Full Throttle

Ford’s ‘83 to ‘86 Thunderbird presented a special challenge for NASCAR. It was clearly more aerodynamic than any car in General Motors’ race-eligible stable. Sure, NASCAR had permitted Chevrolet campaign the slope-nose Monte Carlo SS starting with the 1983 season, but that car’s chopped-off “formal” roofline meant that air spilled off before it could settle on the decklid and produce stabilizing downforce.

If the Monte Carlo was going to be truly competitive with the T-Bird, it would need a new tail.

That tail came in the form of the 1986 Monte Carlo SS Aerodeck. Essentially nothing more than a Monte Carlo SS with a big piece of sloping glass tacked on over the trunk, it finally provided aerodynamic stablility to the Ford. And the driver who put it to best use was Dale Earnhardt.

Earnhardt’s Richard-Childress-prepared, Wrangler-sponsored, yellow-and-blue No. 3 Aerodeck was the car to beat going into the 1986 Daytona 500. He didn’t take the pole, but he had won both the Busch Clash all-star race and one of the two 125-mile qualifying races in his Monte Carlo. He seemed to be able to drive it anywhere on the track with impunity.

But the Daytona bug bit Earnhardt that year when he ran out of fuel while leading with three laps to go.

But 1986 was otherwise a great year for Earnhardt as he won five times, finished in the top five 23 times and won his second Winston Cup title. In 1987 he pushed the Aerodeck to 11 wins and his third title. And when he showed up for the 1988 season, his Monte Carlo Aerodeck finally wore the color it was meant to wear: black.

If for no other reason, the Monte Carlo SS Aerodeck is great for being the car in which Dale Earnhardt solidified his legend.