When The NHRA’s Wally Parks Invaded NASCAR
“Suddenly:” The World’s Fastest Plymouth
Words: Roger Meiners
Wally Parks’ 1957 Plymouth was customized, but not with a “K.” The two pieces of sheetmetal that covered the car’s headlights weren’t there to look Kustom-cool, but to make the car go fast. The scene was NASCAR’s Daytona speed trials in February 1957 on the beach north of that Florida city. Parks was waiting in line to run the Plymouth for the Experimental-class trophy. The Daytona Speedway was only a gleam in Bill France’s eye then, so all the action was on improvised tracks that incorporated not only the beach but also a two-lane blacktop stretch of Florida highway A1A.
Click photos to enlarge.
Photos courtesy of National Dragster
Parks was still editor of Hot Rod magazine in 1957. The NHRA was not yet a full-time job for him, but it would be soon. Nevertheless, he was a go-fast guy, and when he heard that NASCAR had a new production-car “experimental” class for the upcoming Daytona Beach speed trials, he and Hot Rod magazine tech editor Ray Brock went to work. They had only two weeks to build the car in time to hit the road for Florida.
Parks, writing for National DRAGSTER’s March 16, 2007 issue said, “We contacted our good friends at Plymouth in Detroit and gained their approval for a ‘loaner,’ a ’57 Plymouth Savoy two-door coupe that we drove right off the production line at Chrysler’s old East Los Angeles assembly plant.” Parks selected a light yellow color that he thought would look good in photographs.
Because time was so short, Brock borrowed a Hilborn-injected Chrysler HEMI that had been built for a dragster. Bob Hedman built a set of headers and Brock prevailed on Firestone for racing tires. Car modifications were minimal, but significant. The radiator was removed and the grille was blocked off to improve aerodynamics. Engine cooling was handled by a ten-gallon water tank mounted in the trunk. This was a trick racers learned on the California dry lakes and at Bonneville. The engine would not run long enough on a high-speed pass to heat the water enough to need a radiator. The crude headlight covers completed the aero work. The rear seat was removed and a roll bar was installed. The Plymouth was now a race car.
Parks entered the car for the trials as the “Hot Rod Magazine Special” and he chose the number 1960 in honor of Plymouth’s 1957 sales slogan, “Suddenly it’s 1960.” That’s the genesis of the car’s name; “Suddenly.”
At Daytona, Suddenly was up against some stiff competition, according to Wally’s magazine story. Competitors included Zora Arkus-Duntov with a couple of special Corvettes, and a big team from Ford. The Dearborn crew included two special streamlined T-Birds with Lincoln engines and special Fords and Mercurys with factory-modified engines; all driven by famous racers.
As Parks lined up for his run he was warned by those who had gone before that the beach was treacherously rough. His friend, Art Chrisman, who was on the Ford/Mercury team advised him to steer clear of a dip halfway through the course. Parks took off with a push start from Brock and headed down the course. He said that he “feathered it a bit” on the first leg of the required two-way run and recorded a speed of 153.453 mph, at that point, the fastest run. Then he waited in line again for the return run.
He floored it on the way back. “No ride has ever felt so good, before or since!” he wrote. His return leg speed was 166.898 mph for a two-way average of 160.175 mph, by far the fastest time of the day.
Parks reported the results as follows: “The list of Experimental-class top speed averages featured familiar names in the hot rod fraternity, including our ’57 Plymouth’s 160.175 mph; Art Chrisman, ’57 Mercury streamliner, 154.176 mph; Fran Hernandez, ’57 Ford, 142.800 mph; Chuck Daigh, modified T-Bird, 152 mph; Vern Houle, ’57 Mercury, 146.759 mph; and Karol Miller, ’56 Ford, 146.759.”
Parks and Brock had “blown away the factories’ best efforts,” as he put it. Later, Brock took the car to Bonneville and with another HEMI engine, this one borrowed from California speed equipment manufacturer Dean Moon. With a bit of nitro in the tank, he went 183 mph. Suddenly was a real hot rod, and it provided Wally Parks another opportunity to make his mark on the sport of speed.
A recreation of Suddenly, complete with its HEMI engine, sits in the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum in Pomona, Calif. The car—and Wally—made an appearance at the Walter P. Chrysler Museum in Auburn Hills, Mich. for the 50th anniversary of the HEMI engine in 2001.
Wally Parks, 1913–2007
NHRA’s Driving Force for Over a Half Century
Wally Parks, who passed away in September at age 94, created the playground called the National Hot Rod Association. He founded it in 1951, the very same year that Chrysler unleashed the HEMI on the new sport of drag racing. Together they forged a legend that is still evolving. The NHRA is the biggest grassroots motor sport in America and the Chrysler HEMI is the pinnacle of American power. The engine has dominated drag racing for as long as the NHRA has existed.
Parks was born in Oklahoma and moved with his family to California when he was 8. He cut his racing teeth on the dry lakes in southern California, where he joined his fellow racers to found the Southern California Timing Association in 1937. After the war, Parks helped his buddy Robert Petersen create Hot Rod magazine in 1948. Parks was the magazine’s first editor.
Tom Compton, president of NHRA, said, “Words simply can’t describe the immeasurable impact Wally has had on the sport he created and the millions of people’s lives he touched along the way. The name Wally Parks is synonymous with drag racing, and his vision and direction will guide NHRA for years to come.”
“He marked the path and led the way for this incredible industry and the sport of drag racing,” said Dallas Gardner, chairman of the NHRA board of directors. “Wally was NHRA, and through his dream came a path to follow with lofty goals and ambition. He has not abandoned us. He has left us with a road map that he knows will be followed.”
