NHRA Pro Stock LIVES! Real Mopar Motown Missile 1973 Duster WHEELSTAND Mopar Nats DRAG RACING HEMI

This is a short video to introduce you to some of the content I hope to profile on this new channel. This snippet was a surprise in several ways - I did not know the car would be there and arrived only a short time earlier. It rolled up into staging while I was talking with Motown crew member Joe Pappas. Owner Larry Mayes and Ben Donhoff did not plan on standing it up and I was working with my new Lumix ZR1000 and was filming video as a test. This is what happened...

ADAPTED FROM THE BOOK - The Ron Butler-built Duster from 1973 represented the reformatted chassis as designed by Tom Coddington and his associated engineering staff. It was constructed with the late Dick Oldfield’s direct assistance at Butler’s shop in California. Owned by Don Carlton, this car originally appeared as a 1972 model and ran its initial 1973 events in that format; it was converted via parts exchange in the spring of 1973 by Mr. Oldfield and Joe Pappas.

Carlton making it to every final round in IHRA competition and winning 5 of 8 events plus the 1973 World Championship makes it the winningest Missile car. Following the decision to focus on small-block Pro Stock, this Hemi car was sold to Stewart Pomeroy, who raced it under the guise of Nelson DeChamps sponsorship as driver "Seymour Guntz" (who actually was Pomeroy; Kenny Hahn was also its occasional pilot during this time). After Pomeroy bought a Colt from Sox & Martin, he sold the Duster to Hahn and John Zorian. Hahn crashed it in Florida during a 1975 Bradenton match race but it was rebuilt; however, a second accident resulted in enough front-end that it was reconfigured with a stock-design fiberglass nose quarter-panel design (not narrowed) and returned to its standard wheelbase when racer Ben Donhoff bought it damaged.

Currently, it is owned by Donhoff, who used a nitrous-aided motor to make it the fastest-ever Missile, running a quick 7.83 quarter mile in 2009 at Orlando Speed World dragway. After several years of display at the Garlits’ Museum of Drag Racing in Ocala, Donhoff has since teamed up with tuner Larry Mayes and now occasionally drives the car in exhibition runs as seen in the video. Incidentally, this Plymouth became the final Don Carlton-associated racecar to bear a Missile moniker as it name. - Geoff Stunkard