that's just false, as after the aero cars were outlawed in 71 the same engines ran in the boxier Chargers & Torinos. Many Ford/Merc teams used 428's all the way up to nascar's rule changes that favored small block engines beginning about 1972 or 1973.

[mitchblack]

@joshuaschargers Well, thanks for your kind response. Fact is: the Boss engine did not adapt well to restrictor plates - which were instituted on the superspeedways beginning in 1971. In 1969 - prior to the wings and before the use of restrictor plates, the Boss put out more power and won more races than the competition. In the final stage of development, the D-port config of the Boss put out an additional 30 - 40 HP on Holman-Moody's dyno before being relinquished to collectors only status.

[68bobba]

@mitchblack You sure about those HP figures mate?...you wouldn,t be a Ford fan by any chance?....the Boss 429 had its moments in Nascar.....but the Chrysler Hemis were a better engine all round

[TheOneDogmaster]

if there is any reunion nascar race with all the old cars today it would make a visitors & tv record of time ( i belive)

like the reunion drag race events... i just love´em.

thx for the vid.

[GorasJokimcius]

funny cameraman behind all cars :D

[JLS65]

The cemetary is still there

[walkingencyclopedia]

You mean there was a graveyard beside the track ?! Please don't tell me they had to move it. And it was all because of "making progress?"

[Copperheadroad1]

thanks for posting these old races. Love the old Mopars.

[The21Rodrigo]

Great video!

[slipbyu2]

I wish they would of left this place, like it was...

Kiss my ass Bruton

[wink]

[SparkPlugRocks]

yeah, but you have to remember that the front strech was destroyed by a tornado, and all the debris was there, it would take months to clen up so they had to rebuil the track around the debris so they wouldn't lose their second date.

[Ruddfan1997]

LOL at the camera car

[roargary3]

very cool.

[mustangjohhny]

real cars, real drivers, real racing. with all the "improvements" and "competion leveling" nascar has done, they should look at the old films and see how bad their "product" is today.

[gokb18]

@mustangjohhny definitely....look at all these races won by 50 laps with 1 driver dominating the whole year and a couple of dead drivers every year and with people that never bitched about anything and conformed to the present and stoped livin in the past...good ole days huh

[dot350]

@mustangjohhny Yep, someone needs to remind Brian France and Mike Helton that NASCAR survived and grew for over 50 years without the Chase, the COT, double-file restarts, and the lucky dog.

RIP NASCAR 1948-2003

[Mikosch2]

@mustangjohhny

Basically i agree with you. But on the other hand, also (more of) real injuries and real death. Everyone has to decide for him/herself if that's worth it, of course. And, honesly: except it's 1960's cars and slower.. does it look so much different than today?

[AngryGundamGamer]

@mustangjohhny Agreed... I like the daredevil aspect of NASCAR... As for Atlanta, I like the old layout better. The track used to be so easy to have a setup for hence the competition was more intense.

[doctorindy]

That "camera car" is well, not very safe.

[tallykniffen]

This is super. Thanks!

[scook120]

Thanks for this.