Chrysler Kit Car

Short track racing is a big deal in North America, and if you haven't already been to a dirt or a local oval, it's highly recommended. 

One 1/8th mile lap on a typical track has the potential for more passing than you'd see in an entire Formula 1 race, and as each facility has its own quirks, a lot of the fun is trying to figure out exactly what is happening, where. I know this intimately, because one of my first tasks given to me at my first internship was to help format short track results from around North America—a task I dreaded initially, but ultimately enjoyed.

Anyway, in the mid-'70s, Chrysler dropped a bomb on the short track racing world, one that (to my knowledge) other manufacturers haven't yet copied. 

Available in various stages of completion, from chassis to complete car, the idea was that amateur racers could, say, over a few weeks, build their very own stock car.

The idea was simple: Chrysler would sell you all of the parts needed to build a fully-engineered and ready-to-race car, sort of like a gigantic Lego set.

It's a great idea, and while the chassis were all pretty much the same, engines, tires, bodies, and that sort of stuff was up to the car's owner. 

The idea came after years of big block dominance in NASCAR, but after speeds had risen to uncomfortable levels for the governing body, the Big Three begun pushing development resources to their small block engine programs. Moreover, amateur racers had been calling Chrysler all the time asking for parts in order to build race cars…so why not put a bunch of parts in a crate and ship out a "complete" kit car?

Even better, Chrysler tried its hardest to design a vehicle that would slide under the rules in various racing organizations, as the Kit Car even came with a variable wheelbase. 

Capable of racing on dirt tracks as well as on road courses, in a Hot Rod Magazine article, former Chrysler Performance Parts employee Bill Hancock is quoted as saying, "The Chrysler Kit Car was a scaled down Winston Cup car. It had all of the features that Grand National (GN) racers had. It was our goal to give the racer a car for less than $10,000. We built the prototypes down at Petty's and tested the combinations on both asphalt and in the dirt."

With a list price of about $8,800 in 1974 for a complete Kit Car set, it was certainly a great way to get a fast, reliable, and well-engineered race car. Even better: Petty Enterprises was contracted by the Pentastar to make the kit go as fast as possible, right out of the box.