Sox & Martin 68' Barracuda Super Stock

 

In the 1960's there were racers that won races once in a while, then there were racers or should I say teams that were feared. The team of Ronnie Sox & Buddy Martin were the ones that dominated the Super-Stock category in the 1960's, and then in 1970 they dominated again in the early years of Pro-Stock.

 

They won more national events then any other team at the time. The only other person that was just as good at rowing a 4-speed at the time was Dandy-Dick Landy with his fleet of silver bullets.

 These 68' Plymouth Cuda's started out as a basic shell or a body in white that was pulled from the assembly line and sent to Hurst Performance. Where they transformed from a boring compact car to fire-breathing strip  monster! The bodies were acid dipped and when they were done the sheet metal was as thin as a Lays potato chip. To save weight even further the front fenders were an aluminum stamping or acid dipped steel.

The glass was replaced with Owens-Corning light-weight plexiglass. The rules dictated a factory appearing interior so what ever wasn't need to go fast was removed, such as the radio and antenna mast, window regulators were replaced with straps, the rear seat was ditched . The heavy front seats were replace with light weight A-100 van seats.

 This car is a true BO29 driven by Ronnie Sox in class-legal Super Stock but now in modified form, as the rules were relaxed over the years different parts were then considered legal.

 
Ronnie Sox was winner of 15 events and the 1969 NHRA Champion. He was also the AHRA Driver of the Year in 1968. The power plant is the 426 c.i. Race Hemi featuring a magnesium cross ram intake manifold with twin Holley carburetors giving this Cuda' a tremendous top end charge.

 

Gear changes are courtesy of a Hurst-shifted Hemi-spec. 4-Speed  transmission, the rear end is Ma' Mopar's best creation since sliced bread, the heavy-duty Dana 60 filled with 4:88 gears and capped off with a with a chrome cover. 

The fully restored paint features the Red, White and Blue color scheme that adorned all off the Sox & Martin cars as well as the race day lettering and period correct sponsor decals .

 

 

 

One of the legal modern updates includes a narrowed Dana 60 axle housing allowing 15X14 slicks to fit inside the rear fenders, the original size wheels were 15x9 to 15x10's. The rear end is also suspended by a 4-link and coil over shocks, this gives the Cuda' the bite it needs to transfer 500 + H.P. to the starting line.

Over the years these cars went from making 12.0 second runs to now sub 9.0 second runs in the quarter mile, this Sox & martin special does it in style with flashy Keystone Klassic chrome wheels.