Don Bales’ Silver Bullet SS/AH Barracuda
Super Stock HEMI® Obsession
Words: Roger Meiners
Don Bales, of Connersville, Ind., is in love with the year 1968. It happened when he was a kid. He was with his older brothers at the Indy U.S. Nationals sometime in the 1970s and saw a 1968 HEMI® Super Stock Barracuda launch a huge wheelstand off the line. That did it. He had to have one. “I thought it was really cool,” he said.
Click photos to enlarge.
Photos: Courtesy Don Bales
His wish started to come true a few years later when he bought a 1968 Barracuda. “It was a rust bucket with a 318 in it,” as he remembers. He moved the car a step toward his goal with a pro street-style re-do that included the installation of a 440 wedge engine. “The 440 is a great motor, but I always wanted a HEMI,” said Bales. He finally realized his goal when a real 528 HEMI made it into the Barracuda’s engine bay. He painted the car red with blue stripes.
His big breakthrough was discovering Mike Roth, a car builder in Lebanon, Ind. “He’s a terrific craftsman,” said Bales. The car went to Roth’s shop, MR2 Performance, for a complete re-do, during which a 605-cid 1,000-horsepower HEMI replaced the 528. Bales painted it a “root beer” color and ran it as a bracket car on the strip at meets such as the Mopar® Nationals and GoodGuys.
But Bales wasn’t quite there yet. The vision of the Super Stock HEMI Barracuda’s giant wheel stands at Indy remained burned into his memory. Finally, he approached Roth about building a Super Stock A/Automatic car for the Mopar HEMI Challenge. “Roth asked if I knew what I was getting into,” remembered Bales, “But I knew what I wanted and he was the guy to do it.” What Bales wanted was an over-the-top Super Stocker that was also a top flight show car. “Eddie Smith’s West Virginia HEMI was my model,” Bales said. “His car was not only fast, but also beautiful.” Roth understood the program, and so did Jim Boitnott, the Cincinnatti, Ohio, painter Bales selected to put the finish on the car. Bales remembers Jim saying, “When people drive by your car on their golf carts at the track, they’ll turn around and go back for another look—and they will describe it not as beautiful, but as BAD.” Roth started the car build in 2006 and the project was completed in 2008. From the reaction of the fans at drag strips the past two years, Boitnott’s prediction is right on.
The car, christened the Silver Bullet, made its first appearance at the Mopar HEMI Challenge at the 2008 NHRA U.S. Nationals, where it indeed turned heads. Proof that Bales had hit a home run came later when it was selected Best Engineered Car at the Northern SportsNationals in Columbus, Ohio; the “People’s Choice Award” at the 2008 Performance Racing Industry Trade Show in Orlando, Fla., and “Favorite Racecar” at 2009 Mopars at the Strip, Las Vegas, Nev. Then, in 2009, came a big honor: The car was named “Best Appearing” at the U.S. Nationals.
Despite the show honors, the Silver Bullet is no slouch on the track, turning an 8.50 ET at 155 mph at Maple Grove, Pa., last year. Bales plans to run the HEMI Challenge in 2010. Look for Silver Bullet at the JEGS Northern SportsNationals in Columbus and the NHRA U.S. Nationals at Indy on Labor Day Weekend. You will definitely stop and take a second look.
