Full Throttle

Back in 1955, NASCAR stock cars were still virtually indistinguishable from true stock production vehicles. Sure, there was some rudimentary safety equipment aboard and race numbers on the doors, but the race cars themselves often still had license plates and real headlights.

And against other real production cars, the very first Chrysler 300 was completely dominant. The Chrysler 300C was called 300 because of its 331cu. in. Hemi engine with the Carter 4 barrel carburetors, solid lifter camshaft, and a larger-than-usual exhaust, the engine generated 300 horsepower.

Tim Flock won 18 races and series championship for Carl Kiekhaefer in 1955.

Unsupported by Chrysler, Mercury Outboard founder Carl Kiekhaefer fielded a fleet of white Chrysler 300s during the 1955 NASCAR Grand National season. And their success started with the fourth race of the season: 39 laps of the beach-and-road course in Daytona Beach.

Tim Flock won that race for Kiekhaefer, winning both on the road course and the flying mile (averaging 127.58 mph), and would go on to win the season championship by taking 18 of the 38 races he entered. A Kiekhaefer Chrysler 300 would also win AAA Stock Car Series championship that year.

The Kiekhaefer juggernaut of 1955 caught the attention of NASCAR president Bill France. Even though France reportedly gave orders to inspect the cars thoroughly and disqualify them for the slightest variance from the rulebook, Kiekhaefer’s Chryslers kept winning.

The 1956 model, now designated the 300B, won both events that year as well. During one stretch of the 1956 season, Buck Baker, Tim Flock, Speedy Thompson and Herb Thomas combined for 16 consecutive victories.

Carl Kiekhaefer was literally decades ahead of his time and arguably produced NASCAR first “Super Team.”

Unlike the “backyard mechanics” of the day, working on cars in local garages during the week and driving them to tracks on the weekends, Kiekhaufer introduced full-time mechanics, dressed them in uniforms and purchased haulers to take the cars to the track.

Immaculately prepared, beautiful to look at, and brilliantly driven, Kiekhaefer’s Chryslers set the standard for professionalism in NASCAR, in just 190 starts in two seasons, Kiekhaefer-owned cars would win 51 poles and 52 races.